Parents Making it work - money doesn't grow on trees.

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

sheplaysinthechalk

Coach
Proud Parent
Judge
I always knew I had it easy being from a small town. Gymnastics has been a part of my life my entire life. I grew up in the usag system from the time I was 3 in the preschool class, and started coaching as soon as I quit after my second level 9 season. I am now 35 years old and have a 9 year old dd who is an insanely talented power tumbler and a level 5/6 gymnast under the new system.

The hubs and I have been talking about it for awhile, and have decided to possibly relocate to further his career...this would mean leaving behind our friends, family, church, schools, swimming for ds, my job, and dd's gymnastics and tumbling.

After calling around to a few (3) gyms in the area (within 20 miles of our prospective new place) I was honestly not surprised to find out that gymnastics is more expensive than I thought. Disappointed? Yes. But surprised? Not at all. All well known gyms, all with level 10s, two with elites.

Currently, for dd to do power tumbling, she tumbles 2x a week (3hrs) on separate days from gymnastics days. Gymnastics is 3x a week (9hrs)...so dd is in the gym 12 hours a week. Currently, I pay 165 dollars a month for gymnastics & tumbling. We do 5 meets a year at 65 each. And then we do about 5 power tumbling meets at 40 dollars each. My annual team fee in 25 dollars and my annual membership fee is 50. We spend about 250 in gas for meet travel per year. So, for dd to live and breathe gymnastics at our little gym (where all of my gymnastics costs are taken out of my check because I work there) I pay a little over 3100 a year - most of which I don't miss AT ALL because it's all deducted from my check.

Anyway, a little over 3100 a year.

So after calling around to scope things out a little, I got a "humble pie" right in the face.

12 hours a week for level 4 = $365/mo
Team fee = 550/yr
Coaching fees = $670/yr (OMG)
Leotard = $325 for long sleeved, $68 for tank.
Warmup = $265
Gym bag $45
Meet fees = $625/yr

There might have been more, but my mind went blank as the VERY sweet lady was telling me about the team program after that....

So for that particular gym, I'm looking at forking out a little over $6100 a year just for team. Not for the leotard and warmup and bag and tank Leo...not grips not travel, not normal gym needs...just for tuition and competition.

The other two gyms were as expensive.

And then, I would be required to do the Booster Club. I have no idea what that entails, as our little gym does zero fund raising.

This increased gymnastics cost is doable for us, but geez...help? How do you guys make it work when gymnastics tuition is like another mortgage? We really have to find a way to keep making gymnastics happen for her - she loves it. Handstand walks, cartwheels and rolling are her regular means of transportation. :)
 
Well, we do booster club which fortunately for us, pays coaches' fees, USAG fees, uniforms, travel expenses, etc. Basically anything but tuition. For tuition, I ended up going back to work to help pay for that and other expenses related to kiddos. We also plan our vacations around meets. We have had vacations to Houston, Minneapolis, New Mexico, and a few other places. That helps with some things. Other than that, it is simple budgeting!

Good luck!
 
Have you looked at gyms in other metro areas that might suit his career as well but don't have such a high cost of living? For example Atlanta --
 
Yikes! Those are some big numbers! And they are likely to go up as your daughter moves up!

Are you looking to work at a gym again? You may be able to work out a similar arrangement as you have now. And salaries do tend to be higher in places with higher cost of living.

DD goes to gym on a partial grandma scholarship, which I highly recommend if one of those is available to you. ;)
 
We do whatever it takes to pay for gymnastics for our 2 girls. Of course it didn't start this way, but has ended up this way. When my oldest hit level 5 and we switched gyms I went back to work to accommodate the cost. When we let my youngest child start gymnastics we cut the budget some more and I worked more. We also started looking into any and all fundraising opportunities. At this point dd will likely be a level 8 in the fall and I am looking for a mostly full time job outside of the home. Partly to continue to afford gymnastics, partly to continue to afford all of my kids and with college for my oldest looming, the expenses never end.

I imagine initially you will be paying the entire bill yourself. But as you get to know the gym and get your foot in the door as a coach, some of the expenses will be reduced. As you get to know the different fundraising opportunities your expenses will be reduced. I refuse to sell a bunch of stuff, but we do whatever things come our way. In fact dh is right now "volunteering" at a professional baseball game. The money will go right towards tuition at the gym. I have found that if it is your child's passion then typically as a parent you will do whatever it takes to make it work.

I totalled it up one time (once was enough!) and we spend around $10,000 a year for my girls to do gymnastics. Of course that cost will only go up unless one of them quits.
 
Ask the gyms that have booster clubs what fundraising they do and what opportunities there are for you to do fundraising that will benefit your daughter directly (some booster clubs will either give you a cut of what you raise, or "pay" you for your volunteer hours). It's not exactly what the intent of a non-profit is, but many seem to do it.

If you've done and coached gymnastics, perhaps you can exchange services with the gym to offset tuition? They might not let you jump right into coaching optionals, but if you're a good coach, I'm sure many gyms would be open to some help.
 
Definitely look into the fundraising the booster club does. They might cover a lot more of the costs.
 
so dd is in the gym 12 hours a week. Currently, I pay 165 dollars a month for gymnastics & tumbling

That's very cheap to me but I've typically only coached in cities and areas of CA that are definitely legit cities. StLouis seemed pretty similar based on what I saw were the rec rates.

It's hard to say without knowing what area you were looking in. 12hrs a week sounds more expensive than it does in a lot of the Bay Area or LA of CA.

I question the needs for such an expensive leo or warmups for a compulsory kid but that is neither here nor there as obviously it's about Gym image. "Team Fee" is often a cash cow fee to the gym/owners where they give you a tshirt and pay for the End of The Year Banquet. Thankyou for my trip to the Carribbean.

Coaching fees sounds about right. Let's say a coach is paid $100/session which is roughly $25/hr. TbH I'm not very pleased with $50/session and 75 is better. This is split with any of the other kids competing in that session and figure 6+ meets a season. And tack in transportation costs at 53 cents a mile.
 
I'd die to only pay that much. I pay $550 per month tuition for DD (8) on team and another $140 for my preschool DD. Meet fees are $2500 per year. 100 miles round trip to the gym adds a huge gas bill to the equation. Competition leo, warm-up etc was $700 last year. $600 for choreography. Oh and we had 3 meets last year that required air travel. Only one meet was in town so hotel, travel for all the rest. Basically the cost of this sport is drowning us. I sometimes don't know how we will make it, but somehow we manage.
 
Atlanta is a very reasonable cost of living for a metro area. My son practices 12 hours per week. His booster fees are I think $1,200 per year and there is a $250 per year registration fee. The booster dues cover meets, coaches travel, uniforms, bags, team camp and a team shirt for him. For the girls it covers a spirit Leo. It isn't cheap, especially since I have 3 kids in; but it isn't awful. And like I said, general cost of living is reasonable here.

Oh, and his monthly tuition for 12 hours is $235.
 
Man, what kind of gyms are you guys going to??? My daughter goes 27 hours per week and we pay under $300. It's a good gym, we have had people on the national team and numerous scholarship athletes. Wonder why there is such a discrepancy??


Every awful story begins with "we were on beam and..."
 
I'd die to only pay that much. I pay $550 per month tuition for DD (8) on team and another $140 for my preschool DD. Meet fees are $2500 per year. 100 miles round trip to the gym adds a huge gas bill to the equation. Competition leo, warm-up etc was $700 last year. $600 for choreography. Oh and we had 3 meets last year that required air travel. Only one meet was in town so hotel, travel for all the rest. Basically the cost of this sport is drowning us. I sometimes don't know how we will make it, but somehow we manage.

Yikes !

Sent from my CnM Touchpad 9.7 using ChalkBucket mobile app
 
$265 for a WARM UP???? Does the warm up actually DO the warming up for your child? Geez! Our comp leo is ornate and fairly blingy and still cost under $250.

We pay right at $200 for 20 hours a week for optionals. Our meet fees, coaches fees, annual membership fee, and USAG fees were just at $1000 and that was for 10 meets (one was a mock meet and one was state, the rest were invitationals). We have one flight meet that was optional but we went and probably dropped between $1200 and $1500 but made it part vacation so we could have done it much cheaper. All other invitationals were either local or within a 4 hour drive.

I don't know if I could swing gym at your prices! DD also benefits from a gramma scholarship and an employee discount. With those two gifts from the gymnastics gods, DD is able to do just about all the gym she wants. But if I lost those, we would struggle.
 
All I am going to say is that you have been spoiled! LOL. I Live in a relatively rural area, with a very low cost of living and 12 hours/week runs $230. Since we are rural, travel costs are more expensive, since most of our meets require a hotel room. Our gym does it best to keep costs down, we don't have the flashy-ish Leo's and warm ups. Our coaches fees run around $250. Meets, however are quite a bit more expensive then what you are use to, $80-$110, depending on if it is held at a gym or an outside venues. These are compulsory rates too! Our boosters is optional, and they provide monthly fundraisers, where the money earned goes directly into you account.
 
This is so interesting! Do these costs vary by region, or is there a lot if difference within regions? We currently pay $265 a month for 9 hrs a week- new level three. I just paid our assessment fees, which were $1200... This is for four or five meets.

My big question is, how do people do it? I have a talented six year old...how much will it cost if she stays this course? It is enough to keep me up at night!!!
 
I think it depends on where you live. My dd will be a level 7/8 and goes 22 hours a week, cost is 550 a month. We also pay for every meet separately( about 8-9 meets at 90 dollars each) plus a 1300 dollar assessment fee... It is a small fortune and this is all before travel etc... We try and find a way to make it work...
 
I should copy this thread for the parent meeting to show them what it really could be like as they complain about the cost here! We would need to have the hospital on stand by :eek: DD pays $210 a month for 16 hours, 19 hours during competition season. Our coaches fees are $575. That pays for their time and expenses for the meets. The biggest cost for us is the travel to get to our meets. Everything is at least 3.5 to 4 hours away and usually require a night stay either the night before or the night of because of winter driving conditions. We also have three meets that pretty much require air travel but those are optional actually you decide how many and which meets you want to go to. We pay competition fees from $75-80 for compulsories and $90-110 for optionals we attend 9-10 meets Our leos are $475 for leo and warms ups every two years. So in general during meet season I spend about $2000-3000.
 
Wow. My fees for 25 hrs is $477 a month x 10. No meet fees, no coaches fees, all in. A new competitive Leo once every 2 years at under $200, a warm up suit every 3 years for about the same. One optional travel meet (from Canada to somewhere warm in the US in winter) and usually one meet a year (maybe 2) requiring an overnight stay. Req'd fundraising is $230 per year BUT I am req'd to put in 83 volunteer hours at meets we host, etc.

All in (except optional travel meet) for just over $5k.
 
We are still preteam, the plan is for him to compete next season when he is six. I started ground floor with a direct sales company Dec 2011 and it is paying for anything gymnastics related (among other things). I know it's going to add up so I am putting aside money now as I can.
 
It varies so much. The 'team ' fee seems a big steep to me. Also the leo and warm ups and stuff are very expensive. I think you need to ask how much of these fees are covered by the booster club and what do you have to put in to the booster club each year (how many fundraisers, hours etc). That might give you a very different picture.

Hope you find somewhere fantastic for your dd to continue her journey.
 

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

Back