Parents Informal poll - What does your gym require for volunteer work for parents?

[suebee]

Man, that sounds awful.

We too are asked to volunteer at meets, but it is not required. There are more people to volunteer than there are spots for and luckily, I guess, other people volunteer and fill up the spots.

Oh and listen to this stuff - if your kid is competing in the meet during a session when you aren’t working, you still have to pay the $10 admission fee to sit in the stands and watch her.

Dd’s gym does this too. I always wondered if this was unusual. I have a friend whose dd goes to a different gym and she said that the parents get into any session during their home meets for free if they work any session.

 

[Jazzjerz]

We have a choice of working a certain number of credits at one of our 3 home meets( higher number of hours the higher level you are), or "buying out". I think my buyout this year was approx $300. If we choose to work the hours, but don't, we then get charged a higher amount than the original buy out offer.

Parents are also allowed to sign up for gym cleaning shifts (weekly, for an entire year), in exchange for a tuition discount.

 

[GymMom4]

We host one JO meet a year.

Because we are JO we are asked to work one tear down or set up shift as well as work one shift during the actual meet (concessions, timer, judge helper, etc.) and bring an item for the concessions stand. Coaches and owners are also involved with this. They get local donations for food (especially for the hospitality room for judges and coaches) and immediate family of the team get into the meet free all weekend.

Boys team and Xcel families are asked to work one set up or tear down shift.

I think you are being taken advantage of for the gym's benefit.

 

[strawberries]

There is zero chance I would "volunteer" all those hours for a sport my kid does 7 hours a week...Xcel is supposed to be more manageable time commitment wise. Do you pay any tuition on a monthly basis? With all the fundraisers and volunteering your gym has you doing, someone is definitely profiting from this scheme.

I personally would investigate other Xcel options in the area that would not engage in this.

I had missed that it was 7 hrs of Xcel, where the point is to have reasonable hours and a normal life. RUN

 

[reluctant]

Does your booster club run the meet, or does the gym? And how much do you get out of it? Do they pay for unicorns, team banquet, meet fees, backpacks, etc?

If you’re getting great perks, I’d say the one big meet requirement is normal to good. When you add in the the other meets and the mandatory volunteer hours, it’s more than I’ve ever heard of.

Jealous. This is our 7th year competing and we've never gotten a unicorn, let alone one that the gym paid for.

 

[John]

Parental organizational fees? That’s a new one on me. What is it, exactly? $150 a month seems like a lot. Is that the coaches’ fees? That we pay in one lump sum in September, and the amount varies by level/program.

DD does 16 hours a week = $326 per month. Summer slightly higher as they do more hours in the summer.
Parent Organization Fees $150 for Nine months, pays for meet fees, coach fees, Banquet, and a few summer get-togethers.

 

[jenjean70]

Wow if they paid for unicorns that would be awesome!! In answer to your question, no, we don’t get anything paid for. We pay full fees for uniforms, meets, and not sure about banquet as I have never been to one. We do not have a booster club at this gym. The gym owner runs the meet. It’s so huge it doesn’t actually fit in our gym and has to be held at a separate facility where all the equipment needs to be set up from scratch.

Nope, nope and NOPE! I cannot imagine working all of that for nothing. The owner is using the parents to make money for him/herself. That is not OK. Yikes! We help another gym run a VERY big meet but our gym gets $ that goes to our (brand new) booster club. So far nobody is required to work it. I usually work 2 or 3 sessions a weekend because I want to. We are given the shirts but we still have to pay to watch our child unless we are working that particular session. Oh my goodness....I cannot even imagine being required to do that without any compensation whatsoever.

 

[ProvB]

Our volunteer hours are equivalent to weekly training hours. Then we have mandatory “gym cleans”, the number depends on training hours as well. But gym cleans count towards volunteer hours. Then mandatory fundraising.

All of the above can be opted out of by paying. For reference my daughter trains 9 hours, and so I have the following parent commitment for the year: 9 hours volunteering, 3 gym cleans (2 hours each so that gets you 6 of the 9 hours), minimum 2 item order for each of 3 fundraisers. If you don’t meet the minimum for any of the fundraisers it’s a $150 charge. I think opting out of volunteer hours is $350 for the year. You can get volunteer hours easily by things like attending the AGM. We don’t have an in house meet.

 

[z2akids]

DD's gym has a booster club that hosts 1 large (6-800 gymnasts) and 1 small (club, non-usag 200-250 gymnasts) meet.

The families are "required" to work either set up or tear down plus 12 hours at the large meet. No requirement for the small meet. That one only needs a dozen or so people and gets gymnasts to do much of the work. Plus, that one is in the gym, so no real set up/tear down. Families (immediate, parents and sibs) who do their hours get in for free to watch their child's session. In addition, if you do your hours, you can bring 2 guests in to the session for free. We are asked to bring food or donate some $$ to feed the gymnasts and volunteers.

I used " " for required because the boosters are a non-profit and cannot force volunteer hours.

The proceeds from both meets go to the boosters. The boosters use those proceeds to defray the costs to the member families. Last year they paid 75% of the meet fees, $100ish towards competition gear, plus additional activities benefiting the girls. However, no unicorns. I am going to have to look into that.

There are some additional volunteer needs, but they are small and don't have "required" participation.

 

[Gymmommy71]

DD's gym has a booster club that hosts 1 large (6-800 gymnasts) and 1 small (club, non-usag 200-250 gymnasts) meet.

The families are "required" to work either set up or tear down plus 12 hours at the large meet. No requirement for the small meet. That one only needs a dozen or so people and gets gymnasts to do much of the work. Plus, that one is in the gym, so no real set up/tear down. Families (immediate, parents and sibs) who do their hours get in for free to watch their child's session. In addition, if you do your hours, you can bring 2 guests in to the session for free. We are asked to bring food or donate some $$ to feed the gymnasts and volunteers.

I used " " for required because the boosters are a non-profit and cannot force volunteer hours.

The proceeds from both meets go to the boosters. The boosters use those proceeds to defray the costs to the member families. Last year they paid 75% of the meet fees, $100ish towards competition gear, plus additional activities benefiting the girls. However, no unicorns. I am going to have to look into that.

There are some additional volunteer needs, but they are small and don't have "required" participation.

This is how it should work... I get so angry at my Gym’s whole booster configuration/system when I read posts like this... The parents at our gym work SO hard you wouldn’t believe it, only have to turn around and still pay outrageous inflated fees just to attend meets and have matching leos, etc. We do have top notch equipment and a gorgeous gym so most of us just accept this stuff cause our kids (especially at the level my daughter trains) really don’t want to go anywhere else, but it’s very frustrating.

 

[Alibri]

Our gym requires 10 hours of volunteering throughout the year. We don't have a booster club. The volunteering opportunities are basically working meets and shows, and cleaning. We also have the choice of paying $10 per hour for volunteer time that we don't want to or can't do, so some parents just pay the $100. I'm thankful they don't ask for a lot of time in comparison to other gyms, but my husband hates it. He says we pay tuition and all of the other stuff, and we are not employees. He hates it so much that I just do it all so I don't have to hear about it from him LOL!

 

[mommyof1]

Our booster club is separate from the gym. We get a monthly itemized bill from the booster club for meet fees, USAG fees, competition attire, and coaches' meet fees. Once in a while we see a credit for fundraising proceeds that have been divided among members. Most of the fundraising has heretofore been of the passive variety, such as "linking" supermarket loyalty cards. It is all very transparent. We do have to buy our own unicorns.

This year the club is trying to get a weekly bingo game going. Each family is expected to send a parent to work a handful of bingo nights per year. Profits will be used to defray competition expenses starting next year, but several months in we have yet to turn a profit and I am hoping the whole thing will be abandoned. Families that do not wish to participate can buy out of the bingo obligation for the equivalent of $100 per night.

We are also asked to volunteer at the in-house meet, but there are always more willing volunteers than there are available slots.

Amusibus, what your gym is asking is unreasonable and I wouldn't put up with it, especially since Xcel is supposed to be less expensive and time-consuming than JO. One of the many reasons we switched gyms when our daughter was in preteam was the old gym's booster club--it was a completely opaque system that required a lot of "volunteering" and fundraising along with high fees, and appeared to be a pyramid scheme that benefited a few families with multiple gymnasts or high-level gymnasts at everyone else's expense.

 

[kitkat]

We have to volunteer an absolute insane amount of hours. Approximately 112 hours or you can pay the $1200 or $1500 buy out.
And the more you volunteer the more they ask. One year I volunteered upwards of 150 hours.
Sadly...it tends to be the same people over and over doing the extra hours.
DD has two more years of club gymnastics - I may consider to buy out next year.

 

[MuggleMom]

We have one big meet that our gym hosts and we are required to volunteer 16 hours over the course of the weekend or pay I think $20 an hour for any hours not completed. We have a booster club but its separate they have more volunteer stuff they do but I think their volunteer "requirements" help offset meet and leo costs--booster club is not mandatory. I think our volunteer requirements are reasonable. I would not be able to meet the requirements you outline. I work full time and I need small things like sleep and time to see my kids.

 

[tucktwisttumble]

We have to volunteer an absolute insane amount of hours. Approximately 112 hours or you can pay the $1200 or $1500 buy out.
And the more you volunteer the more they ask. One year I volunteered upwards of 150 hours.
Sadly...it tends to be the same people over and over doing the extra hours.
DD has two more years of club gymnastics - I may consider to buy out next year.

I recall my club was similar with the volunteer hours/ buy out amount. Says you're from Canada, curious if it is the same club.

ETA: Just realized you're at Milton. Not the same club. But close by!!

 

[jessifrostR]

Wow, that is asking a great deal from the parents..
I'm a newbie. This is my daughters first year competing but our gym does host a large meet each year. Its next month actually, and does not require anything from the parents as far as I know.