Growing up we fell on the side of good enough to play but not rich enough to pay for elite sports so we took all the other kids in this same position and did a cheaper version of the the elite team.

We made sure we could cover the tourney fees then bought clearance jersey's and had numbers printed, no names, no logos. We did that every year and even when one of the parents volunteered to pay for nice uniforms the players voted against it because they had embraced the mentality that they didn't need to look good to play well.

The first year we played in every semi final.The following years we pulled ahead of the other local elite team and by the time HS came our elite lite version was the 80% of the varsity team.

Now that I have my own kids we are doing the same. Building a team of middle class and inner city kids who can't cover the cost but are good enough to play. We cover our tourney costs and then scratch out the uniforms and equipment player by player.

I have a very good feeling we will destroy some of these $2,500 per kids teams with our rag tag group of renegades.

The key component of elite teams in my opinion of elite teams is getting lots of reps against good competition. You can do that on a shoe string budget without sacrificing time away from family, schoolwork and other sports.