Hey all! It's been a long time since I've been on here! So the gym my DD attends was a start up gym about 4 years ago in our little town. We have been with it since the day it opened. It's the only gym in town and we were very excited when the owner opened it up. My DD was among the original group of girls who were invited to team and the coach/owner encouraged us to start a booster club to help offset the expense of competitive gymnastics.
Fast forward 4 years. Me and and 3 other moms have brought this booster club from a $400 fund to one with tens of thousands of dollars that covers every aspect of competitive gymnastics. The gym has grown and so has the booster club. We host a meet with the help of the gym once a year, and we have hosted state the last 2 years. Big money makers right there. In the past the gym got the entrance fees and we got admission from the public and any other money made at concessions, t-shirt/leo stand, etc. Booster club parents are the ones who run the meets. We help move equipment across town to our meet venue, help with scores, basically everything that goes into running a meet. We are talking 12-14 hour days because our club is so small.
This year the gym has decided to keep the general admission at our annual meet and to not host state (which is fine, we want to encourage other gyms within our state to do it too!). This has people in a complete uproar. She has also decided that our annual meet (which is by far and large the biggest and best meet in the state) is going to be held "in gym" this year. Huh? Our gym is small. There is no where for parents to even sit! And we all know how frustrating it is to attend meets with no seating, or so squished it's miserable and you can't see anything. It is infuriating, since our annual meet has such a stellar reputation! There is no where to have concessions, no where to set up our t-shirt/leo press, candy/flower grams, etc. We do not even have a full size floor or vault runway.
Also in the past someone within the booster club has registered the girls for meets. This year the owner/coach has decided she is going to to register the girls and just charge a flat fee for each meet regardless of the amount it costs to enter them. Any extra money will cover her traveling expenses and then if there is any profit left over it will go in a "slush fund." This has also caused some huge concern, as we are used to cutting a check to the gym hosting and then cutting a separate check to our coach in advance for travel expenses/session fees. She is the ONLY coach in the gym so it is not like she is paying other coaches to travel as well.
This is a very small gym 18 girls on team, and we live in WY so the travel is extensive. Only in the last year have other gyms starting hosting meets. But even an in state meet can mean 5 hours of travel each way for us. We usually have to travel to neighboring states to compete. That's just how it is where we live.
So really we are just looking for comparison on how other gym/booster club relationships work. We are the only booster club in the state really, so we don't have anything to draw on.
Thoughts? Advice? I would really like to resolve this. About 2/3 of booster club members are threatening to walk and just fold up shop. Thank you in advance!
Fast forward 4 years. Me and and 3 other moms have brought this booster club from a $400 fund to one with tens of thousands of dollars that covers every aspect of competitive gymnastics. The gym has grown and so has the booster club. We host a meet with the help of the gym once a year, and we have hosted state the last 2 years. Big money makers right there. In the past the gym got the entrance fees and we got admission from the public and any other money made at concessions, t-shirt/leo stand, etc. Booster club parents are the ones who run the meets. We help move equipment across town to our meet venue, help with scores, basically everything that goes into running a meet. We are talking 12-14 hour days because our club is so small.
This year the gym has decided to keep the general admission at our annual meet and to not host state (which is fine, we want to encourage other gyms within our state to do it too!). This has people in a complete uproar. She has also decided that our annual meet (which is by far and large the biggest and best meet in the state) is going to be held "in gym" this year. Huh? Our gym is small. There is no where for parents to even sit! And we all know how frustrating it is to attend meets with no seating, or so squished it's miserable and you can't see anything. It is infuriating, since our annual meet has such a stellar reputation! There is no where to have concessions, no where to set up our t-shirt/leo press, candy/flower grams, etc. We do not even have a full size floor or vault runway.
Also in the past someone within the booster club has registered the girls for meets. This year the owner/coach has decided she is going to to register the girls and just charge a flat fee for each meet regardless of the amount it costs to enter them. Any extra money will cover her traveling expenses and then if there is any profit left over it will go in a "slush fund." This has also caused some huge concern, as we are used to cutting a check to the gym hosting and then cutting a separate check to our coach in advance for travel expenses/session fees. She is the ONLY coach in the gym so it is not like she is paying other coaches to travel as well.
This is a very small gym 18 girls on team, and we live in WY so the travel is extensive. Only in the last year have other gyms starting hosting meets. But even an in state meet can mean 5 hours of travel each way for us. We usually have to travel to neighboring states to compete. That's just how it is where we live.
So really we are just looking for comparison on how other gym/booster club relationships work. We are the only booster club in the state really, so we don't have anything to draw on.
Thoughts? Advice? I would really like to resolve this. About 2/3 of booster club members are threatening to walk and just fold up shop. Thank you in advance!