How much do gymnastics coaches make?

[CountryGymnast]

I'm sorry this may be a personal question but im going into coaching when im older.

 

[fuzi]

Not enough.

 

[Linsul]

I make between $16-$21 an hour. When I first started coaching as a teen, I made minimum wage. Experience and education affect how much you make obviously. Two other HUGE factors in wage negotiation are availability and versatility.

 

[gymkat]

At a club gym: after 6 years of coaching and judging, I make a whopping $8/hour. To be fair, I also trade for free practices, but that still barely gets me to $14/hour. :/ I did, however, make $12/hour while coaching at college for a rec program.

 

[coachmolly]

I agree with the "Not enough" sentiment. I make $7.50/hour where I am now coaching pre-school to level 5. But it is also a pretty low budget gym, I'm not totally sure the owner knows how to run a business... So I'm willing to work for less just in hopes that this program will be able to stick around.

 

[gymcoach26]

Wow. I am really surprised actually by some of the responses.

I make $15 an hour and I coach preschool to level 4. I am in my early 20's and while I have plenty of gymnastics experience, I have only been coaching for a few years. I guess I should be more thankful!

 

[BlairBob]

A lot of it will depend on cost of living and how successful the gym is and how much of a cheapskate the owners are.

 

[niknak]

Definitely not enough. 9.25 an hour.

 

[CoachTodd]

A lot of it will depend on cost of living and how successful the gym is and how much of a cheapskate the owners are.

Location, location, location. I've talked with coaches that make more the $60k per year and then there are folks like me that don't make anywhere near that. The ones that make the $60k per year live in an area where that barely pays the rent.

Coaching is more of a reward based thing like teaching. I think teachers are mostly underpaid as well but at the same time, I know a few that make way too much for what they do.

 

[Linsul]

One thing that drove me nuts when I first started coaching was all the outside hiring. If opportunities within the program open up, why not reward the people who's coaching made it possible? The first gym I worked at was notorious for doing that, and the coaches got burnt out so fast I guess that's how they justified terrible pay. Team coaches stick around, rec do not was their mentality. Well yeah, when you deliver just to see someone else walk in and take over your 'baby' it has an adverse effect.

Watching that happen was so frustrating! It's a situation where my spine is intact now. If I get asked to create/modify something that does well, I always ask what the next step is should it take off. It better have something to do with me staying involved or my answer is 'no.' If my schedule doesn't allow, I will expect to have input on who takes it over, and it's always a coworker!

 

[coachmolly]

One thing that drove me nuts when I first started coaching was all the outside hiring. If opportunities within the program open up, why not reward the people who's coaching made it possible? The first gym I worked at was notorious for doing that, and the coaches got burnt out so fast I guess that's how they justified terrible pay. Team coaches stick around, rec do not was their mentality. Well yeah, when you deliver just to see someone else walk in and take over your 'baby' it has an adverse effect.

Watching that happen was so frustrating! It's a situation where my spine is intact now. If I get asked to create/modify something that does well, I always ask what the next step is should it take off. It better have something to do with me staying involved or my answer is 'no.' If my schedule doesn't allow, I will expect to have input on who takes it over, and it's always a coworker!

The gym I currently work for is guilty of that, I think it probably has to do with the fact that the gym owner doesn't have much business sense. He'll have a good number of capable employees and when new classes open up, he hires new people for the positions instead of using the staff he already has. I confronted him about it because I was so sick of the situation (at the time my hours had been cut to about 3/week and he continued to hire new help). But in his situation, I really think it is that he just does not think about what he's doing. He's also a young guy so very quick to give positions to friends who come into the gym and play around with him.
And I agree that location is everything. I love in a pretty small area that has 3 competitive gyms. The one I work at is kind of known as the one where artistic girls go if they don't want to work hard anymore. As a result, the program is small with very limited growth so the owner is not willing to invest much into the program or its coaches.
The things I wish I would have known before taking this job! But it has been a great learning experience.

 

[Linsul]

The gym I currently work for is guilty of that, I think it probably has to do with the fact that the gym owner doesn't have much business sense. He'll have a good number of capable employees and when new classes open up, he hires new people for the positions instead of using the staff he already has. I confronted him about it because I was so sick of the situation (at the time my hours had been cut to about 3/week and he continued to hire new help). But in his situation, I really think it is that he just does not think about what he's doing. He's also a young guy so very quick to give positions to friends who come into the gym and play around with him.
And I agree that location is everything. I love in a pretty small area that has 3 competitive gyms. The one I work at is kind of known as the one where artistic girls go if they don't want to work hard anymore. As a result, the program is small with very limited growth so the owner is not willing to invest much into the program or its coaches.
The things I wish I would have known before taking this job! But it has been a great learning experience.

It's good you have a handle on your situation! One of our career hazards being 'gym hopping' we have to choose our gyms carefully that's for sure. You can take what you see there and walk into a new environment with a clear picture of what you like and what you don't subscribe to.

I wonder how much what we'll accept at work has to do with a lot of us being former gymnasts ourselves. Kind of a random thought I guess. My first job was coaching, and it was at the gym I competed at. When the owner (who was also the HC) told me to do something I just did it whether I liked it or not. For nearly 6 years that's how it was and how I thought it was supposed to be. When I quit there for school I was totally sure I was done with coaching based off all the inconsistencies. I got back into it when one of the optionals coaches from that gym called me to come work at his new gym. Working at his gym was so different I call the years before them 'the dark years.'