Parents Does anyone else feel the financial pressure?

[stillgotmyleotard]

I would definitely pay 150 for a leotard that magically alters itself to the new requirements.

 

[bogwoppit]

Don't forget about injuries. Unfortunately, there will be injuries, and medical care and rehabilitation isn't cheap

I cannot even begin to work out how much money I spent on physio, supports for every appendage and gas to drive to more hospital appointments than I have done in my whole life. Maybe that should have been the big red flag?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Minor Injuries knows my DD by name

The shame

 

[gymmomtoo]

My gymnast DD jokes we can switch to a less expensive health plan once she graduates next year!

 

[BachFlyer]

To the OP, so sorry you are feeling the financial strain, I know how very hard it can be. When my dd started at preteam I was struggling as a single mom, and continue to, since any raise I've gotten over the years has immediately been consumed by added fees as she moved up the levels. I had many family members question my priorities when I had a hard time keeping her in (and had to ask for help at times which was pretty hard to do). Regardless of any successes she might have had over the years, it has been her driving passion for the sport and hard work that has made me do it. At a certain point, I just decided that it was so important to her so I would figure out a way. She has put in too much work for me to not find a way, even when it meant a second job. Thankfully we have a supportive family, and I haven't had to deal with a job loss, because I don't know what I'd do now - she is L10 and the fear that I might not be able to pay her bills is constant for me because I know anything can happen. I also have another child with her own sport and bills, and . We skip all extras like cable, eating out, movies, and we buy nearly everything used in our household that we can. We carpool and share hotels for meets. I say no a LOT, and I admittedly feel the jealousy when I see what others can say yest too. But I am honest with my girls, and we make some of our financial decisions together.

I do hope that for my gymmie, college is on the horizon, but there aren't any guarantees and I know that. It has been a tough decision all along but at the end of it all, I can say for certain that it doesn't matter...this sport has helped her in SO many ways to be a responsible, independent, strong, resilient, humble, patient, dedicated person that it has been worth every penny. Same for my other dd and her activities. Good luck to you and your dd. I hope that you find some relief somehow from the constant struggle, and no matter what you end up deciding as you go on, I am sure that you will make the right one for your family.

 

[gymratmom]

Hubby and I were joking the other night that with the cost of her tuition, meet fees, Leo's, warm ups, coaches fees, trips to Texas, etc we could just plunk down the cash and pay for her college instead. Ha! The things we do for our kids.

Lol! This is my response when people ask me if we do all this for an eventual scholarship. Much wiser to invest the tuition in a college fund!
We have been lucky enough too buy a leo four years in a row, one for first year then the team switched to new leos for the next season. Then a gym switch and this season into optionals! And I am pretty sure our gym sill be getting new Leos next season so that will be 5 in a row. I just try not to think about it is, just a part of our life. But we definitely have to budget in all areas to make it work, skipping spring break trip, etc. Would be nice if the gym didn't update leos every 2 years. Is that standard practice?

 

[Quadqueen]

Update leos every two years?? Our gym gets new competition leos every year...

 

[gymratmom]

Update leos every two years?? Our gym gets new competition leos every year...

Yikes! We at least were able to buy the optional leo used and two used warmups.

 

[NoDramaMama]

Our competition leo was $300 and warmups were $250, thankfully they're not monogrammed, so can and are passed along to others when they need a new one. My dd's is so small that they girls tease her that it is a leo for a build a bear. Hopefully that makes some feel better with their leo costs. LOL.

Thankfully we have a booster club and successful fundraisers that pay for meet fees, coaches fees, banquet, yearbooks, etc. So, there isn't a lot of incidentals aside from tuition and monthly booster fees.

 

[duyetanh]

Hahahahahahahaha.....
Rofl! !!!!!
In a word: YES!!!!!!

 

[raenndrops]

Update leos every two years?? Our gym gets new competition leos every year...

We have had our current leotards for 2 years now. HC plans to keep them for next season too (which is good since YG can wear OG's old leo and I can sell YG's old leo to help cover the cost of getting OG a new leo... just can't wrap my head around having to order and Adult Large for a "size 0-2" 13.5 year old!)

 

[gracyomalley]

With three I am constantly trying to re-arrange the family money to pay everything.

Its been exquisitely painful to pay for DD gym this year with her not competing and training poorly/getting little attention at practice (partially through her own holding back, partially because new coaches didn't know what to do with her, and partly because the whole gym has struggled to provide adequate coaching for all the girls - other than the L9s who do twice a week privates - with so much transition and losing 5 coaches from the community in 6 months). She has a lovely $250 comp leo hanging in her closet...she likes it - thinking about maybe wearing it next year...maybe....luckily they aren't changing them! She likes to wear her warm up jacket to watch her brother compete - and loves the pants for general wear - so we got our money's worth there!

When she's happy and learning life lessons through all this I'm ok writing the check - when she complains about going to gym and no one helping her set up vault drills, or getting bullied, or being told to run level 7 routines the 90th time by the same high school age coach despite the fact that head coach told her to work Level 8-9 beam skills instead even giving her lists to show the junior coaches...and then DD gets morose and negative and the drama comes out...then I really think I am INSANE TO PAY FOR THIS!!!

However, you all can not imagine how much my kid pursuing a high level violin education costs compared to gym....that's where I just shudder....a new leo is nothing compared to a new, 20K violin!!! TO GET HIM THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL!!!

What it really comes down to is the difference between want and need - and no one NEEDS to be a gymnast of violinist...as long as they understand that and I can make it happen, we'll keep trying. As soon as they EXPECT me to pay all this - its OVER...(DD has volnuteered to quit - but only on the bad days, and I think that's part of the drama - and DS will be fundraising for that violin thank you very much!!)

 

[Fijiwater]

Or what you need is a wealthy mother who will pay for all her granddaughter's activities.

Every time my wife says "my mom wants to know what you want for Christmas or birthday?" I say, "For her to pay one month of gym....." Never happens, I'm not that special. I also remember when we moved from a rec gym to a competitive gym, and thinking well this isn't going to be too bad. Since that time tuition has nearly tripled and I work a lot more. I always try to figure up the per hour rate we are paying makes me feel better.

 

[LJL07]

My youngest just started team, and I just about passed out when I got the monthly total for both girls. We haven't even bought the leotard, warm up, bag etc. x2 yet.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

Wow! That's so much for a hobby, it would almost cover a years private schooling in the UK.
It's quite eye opening reading this thread, someone in the US (well more than 1 person) is making a fortune out of gymnastics and I suspect it isn't the coaches.

I'm intrigued what you would pay for gym in the UK... In Australia we don't have to travel too much for competitions like they do in the US, but my daughter just competed at states and was selected in a team for nationals. Within minutes I had to pay an $800 deposit, $350 for leotards and another $320 for uniforms. The rest is due in about 3 weeks, which is another $1800, and that's on top of our usual monthly fees, competition entry fees and club uniform costs. I would think our family will be shelling out close to $10000 on gym this year, which is a big chunk of my wage and equivalent to what we pay in school fees.

Love to hear what UK is like!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I pay a lot relatively for tuition- our gym does not operate a cap on fees, I pay around £1750 per year for 12 hours a week. ( 3,364.72 AUD, 2,618.43 USD).

Competition entry is usually around £20, 1/2 of which will require travel of about 170 miles each way and a possible overnight stay, depending on timings.

Leotard was £60, it wont change in the foreseeable future and she has had 2 years out of it now and as its velour I reckon we can get another 2. No warm ups (hoodie was £10 - still going strong).

Club fee is £25 a year including BG bronze membership, will go up if we upgrade to silver.

In the UK we don't pay coaches fees for meets, most don't get paid for attending, its just expected.

My other major cost is fuel to and from the gym, I reckon £15 per week at least.

So all in all about £2,500 per year.

 

[OzZee]

I would say fairly similar to Margo here

 

[Gymbee06]

In the uk also we pay £70 a month for 15 hours a week but you can go extra £15 entry fee £10 competition leotard hire we don't need to buy one around £40 for travel we only travel about 50 miles for a competition £41 for silver insurance including club fees track suit and bag was £40 we also have a school holiday training which costs £2 a day for 6 hours total is around £1300 for everything a year
$1941 us
$2499 aus
Now we won't discuss what my leotard addiction costs are per year

 

[GymAuntie]

No actually my "you" was a global you, many parents of young athletes (if you had read what I wrote, you would have noticed I said athletics, not gymnastic. I was speaking very broadly)

It's a discussion, about finances.
Many parent of young athletes think of it as a pathway to fund college. Most of the patents end up being wrong.

And my second post regarding paying for athletics was in response to another poster's question.

Gopuckgo you need to chillax, just because I quoted something in your post doesn't necessarily make it personal. This last part was personal, I used your name

Peace to you.

This is correct especially for gym. Scholarships don't come easy. If you have a girl and want her to get an athletic scholarship, get her into golf now. Golf is the most under utilized NCAA sport for women's scholarships. I don't know where I saw that, but I did read it online not too long ago. The article did not mention which boy's sport was best, but I would guess baseball. There are 25 roster spots and the uber talented players get drafted. That opens up new spots and scholarships in June.

Side note: travel baseball is also very expensive. Google perfect game fees and you will see what I mean. Perfect Game has a monopoly on baseball showcases and tournaments nationwide. You have to pay their participation fee plus stay in one of their hotels unless you are local. And because they have the monopoly you almost have to use them to be seen.

 

[gopuckgo]

Friends of ours have a middle school daughter in hockey. It is also expensive (equipment, etc) but not so many girls in the sport. She was attempting to "recruit" mine to try it out. The chances for a scholarship for talented players is very high. My daughter was like "um no way" and " I love gym" when I approached her about it a few years back. But it is another avenue for shorter statue girls as well.