at our residential academy which takes care of schooling lodging nutrition and bestinclass football training for students in the age group of 815 years the fees could go up to rs 42 lakh a year says akshay chachra who leads the partnerships and marketing vertical at bhaichung bhutia football schools an initial allocation of rs 500010000 per annum must be planned for shoes clothes and logistics new delhi given the likely shortterm requirements liquidity is to be accorded more points you will have to juggle these expenses along with regular school fees as the expenses are not standardised or predictable monthly spends amount to rs 5000 including coaching fees he plays football for his school and last year received a scholarship from fc barcelona which runs an academy at his school says menezes says jyothi rajesh whose 14yearold son uttam is a budding chess champion we spend around rs 25000 annually on uttams chess activities including coaching and tournament fees a racquet could cost up to rs 14500 however one cannot avail of tax benefits under section 80e as those are meant for higher education and vocational courses the sporting journey entails a host of expenses apart from coaching fees in the last few years private academies founded by elite sportspersons have made their debut providing a structured platform to budding sportspersons the loan has to be repaid within 610 years egged on by sports enthusiast parents ananya budhivant 12 took up rifle shooting a couple of years ago rules of the gamedespite the euphoria around sports parents are yet to start saving and investing for sportrelated activities unlike conventional higher education goals he is not playing professionally yet so it is tough to set an estimate but we can invest rs 40000 a year to fund his aspirations she says the scholarship took care of most expenses last year while ancillary costs were met out of existing savings sessions with psychologists to build mental toughness can cost rs 15002000 you could also look at a separate policy for the child when he moves to the intermediate level says mathpal while junaid khateeb has been investing in mutual funds towards omars education expenses over the last four years but not specifically for sporting endeavours for this parents need to first estimate the costsa tricky task given that coaching fees and other expenses vary widely while her parents are determined to help her flourish as a sportsperson they are yet to put a financial plan in place to fund the goal like the budhivants rishi menezes is the proud father of another young achiever rakin jade menezes 10 who trained under a coach from fc barcelona last year a good quality bat costs rs 20000 and we may have to spend rs 60008000 on stumps gloves and shoes says his father junaid it equips your children with life skills that can come in handy even if they are not able to pursue sports professionally parents dip into their savings to fund