In-houe meets

[dancengym]

How does your gym handle in-House meets? Whether you have a parents association or not, do you take part of profits, get paid for the time you put in? Are you required to work the meets, provide food and supplies? What is the parents required contribution both in time and money and what is your return? Thank you.

 

[Jennemmy]

We don't have a parents assn (I wish we did) but we are required to bring in food to sell, $5 towards judges food and work a shift. There is normally a sign up sheet and if you are lucky you can sign up for something like beam timer. The unlucky ones might get parking lot duty (not fun in winter). We don't pay for entry to the meet but we still pay a meet fee (nominal approx $25). We don't get a share of the profits. I know most of our parents wish that there was a benefit to home meets but it is nice to have a meet or 2 at our own gym before we travel to bigger meets. The girls tend to do better on their own equipment and have less meet jitters.

 

[gymcoach34]

I have never heard of parents getting paid to work a home meet. I think its good to look at it as a volunteer opportunity to help out your gym and to help the kids out. Most gyms require a certain # of sessions from parents, its kind of part of your "dues"-but you can also pay in if you do not want to volunteer. If you have a parents club, and they ran the meet, they would get the profits (or whatever they work out w the gym owners), but also the cost of food, supplies, etc. would be covered by the association. The kids really do like "hosting" a meet and are usually proud of their gym- perhaps thats what you get in return?

 

[Megley]

Our gym hosts at least two meets every year and sometimes three. All parents are required to work 12 total hours, which comes out to one four hour session per meet. You can pay if you don't want to work. We do have a parents' association, but it doesn't host the meets. We could do that, but as gymcoach34 noted, we would have to reserve and pay for the judges, the medals, all supplies, as well as for the venue. It can be a big money maker but you have to have someone who is certified as a meet director and you have to have really good parent involvement to pull it off. In addition, just finding a date that will work and not conflict with another meet can be hard.

At the meets our gym hosts, we all are also asked to donate food for concessions and hospitality. The parents' association makes money from selling concessions and from selling good luck grams and programs. In addition, I think hosting meets is just good for the gym in general so that the gym gets some recognition.

 

[bookworm]

For truly "in house" meets (as in taking place in your actual gym versus being hosted by your gym) , we are not required to work but volunteers are welcome...if you do volunteer, there is no reward per se in terms of profits etc. Our parent association sells drinks and some food but again, we are not required to contribute to this either.

For the meet hosted by our gym, if you are a member of the parents association,you are required to work 7 shifts (i.e. meet sessions) PER GYMNAST (if you have 2 daughters, then it's 14 shifts!) and a set up or a break down of the event AND you are reqiured to contribute $30 in either food or money towards the concessions and judges and coaches food and here is the kicker ...the parents association does NOT get the profits from meet, the gym does!! And after working our 7 shifts, if our daughter competes in a different session, we have to pay the admission fee of 12 bucks!! So usually after one year in the parent org, people usually wake to the realization that they are being taken for a ride and they don't join again...There is no requirement to join the parents association so with a scenario like this , why would you? The parents association gets to keep the profits from the concessions (big whoop and it usually only amounts to 3-4000 to be split by all in the assoc) but the gym keeps everything else!!

 

[vagymmomma]

We host 3 - 4 meets each year. The gym owner picks the date, requests judges, and manages all visiting gym participant requests. Our Parent Assocation (PA) is responsible for the actual operation of the meets. We have a meet coordinator and several permanent positions (judges room, concessions, et al), but we require all gym families to participate in one job listing per meet (there's a pretty stiff penalty if they don't). There are a wide range of jobs from set-up, to handing out medals at the end, or entering scores during the meet. Jobs are filled on a first come, first serve basis.

We don't really make much money on the meet itself (that goes to the gym), but we do pretty well with concessions ($500+ per meet). We ask families to contribute items, but we don't require it. Things like water and mints at the judges table are paid for by the PA (we have other fundraisers to help pay for those things).

It takes a lot of time and commitment from the parents, but there are plenty of benefits. As previously mentioned, we find it definitely less stressful for the gymnasts to compete on equipment they know in a familiar setting. Plus, no travel time or expense! Sure you're working a two hour shift at a meet, but at least you're not in a car for 2 hrs each direction as we are with other meets. Finally, I really think the team girls take pride in it.

 

[bookworm]

And I forgot to add that there is a $100 entry fee per gymnast for "our" meet...

 

[dancengym]

For truly "in house" meets (as in taking place in your actual gym versus being hosted by your gym) , we are not required to work but volunteers are welcome...if you do volunteer, there is no reward per se in terms of profits etc. Our parent association sells drinks and some food but again, we are not required to contribute to this either.

For the meet hosted by our gym, if you are a member of the parents association,you are required to work 7 shifts (i.e. meet sessions) PER GYMNAST (if you have 2 daughters, then it's 14 shifts!) and a set up or a break down of the event AND you are reqiured to contribute $30 in either food or money towards the concessions and judges and coaches food and here is the kicker ...the parents association does NOT get the profits from meet, the gym does!! And after working our 7 shifts, if our daughter competes in a different session, we have to pay the admission fee of 12 bucks!! So usually after one year in the parent org, people usually wake to the realization that they are being taken for a ride and they don't join again...There is no requirement to join the parents association so with a scenario like this , why would you? The parents association gets to keep the profits from the concessions (big whoop and it usually only amounts to 3-4000 to be split by all in the assoc) but the gym keeps everything else!!

Sounds like where our parents' association is headed. That is why many of our parents are quite upset. In the past, our gym gave the association 50%. The association provided all the manpower, food for concessions and judges, supplies, goody bags, raffles, decorations. Basically, everything. The one meet we host is a big one, with 800 to 1,200 gymnasts. So most members of the association are at the meet all weekend. We are asked to contribute money towards the raffles, bring in food and are assigned supplies (cups, plates, etc.). Some dedicated parents provide many hundreds of dollars worth of supplies. The minimum contribution per gymnast is between $50-$100. Because our gym cannot hold such a meet and our equipment is not up to par with competition standards, we do rent a place and all the equipment. Two weeks ago, our gym announced that they are no longer are splitting the profits with the association but will give the association all proceeds from the concession stand. Reading all the posts, I am finding that this is customary and quite commonplace. Unfortunately, the representation of the association to its members in the last few years was that the meet is the association's biggest fundraiser. So, most newer members were eager and willing to put in as much as they can because they thought the meet was the associations. With this new announcement, came a lot of resentment. I also initially resented the gym taking the 50% profit away, but from the looks of things, they were actually quite generous. Our meet is coming up in a few weeks, and I don't know how we are going to pull it off. We don't know how many parents are actually volunteer. The gym makes no requirements to volunteer but requests each parent volunteer to work 2 sessions. I think the gym should make this a requirement as part of the team. However, even if everyone in our team volunteers, I think we still have a huge problem, because we have lost half our team and with the number of people we have left, I am not so sure we will have enough manpower. By the way, another big reason parents are resentful is because the association was never handed the 50% profit promised from last year. In addition, parents believe they are not seeing the "return" on their membership as initially promised by the association. Our higher level gymnasts and/or gymnasts that have been with the gym for a while. So, we are left with new, misinformed, inexperienced and upset parents. There just seems to be no structure, follow through, adequate leadership in our association and gym. The future of our association is sketchy.

Thanks for everyone's posts. I will try to get the word around, that the gym is truly not as bad as they've been perceived.

 

[NGL780309]

DD's gym just hosted a meet and we were required to bring supplies and work the meet and the gym took all the profits, even from the concession stand. Alot of parents think it's not fair and that if the parents donated all of the food and supplies that something should go to the booster club to help pay meet fees or something, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[sportsmom22]

Our gym hosts 2/3 meets per year, both girls and boys. You can sign up to work shifts at the meet. The shifts are generally 2 hours worth of work. We are also asked to bring a very small amount of supplies for the concession stand. After the all the meets, the profit is split between shifts. This usually works out to $30-$40 per shift and this goes into your gymnast account. We do have to pay an entry fee, but if you work the meet, you don't have to pay to watch the meet. From reading the above posts, sounds like we have a great deal going for our booster club. But, we also have a great gym!

 

[dancengym]

DD's gym just hosted a meet and we were required to bring supplies and work the meet and the gym took all the profits, even from the concession stand. Alot of parents think it's not fair and that if the parents donated all of the food and supplies that something should go to the booster club to help pay meet fees or something, but I doubt that will happen.

I just don't understand how and why gyms do this. Where does the money go? I know it does not go to new equipment in our gym. Is our tuition not enough? Is this purely a money maker or is it necessary? Sounds like most parents feel it is unfair. So, why is it still going on. There has to be a logical explanation for gyms to warrant or require this of its parents.

 

[NGL780309]

I just don't understand how and why gyms do this. Where does the money go? I know it does not go to new equipment in our gym. Is our tuition not enough? Is this purely a money maker or is it necessary? Sounds like most parents feel it is unfair. So, why is it still going on. There has to be a logical explanation for gyms to warrant or require this of its parents.

I agree. I'd be perfectly happy to donate to the concessions if the booster club could keep those profits. The gym didn't have to buy the stuff, so why do they get the profits? If they want the profits they should guy the stuff themsevles.

DD's gym is also having a fundraiser to buy new equipment. Many of the parents are really upset about it. Isn't equipment a business expense? DD wasn't at the gym yet when the fundraiser was presented to the parents in a meeting, but I heard that they were told everyone must participate. Nobody really had a problem with that. Then when it actually came time to fundraise they set a limit of how many things you had to sell and you had to prepay for those items. I don't mind selling and I don't even mind selling a certain number of things or paying for the rest, but I don't like having to prepay for those items. Did I mention it was just a few days after Xmas when everyone is completely broke? I'd rather them just raise my tuition. Did I mention the items are pretty much something nobody wants except for your immediate family? If you don't know my DD and really like her, you wouldn't want one.