You’re right, the cost of ski racing has grown to crazy levels (my son was a FIS level racer for two years), but so has the costs of every kids sport. Kids sports was a $5.7 billion business just in Canada in 2014 (Check out this data: http://www.srgnet.com/2014/06/10/massive-competition-in-pursuit-of-the-5-7-billion-canadian-youth-sports-market/). It’s big, big, business now. Kids sports are professional sports now. Every sport (from hockey to basketball to soccer to lacrosse and everything in between) has expensive camps and travel and equipment – and parents who don’t want their kids to fall behind, pay up, and continue to do so, meaning unless there’s a sea change in structure and how we think about kids sports, I can’t see how this changes, which contributes to the growing inequalities in our society. And I say this as a parent who does not regret the expense and who still has another child in high level racing. But this is a bigger challenge than just ski racing.

—Greg O’Brien
Hamilton, Ontario

This letter was submitted in response to our series on cost. Have some thoughts on this? Send a letter to the editor. If it’s good, we’ll publish it. Letters to the editor are wholly the opinion of the author. Ski Racing Media does not endorse, edit, or fact-check letters to the editor.