Parents How expensive does this get as they move up?

[WatchThisMom]

I am trying to understand just how expensive team gets. I know this varies by location, by level, by gym, by how many hours, but I would just like to understand just how bad it might get if dd really likes it and wants to continue. I know it will also not include travel expenses and leos, I'm talking about cost of coaching and being in a gym 12+ hours a day.

I asked the question at our gym and they told me that they don't discuss the financials until you're offered a spot on the team. I assume this is partly because it will depend on which coach is assigned among other things. It made me feel like it was a secret, which I figure is not a good thing!

Just curious!

 

[bogwoppit]

Hmm wierd that the costs are not public. Ours are out there for all to see and that seems to be the norm here in Quebec.

THings you could possibly expect to pay for for team.

leo, warm up seem to be in the $200 -$500 range for both, some clubs also have bags, shoes, hair ties etc.

Fees for meets, range from $60-$100. How many meets a year does your club do? Also travel costs for you and your family and often the coaches too.

Tuition fees, these vary hugely from club to club.

Booster club assesments, we don't have one but many clubs do.

Equipment fees, as above.

Gym is very expensive and L4 is just the tip of the iceberg.

I pay $1500 for 13 hours a week from Sept - May this includes three meet fees and tramp shoes and all coaching costs for meets. THis is very low compared to many families here.

 

[Aussie_coach]

It is pretty common not to discuss team fee's in public. If you look at most of the websites for gyms around here they will openly advertise all their recreational class fee's and times but not the team fee's or times.

This can be because it may seem like a lot of money and a lot of hours which could turn off new gymnasts and parents who are just trying it out to see if gymnastics is the sport for them.

Team fee's per hour, however, will only be a fraction of the cost of recreational classes. As the hours go up, the fee's per hour usually go down or there wouldn't be many on the team as few families would be able to afford it.

 

[MeetDirector]

WTM -

Let me just say that gymnastics is not a sport for the weak of wallet.

My dd is a L7 gymnast. Our gym charges $230-ish per month for tuition on the optional team. Then you have the annual equipment fee (this year $150), the annual gym registration fee ($40), the USAG fee ($50), and the leo/warm-up (maybe $250 this year). Now lets talk meet fees - at the optional level meet registration is usually $80-100 per meet; we are doing 9 meets this year. Our meet fees are $1100. 3 of these meets are out of state requiring travel (air fare), hotel (at least one night, probably 2) and rental car. We have one in-state meet requiring driving and an overnight stay. We fondly refer to our gymnastics weekends as our $1000 weekends.

What have I forgotten? Oh, new practice leos throughout the year, food while traveling, etc. I think you get the picture. And don't forget that parents have to volunteer thier time to work a meet if your gym hosts a meet during the season.

Good Luck as you begin your journey!

 

[10.0]

It's not cheap that is for sure. I don't get why that can't give you a rough estimate. Maybe you can tell them you understand she is not yet on team but as a parent you are trying to decide if that is a route you can take or not and need to know at least a rough guess of the cost. That or do the sneaky thing and ask a team parent. A lot of times gyms are not completly upfront about costs. I know ours is but they fail to tell the parents a few things, so as of now they have twice as many team members as last year and they know about the leo cost and approx. meet fees. My guess is that when the parents fully understand the commitment time wise, travel, motel, gas, food etc. our team will be smaller. But that is for the lower level teams, the optional team has a different coach and different fees, their coach spells out everything from day 1, they have a parent panthlet and a meeting and if they can't commit to the minimum (things like out of state meets are not required but optional) then they don't join. Anyways sorry for the rant, I would just be more upfront about WHY you need to know in advance or ask around to get a guess. I know you are going to have the actual class fee, the meet fees, warm up, motel, food, gas and USAG fee, when she becomes optional level she will need floor music and beam and floor routines made for her and the higher the level the more it costs because of more hours spent training and more high profile meets.

 

[bookworm]

Everything included (assessments; tuition; travel) ...roughly $20.000 a year...as one poster said, not for the weak in the wallet. My daughter is a Level 10 so we travel to a lot of meets so at a lower level it might not be so high but you get the picture..

 

[gym law mom]

Definitely ask if there is a booster club or parent association at the gym. Most don't let you join until your dd is on team, but you can ask about what fundraising oppurtunities there are and usually someone in booster club can give a breakdown on cost.

Monthly tuition should not be a secret. You should be able to find out how much they charge for training L4 or L5 by asking at the desk.

 

[SkiBumGymMom]

(This was a few years ago, so things may not exactly be the same now) At level 10 we spent about 100 dollars a year on regular meet fees, another 100 on bigger meet fees, about 60 on new leos and warms a year (our gym rarely got new leos). Tuition was 200 dollars a month. Larger meets such as Regionals and Westerns included travels fees which was about 200-400 dollars depending where we went. It generally ran about 5,000 a year, not including the gas it took to get to gym 6 days a week (40 miles each way in my Subaru and later my daughter's Pontiac [which wasn't always good for the snow but that's a different story]. My car averages 25 mpg considering you have to go up a steep mountain pass each way.) For a trip 6 days a week, all year, that'd be over 2,000 dollars. We tried to carpool when we could, I'd drop my other daughter off at dance on the way and I tried to do errands when I was in the town where her gym was to make that cost more justifiable. We were blessed to compete with a recreation district gym so a lot of the costs were subsidized. We also had a very small booster club that put on fundraisers throughout the year to offset costs.

It can become very expensive but very rewarding!! Don't let the numbers discourage you. I know I made many sacrifices both financially and time wise so my daughter could compete, but it made her happy and it really morphed her into a strong, gratious young woman. That's worth every penny in my book

 

[emorymom]

Well you know it does vary quite a bit so shop around. At our county facility, level 2 team 7? hours a week is $50 a month tuition, $200 booster club dues and the leo / warmup and that covers everything. But there are volunteer hours -- volunteer being ironic.

At the Y where my daughter is, for 6 hours a week it is $75 per month, $270 or so in meet fees and the leo/warmup and that covers everything but optional team camp for one week in the summer. Oh and program membership $25/ year.

At my son's private gym, if my daughter was on 6 hour team it would be $145 a month tuition, about $480 in meetish fees, $75 registration per year, leo+warmup, plus one week of mandatory team camp. I may have missed something.

You may not want to go cheapest but you do want to go into it with an informed decision.

 

[WatchThisMom]

Everything included (assessments; tuition; travel) ...roughly $20.000 a year...as one poster said, not for the weak in the wallet. My daughter is a Level 10 so we travel to a lot of meets so at a lower level it might not be so high but you get the picture..

Oh wow! Well, I have a long time to save...that's my "glass half full" view!! I expect we will just ease into it

 

[Shelovesthebars]

Level 4 at our gym is 6,000 per year. Team leos and warmups and travel/hotel are not included. I believe they go to one out of state meet.

 

[UnoMas]

Our gym tuition ranges from $175/month (level 4) to $225/month (level 8-10).

Meet fees for L4-L6 are about $1000, add on 200-400 for optionals.

leos/warmups/etc are $300 but we don't switch often.

Team camp is $250.

Annual gym membership is $50

I am quite sure I am missing something because I do feel that every last penny goes to the gym......but somehow it must all be worth it.

 

[cher062]

You don't want to know but some where in the vacinity of a car payment to a house payment each month.

Here is your penny to plant and start growning your money tree .

Lets see at least $5000 a year in class tuition each year, probably $1000 - $2000 in meet fees and coaches fees for meets. If you need the team leo, warmup suit, warmup leo, and bag that will be a good $600 - $800. Then comes the enterance fees you pay to just go and watch. probably another $100 a year. And if they need some private lessons add another $200 - $500 a year for that. And any expenses for the meets that are too far to drive to like hotels, gas, food, maybe even airplane tickets. Oh its definitely expensive.

When we started I was thinking oh just a small tution fee and a cheap leo how expensive could that be - little did I know.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I think gyms are afraid to tell you up front about the costs because you will run and hide. I quess depending on where you live it could cost more or less. I think I pay roughly about 5,000 a year more or less. We live in a fairly expensive area in my opinion. It is about 2,500.00 for tuition during the school year about 1,200.00 for summer classes, 1,000.00for meet fees plus misc expenses such as warmups leotards traveling costs and hotels. Oh I forgot they sell stuff to send out to the kids during the meets and you have to pay to watch your kids compete and they also take pictures at some meets that they try to sell you. I also forgot about open gym and what about if your daughter gets injured how about doctors co-pays and xrays. The list goes on and on, but watching your daughter compete with that smile on her face is just priceless!

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

I don't even try to add it up anymore. I think my hubby would have a heart attack! The only thing he really "sees" is that there is a month 325.00 deduction for DD's tuition. Everything else either comes our of my own little "play" money account, or I just kind of slip it in when it's needed!!! Seriously, he knows, but keeps a blind eye!!!

 

[gymmomof1]

Oh wow! Well, I have a long time to save...that's my "glass half full" view!! I expect we will just ease into it

That's the spirit LOL.

 

[bookworm]

Oh wow! Well, I have a long time to save...that's my "glass half full" view!! I expect we will just ease into it

And even with the costs of time and money, I would do it again in a heartbeat as she has been happy and had wonderful experiences competing and traveling all over the country; she's made some great friends and more importantly, is a good student and stays out of trouble!!

The initial costs can be scary but you can ease into them..some gyms have big enough fundraisers (like the IGI meet in Chicago) to offset their fees but if not, it always seemed doable for me.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

DD's level 3 fees and tuition (meets, leo, warm-ups, etc) work out to be about $3000 this year

And from looking at the team info provided by this booster club it climbs about $1000 a level at our gym- so $4000 for level 4, etc.. It depends on a lot of things that can be estimated but not concrete until the time comes- number of hours of training per week, leo cost, warm up cost, coreographer cost (in higher levels), meet fees, number of meets, out of town meets, airplane tix, hotel fees, special camps, special classes, private lessons...... it can get expensive fast

 

[Optionals United]

I feel liike we are in one of those VISA commercials.
competition leo-$200
competition fees-$1000
monthly tution-$250
seeing your gymnast having the time of their life-priceless!

 

[WatchThisMom]

I feel liike we are in one of those VISA commercials.
competition leo-$200
competition fees-$1000
monthly tution-$250
seeing your gymnast having the time of their life-priceless!

Funny, but I think you just nailed it. Some people will think you're crazy for spending so much time and money on gymnastics when you could be doing other things. But what is there really that is better than spending time with your kids doing something they love? You can't put a pricetag on memories...so you're exactly right!!