Is Travel Lacrosse Worth It? Our First Year and What We Learned
I’m not going to give you a clean yes or no. There are too many variables and your situation is different from mine. What I can do is tell you what it actually costs, because when we signed up I had no idea what I was walking into, and I’d rather you go in with both eyes open than get surprised by the bill three months later.
I never played lacrosse. Not for a day. My kid loves it, and somewhere along the way I became a person who knows what a woobie is and owns an ice mule bag. Life comes at you fast.
The Money
Let’s start here because it’s usually the first question and the answer is always more than you think it is.
Club fees are the obvious one. But on top of that you’ve usually got a separate uniform fee, gear your kid will go through faster at this level because they’re playing more and the competition is better, and all the travel costs. Gas, hotels, flights if you get into the bigger tournaments. It adds up to a number that would have made me spit out my coffee if someone had told me before we signed up.
Then there’s food. You’re traveling. You’re eating out. Even if you’re being smart about it and hitting a grocery store for sandwich stuff, you’re still spending money you wouldn’t spend at home. When you’re with the team there are also club dinners, post-tournament outings, group stuff that you’re going to want to be part of. That’s the thing nobody puts in the budget.
The team store is real and I want to warn you about it. Almost every club has one, usually through Nike or Under Armour or New Balance, and it is full of branded hats and hoodies and backpacks and socks that cost about twice what they should. Your kid is going to see other kids show up with all of it and want all of it. Some parents buy everything. I’m not here to tell you what to do, just to tell you that line item exists and it’s sneaky.
And then there are the extras. Regional team spots. Box tournaments in the winter. Your club deciding to go up a day early to catch an NCAA game nearby. All technically optional. None of it really feels optional when you’re standing there. Factor it in.
One more thing: prices go up every year, and the older age groups cost more and go to more tournaments. We knew that going in and it still stung a little when we saw the next year’s invoice.
The Time
If money is the first thing people ask about, time is the thing that actually surprises them once they’re in it.
Practices are more frequent at this level and they expect your kid to be there. Not just there, but warmed up and ready before the coach arrives. That part I actually love. But if you’re not in a lacrosse hotbed, the practice field probably isn’t close to you. We drive 45 minutes each way. There are families on our team coming from multiple hours away for regular practices. They do it. That tells you something about the commitment level.
On a weeknight when practice is after work, I’m driving to get my kid, driving to the field, sitting there for an hour and a half, then driving home. That’s close to three hours of my evening gone. I’m actually dictating some of this blog while driving, which probably says everything you need to know about how much time we have on our hands.
Tournament weekends take the whole weekend. Saturday and Sunday, first game possibly at 8am, which means you’re driving in Friday night, which means you’re leaving work early, which means you’re burning PTO to get your kid to a lacrosse tournament four hours away. That’s real. Go in knowing it.
Between games at the tournament you might have a 5-hour gap. You’re not driving home. You’re there all day. Bring the wagon and the chairs and read our tournament packing guide because that gap is a whole situation.
What Your Kid Actually Gets Out of It
Here’s where I stop being a buzzkill.
Club lacrosse is a different level of serious and your kid will feel it the first practice. The coaches mean business. The players are there to get better. There’s a standard expected from everyone, and your kid is going to figure out pretty quickly where they stand as a player. That might sound rough, but I think it’s genuinely valuable. Rec leagues don’t really give kids that feedback. Club does.
When my kid went to the first tryout, he came over to me during a water break, still breathing hard, and said “Dad, these guys can actually catch. I can play with these guys.” That was it for us. He wanted in and he pushed me to make it happen. I’m glad he did.
The acceptance email came with a 48-hour window to pay or pass. We had a real conversation about whether this was the right move. For us, in an area that’s not a lacrosse hotbed, club was basically the only way for him to play meaningful lacrosse outside of a two-month rec season in the spring. That made the decision easier, even when the number on the invoice did not.
The Conversation You Need to Have First
Before you sign anything, sit down with your kid and be straight with them. Ours went something like this:
This costs real money and we’re making a real commitment. We don’t expect you to be the best player on the field. But once you’re in middle school, I need to see that you want this. I need to see you out in the yard with a stick. I need you to want to go to practice, not tolerate going to practice. If you’re sitting on the bench because you’d rather just hang out with your teammates, we can find a cheaper way to do that.
That’s it. We’re not trying to raise a Division I lacrosse player. We do want to know the money and the time is going somewhere.
So Is It Worth It?
For us, yes. My kid loves it, he’s getting pushed by better players, he’s learning what it means to earn something. I’ve learned more about lacrosse than I ever planned to and I own gear I didn’t know existed two years ago.
But it’s not for every family and it’s not for every kid. If the money is going to genuinely hurt, take a year and see if your kid stays hungry for it. If your kid is lukewarm on it, wait. If your kid is dragging you toward it and won’t stop talking about lacrosse, find a way to make it work.
The sport gives back what you put in. That part I can actually promise.
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