We took our daughter out of cheer because of the craziness. The uniforms, fundraising, hyper-competitiveness, out of town trips. Switched to community basketball and everyone is so much happier.
It really is more about the parents than the kids. For a certain kind of upper-middle-class parent, elite kids sport is the main way to signal status and parental investment. It’s not accidental that most families can’t afford the time and money.
And it’s definitely getting worse. U.S. data, but the amount of money spent on organized kids sports almost doubled in a 10 year period to $15.3 billion. In the U.S. it’s partly driven by desperation to defray the cost of college with sports scholarships.
https://time.com/magazine/us/4913681...-190-no-9-u-s/