Despite the climate, kids in Finland enjoy getting active outside as much as their peers in any other part of the world. However, organised activities for young people can be expensive, and costs are increasing.

Maurizio Pratesi, a former basketball player who now works with a sports and culture NGO, believes that there are now clear financial obstacles to participation for some. At the elite level, in some of the best clubs in the country, the costs can run into the thousands of euros.

"I think the barrier becomes more of a problem the older the kids get," says Pratesi. "Of course if you are thinking about families that have a lot of kids, that have 3-4 kids, it's almost impossible. If you have 2 or 3 girls and boys that want to do sports then you have to pay 10-thousand euros per year. I would say it's definitely impossible."

Social support helps elite teams too

Pratesi’s own career demonstrates the potential benefits at the elite level of keeping access to sports and hobbies open to all. Although his family wasn't wealthy and his chosen sport was expensive, he managed to keep playing organised basketball and eventually made it to the Finnish national team. He also played as a professional in Germany for six years.

"I was growing up in the suburbs in north Helsinki, and I was lucky to be involved in a club where they saw that this kind of social support is important," explains Pratesi. "I was also lucky that there was a coach who had a son the same age as me and saw a lot of talent in me. So basically I think they skipped some bills that would have been sent to my family so I was able to stay involved."

Now retired from professional basketball, Pratesi is currently managing director at Walter ry, an NGO that works to combat marginalisation among young people. A key part of Walter's strategy is offering affordable hobbies for those who might miss out because of the cost.

Some statistics confirm the necessity of such work. One study in Helsinki found that children from better-off families were considerably less likely to give up hobbies than their less wealthy peers. The City of Helsinki’s director of youth affairs Tommi Laitio says that he believes the statistics may hide the true extent of the problem.

Finances and information lacking

"I would assume that there is still some stigma in stating financial problems as the reason," says Laitio. "I think often young people give other reasons than the financial difficulties in the family."

These issues represent a problem for the city of Helsinki, which has set a target that every young person in the city should have at least one hobby. Tommi Laitio believes that extra-curricular activities play an important role in young people's development.

"The benefits of hobbies are that it allows young people to have shared experiences with other people, it allows them to form adult relationships outside the family and school, and it allows them to see what other possibilities they might have for their future as they meet other young people," notes Laitio.

Laitio sees the challenge in meeting his goal as two-pronged, encompassing both financial and practical issues. Both will have to be tackled if more young people are not to miss out on the opportunities available.

"I guess the biggest difficulties are I think knowledge and financial, on the other hand. I think we still have great difficulties in getting information out to young people, on all the possibilities that are available in Helsinki," explains Laitio.

"And then on the other hand, I would see it as a great challenge that many of the hobbies that young people would want to pursue are very expensive, especially for low-income families."

Find out more in our television report at 11:05am on TV1, and answer our survey to let us know how your family manages your children's hobbies.