Canadians love hockey and this fall thousands of children will be back on the ice. Parents spend hundreds of dollars for hockey gear and registration each year, but the cost is just too much for some families.
“A parent should be able to come in between $400 and $800 dollars depending on the needs of the player and what mom and dad are looking for,” said Dan Court, manager at Bert & Mac’s sports store in Lethbridge.
This year the kid sports organization will help over 300 kids in southern Alberta. It’s a non-profit group that provides financial assistance for registration fees and equipment so no child is left on the sidelines.
“We have seen a real high increase in the cost of sports in the last few years. that’s one of the reasons we brought down the amount we can fund because we could not keep up,” said Malcom Kan, chair for the Lethbridge and Taber KidSport Society.
The organization says over the last 3 years the amount of parents applying for financial assistance has doubled especially in hockey and soccer.
“Probably about 4 or 5 years ago is when we started to see a jump we were funding normally around $20,000 to $25,000 dollars a year and now it’s about $50,000 to $55,000 dollars.”
Court admits many parents are going the used route for equipment and it could potentially cut the cost by half.
KidSport provides financial support of 50 per cent of sport registration fees up to $300 dollars per child per calendar year.
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