Parents The cost of high level gymnastics (brace yourself)

[josie55]

Feel free to close your eyes if you prefer, because you can’t unsee this. I saw it on Instagram and it seems accurate to me. I never would have believed these numbers when my daughter was starting out, and never would have thought we would do this (or be able to), but once you’re on the path it’s really difficult to get off, and most don’t realize what is even happening financially until you’re in very very deep. So here you go. Consider yourselves warned.

 

[LongHoursNoTime]

OMG. This is too real.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

Yep, my rough estimates have us at $20-$25k all in. Sigh

 

[RTT2]

Accurate. Things break down a bit differently than in her chart, but the total is spot on, give or take a few thousand depending on which travel meets, if it's a year for a new comp leo, or new choreography.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Yeah that is pretty accurate. It's definitely not something I like to add up. Meet season especially is just so expensive and it doesn't help with the cost of flights and hotels rising lately. I used to think $200 was a lot for hotel. Lately it's starting to feel like a bargain. Sigh. And I've been looking at the cost of flights for some of our meets next season and it makes me want to cry. Only 2 more years for me!

 

[josie55]

One cost category that is not included in this list is medical. Insurance helps, but out of pocket costs and copays for PT, chiro, MRIs, massage, and whatever else is needed definitely adds up.

 

[mezzamare]

Seems right to me. My husband and I were just musing about whether or not we would go down this route again if we were to do it all over again. But it makes our daughter happy, she loves it, and it has been very good for her in many aspects of her life.

But man oh man, the cost at this level is astronomical. My son competes two high school sports and does a summer rec league, and we spend maybe $1,000 a year on that, lol.

Our daughter is competing L9 this coming season, so we haven't even gotten into all of the camps yet. But she'll have five flyaway meets, a big jump from one last year.