Chicago (AP) – Sports for young people are a large part of the life of Karli Casamento. Her son, Jax, 15, golf course and plays in three baseball teams. Her youngest son, Colt, 7, plays baseball and basketball.
Costs, especially for Jax, are empowered in a hurry. This is why Casamento, 48, and her husband, Michael, 46, carefully watch for the ramifications of prices on their sports budget for young people.
“All their equipment, I am sure, comes from China,” said Karli Casamento, second -year teacher in the suburbs of Philadelphia. “As they grow, they need new equipment. It is therefore certainly a concern.”
For families such as Casamentos and companies on the market, there is a continuous uncertainty surrounding the possible effects of President Donald Trump’s prices – the reference rates of 10%, as well as a 30% rate on Chinese products – on sports for young people.
Nike, Adidas, Under Armor and Puma were one of the 76 companies that signed a letter from April 29 to Trump asking for an exemption from reciprocal rates shoes. The letter of distributors and retailers from America shoe warned that the prices “would become a major impact at the cash register at each family”.
Amer Sports, the parent company of Wilson Sporting Goods and Louisville Slugger, minimized the effect of prices when he announced his income in the first quarter on May 20. But looking beyond this year, the financial director Andrew Page mentioned the price as a way the company could compensate for the higher import rates.
Dick’s Sporting Goods reaffirmed its orientations on the profits for 2025 when it provided its update of the first quarter on May 28. CEO Lauren Hobart said Dick did not plan to reduce his product assortment in response to tariff costs, and that his guidance confirmation was based on her conviction that she can manage the situation.
“We are constantly assessing our prices up to the level of articles, at SKU level, and we do it according to the demand of consumers and the profitability of the company,” said Hobart in response to a question on possible price increases. “We have a very advanced pricing capacity, much more advanced than before, and much more allowed to make decisions in real time and rapid.”
Many of the most popular sports in the United States are counting on imported equipment
The United States has been the largest importer of sports items since 2010, representing 31% of global imports in 2022, according to a report by the World Trade Organization 2024. Stimulated by racket sports, China is the largest exporter of sports items at 43% in 2022.
Fucked by golf course, badminton and tennis equipment, Vietnam and Taiwan have experienced rapid expansion in the export of outdoor sports equipment to the United States from 2018 to 2024, according to data from the consulting company, Alixpartners. Vietnam increased by 340% to $ 705 million, and Taiwan increased by $ 946 million.
Prices of 46% for Vietnam and 32% for Taiwan could come into force next month after a 90 -day break.
Hockey pads, sticks and protective equipment are often imported. Ditto for baseball gloves and composite and aluminum bats, which are often imported or use imported materials, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. Football objectives, butt’s nets and cones often come from low -cost labor markets.
“You cannot go around the fact that many things we use in youth sports come from abroad,” said Travis Dorsch, founding director of Lab Sports Families at Utah State University. “So, if the prices come into force and in a long -term or significant manner, this will affect sports for young people.”
The Casamento family applauds the phillies of Philadelphia, and this is how Jax and Colt went up to baseball. Karli Casamento described the sports “means of socializing, and this makes them active”.
But the equipment has become a major expenditure for the family. Jax has a $ 400 bat and a $ 300 glove, Karli Casamento said, and his capture equipment is $ 700. There is an additional cost for registering for his travel team, in addition to what it costs to get to tournaments.
“We tried to tell Jax:” Well, you are in ninth year now, do you really need to play tournament ball? You will not grow up and be, you know, the next Mike Schmidt “, things like that,” said Karli Casamento, “because it’s just, it’s $ 5,000 per year and now we have two children in sport.”
Prices may not have an impact also on all sports families
This effect will most likely be felt by middle and low -income families, threatening recent gains in participation rates for sports for young people.
Sports & Fitness Industry Association, which follows the participation of young people through sport, discovered in 2023, there was a 6% increase among young people who regularly participated in a team sport which, according to him, was the highest rate (39.8%) since 2015. Study of the Aspen Institute Released in October has shown that participation for girls has been at its highest levels since at least 2012.
“I am really concerned about the fact that we will increase this great dynamic because families, who already say that sport is becoming more and more expensive, the equipment becomes more expensive and that they continue to stretch to operate this, as could be the one who puts them in a way above the touch,” said Todd Smith, president and CEO of Sports & Fitness Industry.
Smith was in China in April for a meeting of the board of directors of the World Federation of Good Industries. He visited manufacturing facilities while he was in the country.
“The ones I have gone are really, really impressive,” said Smith. “The first class, high technology, like a height. And the thought that prices will suddenly allow an installation of more than $ 10 million to appear the next day in the United States, it is not possible.”
Low -income families already felt financial pressure with sports for young people before Trump was elected to a second term. According to The Aspen Institute study25.1% of children aged 6 to 17 years of households earning less than $ 25,000 regularly played a sport in 2023, down slightly by 25.8% in 2022. It is compared to 43.5% of household children earning at least $ 100,000, slightly against 42.7% in 2022.
The sports participation of young people has a wide range of public health ramifications, said Tom Farrey, founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute.
“This incredibly virtuous cycle can be engaged if you can simply remove children from their phone and sofas and in the game and they have sustained experience in adolescence,” said Farrey. “And if you don’t, you are at risk of offering a range of health consequences, including obesity.”
By playing three baseball teams, Jax Casamento has training sessions for his travel team and also takes strike lessons. The Casamentos transformed a baseball trip into South Carolina on family vacation last year.
Michael Casamento is a teacher of physical education in a primary school, therefore the concerns of the family concerning the effect of prices on the cost of sports for young people go beyond their two boys.
“I work with many children who are a lower socio-economic status,” said Karli Casamento. “It is really difficult for these types of families to be able to afford to play sports.”
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