A glimpse into the financial realities skating families are faced with to support their children's dreams...
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/figure-skating/news/newsid=50762.html?cid=rss
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/figure-skating/news/newsid=50762.html?cid=rss
But figure skating isn't cheap. In fact, as sports go, only horseback riding may be more expensive.
Parents of figure skaters fork out money for competitions, coaches, equipment, training, travel. Almost every time Tessa and Scott skated while growing up, a member of their families went along. So there was airfare and accommodations. They would have to pay for the accommodations of coaches, too. Tessa's costumes are $2,000 or more apiece. She goes through eight a year.
Five years ago, the pair decided to switch coaches and train in Michigan. So the Virtues bought a home there and Kate moved down to watch over her then-15-year-old daughter. She had to quit her job with the Law Society of Upper Canada to do it. At that point, the Virtues' three older children were mostly grown up and off to university. Jim, a lawyer, stayed behind in London to make the money to help finance everything.
The Moirs, meantime, were forced to remortgage their home in Ilderton to help cover the bills that began piling up 13 years ago when Scott and Tessa were brought together by Scott's aunt Carol.