Our 2023 “Dad’s Impact Report” Reveals That Fathers Play a Critical Role In Helping their Kid’s Succeed in Sports and Activities!

Soccer athlete's mom driving around her daughter in a minivan

Expert Author

Dave Knoepfle – Parent of a Former Student-Athlete, Team Fundraising Expert, eTeamSponsor

Author Bio: Dave is Chief Marketing Officer at eTeamSponsor, the leading fundraising partner for teams. He has been helping schools raise money for their teams, clubs, and activities since 2022.

Details



Read Time: 4 min



Updated: 6/15/2023

Driving Through A Wildfire

The smoke from the wildfires burning nearby made breathing difficult and visibility on I-80 poor. Hands tight on the wheel my son and I followed the other cars creeping along the incline up to Lake Tahoe, CA. As I sipped my now cold coffee remaining from our earlier 5am departure from home, I wondered how many other cars on the road were dads on their way to the mountain annual bike event at Northstar……. If this story of early morning wake-ups (and driving through wildfires) sounds familiar, you must have (or had) children participating in organized sports or activities too!

Benefits of Participating in Sports

Every year millions of kids across the U.S. participate in organized sports and activities. The benefits of participating in sports and activities are well known – better grades, lower risk of being arrested, and lower risk of drug and alcohol abuse, to name a few. Less is discussed about the important role parents play in supporting their kids. With Father’s Day on June 18th, the team here at eTeamSponsor initiated our 1st annual “Dad’s Impact” survey of over 200 parents about the role dads play in supporting her child’s extracurriculars. For anyone who participated in organized sports or activities as a kid, the results confirm what you probably already know, dads play a critical role in ensuring their children’s success!

Dad’s Are Early Risers

On average dad’s dedicate a generous five and a half hours a week – and 15% spend a whopping ten hours or more a week – supporting their kid’s extracurricular activities. Not only are dad’s commited to their kid’s success, the are also early risers, with 28% saying that they’ve woken up at 4am or earlier, to attend a child’s sporting event or activity – now that’s dedication!

The Cost of Organized Sports & Activities

Dad’s support wasn’t just limited to his time, survey respondents said they spent an average of $6,500 a year to fund their children’s participation in organized sports and activities. And over 13% of dad’s indicated spending a staggering $10,000 or more a year on their kid’s organized sports and activities!

Given the high (and rising) cost of participating in organized sports and activities, it came as no surprise to find that 70% of dads indicated that their children used fundraising to help support their team, activity, or club. The traditional carwash (24%), digital fundraising platforms, like eTeamSponsor (19%), and the good old bake sale (19%) were perceived by dads as the most effective fundraising tools their children use to support their extracurricular activities.

Where digital fundraising really rises to the top is that it is the most profitable form of fundraising that takes the least amount of time. If you’d like learn more about digital fundraising and the pros/cons of these different types of fundraising for teams and activities, read our upcoming blog post coming soon!

Average Number of Sports & Activities Per Child

Despite our in-going assumptions, kids today don’t appear to be as over-scheduled as we thought, averaging just 3 organized sports or activities per child per family per year. This finding warrants more study and could be the result of reduced participation rates in high school sports post-pandemic or a sign that the trend of specialization (focusing on one sport or activity) is continuing.

Conclusion

To all the dads out there, we say happy Father’s Day and thank you for your dedication and support! Keep that coffee pot humming and the SUV or Minivan fueled up and ready to go! Oh, and my son’s mountain bike event in Tahoe? A DNF (did not finish) but an epic wipeout and great story to tell his friend’s at school the next day, well worth the 5am wake-up and drive through smoke and flames!

Sources: The benefits of youth sports is sourced from NFHS article, “The Case for High School Sports“. The remainder of the article is sourced from the May 2023 eTeamSponsor “Dad’s Impact” Survey of over 200 parents of school age children (5-18) in the United States.