(July 8, 2007) — Shelly Maguire waited as long as she could before trading in and upgrading some of her family's old sports equipment.
Maguire and her husband, Dennis, have four children ages 6 to 11 who play soccer, lacrosse and hockey as well as skiing, snowboarding and gymnastics. The family usually follows the hand-me-down philosophy: The oldest child will get the new equipment first and pass it down the line.
"It's very expensive to play sports these days, so sometimes you have no choice but to pass equipment down," said Maguire, 38, a resident of Pittsford who recently traded in a large gym bag full of hockey equipment after her children used it for more than two seasons.
"In our house ... sometimes you have no choice but to pass down equipment. They (the children) might not like it, but that's what you have to do to save money and keep peace of mind," Maguire said.
Joe Tyson manages Play It Again Sports in Henrietta, where people can trade in their "gently used" sports goods for newer equipment. Tyson said he thinks the risks of certain contact sports, such as football, hockey and lacrosse, should require keeping up with technology and keeping the equipment current as much as possible.
Jim Young is the house director for Perinton Youth Hockey and serves as the program's equipment director. He said the two biggest mistakes parents make are buying equipment that's too big because they don't want to buy new gear anytime soon; or riding it out with older equipment that's too small because they don't want to spend the money on new gear.
"When they are younger they probably should buy used because they will grow out of the gear quickly, maybe only getting one season out of it," Young said. "Buy a good quality pair of used skates to start off, then when they're going to play more competitive hockey or in travel leagues if the child is serious about the sport make the investment and buy new."
JBOCCACI@DemocratandChronicle.com
