Parents Need Help with Coaches Fee

[sevenatenine2]

Yes, I think what she's mad about is that the girls are competing like they are on the team yet maybe weren't made to pay the booster fees? Or as much as the other team members are paying?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Except the OP said that the new girls paid the same that everyone else did...

ETA: paid the same for this meet. Maybe she is angry that they haven't been required to join the booster?

 

[sevenatenine2]

OH, looking back and rereading, it looks like if the coaches' fee was $200 and each girl paid $20, instead of decreasing each athlete's fee, the coach just charged the new kids 20 dollars each, paid directly to her, thus giving herself a raise. Hmmmm. I wonder if the OP also feels the new kids were added to line the coach's pockets? Too much missing information here!

 

[GymKatsMom]

okay, i'll try to fill you all in a bit better. We have tryouts in sept, and at that point, the coaches (2 making that decision) decided who made team. Some girls DID not make it. SHe then designated some of them as Pre-team.. (not part of our boosters). deadline to enter the meet was nov. 1st. She then asked their parents (pre-team) if they wanted to go with our team to the meet, they are level 4s, and will be competing with our team girls in the same session. Yes, i'm upset about this, because the boosters have done the work of registering sending in fees, making deadlines, coming up with a pre-designated coaches fee. then she invited 2 sisters of girls that are going, to compete level 3. (our team starts at level 4, so she will be working this session just because she has invited them). Everyone ON team has paid a certain cut to make up the predesignated coaches fee, and the other girls she invited are only paying the coach. It will be extra money that she will be making.
I"m trying to figure out what insight i need to gain, besides you all just telling me i have a right, or not a right to be upset! Basically, do you think that we should still pay the entire amount? Or am I splitting hairs, and should just be grateful for her going. Does she have the "right" to invite whoever she wants, regardless of them being a part of the booster club membership team. IF one of your coaches told some of the rec girls, pay your USAG fee and I'll take you to the next meet, (obviously splitting her time between your daughters time, which will include an on site practice since we are flying there), would you be okay with that?

 

[GymKatsMom]

and the new girls didn't pay the same amount. but, the coach decided what she wanted from them to help her pay for her fees. ugh... we just need some sort of rational compromise here.

 

[Becauseisaid]

How many original sessions and how many original girls?

 

[GymKatsMom]

14 original girls, 4 sessions.

 

[Becauseisaid]

Did I hear right - $500 to the coach? Or am I making things up?

 

[GymKatsMom]

she agreed to $1500 for everything, travel lodging, working the event. Her daughter is also on the team, not that that really matters, but makes a bit more sense to the fee.

 

[GymKatsMom]

14 girls paid $150 each, with the remainder after fundraising for all costs going back to each gymnasts family.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I would be okay with it, totally honest. It's not costing you anything extra at this point, and I thought boosters were voluntary? If it is mandatory, than just get the girls family's signed up and official. I just don't see the big deal. Isn't the idea of preteam that you will eventually compete for the team? I think it's great when more kids get to be a part of the sport. Isn't that why you all went to the trouble of creating a team out of whole cloth when the military wouldn't pick up the slack?

 

[sevenatenine2]

Yeah, I am hearing you and I can see the annoyance factor, a little bit, but it seems to me this coach, although she's fairly compensated, is the leader of the team and the team would be in trouble if she walked off. I've seen too many instances where parents run someone like that off, they eventually give up because it's too much of a headache, and then everyone loses. I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but I'd be wary.

 

[gymdog]

IF one of your coaches told some of the rec girls, pay your USAG fee and I'll take you to the next meet, (obviously splitting her time between your daughters time, which will include an on site practice since we are flying there), would you be okay with that?

Circumstances arise fairly frequently where we invite another child to team. The other parents can be upset about it, but it has no bearing on our decision. It is likely that would recalculate their booster fees for the next period, but not until the next fee was due if that makes sense so maybe for one random meet or so it wouldn't be right. What would be your ideal outcome to allow these kids to join the team? Maybe the coach sees them trying very hard and greatly desiring to compete. You don't want them to have the same opportunity as your daughter, because it takes time away from her (that can't be resolved) or you want them to pay something different (that can be resolved if the booster club lays down a more specific guideline about the process).

Basically I think you need to check your motivations in resolving this problem. I'm sure it can be resolved if everyone wants to do what's best for the team.

 

[GymKatsMom]

To the last two responders... Thank you
. I needed to come back to the heart of the matter and it comes down to getting the girls.competitive experience. I think I have gotten too involved because there is no oversight to the coaches decisions. If she walked off many people would be in in his situation, and it is getting to be too big of a headache for her. I was trying to be a mediator for all the parents, and

 

[GymKatsMom]

Get too wrapped up in the details instead of th big picture. Everything isn't going to be perfect, but I don't need to make anyone angry either.

 

[Becauseisaid]

For a dollars and cents answer, you would save $2.97 if the other girls were charged at the same rate as the team girls.

$1500 for 4 sessions is (roughly) $375 per session. (Coach has to be there regardless of the number of girls competing.

Add 1 session at $375 = $1875 for 5 sessions.

Now break it down by number of gymnasts attending.
$1500 ÷ 14 gymnasts = $107.14/each
$1875 ÷ 18 gymnasts = $104.17.

Not worth getting your blood pressure up. Especially since you've mentioned this coach has absorbed costs in the past for the team.

 

[gymdog]

To the last two responders... Thank you
. I needed to come back to the heart of the matter and it comes down to getting the girls.competitive experience. I think I have gotten too involved because there is no oversight to the coaches decisions. If she walked off many people would be in in his situation, and it is getting to be too big of a headache for her. I was trying to be a mediator for all the parents, and

Well, and to be honest, I do think you have some problems with the set up. There needs to be a format for adding girls to team or expanding the levels mid season. For example what if a child gets all their skills and is getting 38s, needs to go to the next level but the coach will have to add sessions/meets. All the involved parties need to be on the same page. But, my guess is the coach has no idea what she did and just thought she was doing the best thing for those kids. So I would cut some slack. But it does seem that there may be growing pains as you expand. But just like economics has a concept called "economies of scope" ( it means there are benefits to an industry being big/thriving because you have competitors but you also have benefits...for example when the auto industry is thriving there are more parts manufacturers. So for example when the Detroit auto companies were failing other auto companies were in favor of them getting government intervention), your daughter will benefit from team expansion in the long run. In the short term there might be a small growing pain here or there but long term it will mean more funds, more equipment, more and better coaching, etc.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Okay, I will tell you what you want to hear. Just enjoy the sport and stop splitting hairs....

 

[COz]

You're in a make-do, temporary situation and have come up with a solution that lets your girls train and compete. That sounds pretty good really.

Definitely come up with some rules about what happens when new girls are ready to compete, then have a newsletter and let everyone know what will be happening in the future.

Let this one go. It really does sound like the coach has good intentions and probably thought she was just simplifying it for everyone. If you try and discuss it, you're just going to sound like you're nit picking and then the coach, who you said has done things unpaid in the past, will then feel unappreciated and it's a slippery slope from there.

@Becauseisaid 's calculation didn't account for travel and accommodation fees, so the coach's fees per session would have been less than in that calculation. Adding a session would have reduced the costs by more than that, depending on how much travel etc was.
Are the parents traveling with the girls as well? If so, if the coach has a daughter on team then she would have been traveling anyway, so it would be then reasonable to exclude those fees and then the calculation by @Becauseisaid would be exactly right anyway

Coach by the sound of it is acting as Head Coach. HC gets to decide who goes on team etc. the sisters who are now included are probably thrilled to have this opportunity. Be happy for them AND get them to join the booster club.

If there isn't a gym owner, it always seems to be the case that HC and management have communication difficulties, I think you're in good company.

Ask her if she could next time refer the parents to you to discuss fees and you can then talk to her before making a decision. That makes it clear that you don't want to be bypassed, without you just sounding angry at her.
If something comes up that annoys you, ask her about it so it doesn't turn into a big deal when it may just be a misunderstanding.

Just keep reminding yourself (as you've said already) that there probably wouldn't be a team at all if this coach wasn't doing this. Sounds like apart from this she's doing an ok job as you haven't mentioned anything else. Support her, because she's supporting your girls and they get to compete as a result

 

[GymKatsMom]

just to follow up, we did give the coach the $1500 she was originally promised. the 2 "pre-team" girls (who have since now, MADE team) each paid the coach their own $100, but our now part of team and boosters, and the sisters that are now coming paid her $150 for the extra session. (none of the 4 extra will get fundraising moneys earned, so the rests fees will go down anyway!) I'm going to put out a newsletter, and try to do so once a month, and have our board meet once a month to get things more ironed out. (only have decisions made at meetings!) Any other Parent Ran Teams out there with good bylaws or contracts? I"m thinking we should have a contract for our coaches, we have one for our team members. Coach and I have a love/hate relationship, we get a long great some days, and at each others throats the next. BUt, she does a great job coaching my daughter, and I'm thrilled that she is giving them this opportunity to compete. I would love to just have clear boundaries on what we should be doing and what she should be doing. Her and the other coach have full authority to put whoever on team, but we tried to have tryouts 2x a year to do it. Otherwise it takes up our valuable class time (only 6 hours a week). thanks again for all your insight!