Youth club team sports have been revered for their rigorous training, specialized coaching and the market for private youth sports have skyrocketed, but are these high-intensity teams worth the pretty penny?

The U.S Youth Sports Market is reported to be worth $19.2 billion, rivaling the NFL at merely $15 billion and it’s projected to reach $77.6 billion by 2026 according to a report from Wintergreen Research. Where did this surge in popularity and worth in youth sports come from? Well, the most likely answer is privatized club sports teams. So what’s the deal with club sports? Why are parents pouring their income into travel teams and private coaching?

Oconee High School rising Freshman Marin Torres has been swimming since she was 5-years-old and went on to swim on OHS’s swim team as an eighth grader. Upon joining a club team in 2019, she finds it to be more intense than her school team.

“It’s more competitive, that’s for sure. And practice (is) every day, so definitely more rigorous than school swim,” Torres said. “And definitely more organized than school swim because school swim, my coach even mentioned that no one else wanted to be the swim coach so that’s the only reason why she’s there.”

Torres also notes how her school team can’t have tailored coaching due to the vast differences in skill level.

“There are only two groups, pretty much split into the ones who can swim already and the ones who need help swimming, and then their practice is not that strenuous,” Torres said. “The coaches don’t really keep an eye on you. They kind of just trust you to swim.”

However, while the coaching is lacking, Torres finds richer experiences with her school team.

“The swim meets are fun because you get to see people from other high schools and you’re with your friends from school,” Torres said. “Also you get swim uniforms and a Letterman jacket, you’re representing your school, but other than that, it’s just kind of like a fun thing to do for me. Not really like a competitive thing.”

Though with club, Torres noticed the divide between athletes due to economic status.

“It’s not a cheap thing. So it kind of feels wrong that club is more expensive, therefore you get better training, but that’s how sports works. So I do notice that the people with money tend to be better because they get the training.”

Despite the costs and benefits of either teams, Torres finds balance in both.

“I feel like if I dropped club and just did high school, it would be more of just a fun (thing) because practices aren’t that hard so you just go and talk to your friends and the coaches don’t really care,” Torres said. “But if I only did club, it’d be a competitive environment. So I think a mix of two is really good because then you get the fun and also the training you need.”

For Jim Peeples’ first 15 years at Piedmont University he coached the baseball team before he stepped away to fulfill his new duties as the Athletic Director for the next seven years. Prior to his professional career however, he was a tri-sport athlete and swam on a club team in his hometown but chose his high school athletic career over the private club experience.

“I transitioned out of swimming because my high school didn’t have a swim team. So for me to continue, I would have missed out on playing the other sports at my high school” Peeples said. “Now, I could have continued swimming at the club but I really wanted the chance to compete for my high school.”

Peeples, similarly to Torres, found more enriching experiences and relationships on his high school team. Making him thankful that he chose high school over his club.

“All these years later, there’s a group of us that get together and we go on a golf trip in the spring,” Peeples said. “So 40 years out of high school, a group of guys that played sports together, we still get together today. So those are lifetime bonds that we built because of our involvement in high school athletics.”

As Athletic Director, when reviewing recruits Peeples has seen fewer ideal athletes as club has become more highly regarded than high school teams.

“There are a lot of talented kids playing travel sports, but there’s a difference between being talented and being a great competitor. I would rather have the young person in my program who’s the great competitor and who competes for the good of their team, then the kid who’s ultra talented and doesn’t compete all that well. And also, that’s really what our coaches are looking for. Who are those great competitors who are going to be those great teammates? Who is going to be the person who puts themselves second and their teammates first? Travel sports has taken away from that a little bit right”

After playing both travel ball and high school sports, Andrew Klein graduated from Piedmont University in 2023 and is slated to be a paraprofessional at a Middle School in Habersham county where he will also coach baseball. As a K-12 student, Klein played travel baseball and continued to play through Piedmont before quitting and transitioning to coach at a private club, but Klein argues that the private youth sports industry has progressed into more of a flashy lifestyle than an industry based in producing athletes.

“It definitely is more of a money grab nowadays,” Klein said. “Parents want to be so fast to spend the money and get the cool jerseys or have the cool walk up music for their kids and just say they play travel sports,” Klein said.

As a coach, Klein attempts to steer his athletes away from the false narrative of promised attention and success just for being in the club and to instead find joy in the game.

“I just try to tell kids that no matter the money, you first got to find the right coach for you, you’ve got to find the right players that you want to play with, how you want to play the game first, and focus a lot less on just your win loss record,” Klein said. “Social media has all these people being able to post their highlights and tag these college coaches and it seems like it’s just a persona that they want to be like other kids that post these things and it’s more about how they look and how people perceive them then what their skills are (and) how much they actually love the game.”

The University of Georgia’s baseball team experienced a disappointing postseason that drove players to work harder.

Christopher Lakos, the assistant athletic director for the baseball team at the University Of Georgia, addressed the 2019 season and why the team is not getting back to that dominant 2019 form.

“Last year and this past year a lot of good players got hurt” he said.

With the amount of injured players a lot of back up players had to step up. These players had to work harder, and keep their spot on the starting roster. Most importantly help their team win. some may agree UGA may have players that will rise on the scene

Lakos added , “We have three players that will have a break out season two pitchers and one hitter. The pitchers are Liam Sullivan and Jaden Woods and the hitter is Corey Collins”.

Fans may agree that these players might have a breakout season, but the rest of the team needs to step up. In the most recent postseason the bulldogs had a record of 1-4 and got eliminated from the postseason early. The bulldogs showed a glimpse of what they capable of in a game against Hofstra University, wining the game 24-1 with 16 hits and 7 home runs.

Georgia fans have seen the bulldogs get defeated and defeat other teams, and there is only hopes for the best as the new season approaches

The NFL Draft is the one night a year where a player’s life can change by just one announcement.

Claude Felton, senior associate athletic director of The University of Georgia said, “Most players that want to go to these big schools dream of being in the NFL.”

Georgia football set a number of records in the 2022 NFL Draft. 15 players were drafted from the University, making this the highest number of players selected from a single school in the seven-round draft history. Additionally, Georgia set the record for the most defensive players drafted from a single school in the first round. 

Key Georgia players such as Travon Walker, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Lewis Cine and many others were drafted by a NFL team. This worried many fans, who pondered over what the team will do next year without these Georgia stars. 

“No matter how good a coach you are, if you don’t have the players, it’s going to be hard to get to where you want to go,” Felton said. 

To solve this issue, Felton discussed head coach Kirby Smart’s main prioritization in the off season, recruiting. Recruiting is one of Georgia’s strengths. Smart mentioned that recruiting is 50% of his job. Especially after the 2022 National Championship game, high school boys dream of playing at a top performing university.

“Those 15 guys that got drafted, there was a time when no one had heard of them either,” Felton said while discussing accurate recruiting. 

While most players’ main goal is to declare for the NFL Draft, not every player chooses that path. College football players are allowed to declare for the draft as early as their junior year of college. This has been the case for many Georgia alumni such as Herschel Walker, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. 

However, it’s still normal to see players stay for their fourth year and get a degree or have one more chance to enjoy their time in college. In this upcoming season, Nolan Smith, Willam Poole, Stetson Bennett and many others will be making their way back between the hedges one last time.

“Some guys wanted to stay their whole four years and graduate, but a lot of guys knew when it was time for them to go and chase their dream,” said Julian Rochester, former defensive lineman at the University of Georgia. 

The Draft will forever remain one of the most historic nights in football. A so-called late pick in the 6th round could end up winning the Super Bowl and breaking countless records. Playing on the Georgia football team does not just mean putting on pads and running on a field. It means being a part of a family and doing whatever it takes to help your team succeed. 

The 15 players that were drafted in the 2022 draft will achieve great accomplishments on their respective teams. Equally, Georgia fans will never forget the impact all of the players the team lost had on the program. 

Georgia still has many young talented players on their roster as well, such as Brock Bowers and Kelee Ringo. Needless to say, the Georgia football team and staff is confident that they have everything it takes to be at the top next year.

“Kirby Smart and the entire Georgia football program will do their best to keep continuing being a championship football team”, said Rochester.

Everyone knows about Coach Kirby Smart’s success on the football field as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. But that’s only half of what we see.

“50% of Kirby Smart’s job is recruiting and evaluating players,” said Claude Felton, senior associate athletic director at the University of Georgia.

After winning the national championship in January, the number of amazingly talented players who want to come to Georgia has increased dramatically. Although the increased talent pool has given Smart lots of options, in some ways it has made the process more difficult.

“Only so many positions are available,” Felton said, adding that coaches have to take into account ensuring that all positions are filled on the field.

Another factor to consider is there may be several qualified recruits available, but the team cannot exceed the number of scholarships that are allowed, which adds another complication to the recruiting process.

“You have so many scholarships that you are allowed to give out,” Felton said.

For all NCAA Division I FBS schools, that number is 85. 

Even after considering the number of scholarships and position needs, Felton said there are other factors Coach Smart has to consider, which includes the player’s stats, football history, academics and other things.

The defending national champions Georgia Bulldogs lost some key position players to the NFL, including overall first pick edge rusher Travon Walker, 13th pick defensive lineman Jordan Davis, 22nd pick linebacker Quay Walker, 28th pick defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt and 32nd pick safety Lewis Cine. But Georgia fans should feel confident that Coach Smart’s recruiting will help fill those gaps.

We lost some good players, Felton said. “But that doesn’t mean that the players coming up on the team won’t be as good as the players who left.”