[MerelyMortal]

I volunteer with kids, and I see parents who prioritize sports where they have to pay a lot of money for fees over more scholastic and much cheaper programs for the smaller chance of getting a sports scholarship/career than more plentiful academic scholarships.

I don't know if they think their children just aren't capable intellectually or what.

[falcolas]

At least in my case, sports was my parent’s opportunity to socialize. It was never really about my interests or well being, they didn’t want to lose their contextual friends and contacts. It was so bad I was disallowed from doing speech and debate in high school.

[SoftTalker]

There are some parents with delusions about their kids being pro athletes, but many are just providing their kid the opportunity to do something he likes, and can afford to do it.

There is a whole industry around youth sports that is designed to extract money from parents. That doesn't mean that the kids don't enjoy it though.