Certainly, there are still the recreation leagues out there for pure enjoyment, but they are shrinking. Recreation soccer leagues are jam-packed for beginners and youngsters. There are plenty of participants, coaches, venues and referees. But once players reach around age 12 and up, the options shrink, participation is down, and some rec leagues can't even field enough teams to play a full schedule.

Why is this? Once a player reaches that age, playing purely for fun is almost out of the equation. If a player isn't on a competition team by then, it may be too late.

"All of David's friends got together and decided they were going to try out for a certain club," said Allen. "There were a couple that didn't make it, and to be honest, David doesn't seem to see them as much. He is always with his friends from the team."

Making the jump from simply being on a Jr. Jazz basketball team to playing on an Amateur Athletic Union traveling team requires a concerted effort, both by the player and the parents. The time and money are going to increase, sometimes by as much as 10, 20 or even 100 times.

Bill Paulos' son Nicholas plays for an AAU basketball team named Pump N Run. The club has a sponsorship deal with adidas, which means that equipment such as shoes, uniforms, travel bags and tournament entry fees are all donated by the athletic-company juggernaut. But that doesn't mean that it is a free ride.

"It is nice that adidas pays for all that," said Paulos. "But with them traveling all over, I estimate it costs a couple of thousand dollars per year to have your kid play."

Pump N Run played in a tournament in Las Vegas last Easter weekend — it lost in the semifinals to a team from California sponsored by Tyson Chandler, now with the New Orleans Hornets, that had its own tour bus — one of four to six tournaments the team attends over the year. It has been playing together since most players were 11-year-olds. Paulos estimates that every player on the team spends 50 weeks out of the year concentrating on basketball.

"They take a week or so off after the high school basketball season is over, but then it is right back at it practicing three or four times a week and then lifting weights or doing conditioning on other days."

Most of the costs are measurable, but what about the time needed away from work to take kids to practice, or travel to a tournament or watch them play? How much does it take away from the parents' ability to earn a living? Where is the happy medium? For parents who are hoping to offset all the costs with a college scholarship, there may be a harsh reality coming.

"I think that with all the money we spend on Nathan for baseball, that if we just invested it, when it came time for college we would be way better off than if we are banking on him getting a full-ride scholarship to some university," said Teahan. "The truth is, there just aren't that many players that are offered full-ride scholarships."

Of course, spending thousands of dollars per year on sports isn't done by every parent in hopes of it becoming an investment.

"We have Nicholas playing with these guys because we think it is a tremendous opportunity for him," said Paulos. "We aren't doing it so he can get a scholarship. If that happens, great. But how many kids get a chance to be taught by some great coaches, travel the country and see what life is like for other people? We are letting him play because we think it benefits him as a person, not just as an athlete."

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com