Parents Is Competitive Gymnastics Right For My Family?

[txgymfan]

Not true. For example, for baseball the club teams (and leagues and tournaments) take a "break" for the duration of the high school season starting at 15u.

Gymnastics does not, however. Club gymnasts generally do not do HS gymnastics in my area.

Most female volleyball players do fall High School season with club training the rest of the year including a competitive club season in the Spring. Those that have the resources also work with a private strength and agility coach. They seem to start getting serious at about age 10.

 

[Carabistouille]

I don’t even think gymnastics is particularly expensive. It’s a bit travel intensive but the cost of DP coaching is dirt cheap for the amount of contact hours a good gym provides to a higher level team athlete.
There is a lot wrong with gymnastics but I’m not sure (with few obvious exceptions) it could feasibly be set up more affordably.

I'm in Europe and I pay 400€ / YEAR for gymnastics (training10h + meet fees + leos).

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

My advice:
Ask lots of questions
Befriend an upper level parent and get the low down on the gym and team from then
It's expensive, and time consuming and can overtake your life if you let it
Very few are going to get a scholarship, even fewer are going to be an Olympian
Take it SLOW! No reason to rush through the levels
If elite is considered really, really consider what all that entails
And most importantly, it's his/her journey, you're just along for the ride

 

[NutterButter]

My son was on high school basketball team . He had practice all year round, including summer.

Did you son go on to play at a collegiate level?

I know kids/parents in several sports who are going onto or have received D1 scholarships. ALL of them train year round or nearly year round in their sport. In most cases, the high school portion is not the most competitive, it's the club teams, tourney teams or summer teams that are giving the greatest exposure to top competition/coaching.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Even you do club team at the same time. You don’t pay that much like gymnastics. Gymnastics is a very expensive sport with long time commitment, about twice or triple of the cost of other sports Because the training time is long and they need a gym with lots of equipments .

Not true. Private team, travel, camps, coaching equipment. Simply not true

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Not true. For example, for baseball the club teams (and leagues and tournaments) take a "break" for the duration of the high school season starting at 15u.

Gymnastics does not, however. Club gymnasts generally do not do HS gymnastics in my area.

i can only speak to NY. Nearly every HS gymnast who qualified for States did club gymnastics

 

[Gaby]

Gymnastics is definitely not a cheap sport! For club , if join a basketball club, only $2000-$3000 a year , for team practice, competition fee is at most $50 for each competition, private session, $50/hour you can easily find a decent coach . Gymnastics, yearly training fee, ,average $500/month ,, competition season, extra $2200 , not including traveling fee , camp fee and private sessions. Mostly charge $80–$100/hr, even more

Choreograph your Routine, some gyms charge up to $500-$1000 per routine . Competition leotard, $500/each , not including other accessories , some gyms change competition leotard every year .
If you only do high school sports, most of schools around my area provide free practice and free competition year around for 4 years!!! . I don’t know other areas’ school.

 

[JPC13]

Gymnastics is definitely not a cheap sport! For club , if join a basketball club, only $2000-$3000 a year , for team practice, competition fee is at most $50 for each competition, private session, $50/hour you can easily find a decent coach . Gymnastics, yearly training fee, ,average $500/month ,, competition season, extra $2200 , not including traveling fee , camp fee and private sessions. Mostly charge $80–$100/hr, even more

Choreograph your Routine, some gyms charge up to $500-$1000 per routine . Competition leotard, $500/each , not including other accessories , some gyms change competition leotard every year .
If you only do high school sports, most of schools around my area provide free practice and free competition year around for 4 years!!! . I don’t know other areas’ school.

I'm sure that it's hard to never admit that you're wrong, but you should try it. It's liberating.

All sports are expensive at the elite level. Top level HS athletes who live outside of a small few very good locations around the country often relocate to IMG for greater exposure to D1 recruiters. IMG costs $69,000 per year for a basketball player. It's $89,000 a year if you live in their dorms.

FYI, IMG doesn't even admit gymnasts. Why? Because elite level training happens at the club level in the USA. That elite training doesn't cost $70,000 a year, so no... high level gymnastics training isn't particularly expensive compared to other high level sports.

 

[NutterButter]

Gymnastics is definitely not a cheap sport! For club , if join a basketball club, only $2000-$3000 a year , for team practice, competition fee is at most $50 for each competition, private session, $50/hour you can easily find a decent coach . Gymnastics, yearly training fee, ,average $500/month ,, competition season, extra $2200 , not including traveling fee , camp fee and private sessions. Mostly charge $80–$100/hr, even more

Choreograph your Routine, some gyms charge up to $500-$1000 per routine . Competition leotard, $500/each , not including other accessories , some gyms change competition leotard every year .
If you only do high school sports, most of schools around my area provide free practice and free competition year around for 4 years!!! . I don’t know other areas’ school.

Yes, we are all familiar with all expenses related to gymnastics...you are posting on a gymnastics forum.

My question for you (this post and relating back to your post where you mentioned your son playing high school basketball) is whether your son is/will be playing collegiate basketball - varsity, not club? Public high school sports usually have a very modest fee. It's just $80/sport for my highschooler. Are you personally aware of a high school athlete who has just played their 'free' high school sport and gone onto college athletics without any additional off season training?

The basketball club pricing you mention is similar to what my mom friends pay for their sons to play in a year round league. This league for kids who are not even guaranteed to make their high school team. They play because they love the sport and it keeps them busy. I know a kid who is hoping for a D1 basketball opportunity, his family spends WAY MORE than the $2K-$3K you mention. His training is not as much as gymnastics but pretty close!

 

[JPC13]

Yes, we are all familiar with all expenses related to gymnastics...you are posting on a gymnastics forum.

My question for you (this post and relating back to your post where you mentioned your son playing high school basketball) is whether your son is/will be playing collegiate basketball - varsity, not club? Public high school sports usually have a very modest fee. It's just $80/sport for my highschooler. Are you personally aware of a high school athlete who has just played their 'free' high school sport and gone onto college athletics without any additional off season training?

The basketball club pricing you mention is similar to what my mom friends pay for their sons to play in a year round league. This league for kids who are not even guaranteed to make their high school team. They play because they love the sport and it keeps them busy. I know a kid who is hoping for a D1 basketball opportunity, his family spends WAY MORE than the $2K-$3K you mention. His training is not as much as gymnastics but pretty close!

Elite level (e.g., 5 star recruit) HS basketball is insane. Emoni Bates' parents created a fake school for him and a chosen group of his preferred teammates in order to raise his national profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoni_Bates

 

[Gaby]

no right or wrong. In my situation, my daughter’s gymnastics JO program costs way more than my son’s basketball club team . . I think it is for most of regular parents. . All of my kids are not elite athlete track .

 

[Lurker]

no right or wrong. In my situation, my daughter’s gymnastics JO program costs way more than my son’s basketball club team . . I think it is for most of regular parents. . All of my kids are not elite athlete track .

I'm confused so you are comparing truffles to bananas and exclaiming one is more expensive?

 

[RTT2]

For any kid just doing a high school sport, no additional club, no expectations of playing on a college team, will definitely be much, much cheaper (I assume basically free) compared to gymnastics. So, if Gaby's kid might switch from gym to hs cheer or something then I can see why she views that as a much cheaper option. But for any kid in any high level sport, I guess the costs, commitment and travel time are similar to gymnastics.

 

[JPC13]

I'm confused so you are comparing truffles to bananas and exclaiming one is more expensive?

What some of us seem to not understand, is that unless you're a multi year FB starter somewhere like Mater Dei (which itself is a private school that costs $18,000 a year), then HS sports are pretty similar to rec gymnastics. Most of the kids are just doing it for fun.

 

[Gaby]

even with college expectations, some kids do 4 year extra club , there are regular sports ,like basketball, soccers, baseball, also cheaper than gymnastics , . If you add it all up. Not talk about private school. After all Most of kids go to public school

 

[Gaby]

Not talk about elite track .just for regular average status family