Coaches Coach expenses

[Flipsrus]

How does your gym do expenses/payments for coaches at meets? I've coached at places where I didn't get paid for coaching at any meets. Another place I coached at I would get paid every other session because there were 2 coaches to pay. Never got reimbursed for hotels, meals, etc. Just wondering how it is for everyone else.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Here in Australia it would be illegal not to pay a coach for attending a competition.

Which seems the only fair thing. How can a business ask an employee to work for free.

We pay the coaches their regular hourly rate to attend a competition, for however many hours they worked at the comp. they get higher pay rates on weekends and meets are always on weekends so that’s what they get.

In Australia the population is heavily centred in small areas. So unlike the US, where it is more spread out. The need to travel much for competition is minimal. I have never had a competition where my coaches have had to attend that would require flights or hotel stays.

We have had competitions like that for bigger events, but I attend them myself rather than send any of my staff. As they are only required for the groups I coach, not the usual competitions.

 

[txgymfan]

I don’t think that’s legal in the US either.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I am glad to hear that.

The problem with jobs like coaching gymnastics is that people tend to love them and be passionate about their job. Of course that in itself isn’t a problem.

The problem is that employers will find it easier to take advantage of employees who love their job.

These coaches would attend the meet anyway a lot of the time. Because they care about their gymnasts. So it’s easier for employees to say they volunteered to go, and not pay them.

But employees can’t work for free voluntarily.

 

[cmg]

At our gym the booster club pays for all the coaches' expenses and a stipend for meets. The gym does not pay any meet expenses. The booster is a non-profit and charges the parents separately from the gym and actively has fund raising events to help keep parent costs lower. I have not been involved for a while, but we used to pay $60 per session for each coach, $40 for meals for the day, $40 for gas if driving, and then any travel expenses ie hotels were paid with a receipt from the coach. For a while the booster club had a credit card and sometimes the booster club would just pay the coaches expenses for flight and hotel. If you consider all the hours coaches spend at meets it still does not add up to a lot, but it is better than nothing for sure. For first time parents it always takes some time and education to understand the difference between what they pay the gym of training expenses and what they pay the booster club for meet expenses but if they stay past the first year than they usually get it.

 

[Coach Kate]

We make a flat session rate, multiplied by the number of sessions we coach. We are reimbursed for parking expenses, and if it is a travel meet, gas/plane tickets and hotel stays are covered, and we receive a per diem check with a set amount for each breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head, but since I am an intermittent faster who only eats one meal a day, I pretty much always pocket a bit of cash here. We bring receipts for gas and parking, but if a hotel or flight is required, the gym books it with the owner's credit card, so no reimbursement is necessary. These things are calculated before the season starts and are divided by the number of athletes into their team fees for the season, along with the cost of the leotard and warm ups.

 

[flipdoctor]

currently we get $100 per session .58 cents per mile drove and $30 for food a day

 

[doublestrike]

We were given an amount to pay for coaches' expenses at the beginning of the season, which would include food, travel, hotel costs and their time. You would not get your money back if you didn't attend the meet, it's part of the agreement to be on the team. Once states, regionals and nationals kicked in, it would be divided among the gymnasts who attend. Nationals' costs were paid by the booster club.