BY JASON
THOMPSON
Canada's sporting pastime has never been so expensive.
Between equipment, registration fees and travel costs, some
parents spend a small fortune every year to put their kids in
organized hockey.
Others, however, have a harder time trying to afford the
luxury of putting their kids on ice.
"As prices are skyrocketing, as user fees are being increased .
. . we're further marginalizing those that can't afford it,"
said Karen Makela, a community development co-ordinator with
the city.
She said organizations like the Human League are running out
of funding. Aside from trying to come up with unique and
creative ways to raise funds, the organization is also figuring
out how to gently turn people down because of the funding
shortage.
In 2005, the Human League sponsored around 800 children in
Greater Sudbury through the PLAY program. This year, the Human
League says they'll have trouble getting funding for even half
that number of kids.
"Right now we've already maxed out the number of children we
can sponsor this fall," says Sandra Maitland, the executive
assistant to the executive director of the Human League. "We're
hoping to get more funding from people and businesses so we can
sponsor more kids."
The Human League, which receives funding from the city, as
well as from the United Way, also relies heavily on fundraisers
and charitable contributions from individuals and
organizations. They've been able to sponsor 300 children
between January and August and another 100 this fall.
But simply securing funding for the kids often isn't enough.
With each sponsorship, the Human League provides $200 towards
the cost of equipment or registration. With the cost of
equipment these days, it doesn't go far.
Hockey mom Patti Negusanti said she isn't sure if there are
many parents on her son's AAA team who are having a hard time
affording the cost of hockey.
"I don't know if a lot of parents are up front about that,"
she said. "The children that are playing are the children who
have two parents working and from what I gather, they're making
a decent income."
Because of the $2,700 registration fees, which covers games,
practices, travel, accommodations and entry fees for three
tournaments throughout the season (any equipment costs are
extra), Negusanti thinks the kids wouldn't be able to play at
that level unless their parents could afford it.
"Depending on what a family can afford, depends where the
child will play because playground hockey is a lot cheaper and
then if you move into house league hockey it's also cheaper but
the higher you go, the more they charge for it."
Negusanti also says the price of equipment has gone up and
so has the expectations, referring to kids who want a one-piece
composite stick that could cost up to a couple hundred dollars.
"The kids don't want to play with a wooden hockey stick,
they want the $200 one," she said.
Thankfully, in the three years since her 14-year-old started
using a one-piece, he hasn't broken one yet.
According to James Rinneard, a sales associate at DeMarco's
Source for Sports, 90 percent of kids don't need a composite
stick because they haven't got the physical fortitude to use it
properly.
Rinneard says hockey skates, like sticks, are the annual big-ticket items when it comes to equipment. In some cases, if a kid hits a growth spurt, skates may need to be replaced two, or in some rare cases, three times in one season.
"No one starts off with the best of the best, but expensive
skates do look expensive and the kids like that," said
Rinneard.
