Money | The price of the hobby is already tormenting Finnish middle-class families – but big savings are hard to find

Equipment recycling, reducing trips abroad and training sessions, the opportunity to practice at different levels and supporting low-income families.

With these means, representatives of different sports would cut the costs of children’s and young people’s hobbies.

Published in March Sports magazine according to the survey, the prices of children’s and young people’s sports activities have risen rapidly. All the hobbies included in the survey have become more expensive since 2015, and the price of some has even doubled.

Read more: This is how expensive junior sports are in Finland now: “More and more sports are already becoming the exclusive right of rich families with children”

The most expensive sports at the competitive level are horse riding, figure skating, ice hockey, skiing and gymnastics. Annual expenses for horse racing are on average just under 20,000 euros, for ice hockey around 3,500 euros and for gymnastics 2,400 euros.

“Even if the price tag of the hobby is high, it is not necessarily the same for everyone. In some clubs, low-income families can, for example, apply for a discount on season fees,” notes the club expert Mikko Mäntylä.

In addition, for example, the aid organization Hope ry or various funds help needy families to cope with hobby fees.

On the other hand, even middle-class families have more and more problems to pay for their children’s hobbies. So supporting low-income families is not enough.

Read more: “It was terrible to inform my son that he would no longer be able to play football” – Finnish families are tormented by the high cost of this hobby

Different sports operators would cut costs by creating opportunities to compete at different levels. There can often be only two extremes as alternatives, either expensive racing activities or cheaper hobby activities where there is no competition at all.

Efforts have been made to diversify the offer in different sports.

For example, in team gymnastics, you can compete at three different levels. Everyone starts competing in Stara events, for which the necessary license costs about ten euros per year.

In the hockey club Karhu-Kissai from Helsinki, the same age group can to participate in several series of different levels, and Pakila Gymnasts has hobby-level groups that get to perform, for example, in the club’s own shows.

“

“We need to give even stricter instructions so that trips abroad and multi-day camps other than our own halls would decrease.”

Many clubs already recycle equipment not only for cost reasons but also for environmental reasons, and in the future they want to invest more in it.

In riding, you can buy used equipment. At first, clubs and stables also lend riding helmets and other equipment, but as the hobby continues, the helmet must be bought new for safety reasons.

Kiekko-Espo and Karhu-Kitsoi also have active equipment drives, and Pakila Gymnasts recycles competition uniforms.

“Especially in team and rhythmic gymnastics, the prices of costumes have increased enormously. We are currently seeking guidance on how to limit the prices of small children’s costumes. Some clubs have bought, for example, costumes for children under 10 years old, in which case families borrow costumes from the club”, Executive Director of the Finnish Gymnastics Association Maria Laakso tells.

The Gymnastics Association is currently revising the guidelines for children’s exercise. The association modifies, for example, the guidelines on what kind of training amounts are suitable for different age groups and on what grounds one goes to camps or competitions abroad.

Trips abroad and other long competitive trips raise the prices of hobbies significantly.

“In basketball, the club’s season fee is relatively small. Even at the competition level, we are talking about 100–170 euros per month, depending on the age group. However, participating in international tournaments can increase the amount many times over,” says Mäntylä.

For example, Kiekko-Espoo has instructed that you have to be critical when deciding on trips abroad. The club has also decided that game trips to the other side of Finland will be made in as short a time as possible. Even one extra night in a hotel, including meals, can cost the team many thousands of euros.

“In the future, there must be even stricter instructions to reduce trips abroad and multi-day camps outside of our own halls, because it shows directly in the fan’s wallet”, Kiekko-Espoo ry executive director Niko Merikanto says.

Sports hobbies the increase in prices is influenced, among other things, by the fact that clubs have to rent training facilities from private companies or even build their own halls, and many shifts in municipal gymnasiums are now paid for.

Also, matriculation records may interrupt training in the fall and spring for several weeks, and the municipal halls may be out of use in the summer.

“It would make it easier for some of the clubs if the municipal halls were better used all year round. It is one of the most significant factors that could reduce the cost of hobbies,” states Mäntylä.

In horse riding, for example, the construction of a riding field and arena and a stable requires large investments. The costs of the hobby could be reduced by changing the system to match the Swedish model.

In Finland, riding schools are mainly run by private entrepreneurs, while in Sweden, a large number of riding schools are run by clubs, and cities and municipalities help cover large investments. This way, the prices of riding lessons remain lower.

“This makes riding in Finland unequal compared to other sports. Municipalities and society do not support horse riding in the same way as other sports,” says the chairman of the Southern Finland Equestrian Section of the Finnish Equestrian Association Anne Sara-aho.

Hobby expenses also increases the fact that more professional coaches are hired all the time, even though there are still many clubs operating with volunteers.

Ice hockey club Karhu-Kissai has three paid employees, but the teams are coached and managed by volunteers. Thus, it is possible to keep the monthly payments of the players relatively small.

Chairman of the Bear-Cats Hanna-Kaisa Waittinen according to the monthly payment for one age group can be 230 euros. The team in question has practices and game events four to five times a week, and the duration of one event is three hours on average.

“If there are approximately 48–60 hours of activity in a month, the hourly price is less than five euros. It always depends on the financial situation, but I want to ask if five euros per hour is a big price for a hobby,” says Waittinen.

Although there are ways to reduce costs, however, at the competitive level the savings are often small.

“The means are quite limited, because there are requirements for the professionalism of the coaching and much more equipment is used,” describes Merikanto.

“The rider is not really able to influence the costs of the racing side much. You have to reduce your participation in competitions if you want to save money,” says Sara-aho.

“

“If you want to play in the best team in your age group, it doesn’t help much that there are cheaper but less competitively successful alternatives.”

Also at the hobby level, you can pay up to several thousand euros a year for a sports hobby, even though the prices of the hobbies are significantly lower than the competition level. According to the sports magazine’s survey, the most expensive recreational sports are ice hockey and figure skating, which cost an average of around 3,000 euros per year.

At the hobby level, the costs of hobbies can be cut using the same means as at the competition level. Cheaper training facilities, equipment recycling and reducing long distances are effective ways to reduce expenses also at the hobby level.

In addition, costs can be reduced by reducing the amount of training when there are no competitive goals or they are lighter than at the competitive level. This is done, for example, in Kiekko-Espoo.

“In smaller juniors, we try not to give ice shifts between May and mid-August. Then we want more versatile exercise for the players. We don’t want to build operations that generate unnecessary additional costs,” says Merikanto.

“It’s worth thinking about whether to attend riding lessons once a week or more often,” advises Sara-aho.

Although even at the hobby level, the average prices of hobbies have risen, there are still many very affordable activities in different sports.

In gymnastics, a child can go jogging twice a week for an annual fee of less than 50 euros, and in ice hockey, for example, Kiekko-Espoo even offers free activities for children and young people.

“Of course, if you want to play in the best team in your age group, it’s not much use that there are cheaper but not as competitively successful alternatives”, reflects Mikko Mäntylä.

“I share the concern that racing has become more expensive. However, I want to emphasize that there is already a lot of really affordable movement available at the moment,” adds Maria Laakso.