Playing through: Young athletes and their families adjust in troubled economy

DALLAS — Approaching 20 years of marriage and immersed in the constant adventures of raising four talented children, Mark and Arolynn Jones know how to manage a budget.

As with most parents, this requires largely unnoticed acts of selflessness: The kids come first.

So, even as doomsday economic predictions frazzle nerves everywhere — and elicit second-guesses on spending on items from Starbucks to SUVs — the Joneses continue to plunk down upward of $6,000 a year to fund their kids' athletic aspirations. Three of the Jones kids — Jordan, Matthew and Mason — are basketball standouts and play on select teams, travel nationwide to tournaments regularly and take weekly private lessons.

"As you can tell, that's a pretty big piece of what we do financially," said Mark Jones, a senior reimbursement specialist for Tenet Healthcare Corp. His wife works as a supervisor in corporate customer relations at the J.C. Penney Co. headquarters. He ranked sports close to the top of the family's priorities, just behind each other, church and school.

"We make sacrifices to get it done," he said.

The Joneses aren't alone. A spot check of youth sports organizations around the area, from ultracompetitive and pricey club teams to recreational leagues, indicates that parents who are weathering the recession remain willing to pay for their kids to play ball.

For some, it means the unfamiliar practice of relying on financial aid or squeezing the most out of available fundraisers; for others, it means a more acute awareness of what they're spending on sports.

"With sports and kids, you just find a way," said Wes Grandstaff, a longtime Dallas area select basketball coach and programming director at FieldhouseUSA in Frisco, Texas. "That's in good times and bad."

While the Joneses haven't experienced economic adversity, not all families have been as fortunate. One Dallas family, which spoke on the condition that names not be used, is struggling. The family business is in danger because of tax burdens, high overhead and clients cutting back because of the recession.

The idea of spending more than $2,000 for the upcoming season with the Sting Soccer Club for their 10-year-old daughter causes anxiety. She's old enough to start playing competitively, and the costs will soar.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the mother has asked her daughter, already knowing the answer, as she's watched her develop both athletically and socially.

"She loves it," the mother said. "What if we didn't let her do this? Everybody wants the best for her child."