How much it actually costs parents to raise a sporting prodigy.

Have you ever dreamed of raising the next big sporting star?

Cheering them on as they win Olympic gold?  Do you ever look at your kids and think they could make it big?

Well you may let go of those lofty dreams in a minute. Say goodbye to your little Simone Biles or Cathy Freeman.

According to CNN, if you want your kid to make it as an athlete, you’ll need to fork out upwards of $300,000.

They calculated the real cost of raising a tennis star from the age of 5 to 18, and suddenly every parent of a clumsy kid is feeling pretty smug.

Listen: On This Glorious Mess, Holly Wainwright says she wouldn’t want to raise a sporting prodigy, even if it was free. Post continues below. 

If you’ve got the money to back your little one, sure, you could have the next Serena Williams on your hand, raking in $78 million in prize money over her career. But that’s a bit of a gamble, because according to the International Tennis Federation, half of professional tennis players make no money at all.

The whopping figure of $300,000 covers all the costs, from training and equipment, to attendance at elite sporting academies.

But what it doesn’t take into account are the other costs. The pressure on kids. And the pressure on you, the drain of early mornings dragging yourself out of bed to do the training run, and standing on the sidelines shivering every precious Saturday.

It also got us thinking, if you gave up on the dream of going elite, what could you spend all that money on instead?

You could put a deposit on a new home AND take the kids travelling around the world. Heck, while you're at it, buy a house overseas!

You could pay for your kids to go to uni and not amass a crippling debt.

Or you could just be really decadent and order avocado on toast at brunch every weekend.

For more stories from the front line of family life, listen to the full episode of This Glorious Mess here and subscribe in iTunes.