@Andrea Kulberg For us, the biggest cost of being part of a travel team isn’t actually the money, it’s the time we lose together as a family. My daughter has been on a travel team for four years, and weekends, half terms and Easter holidays can be really difficult to plan around training and hell week. There’s a financial impact too, of course, and it affects the kind of family holidays we can take. But we’ve also seen the positives trickle down to her younger siblings...the commitment, perseverance, determination and willingness to turn up when they don’t feel 100% are qualities they’ve learned from watching their big sister, and we’ve seen them apply those same qualities to their own sports (netball and dance). And for my daughter, the friendships and life skills she’s gained through cheer have been huge. The cost to the whole family is very real, but in our experience, those benefits far outweigh the costs.