Parents How do you feel about 100% medals placements?

[raenndrops]

You get what you pay for. So if paying $100 for a competition so you your child gets a $10 momento is important then that's fine.
I'd rather pay $20 for the competition and my kid gets nothing. If she places top 3 (or6) she gets a medal or a ribbon then that's great. And if I'd like to use that spare $80 to get her a momento from that competition/trip then that's up to me.
I see US kids getting a number of medals over a lot of competitions and don't see how they mean anything to the kids. They take them home and I imagine hang them up/throw them in a box. If you get (if you are really doing great) a couple of medals a year you treasure them .
The kids I've known over the years that have been high achievers (esp in lower levels) and get a number of medals a year and place well, tend to throw embarrassing hissy fits when they don't place or worse get a 3rd or something when they are older. (say 9-12)
For little kids (5-8yrs) the achievement ribbons are a great idea. They get something to show for their effort, before they can really understand the intrinsic rewards, but no one has do the stand in last place thing.
Most kids (the good - average etc ones) here have a very small collection of 'rewards' and they can show you and tell you about each medal. I'm sure most US kids can't do that, they are just forgotten after each meet. The ones that have had loads can't.

Actually, both YG and OG can show and tell about each medal and a lot of their ribbons. YG's favorite ribbon is 1st place on Bars in the meet where she was 10 and beat a 16 year old that should have been in XP or L6 (was competing XG after a solid year at L5). Her 2nd favorite ribbon is a 9th place from old L4 Floor - because she landed her BHS unspotted for the first time.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We have other costs here too. We pay the judges, their judges are volunteers. I buce I have heard each club must provide a judge? I am not sure what the other differences cars are, but I do vive we have more expenses. Amos not sure their clubs useneets as a fundraiser the way US clubs do,

We do pay our judges as well. There is a rule that each club must provide a judge for each session thatntheir gymnasts are competing it, or they have to pay a fee. But the competition still pays the judges. This does not justify the extra costs.

 

[OzZee]

Having run invitationals I can say we still make money. I'm not sure where your costs go? Our club competitions are run in a club. So no costs for that (though often classes will have to be cancelled and make up classes offered if it's a Saturday), judges costs, awards, there is usually some kind of fundraising canteen provided, someone to do data entry etc (coach/parent volunteer) , really struggling to think of what costs money? A cleaner to come in after?
So the entry fee to the club easily covers any costs. Then the club will charge that entry fee plus usually a small amount more - so say entry is $25, then the club might charge $40 to the athlete. This covers the cost to the club for competing eg coaches and judges.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I don't enjoy supporting other gyms.

 

[Juniper311]

1. Pay judges. These are not supplied by a club. They are certified by USAG.
2. Pay per gymnast head tax to USAG.
3. Pay the rental fee for the competition space. For instance, both clubs I have been a part of are run out of state-owned gymnasiums. Want to have a meet there, pay a couple thousand dollars to the state. No exceptions, whether you’re “the home gym”, or some random other gym.
4. Pay to feed coaches, judges, etc.
5. Pay other costs as matters your operation... printing programs, medals, gifts, what have you.
6. Factor in enough to generate a profit for the home club as this is the purpose of hosting the meet to begin with.

The above list is not conclusive. I’m sure there are other line items I missed that would make sense. I have tangential experience with hosted meets... and while I was not the person who ran the thing, I picked some info up.

And also, USAG sets guidelines for how much an Invitational meet should cost (though I’m unsure how hard and fast these are). I seem to remember the range was between $75-$125 per registered gymnast? And it has been my experience that much st meets here fall firmly in there. So, it’s likely to me that whatever the cost list may be, meets here cost what they do because that’s what the market will bear.

Doesn’t really matter then how many medals get given out. No point in moralizing on that detail?

 

[Juniper311]

I don't enjoy supporting other gyms.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’d prefer not needing to chew fingernails waiting to find out if we get enough registrations to make the minimum we need to make the season work. But, hey.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We paid an admission fee today x2. And our view was obstructed for most of the meet including awards. I’m cranky today.

 

[OzZee]

1. Pay judges. These are not supplied by a club. They are certified by USAG.
2. Pay per gymnast head tax to USAG.
3. Pay the rental fee for the competition space. For instance, both clubs I have been a part of are run out of state-owned gymnasiums. Want to have a meet there, pay a couple thousand dollars to the state. No exceptions, whether you’re “the home gym”, or some random other gym.
4. Pay to feed coaches, judges, etc.
5. Pay other costs as matters your operation... printing programs, medals, gifts, what have you.
6. Factor in enough to generate a profit for the home club as this is the purpose of hosting the meet to begin with.

The above list is not conclusive. I’m sure there are other line items I missed that would make sense. I have tangential experience with hosted meets... and while I was not the person who ran the thing, I picked some info up.

And also, USAG sets guidelines for how much an Invitational meet should cost (though I’m unsure how hard and fast these are). I seem to remember the range was between $75-$125 per registered gymnast? And it has been my experience that much st meets here fall firmly in there. So, it’s likely to me that whatever the cost list may be, meets here cost what they do because that’s what the market will bear.

Doesn’t really matter then how many medals get given out. No point in moralizing on that detail?

Wow, OK so that would be the difference.
We don't hire out venues. Competitions are just run in the gym. Pretty much all gyms are owned by the owners who run the gym and are hosting.
And there is no tax to the governing body. (you guys pay yearly fees as well don't you?)
Both of those sound so expensive and in our country would be prohibitive to ever running a competition - we just don't have the gymnast numbers to cover thousands of dollars of costs for each competition.
And the no gifts, few medals etc.

 

[sce]

1. Pay judges. These are not supplied by a club. They are certified by USAG.
2. Pay per gymnast head tax to USAG.
3. Pay the rental fee for the competition space. For instance, both clubs I have been a part of are run out of state-owned gymnasiums. Want to have a meet there, pay a couple thousand dollars to the state. No exceptions, whether you’re “the home gym”, or some random other gym.
4. Pay to feed coaches, judges, etc.
5. Pay other costs as matters your operation... printing programs, medals, gifts, what have you.
6. Factor in enough to generate a profit for the home club as this is the purpose of hosting the meet to begin with.

The above list is not conclusive. I’m sure there are other line items I missed that would make sense. I have tangential experience with hosted meets... and while I was not the person who ran the thing, I picked some info up.

And also, USAG sets guidelines for how much an Invitational meet should cost (though I’m unsure how hard and fast these are). I seem to remember the range was between $75-$125 per registered gymnast? And it has been my experience that much st meets here fall firmly in there. So, it’s likely to me that whatever the cost list may be, meets here cost what they do because that’s what the market will bear.

Doesn’t really matter then how many medals get given out. No point in moralizing on that detail?

I believe there is an insurance cost too. It is over and above the regular club insurance.

 

[raenndrops]

I believe there is an insurance cost too. It is over and above the regular club insurance.

and a fee to the state USAG ... and possibly to the regional USAG.

 

[gymmomx2]

Most competitions here run for 3 days so many clubs don’t want to cancel rec classes for that long. Also some clubs are fairly small and aren’t set up properly for good spectator viewing. One time there was simply not enough seating and some parents had to be outside the gym, behind glass. Add to that parking issues, not enough washrooms, no separate space for awards and I much prefer rented venues. I still don’t understand why we need to pay $100 though....an average competition here will have 300 gymnasts, that’s $30k. Surely a competiton can be run for much less and still bring in a good profit?!?

 

[MILgymFAM]

I still don’t understand why we need to pay $100 though....an average competition here will have 300 gymnasts, that’s $30k. Surely a competiton can be run for much less and still bring in a good profit?!?

This. We had two meets this year with over 1300 competitors that cost about $115 each. That’s close to $150k dollars- and that doesn’t even include gate fees/concessions. One of the venues has rental fees posted online and it’s in the neighborhood of $2,000 for a whole weekend.. that’s a heck of a lot of money left for judges/food/insurance/usag fees.. seems like meets are straight up money makers.

When we were in SoCal, we had a little in-house meet with three teams. Cost $20 per girl. When we were in NorCal we had one set up similarly at the last minute to help some girls qualify for states- cost was $40. Both were sanctioned. Seems the prices aren’t necessarily in line with costs. That’s fine, and it is what it is, but there is no point in pretending that meets *have* to cost as much as they do.

 

[Juniper311]

The difference though, is those meets WERE NOT fundraisers. Fundraiser = money maker = pays for coaches to coach at meets, their travel and per diems, and all the other expenses that have to get paid somehow. In our case, if we didn’t host a fundraising meet, or earn enough doing it, the parents will be writing additional checks. It is necessary to the club finances.

 

[MILgymFAM]

The difference though, is those meets WERE NOT fundraisers. Fundraiser = money maker = pays for coaches to coach at meets, their travel and per diems, and all the other expenses that have to get paid somehow. In our case, if we didn’t host a fundraising meet, or earn enough doing it, the parents will be writing additional checks. It is necessary to the club finances.

We’ve always had to write additional checks too. Hosting or not hosting a meet has no effect on that at any gym we’ve been to- the parents are still funding coaching fees, etc, regardless of how much money the gym makes. I guess I would probably feel differently if we’d experienced different.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

Our competitions have an entry fee of 30 euros - it's always the same. We are now hosting our first competition this weekend and we have to pay something like 2000 euros for the space we are using, pay for the judges, feed them and buy medals. And there is a fee that we have to pay for the national gymnastics federation. But we are still going to make good profit!

We got some donations from different companies and we are going to give out that stuff as prizes for the placements 4-10. The TOP 3 will get medals in each level and age group. And we are giving small participation goodie bags for everyone. All of the people working at the meet are volunteers, except the judges. Every competitive group in our club has a different area of responsibility. One group takes care of the scoring system, one group rotates the lottery, one group cooks and serves food for the judges, one group flashes the scores and one group transports and moves the equipment.

We have the same system with Australia so each club has to bring in a judge and if they don't, they have to pay a fee. But the host club only provides the food for the judges, and their home clubs pays for them. Usually that cost is included in gymnasts' competition fees that their own club charges from them. The host club has to make sure that there are enough judges so the host club usually ends up paying for many judges. But it definitely helps that the participating clubs have to bring a judge.

 

[Taxidriver]

The difference though, is those meets WERE NOT fundraisers. Fundraiser = money maker = pays for coaches to coach at meets, their travel and per diems, and all the other expenses that have to get paid somehow. In our case, if we didn’t host a fundraising meet, or earn enough doing it, the parents will be writing additional checks. It is necessary to the club finances.

It seems like everything about gym is so much more expensive in the US than it is here, I just can’t get my head around how everything is so much more expensive.
The clubs here in GB charge far less in monthly fees and competitions cost us a fraction what they cost you, we don’t have booster clubs or additional fundraisers so I am perplexed how our clubs run at a so much lower cost than US clubs.

 

[profmom]

Well, let's see. Our JO girls, both optional and compulsory, probably go to around 6 meets a year prior to states, regionals, and nationals for those who qualify. Our teams are relatively large, so I'd guess that the median number of coaches traveling is 3, but because the optionals/compulsories only have one meet that's the same, that comes out to around 11 different meets, only two or three of which are local and wouldn't require an overnight stay. XCel is set up in a similar fashion, though they have more overlapping meets and only two coaches travel. So we can say maybe 9 regular season meets, though the lower levels do more local meets. Maybe 6 requiring overnighters for the coaches. The boys' team does more meets together, and for some smaller meets, only one coach goes out of the two available. No locals. This season it was eight different meets. All three teams did one flyaway meet. Girls' JO and boys' JO will have state, regional, and national qualifiers, XCel will have girls qualify to regionals. JO girls will take three coaches to regionals and nationals, JO boys will take one, and XCel will take two coaches to regionals.

For all of this coach travel, food, lodging, and time, team families pay not one thin dime.

 

[LindyHopper]

Hosting or not hosting a meet has no effect on that at any gym we’ve been to- the parents are still funding coaching fees, etc, regardless of how much money the gym makes.

What you are saying has been our experience also, but we have never been at a gym with a booster club, so our hosted meets have always been for the gym to make money.

A lot of other local gyms don't host meets... the gym's booster club hosts the meet. So, if the booster club is hosting the meet, the gym isn't making the money, the booster club is. And that money could go to pay coaches' fees.

And if there IS a booster club that hosts the meet, and parents are still paying coaches' fees I would wonder what the booster club does pay for.

 

[MILgymFAM]

What you are saying has been our experience also, but we have never been at a gym with a booster club, so our hosted meets have always been for the gym to make money.

A lot of other local gyms don't host meets... the gym's booster club hosts the meet. So, if the booster club is hosting the meet, the gym isn't making the money, the booster club is. And that money could go to pay coaches' fees.

And if there IS a booster club that hosts the meet, and parents are still paying coaches' fees I would wonder what the booster club does pay for.

We’ve been at a club that had the booster run meets but we still paid (exorbitant) coaching fees. The booster had to rent the gym from the owner, and then pay his non-coaching employees for their time that the gym would be closed. The money that the booster club made was solely used for: coaches gifts, an end of the year banquet, and yearbooks for the team members. They were paying too much for the yearbooks, but that’s beside the point. I would rather have had help with the $2600 in assessments.

 

[mommyof1]

What is ridiculous about meet fees is that it's basically an arms race. Club A raises its meet fees, so the next year Club B raises its own meet and spectator fees to raise more money to send its own kids to Club A's more expensive meet. It is spiraling out of control. Over the three seasons my kid has been competing, meet fees have risen an average of 25% or more and spectator fees for some meets have literally doubled. What ends up happening is that the clubs that host meets are still able to raise enough money to cover all of their kids' competition expenses, and the parents whose clubs don't host meets are essentially subsidizing kids from those other clubs to compete.

We can't even join the arms race, because our club is relatively new and can't get onto the meet calendar. There are so many established meets (some clubs host two or even three meets a year) that there aren't enough judges to staff any new meets.

If it wanted to, the state organization could rein in the madness by capping meet and spectator fees. From what I've heard, it doesn't actually cost more than $40 or so per kid to host a meet. Let the host club make a little profit to provide an incentive to host, but not a killing.