The Vacation We Never Took

I've been thinking a lot about youth sports lately.

Not because I dislike them. Quite the opposite. Sports taught me lessons about teamwork, hard work, grit, resilience, and friendship that I still carry today. But somewhere along the way, youth sports seem to have become something entirely different than what many of us experienced growing up.

Travel sports have become the family vacation.

Think about it. A generation ago, many families spent their weekends and summers camping, visiting relatives, taking road trips, fishing, hiking, or exploring new places together. Today, countless families spend those same weekends driving to tournaments, checking into hotels, eating meals on the run, and racing from one field to another.

A tournament weekend can easily cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars once you add up registration fees, gas, hotels, meals, equipment, and everything else that comes with it. Multiply that across an entire season, multiple sports with multiple kids, and it's not hard to see why some families spend as much on youth sports as others spend on a major vacation.

The question isn't whether it's worth it. For many families, it absolutely is. The question is what we're giving up in exchange.

When I think back on my childhood, I don't remember every game I played. I don't remember every score or every win. What I remember are the experiences. Camping trips. Family vacations. Exploring somewhere new. Time spent with people I cared about.

I wonder what today's kids will remember. Will they remember the championship game when they were 11? Maybe. But they might be more likely to remember hanging out with teammates at the hotel pool, eating pizza after the game, or laughing with their family during the drive home.

That's what makes me think this conversation isn't really about sports. It's about balance.

Youth sports can be an incredible part of childhood. They build confidence, friendships, discipline, and character. But they shouldn't become their entire childhood. And they shouldn't become the entire identity of a family either.

At some point, every family has to decide what memories they want to create. There isn't a right answer. But it's worth asking whether we're intentionally choosing those memories, or simply following the momentum of a culture that keeps asking for more tournaments, more travel, more money, and more time.

Childhood only happens once. So does parenthood.

That's why I think the goal isn't to raise the next professional athlete. The goal is to raise healthy, happy, well-rounded kids who will look back one day and smile at the life they lived, both on and off the field.