So many Benefits
Sport can be beneficial in many different ways. The most important is that promotes confidence. Both independent sport and team sport have good qualities that can have your child learn lessons that can be used later on in life. When choosing a sport for your child, first let their talent help guide them. However you must also think in practical terms.
The stuff
For sport, you must think about many components. The first transaction will be acquiring the equipment to play. The same rules apply with picking a musical instrument. Many sports are investments for families. So you need to think about all aspects for your child to succeed at the sport. Equipment wise the most expensive sports are hockey, golf and skiing.
Economical choices
The cheapest sport for a child to play would be football (Aka soccer), basketball and track. Playing in a team at school also would reduce the costs for parents. When budgeting for sports, not all team sports are cheap. If your child shows promise you may pay for private coaching. Also think about the area you live in. If your child wants to swim competitively it’s best you live in a warm climate with axes to a pool. Same goes for ice hockey, it’s doesn’t make financial sense to train for ice hockey in a tropical climate.
Extra help
Think about personal coaching, would you be willing to commit to it? It’s not only a cost issue but also can you accommodate this in you life. Also once your child gets to a certain level in order to compete at a higher level, what you need to pay. Another component is travel that involved for meets and tournaments. There could be flights and hotel stays in your future. Keep in mind too your child still needs to be at school during the day. The time for practice would be before school and after school. You also need to have the initiative to get those prime spots for your child.
Parenting can be competitive too
Finally, if you’re from the US, we have so many great kid athletes. The aim for these athletes is to play college sports or at the Olympic level. If you’re from a country with less sports driven people, it’s makes a good parenting decision for your child to compete on their behalf. Another approach is go to play at a smaller university. This way your child would have access to bigger scholarships than applying at a bigger university program.