Parents Meet Fees

[Iwannabemargo]

Hi

I'm in the UK and we obviously have very different systems over here. I'm currently following the Booster club thread with interest - I'm assuming that its like a PTA for the gym ?

You mention about paying $1000 in meet fees - what level of gymnastics is this ( again I'm not really up on your levels - so maybe more general discriptions)? Is this the cost of the events or does it include traveling to and from, overnight stays etc ?

And the discussionabout paying coaches for meets - from this do I assume that meets are and "extra" and that the coaches are paid "by the hour" ?

Thanks in advance

'Margo

 

[bogwoppit]

Wow it is such a different kettle of fish in the USA.

Yes a booster club is a bit like a PTA, they have tax relief and stringent guidelines.

Coaches are paid to get to the meet, that can be milage and gas for a car or that can be air fare. Their accomodation is paid and their meals as well, they also get paid for the sessions they attend. This amount usually is divided up between all girls who attend the meet. Though in some clubs the booster club will cover some of these costs or just the costs for the meets of the highest level girls for Nationals etc.

PArents are expected to bring their childen to meets, coaches do not do this often. SO families can expect to stay in hotels and once their child hits L5 they can expect travel meets that involve air fare or very long drives. Many families use these trips as their family holidays.

Booster clubs funds can be used for many, many things and it varies from club to club. Some clubs hold meets and do bingo etc to raise money. SOmetimes the funds subsidise leos etc, sometimes it is enough to subsidise meets. However it seems to me (correct me if I am wrong) that all children have to benefit equally even if their parents do not put as much work in.

PArents can be responsible for many things too. All clubs have monthly tuition fees, they also have meet fees which seem to be about $100 per meet for about 10 meets a year. THough if your DD is doing L6 followed by L7 you may be paying for 20 meets! The meet fee will include the coaches portion too.

Parents often get caught with extra fees, some of them are very ammusing to me. Equipment fees yearly, as in a huge chunk of money (like $1000) for the purchase and upgrades to equipment. Parents are required to buy, at minimum, a leo and a warm up (some clubs also include bages, shoes and warm up leos) yearly. Some of these leos are in the $200-$300 range, renting from the club is not the norm at all.

Kids train year round and some gyms dictate the holidays that are allowed. No refunds given. IN the summer kids often train a lot more hours than during the school year, 20 hours a week is not unusual in the summer, even for the lower levels.

Meets are a big deal in the USA with medals going out a long way, often to 50% or more. Groups can be very small and are broken down by age and level. Girls often begin competing at 6 or less, cha ching!

Volunteer coaches are a rarity.

I am sure this is way more info than you wanted, but once I started typing I found myself unable to stop! Don't even get me started on Quebec!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

dang Bog, that was mighty thorough. ^^^

 

[Quadqueen]

Bog was very thorough, but at my dd's club, this is NOT an accurate description. She is L5 so not a high level, but she still does not travel far for meets (never needing to stay overnight, always within a couple of hours by car). We do not have a booster club, nor is there any discussion about covering coaches' costs of going to meets, etc. We simply pay what we owe for meet fees and leo.

Our meet fees generally range from $50-$115 for each meet. We get a new leo every couple of years and they range from $100-$180 or so. We do not have equipment fees or any of the other fees that were mentioned.

Our girls do practice all year but our hours do not increase exponentially in the summer, rather they stay pretty much the same.

Just wanted to make sure you did not have the impression that ALL clubs in the USA are as Bog described.

 

[bogwoppit]

I really did not say every club in the USA is like this, I think I implied that there were many different models and fees can be very high.

I am also comparing it to the UK way clubs often operate which is nothing like the USA, and I assume you are not familiar with. But I am sure Iwannabemargo would gladly tell you how it works.

I used words like "often" and "can be" and "sometimes" as opposed to "are" etc. I hope that what I got across is the generalities. Having been here for this many years I think I have a good overall picture of what happens across the board. There are more extreme clubs on both ends of the spectrum, just like in everything.

But hey, if you just want to be right that's cool too.

 

[cher062]

Bog covered most of it thats for sure

For us my DD is L7 maybe L8 they still haven't confirmed it yet. Our cheapest meets are $100 and go up for the bigger meets. Our gym only do a few in our state most are travel meets and hotels and maybe airfare are involved. so a parent and a gymnast are paid for with meals a meet like that a good $1000 - $1500 in addtion to the meet fee may be spent. IN our meet fees it includes the coaches fees which pays for the coach being at the meet, for the coaches hotel and transportation costs and a budget for meals. so if only one kid goes that family pays for the coach to go - if 10 go the cost is split up. Very expensive

Just paid $190 for a new warm up suite and last year a new leo $270 most of these fees we have a week or so to pay.

Just got the notice for meet fees yesterday and we have to pay almost $400 by next Thursday. We also owe that same amount in tuition and $120 for a new floor routine is also due by then and $55 for the music UGH!! I wish my money tree would bloom more often.

I just put out almost $2000 for my son at the University to get books, and his meal plan paid for. Man it makes you wonder sometimes why we really wanted kids LOL.

 

[Quadqueen]

Wow, Bog...um, I just thought your description sounded a tad bit extreme and I wanted to show her the other end of the spectrum. I realize you've been around here for a while, and did not mean to step on any toes, but the original poster was asking if $1,000 meet fees is standard. I just wanted to let her know it is not that excessive for everyone, nor do we have any of the other fees you describe.

When you referred to how there are more extreme clubs at both ends of the spectrum as there are with everything (in your response to me), that would have been an appropriate addition to your response to the original poster... Just sayin...

and no, I don't just want to be "right"...I just want to be "accurate".

 

[gymgal]

In our gym, from bronze up (you asked for description - skills: pullover, back hip circle, bhs, handstand on beam), we can expect anywhere from $1000 to 1500 for team fees in our gym. that includes things like warmups, leos, bags, meet fees, coach expenses for meets (hotels, gas, airline if necessary, time, etc), Our meet fees are based on how many meets we choose to go to. The people who go to each meet pay for the fees for that meet (registration, coach fees). I'm not sure how our coaches get paid (based on each session they coach or by the day?) Because many of our meets are 3+ hours away, we also have hotel and meal costs for the families, which we pay for on our own. We raise money throughout the year to help defray the costs through our booster club. it is definitely very expensive. In the lower levels, it almost equals the amount we spend on tuition.

Oh, in our gym, we don't pay extra for gym equipment upkeep. that is figured into the tuition costs for everyone in the gym (recreational and team).

Many gyms in our area do not travel very far for meets - usually stay within the 3 hr window. But our hc chooses to do bigger meets. We like this because it offers different competition from other states, which is good for our girls (we compete prep op, not the level 4-6 compulsory).

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Ah

Maybe I should stop winging then !

Our setup is very different and I suppose that part of it is due to geography. My club is 15 miles from my house door to door and my dd school friends mums think I am mental to travel that far.

The furthest we go is just out of county (about 45 miles) atm but that will change as since our new coach has taken over the level has improved.

My dd has just done her first grade - 14 but the plan is to get her to 10 in 2 years time and she will be starting intermediate 4 piece this year - means nothing to you guys but the brits will know what I mean.

All the coaches are paid from the club fees, they got to meets and are paid, but no extra fees are demanded from the parents except the entry fees - currently I pay arround $ 24 - however only the top 3 girls in each age group will get a medal.

There are no additional fees and the last club leo we bought was around $64 and most mums thought that was expensive !

Our club has around 800 members, most are rec and pre-school (whose fees subsides the team) and around 50 girls and boys on "squad" at various levels from advanced rec to grade 10.


Its intersting to see the differences. Our head Coach owns the club, we rent accommodation and she has 6 paid coaches, 3 college kids on apprentiships part-time and 4 parent helpers. In the UK we all have to be police checked to work with children.

Our club also provided music foc and just asks that parents send their children to meets in black trakkies and club t-shirt, provided free on registration - oh and we all pay BG registration which is about $24 from memory.

'margo

 

[TexasRose]

We pay $70 for our meet fees- for all of them. We don't get charged anything for equipment of gym upkeep- I figure that's probably figured into the tuition. I think that we're very lucky at our gym. The competition leos were $105 practice leos were $35. The warmups were $120 but were optional . Which made me happy because I didn't want to get one. Our winters down here are very mild and I'm planning on getting her a windsuit in the same color as the team ones at Walmart for her to wear to save some money. At the parent meeting a few weeks ago we were given the list of mandatory items- competition and practice leos, and optional items- warm-ups, backpack, team shirts, etc. The gym is giving the parents 3 months to pay the balance for the items they would like. They don't want finances to be a reason for a child to not be able to participate. Just another reason for why I love our gym .

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Texas Rose, may I ask how much your tuition is per hour ?

Thanks

'margo

 

[TexasRose]

Texas Rose, may I ask how much your tuition is per hour ?

Thanks

'margo

My DD practices one day a week for 3 hours. The tuition is $98 a month- which works out to about $8 an hour. Not bad at all. Especially since we're in Texas, which from reading other posts seems to be more expensive. We're brand new to gym so I don't really have anything to compare it to.

 

[bookworm]

Well I'm jealous of all of you with the cheap meet fees and tuitions...I actually thought Bog's description of it was right on the money (literally) for what I have experienced...I have always paid a minimum of $1200 in meet fees a year, and then add in 200 when she made it to Regionals and another 500-700 when she made Nationals so our gym must be one of those on the extreme end of the spectrum that is referred to (and the tuition is 500 a month to boot)...the owners of the gym still nickle and dime us to death with one of the highest tuitions in the area...and these fees just pay for the coaches to get to meets so when you add on the travel for my daughter and I , well I'd better stop before it depresses me....

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

How about an Ontario, Canada perspective?

At our current gym, we pay meet fees for only the meets we attend, this year there will be about 6 or 7 meets, including travelling to Quebec for Gymnix. There we will pay our travel and hotel expenses. My dd is also competing Trampoline and Tumbling this year so that is 3 extra qualifier meets and then Ontario Championships if she qualifies.

Meet fees are generally $50-$100 per meet.

Monthly tuition is $330 per month for my dd who trains 19 hours a week (16 regular and 3 extra for T&T).

Our leos are $100 for competition and $40 for the training suit, $150 for the warm up suit. They are doing an exchange this year if you have a suit to sell they will be 50% of the cost new.

We don't have a booster club, but do several fundraisers throughout the year. All of that money goes toward subsidizing tuition for the week the girls spend at Woodward. Our silent auction money goes toward equipment purchases.

Edited to add: it was VERY different at our previous gym, and i really don't want to go there.

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

We pay anywere from $80 - $100 per meet for meet fees - this season we are only doing 5 meets in regular season, 1 is a traveling meet about 4 hours from home so will require an overnight stay and we will be responsible for our own travel expenses. Coaches fees depend upon which coach attends and how many girls attend - our level 4 & 5 girls have large squads so we send two coaches at about $100 per session each the level 6 team is small and requires only 1 coach at the same per session rate. There is a per-diem for food, etc for coaches when they stay overnight. Competition leos this year were $150 and warmups were $100 plus a bag for $35. Our level 4's work out 9 hours per week and pay $260 per month in tuition.

We do have a fledgling booster club that this year will be able to pay all of the coaches fees and the coaches hotel rooms including Zone & Regional competitions (which most of our girls have now qualified for)