All-Star ..

[SL&AM]

No. Their tryout packet says paid Worlds and Summit bids are invested into the gym.

It's in their contract. I don't even think any parents have an issue with it. They have a nice gym and strong teams, I assume parents think it's worth it. Paid Summit bids are rare here, but they have a paid Worlds bid and have had them in prior years, I'm sure.

So let me make sure I understand this correctly----if their athletes get a paid or partial paid bid, the gym takes it for their own use.
To ensure parents don't disappear mid-year they take all eligible teams and make them pay $1,000 up front.
If your team doesn't get a bid, you're then refunded $1,000.

Let's assume for one second that this program has 100 athletes total on Summit/World eligible teams. That is $100,000 to be paid in May/June ish, but not refunded until probably March of the next year...so that $100,000 is sitting in an account; probably a savings account, racking up interest (even a 1% or 2% return on that much for that long is a significant chunk of change) and the parents are okay with this?


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Screw my doctorate in Psychology; I'm in the wrong business.

 

[SL&AM]

I believe she also said from the northeast. I can't remember if she said they had a paid bid or not but
PAID-
MD Twisters
WC Stars

AT LARGE-
Cheer Tyme
Extreme Allstarz

She said At-Large.

 

[amy1k]

So let me make sure I understand this correctly----if their athletes get a paid or partial paid bid, the gym takes it for their own use.
To ensure parents don't disappear mid-year they take all eligible teams and make them pay $1,000 up front.
If your team doesn't get a bid, you're then refunded $1,000.

Let's assume for one second that this program has 100 athletes total on Summit/World eligible teams. That is $100,000 to be paid in May/June ish, but not refunded until probably March of the next year...so that $100,000 is sitting in an account; probably a savings account, racking up interest (even a 1% or 2% return on that much for that long is a significant chunk of change) and the parents are okay with this?


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Screw my doctorate in Psychology; I'm in the wrong business.

Close. But the packet says payments start in September for Worlds/Summit fees. I really don't think they are running a scam or anything. I think they're trying to build their gym in a way that makes sense to them. Parents MUST agree, because it is thriving. My only interest is wondering if other gyms function that way...or if my child's ever will. :)

 

[SL&AM]

Close. But the packet says payments start in September for Worlds/Summit fees. I really don't think they are running a scam or anything. I think they're trying to build their gym in a way that makes sense to them. Parents MUST agree, because it is thriving. My only interest is wondering if other gyms function that way...or if my child's ever will. :)

Oh no, not a scam at all---but they are running it very business minded not necessarily consumer minded. I'm sure a parent or two has come to the same conclusion I have---from a business perspective, it's amazing that they have that type of dedication.

As for other gyms, they don't in my area that I know of, but I also wouldn't put CP in a gym that did that. It's just not for me---I don't let the federal government keep my money interest free, I'm certainly not letting a cheer gym do it. I also wouldn't want to put the time and effort it takes to travel to bid specific competitions just for it not to really benefit my child either.

 

[mommycheer]

.

 

[NJ Coach]

do you know how much their fee is?

Coaches fees are the same as the participant fees if they go on package. If coaches decide to not go on package (meaning they don't want hopper passes or hotel) the coaches fees are $125.

 

[shortiet1982]

Oh no, not a scam at all---but they are running it very business minded not necessarily consumer minded. I'm sure a parent or two has come to the same conclusion I have---from a business perspective, it's amazing that they have that type of dedication.

As for other gyms, they don't in my area that I know of, but I also wouldn't put CP in a gym that did that. It's just not for me---I don't let the federal government keep my money interest free, I'm certainly not letting a cheer gym do it. I also wouldn't want to put the time and effort it takes to travel to bid specific competitions just for it not to really benefit my child either.

My daughter cheered at the gym mentioned (at least I believe this was her gym). The Summit bids were all received within the PNW so very little travel. It was a lot to pay for a what if competition. However, not having to come up with 600+ in a short amount of time was a benefit once they received the summit bid. Not saying there aren't some hidden cost but having 4 months to pay for the summit helped to lessen the sting

 

[amy1k]

My daughter cheered at the gym mentioned (at least I believe this was her gym). The Summit bids were all received within the PNW so very little travel. It was a lot to pay for a what if competition. However, not having to come up with 600+ in a short amount of time was a benefit once they received the summit bid. Not saying there aren't some hidden cost but having 4 months to pay for the summit helped to lessen the sting

Did you find parents to be generally ok with the idea of investing paid bids back into the gym? I'm not positive if they've had a paid Summit bid, but certainly there has been a paid Worlds bid. That would be where my concern would be...but I get it. Our parents would freak at the comp fees in general, I think. It might have been $600 previously, but my friend says she paid $1000 for Summit this year (she'll be refunded, if they don't end up with a bid, though).

 

[FierceIsTheName]

No. Their tryout packet says paid Worlds and Summit bids are invested into the gym.

It's in their contract. I don't even think any parents have an issue with it. They have a nice gym and strong teams, I assume parents think it's worth it. Paid Summit bids are rare here, but they have a paid Worlds bid and have had them in prior years, I'm sure.

Thats what happened last year. It was very confusing at first and i still don't understand bids enough, but my old gym invested it into the gym and i think it paid off seeing how beautiful their new gym is!

ETA: my dad was okay with it (my mom doesnt really like cheer so my dads into it) it was just kind of confusing.

 

[Ashley]

Coaches fees are the same as the participant fees if they go on package. If coaches decide to not go on package (meaning they don't want hopper passes or hotel) the coaches fees are $125.

They don't have to get the commuter package with park hoppers? Interesting. I didn't know that.

 

[SL&AM]

My daughter cheered at the gym mentioned (at least I believe this was her gym). The Summit bids were all received within the PNW so very little travel. It was a lot to pay for a what if competition. However, not having to come up with 600+ in a short amount of time was a benefit once they received the summit bid. Not saying there aren't some hidden cost but having 4 months to pay for the summit helped to lessen the sting

I can understand having the months to pay for it, but as a parent, I'd take that money, put it into a savings account in my own name where me and her dad collect the interest, and if they get it then great the money is there. I realize not all parents will do this or can do this; it wasn't this thread but I mentioned CP being on a team where the parents were literally not paying their bills so their kid could cheer.

That being said, more power to that gym...clearly it's working for them. It just wouldn't be a set up, I as a mom, would want CP in so we'd look elsewhere.

 

[cheermommaRN]

I will pay for a coaches airfare, lodging, and food. I absolutely will NOT pay for their admission to the park. That's not what I'm paying coach fees for them to do. Varsity should be filling that time with sessions teaching safety, or how to grow their program.
In diving I paid $25 per meet to the coach.
The other issue I have is that some of these programs have no concept of how to use their customer's money responsibly.

 

[amy1k]

Our Summit fees were $498 when I went to pay, today. Lol! I don't think our coaches get park hoppers, but I wouldn't really care if they did.

 

[CheerBank]

Our gym is laying out all the $, giving us additional time to fundraise before we pay them back. I'm pretty happy about that right now, but then again, we haven't yet received the "Worlds Memo" outlining all the costs we owe. I have a rough idea but am choosing to play ostrich at the moment.

 

[NJ Coach]

They don't have to get the commuter package with park hoppers? Interesting. I didn't know that.

I didn't either. I looked on the travel package on the summit website and it's listed there. It is the lanyard and admission into WWOS.