How much does it cost to play ice hockey

We all know hockey is an expensive hobby for our kids but how much money exactly are we talking about? If you’d rather not know how many of your hard earned pounds and pennies leave your bank account each month then you may want to choose to read another one of my posts instead.

I am going to open up the true cost of U11s first team player who regularly plays up to U13s and also takes part in conference. We are essentially talking about a ten year old child's hobby.

I’ve worked out the costs for the whole season trying to incorporate everything from monthly fees and equipment costs to travel, hotels and accessories. I have not included hockey camps during the summer or other costs that are true additional extras (like skating lessons). The amounts allocated to new equipment vary year on year. I've used our actual spend from this year. I have also assumed 100% attendance at conference events.

The total over a 10 month season comes to eye-watering £6,750. The table below breaks down the costs into individual components.

The biggest component by far is travel. The travel costs are based on mileage with each mile travelled valued at £0.45 (using HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payments).

The way the total mileage travelled is worked out is outlined in the table below:

The trips include training and games at home (2-4 times a week), conference training, development days, tournaments and all the away games for the season.

To put this into context

Grassroots football costs less than £250 pounds for all training, games and tournaments (including clothes for games and training). The additional equipment and travel costs in a season are less than £150 with the total being less than £400.

Rugby costs $120 a season (training twice a week) with additional travel and equipment costs adding another £300, a total of £420.

A private tuition at St. Bede’s College, a catholic independent grammar school in Manchester, costs £7,659 per annum, £1,000 more than a season of hockey.

How can we reduce costs?

The easiest way is to cut down on travel. The distances travelled by the teams and children are frankly ridiculous and all too often the game itself is of poor quality due to differences in ability. A large number of teams travel east and west, north and south every weekend to play games that are largely pointless. 

Moving to a model where all the teams play mainly in-house hockey until U15 level would make a lot more sense. This would allow coaches to create more even teams resulting in better quality games played locally. It would drastically cut down travel and free up time for the children to do other hobbies or to utilise public skating more at times when parents can actually take their children to the rink.

The away games or events would then become (i) regional jamborees to play against children from other clubs and (ii) conference level tournaments that could take place during alternative months.

The teams and conferences can also think about the extra costs that they impose on families by removing the requirements to buy and wear club/conference clothing.

In the U11s, the clubs involved could draw on the  EIHA rule where the teams can be mixed once an eight goal difference is achieved (link - there never seems to be any appetite for this). It wouldn’t reduce the costs but it would make the games more worthwhile and hence better value. 

It is this lack of value in the games that irks me the most. The whole circus of travelling to play meaningless games is accepted because…well, I don’t even know why it is accepted, it just is and we all do it.

Is it all worth it?

Having completed three seasons with my kids in the UK, I honestly can’t make my mind up. I know my judgement is clouded because I love the game, otherwise there is no way we’d stick with it. The sums involved with three kids are astronomical each year. All my friends think we are absolutely crazy for doing it. To be honest I don’t tell the real cost to my wife, I doubt she even wants to know.

I am OK with parts of the cost that are mainly to do with training and the regular monthly fees. Ice rinks are not cheap anywhere and as long as the training sessions are of good quality and well organised, it is easier to accept the high price tag.

Playing hockey in the UK also offers some fantastic opportunities for the kids. Due to low volume of players it is less competitive (i.e. easier) to get involved at conference or national level events. Many children would not get an opportunity to engage in regional or national development programs if they played a bigger or a more popular sport. Hockey provides them with that opportunity.

This is probably the first time that I am seriously thinking about whether to let my children continue to play. What is certain is that if we see the start of the next season I will be on a one man mission to fight the costs at all fronts bugging the clubs and the associations in the process. 

It sounds a noble claim to make but sadly it is also one that impacts the children. They are happy not to have the latest True composite sticks but the fact that they don’t get to have the championship hoodies, tournament t-shirts or baseball caps (that come at extra cost) starts to set them aside from their team mates.

But the spiral needs to stop somewhere and for me it is about focusing on what happens on the ice rather than outside it.