By April Lim, Postmedia News April 7, 2011
As hockey season comes to an end, parents across the country are feeling the chequebook hit of another expensive hockey season and are already worrying about gearing up for next year.
The poll, done by Harris/Decima on behalf of Scotiabank, found almost half of surveyed parents expected to spend more than $1,000 on their child's hockey this year and that 90 per cent of the parents had already started saving money for next hockey season.
The survey also showed one-third of hockey parents think the current cost of having their children enrolled in the sport is unaffordable.
"We know that Canadians are passionate about hockey, and we know that hockey can be expensive," said Diane Giard, a senior vice-president for Scotiabank, which promotes itself as "Canada's Hockey Bank" by helping to fund minor hockey teams.
The survey found the bulk of the costs come from enrolment fees, which averaged $645 a year for those polled. Another big cost was equipment, where the average cost for the year was found to be $375.
Matt Ralph, 17, has been playing hockey since he was five years old. He plays in the Greater Toronto House League on both a house league team and a select team. He also plays on his high school team.
Registration fees for both Matt's hockey teams are $400 each. Luckily, the costs for his school team are not as expensive.
"It's unbelievable sometimes when you sit there and try and figure out what it costs to put a kid on the ice. And how long he can last with the equipment he has," Tim Ralph, Matt's father, said.
Tim recently bought Matt new pants and shoulder pads because he grew out of his old ones. But since Matt lives and breathes hockey, not only does he grow out of equipment, he quickly wears them out.
Tim said Matt's gloves need to be replaced frequently because the palms tend to wear out, affecting his grip on his stick.
Although hockey sticks can be bought at a reasonable price, some can break easily from just a slap shot. Matt carries two sticks when he goes to a game because he needs to have another stick should one break.
"You want your child to have the best equipment. You can go buy a pair of the cheapest skates, but depending on how often your child skates, you could end up turning around and buy a new pair of skates within the season just because they can't handle the stress being used all that time," Tim said.
Tim said buying used gives parents a break from the costs, but buying second-hand is not always the best option when it comes to performance.
Tim bought Matt a pair of used skates in the past, but the previous owner had the skates sharpened a certain way making the blade lower in the heel causing Matt to develop back problems.
"Technology is one of the biggest things that's killing (parents) because you can buy a wooden hockey stick for $25 to $30 in most stores, but kids these days see what the professional hockey players are wearing and they want these $200 to $300 hockey sticks," Tim said.
Hockey costs can put an added strain on families with multiple children, Tim said.
"Say you have two kids, you can hand skates down or equipment down to the next child, but say your kids are roughly the same age and physical size, you got to buy two sets of equipment," Tim said.
Jim Kinkley, a Minor Hockey Foundation Ontario spokesman said he is aware of the problem Canadians families face when paying for their child or children's hockey fees or equipment.
The non-profit foundation's Financial Subsidy Program offers families who have a gross income of $20,000 or less, a grant of up to $300 to be used toward their registration fees for the hockey season.
The survey results were based on 500 online surveys conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 last year on parents with at least one child 17 or younger playing organized hockey.
A spokeswoman with Scotiabank would not provide a margin of error, saying it was not applicable because respondents were selected from an online panel to make the survey sample representative by region and sex.
alim (at) postmedia.com
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