The greed that is the foundation of our society simply frustrates me!

I will be the first to admit that I am not very “cultured” and don’t know alot of the ways outside of Canada, but within our own culture I am saddened to see just how money driven our society has become. No one cares about actually enjoying anything anymore, or giving everyone the same basic opportunities to learn and grow into productive and happy healthy people. In many circumstances, you can’t even enjoy the outdoors freely anymore.

This year I have 2 kids that are old enough for sports. So it started with soccer this spring, and now Hockey and Figure Skating this winter. Can someone explain to me why they are charging such outrageous fees for these activities?

Starting with soccer – it was $200 per child, each team had roughly 15 kids and there are atleast 4 divisions and 4 age groups with 8 teams per division (roughly) Lets add that up shall we, $200 x 15 kids =$3,000 x 8 teams = $24,000 x 4 age groups = $96,000 per division! Is it really necessary? Lets look at the costs:

• Coahces – these were all unpaid volunteers – some not even worthy of the title = $0
• Referees – these were payed, though I’m sure it wasn’t much more then minimum wage – so lets just go with $10/hr
• Jerseys – These were donated by Tim Hortons = $0
• Soccer Balls – These were donated by Tim Hortons = $0
• Nets – Not sure how much these cost when initially bought but they certainly aren’t buying new ones each year when half of those seen on the field are missing the actual netting! = essentially $0
• Field Maintanance – The initial cost of the lawn mower that isn’t purchased each year, The grass paint, and MAYBE the minimum wage city worker who mows it – though this may be volunteer also.

To sum it up, I may not have exact figures for everything but I’m sure you get the idea! And so, for 2 months of soccer you can see it right there – there’s no way they even make a dent into the fees they collect!!

• Helmets are donated by a local dealership or buy your own
• I’m sure they reuse nets and pucks that didn’t cost a fortune the first time they buy or replace
• ALL other equipment is at players expense and responsibility

AGAIN minimum maintanace costs – yes a building costs more then a field I get that, but I still don’t see the justification. Oh and lets not forget possibily coaching rates if these aren’t volunteers again.

So for hockey they are taking in roughly $6,000 per team in that single league alone – WHY SO MUCH!!

Figure skating – $300 per child Again, much the same as the hockey fees.
Taking roughly $3,000+ per class.

These fees are clearly being set to take advantage of  the deeper pockets of those wealthier dual income families, which I seriously don’t understand. Why is it that because we have chosen to raise our own children instead of paying someone else to, we are in turn forced to essentially doom our children to being forever left out of the the same character building age grouped activities as their friends – when it is clearly SO unnecessary!

I don’t know about you, but I just don’t get it!

Where does all our money go?

Thanks for reading 🙂