Many still treat sports as something free. They imagine running on the street, playing football with friends, or hitting badminton near home. But where exactly do you run? On crowded roads or narrow sidewalks? Do you really play badminton by standing in a residential lane and tapping the shuttle back and forth?
Once you start training seriously, with a regular schedule, proper equipment, and real concern for injury prevention and performance, spending money becomes unavoidable.
Take some of the most common sports such as footall, badminton, or running.
A good pair of shoes is not optional. It is close to essential if you want to avoid injury. Your feet and knees will pay the price otherwise. A decent pair of running shoes or turf shoes can easily cost several million dong (VND1 million equals US$38).
Sportswear does not have to be branded, but it needs to handle sweat and allow free movement. If you train regularly, this category alone can easily add up to VND5 to 7 million a year.
People run on a bridge in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Pexels/Duy Nod
Then there are venue costs. A two-hour badminton session for four people can cost each around $2. At three sessions a week, that monthly expense becomes significant.
There are also smaller expenses: Shuttlecocks, rackets, balls, drinks, parking, even post-game gatherings. These are part of the social side of sports in Vietnam. And those costs add up too.
Once you move into more demanding sports such as cycling, tennis, or serious gym training, expenses rise sharply.
A basic full sports bike setup can cost VND40 to 50 million ($1,500 to $1,900). A gym membership with a personal trainer can run into hundreds of dollars a year. At that point, sports stop being a simple habit and become a real financial investment.
Health is worth investing in. The real question is why a basic need such as physical activity has become so expensive for many urban residents. For some, it can exceed several times their average income.
The answer may lie in public infrastructure.
In many major cities around the world, people can run in large parks, play on free or low-cost public courts, or use dedicated cycling lanes. These spaces lower costs and make exercise a natural part of daily life.
In many large urban areas, public sports space remains limited and unevenly distributed. Parks are scarce. Free playing areas are even rarer. For people who want to exercise seriously, private services often become the only real option.
A livable city should offer more than shopping malls, office towers, and wide roads. It should also provide enough space for people to move, breathe, and care for their health on equal terms.
Encouraging exercise cannot stop at slogans. It requires real investment in large parks, open sports grounds, and streets designed for runners and cyclists. Only then will the cost of playing sports seriously stop being such a major barrier.