Parents Competition Fees

[triplethreat+1]

Our coaches fees etc are rolled into the monthly payments. For actual meets we just pay the specific meet fees- so since my dd made it to provincials, I had to pay an extra $110, which is exactly the amount that shows up on the GO website. We don't have any flyaway meets for WAG though, our T&T team does but I don't know how that works.

 

[e'smum]

sorry does your gym charge/pay fees or is it a booster club? I think that is one benefit of having a booster club involved, is hopefully better transparency and control.

they charge. no booster club allowed......

 

[e'smum]

So...we get charged our portion of:
Coach session fees
coach travel (airfare, rental car, hotel)
coach per diem based on the city they are in

When we are given our meets in the fall, we are given a breakdown of costs.

this is how it should be. we get nothing like this. honestly, in the past, i never really felt a need for it. i was even told i was getting a credit last year, never did but never followed up. now i want a receipt down to the penny.

 

[gymgal]

we get NO receipts, itemizations, ect.... we don't see what the meet fees include. and what they are saying ppl owe makes no sense. i am being told i owe more than one teammate who went to San Diego and we didn't go. i should get a credit.

I am a little confused. For the bolded part, are the gymnasts at different levels? Did your dd not go because of her level or because she was injured/you chose not to go? Also, are these fees for travel that has already taken place (as in - you owe more due to additional expenses we didn't anticipate) or for the upcoming season?

As for the specifics - alcohol, family travel - I don't think there are any books on the law for this. There are laws for tax deductions on the business but that's a different situation. This is no different than a gym charging outrageous tuition costs. It's their company. They can charge what they want. If it's too extreme, the customers will rebel.

Having said all this, I don't have a problem with a gym owner choosing to give their coaches (or him/herself) extra travel reimbursement for some family travel. I mean, these coaches are away from their children so much during meet season and even throughout the year. Letting them have a little family time while at a destination spot or two is a small price to pay to acknowledge this sacrifice. And really, it's either that or the owner pays the coaches more to account for this and then tuition is increased. Either way, the customer is paying for it.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

We have 5 girls flying to Seattle this weekend for an elite qualifier meet, both head coaches are going along with their daughter. We are only being charged for one head coach (as technically only one coach is needed) they are paying for the other head coach and their daughter to travel. They are given a daily budget for what the coach can spend on food each day, I guess I never really thought about whether or not that would include him having a beverage or two with his meal. As long as it's after the meet I really wouldn't care.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

I will also add that the coaches fees are paid by our booster club and all receipts are provided and can be viewed by anyone at anytime.

 

[e'smum]

I am a little confused. For the bolded part, are the gymnasts at different levels? Did your dd not go because of her level or because she was injured/you chose not to go? Also, are these fees for travel that has already taken place (as in - you owe more due to additional expenses we didn't anticipate) or for the upcoming season?

As for the specifics - alcohol, family travel - I don't think there are any books on the law for this. There are laws for tax deductions on the business but that's a different situation. This is no different than a gym charging outrageous tuition costs. It's their company. They can charge what they want. If it's too extreme, the customers will rebel.

Having said all this, I don't have a problem with a gym owner choosing to give their coaches (or him/herself) extra travel reimbursement for some family travel. I mean, these coaches are away from their children so much during meet season and even throughout the year. Letting them have a little family time while at a destination spot or two is a small price to pay to acknowledge this sacrifice. And really, it's either that or the owner pays the coaches more to account for this and then tuition is increased. Either way, the customer is paying for it.

It was a teammate in the same level as my daughter. We did not go b/c it was an optional meet (as really are all the meets) and was in San Diego. I had already booked and paid for a week's vacation in San Diego for last August before this meet was announced. They knew, from the start, that we would not be going. So there is no reason why I should owe MORE than a same level teammate who actually went to San Diego. The San Diego meet feet should not be included in my charges. Which was $130.

 

[e'smum]

We have 5 girls flying to Seattle this weekend for an elite qualifier meet, both head coaches are going along with their daughter. We are only being charged for one head coach (as technically only one coach is needed) they are paying for the other head coach and their daughter to travel. They are given a daily budget for what the coach can spend on food each day, I guess I never really thought about whether or not that would include him having a beverage or two with his meal. As long as it's after the meet I really wouldn't care.

I don't mind a spending allowance per day. I'm actually all for it. Then they can use it however they want. I also don't mind paying separate hotel rooms for each coach when a hotel room is needed. I know they've made coaches room together before. I appreciate that they are trying to cut down on costs but if the coaches might not get along, I'd rather my coach come stress free to my kid's meets.

 

[gymgal]

It was a teammate in the same level as my daughter. We did not go b/c it was an optional meet (as really are all the meets) and was in San Diego. I had already booked and paid for a week's vacation in San Diego for last August before this meet was announced. They knew, from the start, that we would not be going. So there is no reason why I should owe MORE than a same level teammate who actually went to San Diego. The San Diego meet feet should not be included in my charges. Which was $130.

I agree you should not have paid MORE but at most gyms, the fees are based on the team schedule, regardless of whether individual gymnasts choose to go. So I would expect to pay the same as every other gymnast at that level (or on that meet schedule - ex L6-10 vs compulsory who would have a different meet schedule). Still, $130 does seem like a lot of money for one meet but I guess it depends on how many are on team.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Having said all this, I don't have a problem with a gym owner choosing to give their coaches (or him/herself) extra travel reimbursement for some family travel. I mean, these coaches are away from their children so much during meet season and even throughout the year. Letting them have a little family time while at a destination spot or two is a small price to pay to acknowledge this sacrifice.

I have a huge issue with this. My husband is a Marine- he is always traveling and working 70+ hour weeks. I would never expect the government to pay for me or the kids to join him (not that they ever would) because that would pass the buck on to ththe taxpayers. It’s a voluntary military service, so we choose his career (every four years) knowing what we are getting into. Meets are a part of being a team coach, and team parents are not responsible for funding coaches family time or family vacations. If they’re away that much during meet season and it’s an issue, maybe the gym should choose more local meets and less travel. Our current gym does zero travel meets because the coaches prefer to sleep in their own beds each night. Obviously this is a button issue for me, so sorry if I seem over zealous, but everyone needs to be responsible for their own vacations. My husband hasn’t been to local meets in a year and didn’t travel with us previously for meets because we couldn’t afford the extra cost- to be paying for someone else’s spouse/kids to come would be offensive to me.

 

[e'smum]

I agree you should not have paid MORE but at most gyms, the fees are based on the team schedule, regardless of whether individual gymnasts choose to go. So I would expect to pay the same as every other gymnast at that level (or on that meet schedule - ex L6-10 vs compulsory who would have a different meet schedule). Still, $130 does seem like a lot of money for one meet but I guess it depends on how many are on team.

?? i don't understand what you are trying to say. $130 is what is charged by the gym hosting the meet - per gymnast. our gym has no control over that amount. but as we didn't go and they knew in advance, they didn't have to pay that. so neither should i = a credit back to my account. $130 is pretty average i think. at least for the meets we go to. there were actually 2 travel meets and they asked, way in advance, who was going and who wasn't. that is so they didn't have to pay those meet fees.

 

[gymgal]

?? i don't understand what you are trying to say. $130 is what is charged by the gym hosting the meet - per gymnast. our gym has no control over that amount. but as we didn't go and they knew in advance, they didn't have to pay that. so neither should i = a credit back to my account. $130 is pretty average i think. at least for the meets we go to. there were actually 2 travel meets and they asked, way in advance, who was going and who wasn't. that is so they didn't have to pay those meet fees.

OH!!! I was confused because you were talking about travel expenses for the coaches. I thought that was the travel expense fee. Yes, it was the meet fee then you should not have been charged. Our meet fees are calculated separate from the coaches' fees and then added together. Sorry for the confusion

 

[e'smum]

OH!!! I was confused because you were talking about travel expenses for the coaches. I thought that was the travel expense fee. Yes, it was the meet fee then you should not have been charged. Our meet fees are calculated separate from the coaches' fees and then added together. Sorry for the confusion

i get confused myself! lol i'm not asking for any other fees back for the meet i didn't go to. just that, which wasn't even paid to begin with.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Did they (the gym) know for sure ahead of registration that your DD wasn't attending the meet? I know we had one meet (travel) with an incredibly early entry date (and scratch date) and had two meets that we had gymnasts scratched well ahead of the scratch deadline and we never received their refund (all money goes through booster club)this season. I will also say back a number of years before those in charge of the Booster club knew what they were doing and when our HC wasn't into details, we had girls registered and paid for the state meet - when they were injured and couldn't even qualify!

 

[mls529]

It was a teammate in the same level as my daughter. We did not go b/c it was an optional meet (as really are all the meets) and was in San Diego. I had already booked and paid for a week's vacation in San Diego for last August before this meet was announced. They knew, from the start, that we would not be going. So there is no reason why I should owe MORE than a same level teammate who actually went to San Diego. The San Diego meet feet should not be included in my charges. Which was $130.

I never heard of paying for meets you aren't going to! Across both of our gyms, we only paid for the meets you sign up for. Of course, once you say you are going, you have to pay regardless if you go or not. The bigger issue I am hearing from what you are saying is that they weren't up front about what you were being charged. When we sign up for our chosen meets, we know the exact charge for each meet, including the coach's fees. It is just a flat fee, but the gym is able to give an estimate of the cost even before we go to the meet. For example, if we sign up for Chicago Style, it is $110 for the meet fee and $40 for our portion of the coach's fee (which I believe covers their time, expenses). I would never ask for a break-down of that $40 (which is just illustrative), but because it was clearly laid out before I signed up, I am comfortable with it. For an out-of-state meet, the meet fee may be $110, but the coach's fee is probably $100 per gymnast, because there are hotel and flight costs.

On our monthly invoices, each line item is clearly laid out: Meet Fee, Chicago Style $100. Coach's Fee $40. Are you looking for a more specific breakdown of the coach's fee (that seems difficult), or just a breakdown of how much for each meet (that seems more than reasonable)?

 

[bookworm]

One of our gyms did not give any "credit" if a gymnast did not go to a particular meet during the season....there were 10 level 10s and bills were split 10 ways for all meets for coaches and team fees, but we did not have to pay the individual entry fee for a meet we didn't attend.

 

[Madden3]

Just curious if alcohol and paying for family to fly to a meet is allowed or if there is a law that prohibits alcohol and any charges not related to the competition (ie - flying kids and a parent).

TIA!

Are you in the US? I do not imagine there are any laws prohibiting a business from charging fees for whatever they think necessary to do their business.

This is not saying that alcohol purchase by coaches or unneeded travel to meets for a coach's family members are appropriately charged to parents. I think that would be glaringly inappropriate in most cases. But I could also see exceptions... if a gymnast had a coach she particularly wanted at a meet, and the coach said she cannot take that much time away from her family, and the mutually acceptable solution was for the coach to bring her family and charge the gymnast for their travel costs, then there is nothing wrong with that and a law forbidding that arrangement would probably be government overreach. But if I am understanding correctly, your problem is you have no idea WHAT you are paying for so there can be no mutual agreement on what is appropriate charges from the gym for meets.

 

[2gymkids]

That sounds really frustrating. Our meet fees last year were about double what they were the year before at our old gym, which seemed crazy to me (yes, bigger meets, but less of them, and a higher coach to athlete ratio so presumably divided amongst more gymnasts). It's a really challenging aspect of this sport, especially when you have no idea what is making up those fees.

 

[Tuppy]

Maybe you can email and clarify that you believe you should only be charge for the following meets, 5 meets as described 1. XXX Invitational, Nov X, 2017, 2. XXX Invitational Dec X, 2017, ... 5. Regionals Apr 2018. Then note that you had scratched the San Diego meet, before the scratch date (attach if you have evidence). I think you are looking to understand if you were just charged for the correct number of meets as the coaches fees are split. Then after sending you can follow up in person and it's already organized, and can be validated. Hopefully this helps focus on the clarification you are looking for. I don't believe we've ever been told the fine detail of what we are charged for, but I do know the number of meets her fees consisted of, and if my daughter was scratched by the date to not be charged for the fees.

 

[e'smum]

Did they (the gym) know for sure ahead of registration that your DD wasn't attending the meet? I know we had one meet (travel) with an incredibly early entry date (and scratch date) and had two meets that we had gymnasts scratched well ahead of the scratch deadline and we never received their refund (all money goes through booster club)this season. I will also say back a number of years before those in charge of the Booster club knew what they were doing and when our HC wasn't into details, we had girls registered and paid for the state meet - when they were injured and couldn't even qualify!

oh yes, they knew way in advance.
and they did give me the credit later last night. it somehow got missed.