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NYgymfan

So I found out today that my school district may cut all funding for my school's gymnastics team next year because of budget problems. They might cut the boy's volleyball team as well.

We asked the school board why they are thinking of doing this, and they said they really have no choice because there isn't enough money to go around, and that these are the "least popular" sports. I spoke for about 5 minutes about how hard-working our girls gymnastics team is and how it is totally not fair to completely pull the money from one team and let all the others go on as usual, when there should be some cuts from all the teams. I get the idea that they just don't get it. They think gym is a sport that we watch during the Olympics and doesn't exist the other 206 weeks until the next Olympics. Its really sad. I know a lot of girls on the team used to do club or rec gym and are good athletes, but just don't have the time to do club gym with all the other things they want to do, including participating in other sports. If they cut the school team there will be no place for these girls to do gym so they will probably just drop the sport for good. So sad...
 
I am so sorry to hear that! What about a parent booster club to sponsor you guys instead? That way you guys don't really have to depend upon the school to fund you, though you guys will just have to be really creative in raising money to keep yourselves going. Look into all different avenues, and don't lose hope yet, definitely check into the booster club. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm actually not on the team, i'm just a groupie. But I know they are very happy to have someone to tell their side of the story on Student Advisory Board.
 
That's gutting. You could always apply for lottery funding if you get that in the US, our school dance team gets a yearly grant to pay for costumes etc.
 
Thats so ghetto. That stinks. My school doesn't have a gymnastics team and I'm sure the only people on it would be me and my teammates who also go to my school lol.
 
That happened also here in our city. Several of the girls that still wanted to compete have gone to coaches from schools that do compete and arranged to work out with the neighboring school as if it were their own. The difference is that when they go to meets they represent their "home" school. The only cost involved is a payment to the "coaching" coach from the home school for time involved in working with extra kids, and meet fees of course. Most Booster clubs have picked up the expense, as it is much less than hiring a full-time coach and upkeeping equipment at their own school. It's a win-win situation, as the school with the team gets a little boost to their funding and it's very motivational having extra girls there; those without a team now have a place to go, and it's an all-around boost to the high school gymnastics community. You might want to approach your athletic director and see if a similar arrangement can be worked out.
 
When I was in high school my school had a club gymnastics team. Basically, we all just practiced with our own teams and one parent organized our competition schedule for the year. My personal coach who was interested in the high school program offered to set aside time to coach other girls who were not on a club team for a monthly fee. So it might be an additional cost for the gymnasts on the team, but you could try to find a local club willing to let the team come in and practice.
Like someone else suggested, you could also try to get the parents involved with fundraisers as well as the administrative tasks involved. That way the AD wouldn't have to mess with the gymnastics team, scheduling meets, ordering of competition gear, all of that stuff. Even offering to purchase your own leos, warm-ups, etc. if you don't already.
You could also charge annual dues to participate, just enough to cover all of the basics. If these girls participated in club, they know the costs associated and this will probably be only a fraction of what they were paying there. We were also responsible for all of our own transportation to and from the meets, by doing that the school doesn't need to provide buses, drivers, all of that stuff.
I assume your school already has the necessary equipment, so if you just get together a group willing to help support the program through fundraisers, dues, and taking some of the responsibilities upon themselves, you might be able to convince the school to keep the program.
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to have a meeting with the athletic director, principal and team captains to see what we can come up with. There just has to be a better way than completely cutting some teams and doing nothing to other teams. If every athlete did some fundraising or we got a booster club, maybe we could all give a little to save the teams from being cut.

I disagree about cutting boys v-ball too. But they have had problems filling up their roster, so I wouldn;'t be surprised if they got cut. But then there are Title IX issues if we cut a boys sport but not a girls sport or the other way around.
 
That happened also here in our city. Several of the girls that still wanted to compete have gone to coaches from schools that do compete and arranged to work out with the neighboring school as if it were their own. The difference is that when they go to meets they represent their "home" school. The only cost involved is a payment to the "coaching" coach from the home school for time involved in working with extra kids, and meet fees of course. Most Booster clubs have picked up the expense, as it is much less than hiring a full-time coach and upkeeping equipment at their own school. It's a win-win situation, as the school with the team gets a little boost to their funding and it's very motivational having extra girls there; those without a team now have a place to go, and it's an all-around boost to the high school gymnastics community. You might want to approach your athletic director and see if a similar arrangement can be worked out.

I agree with this post. My high school didn't have a football team because of budget cuts, and our boys that played pee-wee (ages 7-14) went to the school board and asked to make a deal with a neighboring school to go play there. It worked, and now our boys get to play at one of our former rival schools. If you and your team get together and go to a school board meeting and voice your concerns and offer options that don't involve cutting it completely, you may get enough attention to get to go to a neighbor school and be on their team.
 
My school doesn't have a gymnastics team becasue of some injuries that happened a long, long, long, time ago but its probably a good thing since there are only 2 gymnasts in the whole school including me. Where i live, there are a lot of schools that have agreements together for their gymnastics programs, but it didn't work when i tried to get an agreement with the neighboring school, but hopefully it will work out better for you!! Best of luck for your team!!:)
 
The same thing happened to my town's high school team a few years ago. They said there was a lack of interest, so they cut the team. This year they brought the team back due to a burst of interest among freshmen gymnasts. You should try working with the team and the parent support system at your school to raise money through fundraisers. You could also try to raise the awareness of the gym team throughout the student body. If you create an opportunity for beginner gymnasts, maybe more students would like to participate. This way, maybe the team would become popular enough that cutting it is no longer an option. You could also try speaking to the school board about a budget reduction from the team rather than a cut, and find outside sources for additional funding (such as fundraisers and sponsors). To prove your point to the board, you could hold some sort of exhibition for the school, or maybe a clinic to teach beginning skills. You have to prove your point that gymnastics deserves funding! Good luck!
 
Cut the volleyball team!!!
if they have a site they're probably saying the same about you!:p
 
Cut the volleyball team!!!
if they have a site they're probably saying the same about you!:p But thats a real pain in the neck for you and the team:(:(
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to have a meeting with the athletic director, principal and team captains to see what we can come up with.

It's always disappointing news when programs like this get cut. But before you venture off on any noble goals, you may want to get a real perspective about how much the program costs in the first place. Specifically insurance costs.

Sports programs in public schools are said to be 10 times more expensive then as a private business. There is only so much money in the districts coffers.

Ya know: thinking about it. I think id personally fight for the football program to be cut, leaving all that money (and real estate) to the rest of the athletic programs.

Call it: "athletic diversity"

After all -- ONLY boys can play football, and ONLY a few dozen at that. Million of taxpayer dollars every year... for JUST football? Maybe you can talk to a few board members on how this decision may "disenfranchise" the female athletics? Worth a shot, no?

School board is nothing more then local parents and business folks 'playing politics'. My mother spent 10 years on a School board. I learned quite a bit from that.
 
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It's always disappointing news when programs like this get cut. But before you venture off on any noble goals, you may want to get a real perspective about how much the program costs in the first place. Specifically insurance costs.

Sports programs in public schools are said to be 10 times more expensive then as a private business. There is only so much money in the districts coffers.

Ya know: thinking about it. I think id personally fight for the football program to be cut, leaving all that money (and real estate) to the rest of the athletic programs.

Call it: "athletic diversity"

After all -- ONLY boys can play football, and ONLY a few dozen at that. Million of taxpayer dollars every year... for JUST football? Maybe you can talk to a few board members on how this decision may "disenfranchise" the female athletics? Worth a shot, no?


School board is nothing more then local parents and business folks 'playing politics'. My mother spent 10 years on a School board. I learned quite a bit from that.


Hey this is a great post! You said the key word "athleic diversity". I never thought about the whole sex discrimination issue. In college terms, doesn't that follow under the Title IX Act? At one particular school here, the athletic funding that might have gone to gymnastics went to hire an extra coach for the Bowling team. Uuuh, they don't get it...I don't consider anything a sport unless it requires stretching, warming up and conditioning. But that's beside the point. Something else you might want to think about here: In our community, there was a huge onset of club gymnasts that came over to high school this year due to the economy. I haven't heard any discussions on this web site about how the economy is affecting gymnastics, (maybe because it's an Olympic year?) But think about it; at an average cost of about $300 a month to train optional level gymnasts and the meet fees and travel involved, there has to be families out there that are struggling to pay this but still want their daughters be be involved in a sport they have trained for most of their lives. Since so many optional level gymnasts have moved to the high school circuit for that reason, it actually has made high school gymnastics more desirable in our community. It had been frowned upon in the past mainly because of the opinions of club coaches. If you take all that interest, fundraising efforts and perhaps money donated to athletic departments, this sport could actually pay for itself, PLUS help out those that might not be able to pay club fees. I like this thread; there are some great arguments being brought out.
 
It's always disappointing news when programs like this get cut. But before you venture off on any noble goals, you may want to get a real perspective about how much the program costs in the first place. Specifically insurance costs.

Sports programs in public schools are said to be 10 times more expensive then as a private business. There is only so much money in the districts coffers.

Ya know: thinking about it. I think id personally fight for the football program to be cut, leaving all that money (and real estate) to the rest of the athletic programs.

Call it: "athletic diversity"

After all -- ONLY boys can play football, and ONLY a few dozen at that. Million of taxpayer dollars every year... for JUST football? Maybe you can talk to a few board members on how this decision may "disenfranchise" the female athletics? Worth a shot, no?

School board is nothing more then local parents and business folks 'playing politics'. My mother spent 10 years on a School board. I learned quite a bit from that.

Thank you Tim_Dad! That was certainly an interesting post. Now why are sports programs 10 times more expensive in schools than private clubs? That just doesn't seem right.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing football cut. I think its so over-rated. Although there are some girls who try out for football and wrestling and some other normally "guy only" sports. Most of them don't make it, but there are a few girl wrestlers out there. But back to football, it would never get cut because its the most popular sport. In the end popularity wins, and football is more popular than gym.

And actually, one school board member has "so much faith" in our school system that he sends his DD to private school. :rolleyes: Ultimately, I hope the school board listens to our ideas. Afterall, many seniors will be 18 in May when it is time for school budget vote/school board elections! The polling place is in our school, and we can vote during social studies class :D.
 
I actually compete for my school. Considering it's a performing arts school (and I'm one of only 2 gymnasts), we don't have a team... so we compete as "independents". As it works out, there are two or three teams who train at this club, and the coach takes us in as well. Maybe they could look into something like this? I can give you all the details if you PM me... it's very confusing and hard to explain. :p

That truly sucks, though. I'm sorry. If there's enough people involved, they shouldn't cut it. :(
 

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