Everything has become more expensive recently. Food, electricity and higher interest rates have meant that it has become much tighter for many more people. It also shows in sports. Earlier in May, news wrote that even people with jobs and houses are struggling to pay for their children’s sports activities. Club managers from around the country said that problems with paying membership fees and training fees are a growing problem. It is a problem Sjur Røthe has caught on to. – I obviously think it’s boring, and it’s a difficult development of the sport with professionalization and such. It is challenging. You want both top sports and cross-country sports, says Sjur Røthe, and adds: – I get a little sick to my stomach when I see young, young skiers with several pairs of skis at local ski races. The environment is most important news meets the 34-year-old on the roller ski track in Stokke where he keeps up his form. Vossingen, who considered quitting after last season, is again ready for a new season on the cross-country national team. He will hunt for new medals and hopefully inspire even more children and young people. Sjur Røthe (right) with the bronze medal from the ski WC in Planica earlier this year. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Simen Hegstad Krüger took silver and bronze respectively. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB It is one of the reasons why he is concerned with the debate about costs surrounding children’s and non-sports sports. Another is that he and his partner Siv Emilie Løvvold became parents in March two years ago and therefore he can relate to the desire for the children to have the best possible equipment and to be able to participate in what they want, even if it is still perhaps a little early for his son Didrik. – The focus must be on those who do not have the means or opportunity to participate. That it is more important to focus on them. Those who have the means to participate, they will be able to participate anyway, he says, adding that it is “a difficult balancing act”. Although he understands the rush for equipment and the desire to have the best and latest, he is aware that it is not necessary. – The environment has meant a lot to me. I didn’t have the craziest equipment or anything like that when I was young, but I was very keen for us to be together, train together and have a social time. I think that is the most important thing. – A lot of shame Marco Elsafadi in the Norwegian Sports Association fears, like Røthe, that sport is in the process of praising itself. Marco Elsafadi from the Norwegian Sports Confederation is concerned about the prices in sport, and believes there is a lot of shame associated with the high costs. Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / NTB – The biggest barrier is finances. If you cannot pay the dues, you will not come. There is a lot of shame associated with not being able to pay, he says to news. He thinks back to when he was a kid, and ended up playing basketball instead of football. Precisely because of economics. Football demanded that the dues be paid, while a fervor around the basketball club allowed Elsafadi and the brothers to “pay” by taking part in charity work and carrying out other tasks. – It makes me sick to my stomach to think about saying no to children who won’t be allowed to train because they can’t pay the membership fee and training fee. The fear is that it will be like this, said May-Liss Ryan in Steinkjer Fotballklubb to news earlier in May. Røthe points to several possible solutions to ensure that no one is priced out and that clubs and circles all around avoid what Ryan fears. Several support schemes, reuse and a focus on sporting joy and activity rather than equipment and style are among them. – The most important focus must be on wanting to create motivated young people to be involved as long as possible, he says.
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– I get a bit of a stomach ache – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
