Cash, a Northwood goalie (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Increasingly, kids are pressured to select a primary sport at a young age. Doing so, they miss out on the fun and opportunity of participating in a variety of sports during a school year, which in the North Country might be soccer in the fall, hockey or skiing in the winter, and lacrosse or track and field in the spring. In many respects, the increasing cost of participating in many sports is an even more significant challenge.

On Saturday evening, Sept. 28, the WHOOP Series Roundtable held at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Base Lodge featured Scott Young, WBD Sports group senior vice president of content, production and business operations; Chris Ball of WBD Sports-UCI; Ravi Rajcoomar of People for Bikes; Jeremey Powers of WHOOP; and Kris Cheney-Seymour of the state Olympic Regional Development Authority. They all stated that one of their primary goals was to increase participation in biking, particularly mountain bike racing.

During the Q&A, two-time Alpine skiing Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht, of Lake Placid, said, “I come from a ski-racing background. In my opinion, Alpine skiing, and to a certain extent Nordic skiing, has become a victim of its own success as it grows in the U.S. Professionalization at a young age, which may translate into something substantial at a certain age, pushes many younger people out of a sport. I wonder if there is a plan, standardization of equipment, or any other plan to keep participation in sports very fair and equal up to a certain age or level so you can actually recognize the talent, and not just see who is benefiting from the best skis, the best coach, best this or that, especially at a young level.”

In 2020, a survey of ski clubs across the country by U.S. Ski & Snowboard concluded that the total gross cost for a junior ski racing career up through the high school level could total more than a half million dollars; costs that make access to competing at the high school and even college level unaffordable. Such expenses for participation in competitive sports are not limited to Alpine and Nordic skiing, figure and speed skating, hockey, mountain biking, soccer, tennis and others are all becoming prohibitively expensive.

Back in 1966, when I raced in cross-country skiing, I invested in a pair of Bonnas, one of the top racing skis in the world used by many champions. They cost $45, about $300 in today’s dollars. Other equipment costs were minimal, as three-pin bindings and Swix or Rotella wax were the standard across all levels of racing.

Olympian Andrew Weibrecht (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Today, to compete at a high level, I’d need classic and skate skis, about $900 each, similar prices for the boots, $1,000 for two pairs of poles and so on. The total is about $5,000, not including roller skis, bindings, poles and a helmet for summer training and high-tech ski outfits.

The other cost is time. Most competitive sports require participation for 10 to 12 months a year; they are no longer seasonal activities.

“Getting into competitive mountain biking can be prohibitive, but it doesn’t have to be,” said Kenny Boettger, co-owner of Placid Planet Bicycles in Lake Placid. “You can get a very worthy off-road mountain bike for under a thousand bucks. You can also spend many times that and get as good a product as is made. The top riders don’t spend anything, but the rest of us do. Most bikes seen at the World Cup probably cost 12 to 15 thousand dollars.”

Boettger said becoming a top rider takes genetics, desire, and determination. It requires daily practice, as racing at the elite level is a full-time job, though only well-paid for some.

“To be a full-time professional rider, you have to come to look like you are sick,” said Boettger. “You have to have zero body fat and the power, watts per kilogram. How much power a professional can put out per kilogram of weight is unbelievable. A normal person is not even in the same spectrum.”

Olympian Tommy Biesemeyer (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Boettger said that once you spend over $1,000 on a bike, you start getting parts that are more off-road worthy. With every notch up, the bikes get lighter and better, which can enhance performance.

“It’s sad to see that the cost of hockey gear has gotten so astronomical,” said Jake Burns of Locker Room Five in Lake Placid. “When I was a young, many families used second-hand equipment. Here, the local youth organization provides equipment so kids can get started, allowing parents to learn if their kids are serious about it before investing a lot of money. But when they get to the higher levels, it’s expensive, no doubt about it. Many high school skaters are on $1,200 skates and holding $350 sticks, and then there is the padding, helmets, and everything else.”

“Playing Triple-A level, you want the lighter gear because the players are so quick,” said Cash, a Northwood School goalie. “But getting into hockey, I’d say my first set of gear was two grand. Going on eBay for better prices when going into the sport is best. Top-of-the-line gear for players is about three grand, maybe four if you get very good skates, but for goalies, it’s more. I’m very grateful for the opportunities my parents have given me; thus, I get out here every day and train as hard as possible. I take a month or two off in the summer to reset by hanging out with my parents and friends.”

Alpine skiing Olympian Tommy Biesemeyer of Keene, now director of skiing at Northwood and director of the World Cup Dreams Foundation, knows well the fiscal challenge and time cost of pursuing a career in skiing. The foundation was established to help injured athletes who can no longer earn an income while recuperating. The mission has since evolved to help support the nation’s best rising and top-level skiing athletes with the cost of their sport.

“The cost of skiing becomes very real at the age of U16, 14-15 years old,” said Biesemeyer. “If you start training beyond a weekend program, four to six days a week, you’ll need two pairs of slalom, two pairs of GS, and a pair of Super G skis at the very least. That alone is about $5,000; the whole season budget for a U16 is 25 to 30 thousand for a kid. That’s for travel, coaching fees, entry fees, and equipment. Success starts to compound on itself in the financial burden on families as kids evolve in the sport. You don’t get alleviated until you become a professional, essentially when you get sponsored, and your equipment becomes free. The light at the end of the tunnel is very far away. Not many make it.”

Jake Burns of Locker Room Five (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Biesemeyer said that cross-country skiing is far more affordable and accessible in terms of equipment, cost of venues, lower cost of training and ability to trade skis and use roller skis on roadways. Even so, in all sports, the only way to achieve the top level is to prioritize that sport year-round.

“I don’t think standardization of equipment solves the problem, as there are all these other cost structures that exist here and at Burke Academy, Stratton Mountain School, and on and on,” said Biesemeyer. “I think here in our community, we need to collectively work to create a lower barrier to entry. To do that, we’d have to create a culture where all our kids from all our schools have access to our venues: sliding on the bobsled/luge/skeleton track, shooting a biathlon gun, ski jumping, skiing at Whiteface, speedskating on the oval and so forth.”

Biesemeyer feels we as a community need to get back to nurturing a culture among our regional and seasonal youth of wanting to participate in the Winter Olympics and making sure that any kid, no matter their economic circumstance, can try out different sports, meet the Olympians, and get good training.

“I feel that there should be a support system around kids that get interested as they will benefit from the culture and spirit of the community and having access to these venues,” said Biesemeyer. “If we can grow our athlete pool from that standpoint, we will see results in 15 or 20 years. If we can get 50 kids involved, that’s 50 kids spread across different sports that might have a life they hadn’t imagined before. Critical is having an action plan in place to support a talented kid with the desire and potential.”

Weibrecht feels that easy access at the entry-level is less of a problem than the affordability of going from grassroots to the elite level and providing kids greater flexibility when kids are 10 through 12, and there is great pressure to select one sport.

“Every kid develops at a different age and level,” said Weibrecht. “Ideally, we need to allow kids to stay in a sport long enough that regardless of their finances, family background, or access to capital so, we can identify which kids are truly talented.”

Weibrecht feels that we need to create a process for allowing kids to stay in a sport longer and praises Biesemeyer’s effort to that end in Alpine skiing via the World Cup Dreams Foundation.

He feels we’d benefit from identifying what other communities and clubs have been successful across the country and learning from them, and like Biesemeyer taking more of a community-wide approach. Weibrecht feels the key is finding the right coaches for the right clubs and creating a culture of keeping the costs down and fairness in equipment used so the best athletes can stand out.

“There’s a small but robust growing movement of passionate people that feel that this is the direction we need to move in; the problem is that there is a robust business model that’s fighting against it,” said Weibrecht.

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley and has been writing his column for the Lake Placid News since 2005.)