Olympic Athlete sponsored by taxidermy

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[skydiver386]

That's an inspiring story. I wonder what the grand total cost is to train and send most athletes to the Olympics?

The west used to harp on the old Soviet Union about how their supposed amateur athletes were directly supported by the Soviet State.

It's nice to see a family united to support an athlete at that level. Taxidermy isn't exactly a get rich quick scheme.

 

[mdwest]

That's an inspiring story. I wonder what the grand total cost is to train and send most athletes to the Olympics?

depends on the sport.. but it can easily be hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Ive got a buddy whose daughter is a truly gifted gymnast.. showing incredible promise.. and shes still only 10 years old..

assuming she doesnt get hurt at some point, and remains as committed to the sport as she currently is, coaches think she at a minimum is future NCAA Division 1 material..

to reach this level of competition (and again, mind you, she is only 10) she is home schooled... she trains 5 days a week for anywhere from 2-4 hours a day with her team at her primary gym.. she has private coaching lessons a couple of days a week for another hour per lesson.. she travels extensively competing (all over the country).. and then there is the cost of equipment, uniforms, etc..etc.. My buddy tells me that its a minimum of a $20K annual investment if youre cutting corners.. its easily a $35K annual investment if youre all in... figure the average kid has been doing this for 10-12 years by the time they reach the NCAA or the Olympics.... youre looking at a possible $400K investment (far more than the scholarship the kid is going to get)..

I knew a Zimbabwean PhD that was working in South Sudan many years ago... his daughter was the captain of the Zim womens "national" rowing crew.. to compete in the Olympics he and the other parents had to pay 100% of all associated costs... Zim didnt pay a dime... they bought their boats and other gear.. they bought their uniforms.. they paid to ship all of their crap to the games and to ship it back home.. they paid for all training costs.. etc..etc.. I never asked him how much all of that cost.. but I imagine it was a small fortune..

 

[Flbt]

It’s not just Olympic grade athlete.
Man travel ball and middle school baseball has been surprising high.
From what I remember. 400$+ bats few hundred gloves
Tournament cost team cost ( mostly travel ball)
I know the cheap stuff we used in high school was no where near the amounts today.
It was surprising to me.

 

[BeeMaa]

The west used to harp on the old Soviet Union about how their supposed amateur athletes were directly supported by the Soviet State.

The USSR (before the break up into smaller countries in 1991) would list their athletes a either employees of the state or gave them a military position, which was also an employee of the state. This allowed them to remain "amateurs" under the rules because they weren't being paid as professional (insert sport here) athletes.

This is why the Russian hockey team loosing to the US in 1980 was such a big deal. Little known fact, the US beat the USSR in the semi-finals and had to play Finland two days later in the finals.

Here's a little funny about the Russians when they played the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976 during a tour of the NHL for exhibition games.

EDIT - I sat on the floor of my grandparents living room and watched this game. It was AWESOME!

 

[skydiver386]

depends on the sport.. but it can easily be hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Ive got a buddy whose daughter is a truly gifted gymnast.. showing incredible promise.. and shes still only 10 years old..

assuming she doesnt get hurt at some point, and remains as committed to the sport as she currently is, coaches think she at a minimum is future NCAA Division 1 material..

to reach this level of competition (and again, mind you, she is only 10) she is home schooled... she trains 5 days a week for anywhere from 2-4 hours a day with her team at her primary gym.. she has private coaching lessons a couple of days a week for another hour per lesson.. she travels extensively competing (all over the country).. and then there is the cost of equipment, uniforms, etc..etc.. My buddy tells me that its a minimum of a $20K annual investment if youre cutting corners.. its easily a $35K annual investment if youre all in... figure the average kid has been doing this for 10-12 years by the time they reach the NCAA or the Olympics.... youre looking at a possible $400K investment (far more than the scholarship the kid is going to get)..

I knew a Zimbabwean PhD that was working in South Sudan many years ago... his daughter was the captain of the Zim womens "national" rowing crew.. to compete in the Olympics he and the other parents had to pay 100% of all associated costs... Zim didnt pay a dime... they bought their boats and other gear.. they bought their uniforms.. they paid to ship all of their crap to the games and to ship it back home.. they paid for all training costs.. etc..etc.. I never asked him how much all of that cost.. but I imagine it was a small fortune..

I'd never have imagined something as common as gymnastics could cost that much!

The winter sports that require specialized training areas will obviously require a greater cost per athlete, but summer Olympic sports I may have incorrectly assumed to be less expensive. Coaching and high level Professional instruction is probably the greatest cost once they reach a certain level.

 

[skydiver386]

The USSR (before the break up into smaller countries in 1991) would list their athletes a either employees of the state or gave them a military position, which was also an employee of the state. This allowed them to remain "amateurs" under the rules because they weren't being paid as professional (insert sport here) athletes.

This is why the Russian hockey team loosing to the US in 1980 was such a big deal. Little known fact, the US beat the USSR in the semi-finals and had to play Finland two days later in the finals.

Here's a little funny about the Russians when they played the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976 during a tour of the NHL for exhibition games.

I remember that!

The only thing that might have made it better is if Woody Hayes showed up!

 

[Aaron N]

depends on the sport.. but it can easily be hundreds of thousands of dollars...

Ive got a buddy whose daughter is a truly gifted gymnast.. showing incredible promise.. and shes still only 10 years old..

assuming she doesnt get hurt at some point, and remains as committed to the sport as she currently is, coaches think she at a minimum is future NCAA Division 1 material..

to reach this level of competition (and again, mind you, she is only 10) she is home schooled... she trains 5 days a week for anywhere from 2-4 hours a day with her team at her primary gym.. she has private coaching lessons a couple of days a week for another hour per lesson.. she travels extensively competing (all over the country).. and then there is the cost of equipment, uniforms, etc..etc.. My buddy tells me that its a minimum of a $20K annual investment if youre cutting corners.. its easily a $35K annual investment if youre all in... figure the average kid has been doing this for 10-12 years by the time they reach the NCAA or the Olympics.... youre looking at a possible $400K investment (far more than the scholarship the kid is going to get)..

I knew a Zimbabwean PhD that was working in South Sudan many years ago... his daughter was the captain of the Zim womens "national" rowing crew.. to compete in the Olympics he and the other parents had to pay 100% of all associated costs... Zim didnt pay a dime... they bought their boats and other gear.. they bought their uniforms.. they paid to ship all of their crap to the games and to ship it back home.. they paid for all training costs.. etc..etc.. I never asked him how much all of that cost.. but I imagine it was a small fortune..

Imagine having a full time job at 10. It’s amazing the life skills these kids miss out on chasing (or being forced to chase) their dreams. I have a buddy who was competitive in hockey, came from a blue collar family, and couldn’t even change a flat tire at the age of 20 because all he did was hockey. At least he got a free engineering degree out of it.

 

[mdwest]

I'd never have imagined something as common as gymnastics could cost that much!

The winter sports that require specialized training areas will obviously require a greater cost per athlete, but summer Olympic sports I may have incorrectly assumed to be less expensive. Coaching and high level Professional instruction is probably the greatest cost once they reach a certain level.

I think a lot of it is that she's competing on the national level..

but pretty much all "competitive" independent sports are crazy expensive these days..

our youngest did competitive cheer for about 3 years when she was young.. we easily spent $10K a year between training, competitions, uniforms, travel, etc.. and that was 10-12 years ago.. and while she was on a very good team, she was definitely not competing at the level that was going to see her go to an NCCA Div 1 school on a cheer scholarship..

competitive shotgun was just as bad.. the same kid did that for a few years in highschool as well... just getting them into decent gear (gun, chokes, equipment bag, etc etc) is easily $5K if youre going cheap.. then we easily spent another $4K a year on ammo.. and at least another $3-$5K a year in tournament/shoot fees, travel, uniforms, private lessons, etc..etc.. the first year cost us pretty close to $15K.. years after that was about $10K.. and again, she was on a very good team (they were #1 in the state her Junior year and she ranked 5th in the state in her age group), but she wasnt NCAA bound or anything.. to get her ready to compete at that level Ive seen parents easily put $20K on the table a year, every year.. hell.. for that matter I saw some kids rolling around with $20-$30K in shotguns that they competed with (thought it was insane the money some parents put into guns for a 15 year old to shoot clays with.. that you can watch and know they dont have the skill set, drive, determination, or even desire to compete at the collegient level)..

 

[tinktink12]

It’s not just Olympic grade athlete.
Man travel ball and middle school baseball has been surprising high.
From what I remember. 400$+ bats few hundred gloves
Tournament cost team cost ( mostly travel ball)
I know the cheap stuff we used in high school was no where near the amounts today.
It was surprising to me.

Exactly; I had daughters who played travel softball in middle school and high school back 10 + years ago. It is much more costly today. You had $350 composite bats that broke after about 1- 1 1/2 seasons. Then there were hitting lessons each week at about $50 each and travel team costs could be about $500 to play on a team. Helmets, gear bags, uniforms, gloves, travel expenses, hotels, gas….I had 2 catchers which meant even more expense with catching gear and an extra glove just for catching. Then there was the time. Tournaments every weekend all summer long with maybe 2 weekends off. Coolers full of food for the tournaments…. It goes on and on! It was a busy expensive time but I loved every minute of it.

 

[mdwest]

Imagine having a full time job at 10. It’s amazing the life skills these kids miss out on chasing (or being forced to chase) their dreams. I have a buddy who was competitive in hockey, came from a blue collar family, and couldn’t even change a flat tire at the age of 20 because all he did was hockey. At least he got a free engineering degree out of it.

Ive had the same conversation with my buddy and expressed similar concerns.. Ive asked "what happens when she gets seriously injured at 16 and doesnt go to school on a scholarship for gymnastics, cant try out for the national team, etc? or.. what if she wakes up some day at 12 and thinks "I'd rather play piano"? and shes missed out on all of the social interaction with other kids, missed out on attending church camp in the summer, etc..etc..?

His point (and there is probably some validity to it) is that shes not like other kids... she has a gift.. and has been blessed enough to find out what that gift is at a young enough age that she can capitalize on it.. she loves what shes doing.. you dont see many impassioned 10-year-olds in the world, and this one is on fire for what she does.... so he supports her.. if she ever decides she doesnt want to do it anymore or gets injured and cant do it anymore.. he'll support her in that too...

I will give the little girl credit where credit is due... at 10 I was lucky if I wasnt spending my days eating glue and picking my nose.. I really wasnt focused on anything in life.. and certainly had no clue what I wanted to do.. I was pretty much just hanging out.. where this kid is driven... I didnt know or understand drive like she has until I was probably 19-20 years old and started setting goals for myself and deciding that I was going to grab life by the balls rather than letting life grab mine..

shes an impressive little thing...

 

[Flbt]

Exactly; I had daughters who played travel softball in middle school and high school back 10 + years ago. It is much more costly today. You had $350 composite bats that broke after about 1- 1 1/2 seasons. Then there were hitting lessons each week at about $50 each and travel team costs could be about $500 to play on a team. Helmets, gear bags, uniforms, gloves, travel expenses, hotels, gas….I had 2 catchers which meant even more expense with catching gear and an extra glove just for catching. Then there was the time. Tournaments every weekend all summer long with maybe 2 weekends off. Coolers full of food for the tournaments…. It goes on and on! It was a busy expensive time but I loved every minute of it.

We got the pitching machine and net
The l screan pitchmound all the stuff set it up on the side of a hay field. My bro boys use it and some of there team mates
It was cheaper than all the traveling.

But what gets me is none of the teams alow wood bats.

And a buddy’s daughter got really good at softball. Made it to college.
Quit after 4 shoulder surgery’s. ( starting pitcher)
Thats what I am worried about for the older boy
He the starting pitcher for both of his teams.

 

[Aaron N]

Ive had the same conversation with my buddy and expressed similar concerns.. Ive asked "what happens when she gets seriously injured at 16 and doesnt go to school on a scholarship for gymnastics, cant try out for the national team, etc? or.. what if she wakes up some day at 12 and thinks "I'd rather play piano"? and shes missed out on all of the social interaction with other kids, missed out on attending church camp in the summer, etc..etc..?

His point (and there is probably some validity to it) is that shes not like other kids... she has a gift.. and has been blessed enough to find out what that gift is at a young enough age that she can capitalize on it.. she loves what shes doing.. you dont see many impassioned 10-year-olds in the world, and this one is on fire for what she does.... so he supports her.. if she ever decides she doesnt want to do it anymore or gets injured and cant do it anymore.. he'll support her in that too...

I will give the little girl credit where credit is due... at 10 I was lucky if I wasnt spending my days eating glue and picking my nose.. I really wasnt focused on anything in life.. and certainly had no clue what I wanted to do.. I was pretty much just hanging out.. where this kid is driven... I didnt know or understand drive like she has until I was probably 19-20 years old and started setting goals for myself and deciding that I was going to grab life by the balls rather than letting life grab mine..

shes an impressive little thing...

No doubt she will achieve things most of us only dreamed of!

 

[Muntjacer23]

I know the aren’t a taxidermist. But the company “Skullies” who make the mini skulls of game animals sponsor Matthew Breetzke the South African cricketer

 

[Flbt]

Ive had the same conversation with my buddy and expressed similar concerns.. Ive asked "what happens when she gets seriously injured at 16 and doesnt go to school on a scholarship for gymnastics, cant try out for the national team, etc? or.. what if she wakes up some day at 12 and thinks "I'd rather play piano"? and shes missed out on all of the social interaction with other kids, missed out on attending church camp in the summer, etc..etc..?

His point (and there is probably some validity to it) is that shes not like other kids... she has a gift.. and has been blessed enough to find out what that gift is at a young enough age that she can capitalize on it.. she loves what shes doing.. you dont see many impassioned 10-year-olds in the world, and this one is on fire for what she does.... so he supports her.. if she ever decides she doesnt want to do it anymore or gets injured and cant do it anymore.. he'll support her in that too...

I will give the little girl credit where credit is due... at 10 I was lucky if I wasnt spending my days eating glue and picking my nose.. I really wasnt focused on anything in life.. and certainly had no clue what I wanted to do.. I was pretty much just hanging out.. where this kid is driven... I didnt know or understand drive like she has until I was probably 19-20 years old and started setting goals for myself and deciding that I was going to grab life by the balls rather than letting life grab mine..

shes an impressive little thing...

As big as I was at a early age every one but my dad was pushing me to play football.
And I had tempting offers ( mid 80s doc alumnus made it hard not to)
Dad didn’t care about sports and we had a farm/ ranch to run.
I refused to miss hunting especially bear season back then.
I might have been able to do something with foot ball I don’t know. I have had family go pro. ( big kids in the family)
I just wasn’t interested and luckily was not forced into it.
But I also got hurt in high school ( nothing to do with school) and the 2 private school that were so interested stoped because of the injury.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

It is wild what sports have turned into