Parents Give it to me straight!

[2kidsonaroll]

What is the yearly or monthly cost of your daughter being on a JO gymnastics team? I am totally new to this, my daughter is in preschool rec classes and is obsessed! She’s pretty good for her age and the coaches seem really interested in her (teaching her skills and technique they don’t do with the other kids) I know nothing about gymnastics but her class is at the same time as the level 9 and 10s. One of their moms mentioned they assumed my daughter was on the track for being invited to team (note: this would be a couple years in the future and who really know if that is what’s actually happening). But she definitely was trying to get me to run on the opposite direction. She mentioned the cost of Leo’s, warm ups, coaches fees, meet fees, gym membership, choreography etc...it seemed really a bizarre conversation to me, for a stranger to try and get a toddler to quit a sport do to cost? But now I’m curious...how much do you pay for your child in team gymnastics? Should I run?

 

[amiandjim]

My daughter is a new level 4, and between monthly tuition and meet fees, coaches fees, comp attire, etc...it’s $7,000 this year. That does not include travel expenses, leotards, grips, etc....

 

[Deleted member 18037]

In NY, 500 a month tuition, plus summer camp, LEOs, warm up, meets (gymnasts pay and you pay for the privilege to watch), coaches fees and expenses. Then there is the mandatory (really we don’t have to go, but yeah I’m not telling my kid no end of year party), fun celebrations/parties.

We are lucky, our gym is actually cost conscious. We don’t have many meets that require flights and overnights.

When all is said and done 7-10 grand a year.

 

[skschlag]

I will be honest. I do not want to add up the cost. My son is going into his 11th competition season...in addition to the preschool classes before. We pay just under $500/month in tuition. He does at least 3 travel meets a year, 2-3 other meets, plus postseason. grips, braces, PT, ortho, privates, camp.

Would I go back and tell myself to run? Not in a million years. We will continue to make it work for him. This is his passion. He is happiest flying around on the floor or a bar. I cannot imagine him not doing gymnastics. Despite the cost, time, and compromises that have to be made, it is worth each and every one.

 

[suebee]

My daughter is training level 7/8. We live in a high cost of living area. Just monthly tuition and competition fees, including coaching fees, is about $7500-8000/year. This excludes any entrance fees or meet travel fees.

Other costs I can think of include: music, choreography (both only for optionals, and this is usually every 2 years), competition leo and warmups (every 2 years at dd’s gym, but they alternate leos and warmups, so you buy something new every year), and travel expenses for meets, and then costs of personal stuff: grips, Tiger Paws, practice leotards, etc.

These costs tend to vary a lot from gym to gym. Some gyms get very expensive leos, others are most cost conscious. Some do a lot of far away travel meets, others don’t, or make their far away travel meets optional. Some charge a lot for choreography, others do it for pretty cheap. But many of these costs are not there for the early competitive levels or they’re very much contained. Many gyms have a simpler/cheaper leo for the early competitive levels, and there is no choreography. Usually the early competitive levels do all or mainly local meets, and travel meets might be optional, so you don’t have those costs initially. And grips and Tiger Paws are not usually needed until later. So as you go up in levels, the hours (and therefore tuition) increase, and then you need the other stuff, so the other costs increase. But by that time, the kid is entrenched in gymnastics.

In that sense, I can see warning a new parent that the costs will go up a lot as your child goes higher in the levels, and it might be something to think strongly about.

 

[QueenBee]

At level 9/10, it is very easy to spend above $20k a year with tuition, choreography, leotards/warm ups, grips (oh my goodness, gymmie goes through like a pair every 6-8 weeks - they are becoming the 'toe shoes' of gymnastics for us), competition fees, coaches fees, travel expenses (going to 1-3 travel meets in addition to whatever travel you pay for to compete Regionals, Eastern/Western and/or Nationals), college camps, region camps, the list goes on and on it seems. Add in doctor visits, x-rays/MRIs, injury rehab/PT you find yourself paying and it adds up incredibly quickly.

A mom at our gym put it succinctly - if you just put the money you spend on gymnastics from pre-team to Level 10/Elite, your son or daughter would have more than enough money to go to any college or university in the country by the time they turned 18. It is definitely a labor of love, there is very little ROI, even for those who get recruited to compete in college.

 

[raenndrops]

I am with a YMCA that ONLY competes against other YMCAs, so we dont have to pay for USAG membership.
To be on team, you have to be a member of the Y, it can be an individual youth membership ($300 a year) OR a family membership ($852 a year). There are scholarships available to lower that cost and that membership also gets you access to the YMCA pools, gyms, etc... and you can use any YMCA with your membership, so the entire cost wouldn't be necessarily just for gymnastics.

Monthly Tuition is $80 (for 30 hours of training... a month is 4 weeks) ... for Jan-June and Aug-Nov. December is 1/2 price. We are off in July, but have the option to work out for free during rec gym (up to 20 hours). Total yearly tuition: $840.

Meet fees: $105 - $325 (IF we do Regionals, which is $65 but rare, and Nationals, which is $100 - $120 depending on level).
We dont pay coaches fees.

Choreography is only for Xcel Gold and Platinum and L6+. Most of the time choreo is free, but some charge up to $30 to do it.
Team Leotard, Warm Ups, and bag, if purchased new, $250 ... but unless we change designs, can often buy used.
Practice leotards: we dont have a required one, so you can get them from ebay or wherever you want for as low as $1.00 plus shipping to $60+ each. We sell gently used leos in the gym for between $5 and $10.

Travel: This season, we have been lucky enough to not need any hotels (until this coming Friday night for Nationals), and all of our meets have been within a 3 hour drive INCLUDING Nationals this year. So, I would say this season for meets, it will have been $400.
All totaled, for the year: $2600.

 

[GymMomA3R]

A team mom struck up a conversation with me when she noticed my little one was being fast tracked towards team about a year ago. She gave me a heads up on costs I had no clue about (I just thought tuition increased as hours did, silly me). I didn’t see it as her trying to scare me off but rather giving me a warning on the realities of the financial and time investment required of the sport before DD got too attached to it. I truly appreciated the forewarning as it made the financial burden much easier to stomach when she was invited to team in Jan.

DD is Level 3 and I’m projecting to spend over $5000 this year for tuition/comp fees/leo/etc. (not including travel expenses, spectator entry fees, practice leos, medical fees if she happens to get injured, and thousands of hair ties ).

 

[raenndrops]

DD is Level 3 and I’m projecting to spend over $5000 this year for tuition/comp fees/leo/etc. (not including travel expenses, spectator entry fees, practice leos, medical fees if she happens to get injured, and thousands of hair ties ).

Dollar Store Hair ties... best value and WHEN they get lost or broken, no biggie, lol. It one point, I kept an entire pack at the gym in case a girl came to practice without one. That reminds me... gotta buy a new pack, lol.

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd is a level 10. I would say it easily costs us around 25000 a year. We do live in a metropolitan city in a part of the country where plane travel is pretty much required to find quality competition at this level. We also make certain choices that if we didn’t mightsave us a couple of grand per year. Those thing definitely come into play and like everyone has said every gym and city are different.

I find myself saying often that if I thought about every penny or got upset about every new or unexpected charge I would go crazy. At this point, this deep in, what’s another 50 bucks here or there. It’s sad but what I must tell myself.

But this happens slowly over time and what once seemed like an absurd and completely unthinkable amount of time and money becomes the norm and something you could never dream of not doing for your child. Or that doesn’t happen and you are done after level 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 and it was a fun ride and so worth it for the life lessons learned. Either way is a win.

I do think it is something to consider though when setting out. Are you able and willing to put this level of investment into your child sport? If not then I would consider steering them elsewhere before you get too deep. If so then go with it and see where it goes. I think it is great you are thinking about this and asking questions now.

 

[Madden3]

I suspect the mom was expressing her own frustrations. But as you clearly know, it is a long way from where your daughter is to upper level optionals. Most kids who start on team decide to leave the sport before they get that far. So her perspective is probably not the most helpful to you at this point. In other words I see no reason to "run" at this point, as there will always be the chance to run if needed.

I understand wanting just numbers, but I do suggest, be aware it is going to vary depending on the gym and where it is, whether the gym (or the team booster club if there is one) does any fundraising, etc.

If anyone had sat me down and told me the numbers when my sons were little guys in rec, I never, ever would have let them try out for the team. And that would have been a mistake because being involved in competitive gymnastics has been a fantastic experience for them.

There is no doubt gym is an expensive sport. This is due to the following:
1) Unlike most other kids sports, gymnastics requires (generally) professional coaching. Some gyms utilize volunteer coaches I guess, but that is not typical in the US.
2) Specialized and expensive equipment (and lots of it) is needed and for that a large, expensive-to-rent facility must be permanently devoted to the sport. You cannot just practice for free at public parks.
3) The training is year round.
4) Training requires more hours per day at an earlier age than most other sports.
5) The switch from 'rec" to "competition" or "team" typically occurs at an earlier age.

But other sports can also become quite expensive, especially as the kids move into "competitive" (comp) leagues with travel meets and training/competing happening over two or more seasons rather than just one. And of course many kids are involved in more than one sport when the sport is not as all encompassing as gymnastics (and yes some gymnasts also do other sports but usually not nearly as intensively.)

So, to put it all in perspective, you might also want to talk to parents who have their kids in competitive year-round (or at least two season) baseball, soccer, dance, etc.

Also, as kids' sports in general have become more and more competitive, more and more "for profit" professional facilities are offering training in baseball, soccer, basketball etc. for the kids who are serious about those sports- and they cater to the kids who are doing (or hope to do) those sports in junior or high school. And these places are NOT cheap.

Gymnastics costs a lot, but a kid doing team gymnastics is so busy with gym, you are not likely to be spending much money on other activities. If your kid loves it, they likely will not mind (or at least, will understand) the sacrifices that have to be made elsewhere to make it affordable.

And as others have noted, do NOT invest in gymnastics (or any sport) with the hope it will lead to a scholarship and pay for itself that way. Gymnastics offers many rewards, but any financial reward is exceedingly rare and unpredictable.

 

[gym-mom622]

Our levels 3-5 train 16 hours a week for $365 a month. Add on the $185 a month booster club fees which pay for all the coaches fees and meets. Our leos run about $250 and warm ups about $175 but that's only every two years. Like others have said, my daughter has no time for other sports or activities so you save money there and I'm thankful she loves it so much because that justifies the cost for me.

 

[M2Abi]

When my dd was a Level 3, we spent about $3000 for the year, including tuition, uniform fees, coaches fees, and meet fees. Now my dd is training Level 7 and I expect to spent about $7000 for the year. I thought gymnastics was crazy expensive the first year. Now I pay for my daughter and also my son and just expect to constantly be putting money out for gymnastics.

 

[Amanda]

My daughter is a compulsory gymnast. We live in CA. I think we spent just under 6000 last year. We did have to buy all her competition gear since she was new to competing. We only had 1 travel meet that we were able to drive too- but had to spend 2 nights in a hotel.

 

[mommyof1]

We pay around $5,000 per year for tuition, competition apparel, and meet expenses for JO compulsory gymnastics in an area with a relatively low cost of living. Xcel isn't much cheaper, and the cost for optionals isn't much more. We spend a few hundred dollars a year on "extras" such as photos, post-meet dinners out, spectator fees (yes, after you've spent $115 to enter your child in the meet you have to pay to watch her compete), and the occasional hotel night.

On an hourly basis, gym tuition costs me less than child care, so when it works out that gym substitutes for child care I come out ahead. When I have to pay for both child care and gym, though, it really adds up.

 

[GymMomA3R]

Dollar Store Hair ties... best value and WHEN they get lost or broken, no biggie, lol. It one point, I kept an entire pack at the gym in case a girl came to practice without one. That reminds me... gotta buy a new pack, lol.

I wish the dollar store ones worked for DD’s hair! I like to pull them super tight so her hair doesn’t move and they always break on me so I stock up at Target when they’re on sale. It’s just I feel like I’m forever buying more.

I was trying to make a joke at the end of my earlier post since hair ties are the least of the costs but didn’t realize emoji’s don’t show, Lol.

 

[Really]

I think it is a fair warning to tell you now how much this sport costs! It will factor in to all kinds of family decisions, such as your vacation destinations, home remodeling and your kiddo's academic choices going into middle school. I always thought DD would quit after L4, but here we are at L6 with no signs of slowing down. Last year for L4, we paid upwards of $7,700. As other posters have mentioned, the price tag of this sport goes up exponentially as you move up the levels. So to the OP, be prepared for this if gymnastics turns out to be your child's true passion! I have seen it become a great burden on families with many kids.

 

[mommyof1]

Besides money, you need to think long and hard about the time commitment and logistics before committing to the team path. If both parents work or you are a single working parent, how are you going to get your child to practice after school and possibly in the morning or the middle of the day during the summer? Are you okay with giving up many weekends to meets for six months of the year? Are you willing to stay in town over winter break or spring break if there is a meet coming up? Are you willing to let your child say no to summer camps and academic enrichment opportunities because she doesn't want to miss practice? If you have other children, how will you ensure that gymnastics doesn't crowd out their activities?

 

[gymbeam]

I’m with whomever said they don’t want to add it up!

 

[3rd_time_around]

Some of these costs are unbelievable! My dd is Level 3, and her tuition, meet fees, and new uniform for the year total $4150. I didn't include any gas money or food, because that is minimal. Our compulsory teams stay in-state, so I don't have to worry about travel or hotel fees yet. Next year there is no uniform fee, so it will be less. Even when my other daughter was a level 10, tuition and meet fees were only $5000 for the year. We couldn't do it if it were like some of the fees I'm reading about.