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

[Amusibus]

Ok so, I haven’t posted in quite a while, but our gym is hosting a big meet soon and my husband is blowing a fuse about how much time and work is required of parents.

For the upcoming meet, a 2 day affair with 625 gymnasts registered so far, parents at our gym are required to do the following:

-6 hours set up moving heavy equipment before meet
-volunteer at meet in various jobs (event timer, tickets, concessions, etc.), with the hours being 7 am to 9 pm both days (yes, both 14 hour days are required)
-Donate about $100-$150 of food in total for both days

Our gym isn’t huge, I would estimate about 50 gymnasts total for all levels and groups. That’s a lot of work for not a lot of parents. We also have to do 5 volunteer credits throughout the year, each being 4 hours of work, and meet-related work doesn’t count. There are two other, much smaller, meets in the spring and similar amounts of work are again required from all parents, on a smaller scale (less food, one day of work instead of two). Oh yeah, and they make us buy two $20 t-shirts just to wear at the meet.

So parents, what do you think of that? What kinds of things does your gym require? Trying to get a sense of if this is really as far off the deep end as it seems or if it’s the norm in the gymnastics world.

 

[MILgymFAM]

No volunteering since we don’t host a meet, but there is fundraising. In the past we’ve had to work the hone meets, as did the team kids who were old enough. We were asked to work at least two sessions.

 

[skschlag]

Our gym does not require, ask for, or allow parents to work meets. Our owner believes that we pay tuition, and that should be that. He pays his employees to run the meets. We run several a year (this year...5-6).

 

[Flyaway]

Our gym does not require, ask for, or allow parents to work meets. Our owner believes that we pay tuition, and that should be that. He pays his employees to run the meets. We run several a year (this year...5-6).

Ditto except we only host one meet a year.

 

[Amusibus]

I missed the window of time in which to edit the post, but wanted to add, that is not all of what is required from parents. In addition to all that there is a golf tournament we host that the parents have to work at, donate golfer prizes of $25, and find golfers for. There is a program ad booklet that people buy at meets with all the gymnasts info etc, and tons of ads at the back. We have to find local businesses to buy ads worth $100, or else pay the $100 ourselves to the gym. There is a just-for-fun demonstration in the spring, kind of like a recital, and there’s set up for that, tickets, sometimes costumes, and multiple extra practices (which mostly is a time donation rather than money). Probably some stuff I’ve forgotten.

 

[profmom]

We do one big and one small invitational each year. The small one doesn't need much help. The big one is an all-hands-on-deck endeavor. Each family is responsible for two shifts; a shift is pretty much one full session. Parents can also volunteer for setup or breakdown. Most people are fine about working at this level of involvement, as the meet's proceeds fund our coaches' travel to meets for the XCel, girls' JO, and boys JO teams. I usually work a little extra because I have two on team.

The girls' JO and boys' JO teams organize independent fundraisers, but those are entirely voluntary and for the benefit of the athletes' families. Your gym demands a lot!

 

[strawberries]

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.

 

[CLgym]

No volunteering required, no fundraising, no booster club, no hosted meet. There is a $100 quarterly "membership fee" that is waived if you volunteer that quarter (invitations to volunteer for various things go out periodically by email -- examples include bringing a snack to a parent meeting, helping with the rec spring showcase, assisting with team photos, etc.). Parents are simply expected to pay for their child's tuition, meet/coaches fees, etc.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Our gym does not require, ask for, or allow parents to work meets. Our owner believes that we pay tuition, and that should be that. He pays his employees to run the meets. We run several a year (this year...5-6).

Well I love that! We did have a gym once that paid cash for helping at meets. We always volunteered at every gym wherever needed, but the money sure did help us!

 

[gymmomx2]

Ok so, I haven’t posted in quite a while, but our gym is hosting a big meet soon and my husband is blowing a fuse about how much time and work is required of parents.

For the upcoming meet, a 2 day affair with 625 gymnasts registered so far, parents at our gym are required to do the following:

-6 hours set up moving heavy equipment before meet
-volunteer at meet in various jobs (event timer, tickets, concessions, etc.), with the hours being 7 am to 9 pm both days (yes, both 14 hour days are required)
-Donate about $100-$150 of food in total for both days

Our gym isn’t huge, I would estimate about 50 gymnasts total for all levels and groups. That’s a lot of work for not a lot of parents. We also have to do 5 volunteer credits throughout the year, each being 4 hours of work, and meet-related work doesn’t count. There are two other, much smaller, meets in the spring and similar amounts of work are again required from all parents, on a smaller scale (less food, one day of work instead of two). Oh yeah, and they make us buy two $20 t-shirts just to wear at the meet.

So parents, what do you think of that? What kinds of things does your gym require? Trying to get a sense of if this is really as far off the deep end as it seems or if it’s the norm in the gymnastics world.

It's insane. They can't even give you the t-shirts for free? I'm sure it doesn't cost them $20 per shirt so they're making money off you with those too.
I hope that you pay no meet fees, coaches fees, and that you get your competition/training gear for free for all that work.

As a parent I've only had to work 2 meets - each of those required 3 3-hour shifts, setup or takedown which was another 3 hours, we provided some muffins (2 dozen) for the concession, and we were able to wear black pants/white shirt of our choice.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Our gym has the following “volunteer” requirements:

Two mandatory non-meet fundraisers - each require a setup or clean up of approximately 2 hours of work, plus working a job at a ~4 hour event, and you must “dontate” a list of items worth ~$50... These fundraisers can be bought out for $250 if you want, and about a third of families do buy out. If you don’t buy out, and the fundraiser makes over a certain amount of money, you will get a small credit to your booster towards assessments, but that rarely happens and when it does it’s usually only $30-$50...

Two meets - each w/ approx 4-5 hours of either setup or cleanup, then you need to work three shifts of approximately 4 hours each during the meet. So for a meet weekend you are looking at ~16 hours!!! worth of work - and it’s pretty hard work (sometimes they schedule you consecutively which I wonder if it’s even legal to do that to people)...you also must bring in two items for the concession stand - 2 dozen baked goods, and a 12 pack of soda or a 24 pack of water (I guess you’d call that $10-$15)...You cannot buy out of this and you earn nothing towards your individual booster assessement regardless of how much money the meet makes or doesn’t.

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. Also, while working you have to pay for food and drinks at concessions like a regular meet attendee would - like they can’t even give you a free soda of that 12 pack of soda that you yourself may have brought in!!! Still got to charge you $1.50 for it, while you’re there working for nothing against your will.

So altogether, they demand your time 4 weekends out of the season...and if you want to reduce this to only 2 it will cost you $500 extra dollars (or really $400 cause you get out of the $50 item donation when you buy it)...

And then on top of all this, we STILL have to pay individual assessments of $2000+ as well as expensive marked-up apparel costs of about $400 per season. So it’s not like all this work gets us out of paying meet fees or anything...will still pay a lot more for assessments than many gyms who don’t require any of this stuff and go to essentially the same meets.

 

[wandrewsjr]

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.

Unicorn prices ARE pretty steep, just sayin'!

 

[Amusibus]

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.

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.

 

[raenndrops]

For our gym, we only have to work at the home meet. The gymnasts all work one session as runners/ flashers OR timers, if they are old enough. Timers have to be at least 14. We also allow rec kids and siblings of team members who are at least 9 to help with running/flashing.

There are different adult jobs. Some "jobs" are a session long, like scorekeeper and music. Concessions is split into 2 hour shifts. You are only REQUIRED to work 1 shift. Other jobs are Coaches Room / Judges Room (they have to go in and make sure it ready for Breakfast OR Lunch OR Dinner)... and you only have to sign up for 1 meal; and Awards (per session).

I always sign up to do awards every session. We have a system that works. I get 2 helper parents to get awards ready. Another parent announces the awards. Another passes out the ribbons. And we get a teenager or another parent to hold up a sign telling which event is being awarded.

We also are asked for $10 per family to get the concessions started out... and there are sign ups to donate soda, sports drinks, and water.

 

[Amusibus]

It's insane. They can't even give you the t-shirts for free? I'm sure it doesn't cost them $20 per shirt so they're making money off you with those too.
I hope that you pay no meet fees, coaches fees, and that you get your competition/training gear for free for all that work.

As a parent I've only had to work 2 meets - each of those required 3 3-hour shifts, setup or takedown which was another 3 hours, we provided some muffins (2 dozen) for the concession, and we were able to wear black pants/white shirt of our choice.

We pay full meet fees. For xcel silver this year there are four meets plus states, each at about $100 a pop. The uniform was $130 for the two pieces my daughter had grown out of, but for those buying the whole thing new I believe it was in the range of about $300. Coaches fees this year for xcel silver was $300. No, we don’t get any free stuff.

 

[gymmomx2]

We pay full meet fees. For xcel silver this year there are four meets plus states, each at about $100 a pop. The uniform was $130 for the two pieces my daughter had grown out of, but for those buying the whole thing new I believe it was in the range of about $300. Coaches fees this year for xcel silver was $300. No, we don’t get any free stuff.

So where does all that money go? Since there is no booster club, it just goes directly into the owner's pockets? CRAZY.

 

[bogwoppit]

Someone is making a lot of money off the backs of the parents.

 

[Amusibus]

Our gym has the following “volunteer” requirements:

Two mandatory non-meet fundraisers - each require a setup or clean up of approximately 2 hours of work, plus working a job at a ~4 hour event, and you must “dontate” a list of items worth ~$50... These fundraisers can be bought out for $250 if you want, and about a third of families do buy out. If you don’t buy out, and the fundraiser makes over a certain amount of money, you will get a small credit to your booster towards assessments, but that rarely happens and when it does it’s usually only $30-$50...

Two meets - each w/ approx 4-5 hours of either setup or cleanup, then you need to work three shifts of approximately 4 hours each during the meet. So for a meet weekend you are looking at ~16 hours!!! worth of work - and it’s pretty hard work (sometimes they schedule you consecutively which I wonder if it’s even legal to do that to people)...you also must bring in two items for the concession stand - 2 dozen baked goods, and a 12 pack of soda or a 24 pack of water (I guess you’d call that $10-$15)...You cannot buy out of this and you earn nothing towards your individual booster assessement regardless of how much money the meet makes or doesn’t.

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. Also, while working you have to pay for food and drinks at concessions like a regular meet attendee would - like they can’t even give you a free soda of that 12 pack of soda that you yourself may have brought in!!! Still got to charge you $1.50 for it, while you’re there working for nothing against your will.

So altogether, they demand your time 4 weekends out of the season...and if you want to reduce this to only 2 it will cost you $500 extra dollars (or really $400 cause you get out of the $50 item donation when you buy it)...

And then on top of all this, we STILL have to pay individual assessments of $2000+ as well as expensive marked-up apparel costs of about $400 per season. So it’s not like all this work gets us out of paying meet fees or anything...will still pay a lot more for assessments than many gyms who don’t require any of this stuff and go to essentially the same meets.

You are the only one so far who even comes close. Your assessment and uniform fees are much higher, but I am assuming it’s for JO with some travel meets? My child is xcel silver and practices 7 hours a week. Our “volunteer” time (I LOVE that you used quotes here, I do that too) for this weekend is 28 hours plus six hours set up. We do get free food, mostly, at the meet.

 

[RTT2]

You are the only one so far who even comes close. Your assessment and uniform fees are much higher, but I am assuming it’s for JO with some travel meets? My child is xcel silver and practices 7 hours a week. Our “volunteer” time (I LOVE that you used quotes here, I do that too) for this weekend is 28 hours plus six hours set up. We do get free food, mostly, at the meet.

This is absolutely insane.
Our gym doesn't require any volunteer time, but does ask for help with the meet they host- no one gets in trouble, or is charged a fee if they don't volunteer or donate toward the concession stand.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We pay full meet fees. For xcel silver this year there are four meets plus states, each at about $100 a pop. The uniform was $130 for the two pieces my daughter had grown out of, but for those buying the whole thing new I believe it was in the range of about $300. Coaches fees this year for xcel silver was $300. No, we don’t get any free stuff.

So you work for the gym for free. And you pay through the nose for the "honor" (read with extreme sarcasm).

I'm with your husband.

Someone is making a lot of money off the backs of the parents.

Yep. KMA comes to mind