How Much Does it Cost to Support a Future Figure Skating Athlete?

With only 1 in 5 young people in Quebec considered active, the cost of recreational sports is one of the main factors holding them back. Having the support of their parents, on the other hand, acts as a propellant for young people, whether they give them rides to sports facilities or practice their sport with them. Popular in Canada, skating is often an expensive sport for parents whose children show talent.

Figure skating, a demanding sport

While the age at which figure skating athletes reach their peak is 21.7 for women and 23.7 for men, according to skating federations, their talent is often recognized as early as childhood. In figure skating, where the entry age for international competition is between 14 and 16 years old, specialization can begin as early as age 4. It is possible to enroll a child in a competitive program and offer private lessons from this age. Yes, you read that right! My friend Cecilia has been supporting her daughter Kate from an early age. By the age of 5, Kate was winning medals at provincial competitions.

For the purposes of this article, we’ve calculated the approximate costs invested by parents for a child from age 4 to 19. Based on the examples we used, the parents of our the skater in our scenario spend over $34,000 a year to encourage their child in this sport. At a young age, they would spend only about $3,000 a year. But as time goes by, the skater requires more and more hours on the ice with a private coach, which drives up the costs!

Registration and courses: how much do parents pay?

Registrations normally include ice time and association fees. Costs vary from one skating club to another. For example, the Joliette club in Quebec charges $830 for both, excluding extras and private lessons.

Patinage Montreal’s rates range from $0.16 per minute on the ice to $0.32. That works out at around $250 a year for a beginner who skates just 1 hour a week for half the year, and close to $1,000 if he or she does 4 hours a week as they grow older. As soon as they starts training seriously for competitions, expenses skyrocket. For example, 15 hours a week for 48 weeks would result in an annual bill of over $6,900 for ice time. That doesn’t even include coaching fees! Add them up, and you’re looking at a bill of tens of thousands of dollars a year.

As for Cecilia, she pays $350 for her 11-year-old daughter’s registration from August to April for unlimited ice time, plus around $450 per month for private lessons (these costs are the coaches’ fees). From the pre-novice level upwards, these fees can rise even higher, as hiring choreographers at $100 per hour becomes increasingly necessary to stand out in competition. Kate also continues her training at a spring and summer school. Here, costs range from $300 to $1,300 for Cecilia, depending on the quality of the school chosen.

According to Patinage Quebec, from the age of 13, a competitive skater trains 15 hours a week on the ice, or even more. To this must be added development training during the summer. At CP Olympique, fees range from $105 to $135 per week.

Competition and equipment

Future athletes enter in 3 to 5 competitions a year. This number increases as they get older, reaching 10 by the age of 17. From $100 to $200 per competition, parents are already spending hundreds of dollars for their young child. Cecilia pays between $100 and $170 per competition, as some are not provincial and cost less. Then, whether they have to go to Waterloo in Ontario for a national competition or Boston in the United States for an international competition, parents have to pay for travel (gas, plane, and sometimes hotels).

Any competition requires an appropriate dress. Cecilia designs her daughter’s dresses and has them custom-made, which is expensive. In general, however, she estimates that most parents pay between $400 and $600 per dress, which lasts for the duration of a solo (a skating number), or about a year and a half.

The other very expensive item is, of course, the skates! For young children, this won’t be a problem, but aspiring athletes will often pay upwards of $1,000 for quality skates, whose boot and blade can be purchased (or replaced) separately. An athlete can go through three pairs of boots a year! For example, Cecilia has just bought a $2,100 pair of skates for Kate. She plans to keep them for a year and a half if they don’t wear out too quickly. Over the years, equipment expenses accumulate and can exceed $30,000 in total.

Table: Annual equipment costs

Grants for young athletes

If you were startled by some of the figures above, you should know that Kate has a small grant. However, the vast majority of young athletes receive a pittance in relation to their expenses. Skate Canada can give about $350 for each competitive skater, according to Cecilia, who points out that this amount varies according to the number of provincial competitions completed. Other grants are aimed strictly at athletes who stand out internationally.