Blair Cole of Hawaii Kai considers himself fortunate that he can afford to pay for as much individual sports coaching and training and club travel as his son and daughter can handle.

The father of 14-year-old twins is among many who see a trend that could put young athletes who don’t have access to specialized training at a serious disadvantage.

“I believe so,” said Cole, whose son, Kala, is a football player heading into ninth grade at Kamehameha. “It seems nowadays the separation could be getting wider. Not everyone has the means to pay for training and travel ball.”

This is a trend not just in Hawaii, but nationally. Some families spend more than 10% of their income on registration fees, travel, camps and equipment for their children’s sports, according to a 2017 Time magazine article headlined “How Kids’ Sports Became a $15 Billion Industry.”

Participation in Little League baseball has declined, and some critics say it is because skill levels of players have become too disparate.

Nearly 2.7 million children per year participated in Little League at its peak, around 2000, said Little League International spokesman Keith Fountain.

“In the past 18 years, there has been a slight year-to-year decline of between 1 and 3%,” Fountain told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Now, around 2 million children per year participate, he said.

Reid Okimoto, an experienced youth baseball coach, said the decline in Hawaii is not limited to Little League. He blamed the advent of youth travel ball for just seven teams playing in the state Mustang tournament last month.

“When I played, there was no such thing as travel ball,” Okimoto, 42, said. “You either played on a community team or in a league. In order to travel, you had to win. Now anyone can travel, for the wrong reason, that’s what I think. You’re talking to a baseball guy who believes in playing for your community and your community’s high school.”

Highly competitive travel club teams are replacing community leagues that focus on participation as much as or more than wins and losses, Okimoto said.

The best teams of the young players in Hawaii have enjoyed great success nationally, however.

Prior to 2005, no Hawaii team had won the Little League World Series. After last year’s victory by the Honolulu team, Hawaii has now won three of the past 15 LLWS championships, and also had a runner-up.

“It really has changed a lot. Community leagues dominated the scene,” said Gerald Oda, who has been a youth baseball coach for 25 years. “We didn’t have club, didn’t have travel teams.”

“There are upsides to the frenzy,” according to the Time article.

“Some kids thrive off intense competition, and the best players receive an unprecedented level of coaching and training. The travel circuit can also bring people of different backgrounds together in a way that local leagues by definition do not.”

That was seen last August, when the teams from Hawaii and Georgia competed hard against each other, but also bonded through a display of sportsmanship.

As Hurricane Lane headed toward Hawaii, the Georgia players contributed to a relief fund for their opponents’ home state.

“It was a good lesson for our kids,” Oda said. “The guys across the field are not your enemy. Especially these days, with so much us-against-them mentality in the world, when Georgia did that it reinforced our ideals, and what we want to teach the kids.”

The Hawaii team returned the aloha with quickly constructed lei for the Georgia players and coaches.

And the concept of aloha is why some say Hawaii kids will be more likely to keep pace in the race to attain athletic skills and get exposure.

GPA football camp director Rich Miano is among many who run camps and clinics who “scholarship” kids based on need, and pro athletes from Hawaii such as Marcus Mariota do the same as sponsors.

“There are a lot of free clinics, and a lot of people who want to give back,” Cole said.

Also, if competition and skill completely replace recreation and participation at the youth level, there would have to be an adjustment at the adult level to make things fair.

“If you’re saying you gotta be good to play a sport, there are a lot of people that should be getting kicked off of golf courses,” Hawaii AYSO chief Clyde Asato said.