Parents When the booster club buys your leotard

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cbifoja

Proud Parent
Who does the leo "belong" to? Should it be returned if you are leaving in the middle of the "leo cycle" to be passed on to another girl?

We are trying to figure out the best way to proceed. Our booster club is small and because we hosted a meet last season, we were able for the first time, to purchase competition leotards for our team of 50 kids.

Our L2 kids wear a tank leo. Our compulsories wear a long sleeved leo. Our optionals wear an entirely different leo from the compulsories.

Should the booster club expect the return of any leotard that isn't going to be worn the next season due to growth, quitting, or moving to another leotard category? For example, we have 4 girls moving from compulsories to optionals. Should we expect those 4 girls to return their compulsory leos to be passed on to the L2 girls moving to L3? And should we ask the mother of a gymmie who had to leave the sport due to injury even before the first meet to return her daughter's basically unworn leo to pass on to one of those 4 girls moving up?

And what about the kids who need a new leo next year? We didn't host a meet this year so I don't know if we have the funds to buy new leos for all kids who need them.

I'm just so unsure of how to handle this. For sentimental reasons, I would want to keep my DD's leo but since I didn't purchase it, I would feel like I should pay for part of it since it doesn't really feel like I ever truly bought it. But I also think that some parents will consider those leos "theirs" outright since their child wore it and in some cases, the parents actually participated in fundraising.

Can you give me either some experiences you have had, tell me how your booster club handles this, or even just your feelings/opinions on this matter? I really want to be fair and not offend as many people as possible while not bankrupting the booster funds just to keep people happy, especially since many of those people do nothing to help out the booster club (entirely different issue that really doesn't matter, I know.) I also don't want to be unfair to families who, through no fault of their own, are going to have to get new leos mid cycle.

Help!!!!
 
IMO, I think that if each parent contributed to the booster club fundraiser (donating their time or money), the leo belongs to the parent. However, if I were that parent and was selling the leo (due to size or us leaving that gym), I would return any money from the sale back to the booster club. We do not have a booster club though.
 
Does it affect your opinion if our booster club is one of those where a few families do the 90% of the work?
 
I would say so. In that case, I would think that the booster club could opt not to purchase leos for those whose parents do not contribute.
 
I would say so. In that case, I would think that the booster club could opt not to purchase leos for those whose parents do not contribute.

I could only dream of being able to do that! LOL Pretty sure the IRS would be knocking on our door to discuss this little violation. One of our parents is a tax attorney so we would be VERY well-advised if we came close to crossing a line. But it's fun to fantasize.......
 
Yes it is. Can you tell that I am one of the ones who gets "stuck with" doing things for DD's team? If we had a booster club and people still refused to help out, it would drive me crazy!
 
Our booster club owns the leos and we use them for three years. At the end of competition season we give our leo back and get a different one the next season because kids grow of course! We size the girls during the summer and get new ones ordered as needed. We buy our own warm-ups.

If someone leaves the team, they can buy the leo a nominal price.

Everyone has to contribute a booster club fee at the beginning of the year. Between this and our fundraising we have it covered. Everyone is pretty good at contributing to fundraising efforts.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and the whole team wears the same leo.
 
Here is how I would handle it...
  • The leos that were purchased by the booster club are now owned by each individual family
  • Families may sell their leos down to other team members at 50% of original cost...this is all regulated by someone so faded...bad...worn out leos are not allowed to be sold down
  • Booster club will address the next season as a new season...if the funds for new leos are not available...then they cannot buy them
The fact that a few families do 90% would not change my mind. It would possibly change my mind for the future of your booster club though.
 
Last year our booster club bought each team member a new gym bag. They have their names on them and I'm sure would not be returned if a girl left the team. I think that, unless the leos are set up in such a way that the gym owns the leos and that every year at the end of the season that leo is turned in and then another leo is "checked out" again at the beginning of the following season (I'm thinking about how it worked in high school/college when we got marching band uniforms or choir robes or whatever), and that is made clear to the parents/gymnast when they receive the leo, then the booster club has purchased that leo FOR that gymnast and she assumes ownership of it and does not have to return it.

Last summer we had a "leo exchange" day on which people brought in their daughter's leo if she was going to need a new one for the following year and was paid a set amount for it and could also purchase a used one for that same set amount if there was one available in her size. For example, I brought in DD's AXS leo, someone purchased it for about half the original price, and then I turned around and bought her a AS leo for that exact same price. However, if no AS leos had been available, I would have had to get a new one for her, but at least I already had half the purchase price to put towards the new leo.

As for only a few people doing the work, just think of all of the good karma those people are accruing. Because legally, that's all they/we get as far as booster club disbursals.
 
Unfortunately with Booster Clubs you are always going to have some families do more than others. Unless it was stated that the booster club owned the leos than I think you will have to let them keep the leo.

Hopefully your gym can come up with an alternate plan like MaryA's gym has!

I am actually going to bring that idea up to our HC. We are unfortunately getting new leos this coming season but maybe the one after we can do a leo exchange!!
 
When I was at a small gym with a small booster club we did it a bit different.

Fundraiser raised 500 dollars
10 parents helped
50 dollars went into each child's "account"

Account could be used to pay for meet fees, leos etc.

One thing we also did was we hosted 3 meets a year. The first two weren't fundraisers, they were just meets, funds went to the gym for expenses. That's how the owner kept down expenses for team. The last one was to raise funds for new equipment for the gym.
 
When I was at a small gym with a small booster club we did it a bit different.

Fundraiser raised 500 dollars
10 parents helped
50 dollars went into each child's "account"

Account could be used to pay for meet fees, leos etc.

This isn't technically "legal" if your booster club is a nonprofit. If it's NOT nonprofit, then this is fine.
 
Even if the club technically buys the leotard, parents are going to assume that the fees they pay to the booster club cover the outright purchase of a brand-new leotard which becomes the property of the child. If this is not the case, it needs to be stated clearly up front.

And leotard liners should be strictly required if leotards are going to be passed around among kids. It's not like you can just throw these things in the wash with hot water and detergent.
 
We don't pay fees to the booster club. Everything we earn is earned through actual fundraising.

Yes, the hygiene thing was something I was considering too. My DD wear a liner for comfort since she has sensitive skin so I forget about other girls in this regard.
 
Even if the club technically buys the leotard, parents are going to assume that the fees they pay to the booster club cover the outright purchase of a brand-new leotard which becomes the property of the child. If this is not the case, it needs to be stated clearly up front.

And leotard liners should be strictly required if leotards are going to be passed around among kids. It's not like you can just throw these things in the wash with hot water and detergent.
My daughter wears briefs under hers so I never really worried about the hygiene issue.
 
Even if the club technically buys the leotard, parents are going to assume that the fees they pay to the booster club cover the outright purchase of a brand-new leotard which becomes the property of the child. If this is not the case, it needs to be stated clearly up front.

And leotard liners should be strictly required if leotards are going to be passed around among kids. It's not like you can just throw these things in the wash with hot water and detergent.

I'm glad someone brought this up. This whole conversation, I've just been thinking 'ewww' - I don't want anyone else's used leo, and I would feel weird giving or selling my DD's leo to someone else. Same reason I don't donate used underwear or swim bottoms to various charities when we clean out our closets. Maybe for the tiny tots I wouldn't care as much, but age 6 and up, I would personally be grossed out if leo trading was the rule.

Most of our team girls don't wear anything under their leos - peeking undies, even flesh-toned ones, are frowned upon. Might see a few in practices, but not in comps. And our compulsuries practice heavily in their comp leos. So these things get sweaty sweaty sweaty! Repeatedly!

Even with liners, I'm still a bit grossed out, honestly. Looks like I'm in the minority there, which is OK, though! :rolleyes::p
 
Does no one else wash their leos? It sounds like washing isn't a regular thing for some...? Practice and competition leos get worn once and then they're washed here.
Ours are definitely washed after every competition, albeit very carefully. And I know my dd doesn't sweat hardly at all during competitions. She's only a level 3 so that may change I am sure.
 
Yes, ICK. I washed DD's comp leos before they were worn for the first time, and after most meets. I wouldn't let my DD borrow another girls undies, and I wouldn't want her wearing a leo worn by another girl, especially since it can't be washed in hot water with bleach.
 
Well, true, ours are not washed in hot water and bleach, obviously, but personally, I'm ok with DD wearing another girl's leo as long as it's washed. Lots of gyms sell/trade outgrown/no longer needed leos (ours doesn't because our comp leos are a new style every year :(), and tons of people sell/buy used leos on ebay or during gym sales, etc.

To each their own, I guess!!
 

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