What Soccer Moms Sacrifice

Parents go to great lengths – and make mighty sacrifices – to support their kids’ sporting activities, a new survey finds.

Embassy Suites Hotels polled parents to gauge how far parents go to make sure their kids get everything they need to be All Stars. They found that parent respondents travel more than 1,000 miles to their kids’ away games and tournaments and spend more than $1,400 on average each sports season.

An overwhelming 92% of parents told the hotel chain they are willing to forego some important activities to accommodate their kids’ sporting dreams. These include family vacations (36% of parents), social functions and family gatherings (45%) or another child’s event (27%).

Sixty four percent of parents said they had taken time off of work in order to accommodate the travel schedule of a child’s sports team.

Why do they do it?

Embassy Suites said that 68% of their parent respondents make these sacrifices to show love and support, while 55% said it fosters family bonding. Around 30% want their kids to live out dreams that they had to give up on, while 28% believe they could help their child get a scholarship.

Sixty percent of the parents said they support their kids’ sports activities because it keeps their kids motivated.

It’s clear that excelling in a sport takes great commitment on the part of the student athlete. What this data shows is that success takes an equally strong commitment on the part of parents.