WAG Region 5 coaches pay

[coachmolly]

I knew I was underpaid on meet days, just didn't know how much! I get a flat rate per day I'm at the meet for time, travel expenses, any meals not provided at the meet, and gas. It would work out to approximately my hourly wage if I worked 1 session, didn't travel, and had no expenses. The days I miss coaching to work a meet I lose money. Fortunately they do cover hotel fees if one is needed.

 

[fuzi]

Both gyms I have worked at paid me my standard hourly for time at meets. One gym paid normal hourly for travel time, the other pays a lower rate for travel time (but I'm getting paid much more in general). We get paid overtime if coaching at meets puts us over 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in day. All our meets are driving distance: we get paid IRS mileage rate for driving our car and we carpool if it makes sense. Food, tolls, or parking expenses are reimbursed.

 

[skschlag]

I wish my job covered any expenses......

That being said, I don't think any parents want their coaches to not get what they need. But I have to admit, when we were paying gas and mileage, hotel, session fees, and food and a per diem, and the coach was eating the catered food at the meet and staying with friends, that did get frustrating.

 

[QueenBee]

As a parent, I will just say that I think it is ridiculous to try and monitor what/where coaches eat during a meet in order to save money. If you decide on a per diem (of $25 or more) for coaches to eat each day that they work a session/meet - it is part of their compensation. It is then not up to the booster club or individual parents to worry about whether the coach eats steak at a nice restaurant, fast food from McDonalds or packs a cooler with fresh healthy food already purchased before being given the per diem. It shouldn't depend on whether food is offered to coaches at the meets. Either give the per diem or don't...but I think it is out of line to try to control any part of your coaches compensation for working.

If your coach would rather save the money and not eat out, or spend it all - it is none of your business. It is the coaches money.

 

[gymnastmom05]

I knew I was underpaid on meet days, just didn't know how much! I get a flat rate per day I'm at the meet for time, travel expenses, any meals not provided at the meet, and gas. It would work out to approximately my hourly wage if I worked 1 session, didn't travel, and had no expenses. The days I miss coaching to work a meet I lose money. Fortunately they do cover hotel fees if one is needed.

I'm not sure if I sure even like your post - I'm sorry! We have considered situations like yours as well. We don't want our coaches losing money when they're at a meet instead of at the gym.

 

[skschlag]

As a parent, I will just say that I think it is ridiculous to try and monitor what/where coaches eat during a meet in order to save money. If you decide on a per diem (of $25 or more) for coaches to eat each day that they work a session/meet - it is part of their compensation. It is then not up to the booster club or individual parents to worry about whether the coach eats steak at a nice restaurant, fast food from McDonalds or packs a cooler with fresh healthy food already purchased before being given the per diem. It shouldn't depend on whether food is offered to coaches at the meets. Either give the per diem or don't...but I think it is out of line to try to control any part of your coaches compensation for working.

If your coach would rather save the money and not eat out, or spend it all - it is none of your business. It is the coaches money.

I agree. I don't want to monitor. I think this coach was double dipping (per diem AND food, gas AND mileage). That was the frustrating part.

 

[gymnastmom05]

As a parent, I will just say that I think it is ridiculous to try and monitor what/where coaches eat during a meet in order to save money. If you decide on a per diem (of $25 or more) for coaches to eat each day that they work a session/meet - it is part of their compensation. It is then not up to the booster club or individual parents to worry about whether the coach eats steak at a nice restaurant, fast food from McDonalds or packs a cooler with fresh healthy food already purchased before being given the per diem. It shouldn't depend on whether food is offered to coaches at the meets. Either give the per diem or don't...but I think it is out of line to try to control any part of your coaches compensation for working.

If your coach would rather save the money and not eat out, or spend it all - it is none of your business. It is the coaches money.

I think it just all goes into what is expected - is it just easier to pay a higher flat fee session rate, do we do a per diem but then it gets hazy as far as when/how much coaches should get? (say a meet is less than an hour and a half away, session time is at noon, are we expected to pay them for lunch AND dinner because in theory they could be back home by 6 pm, on the flip side, you work all day at the meet, shouldn't you get more money for food?) Those are some of the factors we are trying to figure in when we are deciding on coaches pay and in turn, how much to charge parents.

I also spoke to other people that travel (other industries). A relative of mine works for a major company. He has a per diem but MUST turn in receipts and is only reimbursed what he spent. So, we just have to figure out if the per diem is really their money or if we treat it like an expense and only pay what is necessary.

 

[gymnastmom05]

I will say, after working the meet our booster club hosts and seeing the food we had catered in, the coaches and judges were eating nicely! Much better than the cold leftover food I was able to go pay for when I had a chance to get away and shove some food in. I do know some meets aren't as nice or not what one would prefer but I also see my husband working through lunches and if food is brought in, it's eat it or don't. (and if you eat something later, it's on your own dime).

 

[kayjaybe]

Except for the double -dipping (paying mileage AND gas or paying food AND per diem - those don't make sense), I'm not sure I'd get too worked up about it.

Let's say the coach is costing an extra $25/day for paying for the closer parking. If you have 25 gymmies competing that day, it is a whopping $1 per gymnast.

Now, bigger ticket items like intentionally booking a last minute flight that costs $1000 instead of $400....I think that should be brought up with the coach and addressed.

But I highly doubt any coach is getting rich off a few extra bucks for meet expenses.

 

[AWOL]

Coaches are employees of the gym and if being paid for meets by the booster club, they should get the same compensation as they are getting if working at the home gym if the meet is in close proximity to the home gym.
They should get overtime if they are working over 40 hours for the week.
Do they get paid for lunch when working at the local gym, if yes the same should be done at the meet, if not, they should not get paid for food.
If the meet is not close to the home gym, lets say more that two hours away, they should then get mileage or flights, hotel and per Diem as listed for the city the meet is at or expenses but not both.
I have been a team leader over employees who traveled and and I have traveled most of my career. This is how I/they were paid. I do not see where a coach is any different than any other employee that travels.
The coaches are getting so that they expect to be treated as special and is causing the gymnasts cost to go out of sight. When we are paying over $1000 for coaches fees plus competition costs when we are already paying for our gymnasts training to do competitions, things are getting out of hand.

 

[AmandaLynn]

Over $1000 for coaching fees is crazy unless you have a very small team that travels a lot. Unless you are including the actual meet entry fees, which would make it more reasonable.

 

[bookworm]

Over $1000 for coaching fees is crazy unless you have a very small team that travels a lot. Unless you are including the actual meet entry fees, which would make it more reasonable.

We always had coaching fees of $1000+ per child for as long as I can remember....and we were on a team size that ranged from small (20) to large (over 100) and those were the fees, and meet fees were separate.

One gym we were at had coaching fees for the "regular season" at about 1300 per gymnast, and if/when your child made it to JOs, you were billed the fees , up front, before you left for the meet....one year both my girls made it and I was given a bill for $739 for one (there were only a few at her level) and $459 (more at this level went) on a Thursday and it was "payable by Tuesday, 5 days from now".....

 

[CanAmGymMum]

Now I have another question - do you get the $25 per day for food even at "local" meets. For example, you have a meet one hour away and you are coaching one session, do you still get the $25 and a coach that is coaching 4 sessions that day also gets the same amount? We pick up all hotel expenses/mileage and pay for food (with a limit) but have asked our coaches to be reasonable and if they ate at the meet, please don't charge us just to make extra money. We would like to compensate them in a way that's fair to them for their time but also not "taking" from the booster club (aka, parents). We've basically asked them to be mindful when making purchases and if they wouldn't spend their own money on an item/service, please don't spend the parent's money on it.

We get $25 per day for food regardless of the number of sessions worked. Most meals are eaten at coaches hospitality at the meet except for maybe dinner at the end of the day. It is my understanding that this and the session fees are fairly standard for gyms in my state in region 5.

 

[AmandaLynn]

We always had coaching fees of $1000+ per child for as long as I can remember....and we were on a team size that ranged from small (20) to large (over 100) and those were the fees, and meet fees were separate.

One gym we were at had coaching fees for the "regular season" at about 1300 per gymnast, and if/when your child made it to JOs, you were billed the fees , up front, before you left for the meet....one year both my girls made it and I was given a bill for $739 for one (there were only a few at her level) and $459 (more at this level went) on a Thursday and it was "payable by Tuesday, 5 days from now".....

Wow... None of our kids pay nearly that much. Our compulsories and xcels are less than $1000 INCLUDING their meet entry fees. Our optionals don't pay much more than $1000. Again, including meet entry fees. And we have meets all over the place, including several that require airfare for coaches.

How many meets did that include?

 

[bookworm]

The gym with the $1300 price tag was about 5 meets...the others were about 10...just for the regular season. States, regionals and Nationals were all additional.

 

[raenndrops]

Dear parents, I tell it like it is. Put yourself in a coaches position, we make VERY little at meets when compared to our normal hourly rate

We pay our coaches their hourly rate per session. Like I suggested way upthread, multiply the hourly rate by how long they are expected to be there for the session. That would include getting there early, staying for awards (if they did that), and extra time to talk with parents after. They should also get food and mileage. If it is not a local meet (most of ours are within two hours of the gym and coaches tend to carpool in 2 vehicles), then hotel, if needed.
This way, the coach isn't making less than they would coaching a practice. If the meet puts them into overtime (impossible at our gym), then 1.5x the normal hourly rate for the overtime hours.

 

[gfgymnast]

i'm paid hourly from the time i leave to drive to the meet til the time i get home, no extra money for food or gas. in region 5

 

[Hollowarchkick]

Our coaches are paid an extra $25 for the first session of the day for local meets (less than 50 miles). That covers the food or gas. If they have tolls or parking, that's extra. They don't get gas or mileage and on meets that are out of town, they get mileage but not gas (that is standard according to IRS).

 

[chalkbowl]

Gym #1: $50 per session for a max of 2 compulsory coaches (1 coach for optionals), IRS rate for mileage for one car, $5/breakfast & $10/lunch & $15/dinner if food wasn't provided at the meet, hotel & tolls reimbursed. Hours I would typically work were NOT paid (meaning if I missed the 7 hours of team practice on a Saturday for a competition session...I missed being paid for those 7 hours...even if I was only coaching one session at the meet). Carpooling was not feasible (I lived an hour southeast of the gym in a different state), so I typically would forego mileage.

Gym #2: $60 per session & IRS rate for mileage. Coaches carpool if the competition is over 100 miles away. Hours typically worked not paid. I only coach at local meets now, so hotel is not an issue.

 

[pt coach]

In region 5:

$75 per session
$50 a day for food if coaching 2 or more sessions
$25 if only coaching one session
for travel days that do not include a competition session submit receipts for any meal required while traveling (certain limits apply but I can't remember the exact terms).
Mileage is paid for all meets except the ones we host at IRS rate.
Hotel is covered. We always stay at the host hotel.


Whether or not the meet serves food is not considered. When we have 3 or 4 session days I rarely have time to eat at the meet...so I try to do breakfast before and a good dinner after.