All-Star Cost Of Allstar Vs Cost Of Other Sports

[PullandPray23]

when I competed in gymnastics it was probably somewhere between $4000-$6000 between camps, clinics, meets, traveling and such...I mean they paid 300.00/a month in tuition (they used to show me the check when I was unmotivated about doing it or I was being ungrateful about the opportunities I had...I have really great parents :) )

 

[xpressjag]

So my question is, what are gyms doing to cut cots. Obviously tuition, uniforms, bow and shoes are mandatory. What are gyms doing about the other costs?

 

[12mowerd]

cheering just seems more expensive than all the others cuz the glitter :cloud9:

 

[cheerforeverever]

So my question is, what are gyms doing to cut cots. Obviously tuition, uniforms, bow and shoes are mandatory. What are gyms doing about the other costs?

Some things I've seen the past year: Less expensive uniforms (do we really need the 10 extra pounds of rhinestones?), less expensive bows, less required practice wear (just shirts, and then tell them to get solid color soffee shorts and their own sports bra), less travel competitions, options for half year teams that are cheaper, give a general list of simple makeup instead of full glitter makeup kits for every child

 

[SharkDad]

that is how it is with everything these days. if you want to go to an ivy league school (as a colleague pointed out) you can't make that decision your junior year. you need to have been preparing possibly as far back as elementary school. start being in the advanced program and taking more advanced classes in middle school, and finally having your upper level / AP courses as well as ALL the extra curricular activities to make you stand out from your fellow students. one day when cheer is as widely popular as football or baseball it will be the same situation there as well.

Particpation numbers show it is as popular as football and baseball. Sadly, it is so disorganized no one can tell.

 

[SharkDad]

I think the tuition, camp, and uniform costs are comparable to any other travel sport. I also believe that the big perception in costs would depend on what level of travel you do.

If you are on a team like WCSS, SE or for my CP on SSX the travel to BUBT, Jamfest, CHEERSPORT, Vegas, NCA, and then Worlds, plus a few other smaller regionals for competition experience would probably at least double the cost for cheer. I pretty much plan for $500 to $1000 per trip depending on if I need to fly, share a room, etc. But then that cost would be comparable to a state-level travel team in soccer, lacrosse, etc that only does regional games/tournaments.

Many programs try to limit travel like only within a 4-6 hour drive. That is equivelant to a in-state-level travel team.

It's all a matter of perspective and what level you competative experience your child is getting to decide if you think it's worth it to me.

 

[brandon0309]

My boyfriend is a pro golfer.. To enter events it's about 2000.. Events are every weekend pretty much almost year round..lessons are 125$ an hour, one shirt is 65$, hotel and travel as well all over the world.. Memberships to courses are about 25000$ ( the good ones he is at) and mOnthly payments are a couple hundred.. Caddie and cart fees, clubs will all add up to a good thousand.. You are always buying balls, gloves, shoes etc. you can easily spend 75000$ a year or more on this sport. One of the most expensive

 

[cheermommaRN]

Here is my issue with the cost...every other sport we have talked about have a rec level for kids to start at or for kids whose parents can't pony up the 3,000+ dollars a year for their child to participate. This year is the 1st time the USASF has recognized this and started a rec as level. There are very few gyms in the DFW area that have offered teams (Cheer Athletics and Champion are the only ones I can think of). Also, all of these other sports have scholarship and Olympic game potential. Many parents gladly pay double what cheer is for gymnastics because they buy into the dream of their Susie being on a National team. Even dance offers a better chance of scholarship then cheer does.
This has been a source of contention in our household since we started cheer. My dh constantly asks why we are paying so much for a sport that offers so little in the long run. Yes I know they get experience of working as a team, ect. but for my dh that's not enough, when she can get those lessons through less costly means. Due to the cost my cp will have to sit out next season while she works on her tumbling, dh refuses to pay for her to be level 2 for a third season. So we will be paying for tumbling until she gets her tuck. If Spirit jumps on the half year bandwagon or offers an AS Rec team, we will be doing that as well.

 

[DJ]

Level5Mom I know your son does travel hockey. How does it compare to what you pay at Rays?

 

[MissCongeniality]

I have 3 kids at home right now who do travel sports. NONE is as expensive as All Star Cheer. Not even close. I do think that has something to do with where we live. We don't have a wealth of cheer comps right in our backyard so the teams here do travel more than say a team in Texas or on the East Coast. Rents are higher here so we pay more monthly tuition for Cheer. But the thing that gets me the most is the $/hr cheer boils down to. Seriously when we were in gymnastics it was expensive--- but that was for so many more hours than we are at the gym now for All Star Cheer. When my kids did swim team they paid less monthly tuition that we do now for cheer and they were in the pool more hours a day than we are at the gym in a week (and YES I have a child on a Sr. 5 team... not a mini team)

We stick with cheer because they love it. But it is really really expensive compared to many other sports in our area and that expense does result in people not being able to participate.

 

[nhgurlnh]

My sister does USA swimming, which is the national swimming league, like AAU basketball or Pop Warner football. She practices everyday for 3 hours and has a meet almost every weekend, whether its within the Jewish Community Center League (the team is out of a JCC) or the USA league. My parents pay about $4000 to the team directly, and thats only the beginning.
Because she has D1/National potential, she swims at some really competitive meets, and for every meet, they have to pay for transportion, accommodations, a meet entry fee, and for every event she swims, she has to pay another fee just for racing that event! For the national meets (she goes about 5 a year), its about $1000 for the weekend. Regional meets are between (once every month or two months) $200-$500 for the weekend, and "local" (within New England and almost every weekend) meets are between $0-$200. My parents end up up paying at least $30,000 a year for her swimming. Luckily, because she will be getting recruited soon, they are gonna choose the school she swims at partially based on how good the scholarship and benefits are, so my parents will end up paying very little for her college.
During the summer, she goes to swimming camp in Europe for 6 weeks. This camp is normally about $12,000, but she has managed to find sponsorship or fundraising for herself every year she has gone, so my parents have never payed for camp because they rest of the season is so expensive. Every kid on the team she is on is pretty much required to go to this camp, so almost every other parent is adding another 12 grand onto the rest of the money they pay for their kid. My sister's best friend is one of 5 kids in her family swimming on this team-imagine paying about $150,000 to hand over your life to water.

While this is basically the highest level of youth swimming, you can see how costly swimming can get too. I like comment about how each level of the sport requires a different amount of financial commitment- when I swam when I was 8 during the summer, the entire season was $250, which is similar to a fall season of Pop Warner cheer.

 

[SheCheers]

I have 3 kids at home right now who do travel sports. NONE is as expensive as All Star Cheer. Not even close. I do think that has something to do with where we live. We don't have a wealth of cheer comps right in our backyard so the teams here do travel more than say a team in Texas or on the East Coast. Rents are higher here so we pay more monthly tuition for Cheer. But the thing that gets me the most is the $/hr cheer boils down to. Seriously when we were in gymnastics it was expensive--- but that was for so many more hours than we are at the gym now for All Star Cheer. When my kids did swim team they paid less monthly tuition that we do now for cheer and they were in the pool more hours a day than we are at the gym in a week (and YES I have a child on a Sr. 5 team... not a mini team)

We stick with cheer because they love it. But it is really really expensive compared to many other sports in our area and that expense does result in people not being able to participate.

i have to agree. It definitely is more expensive than other sports, in my opinion. I know sporting equipment CAN be expensive ($400 bats, e.g.) but it doesn't HAVE to be. With cheer, they dictate to you how much the uniform, shoes, etc cost. you can't shop around. you can't buy used, etc. My much younger sisters played travel softball and i know for a fact my parents would not have dreamt of paying more than $500 for a season, much less thousands of dollars.

And like cheermommaRN said, it's not really getting you anywhere in the long run (re: scholarships, etc). AND it's not taken as seriously as other sports, regardless of WHAT we think, it's not actually considered a sport. so lots of people can see shelling out $5K a year for a "real" sport, but as of now, cheer is an activity. so i'm sure not many people are spending thousands per year on

When my son did TKD, tuition was around $80/month, uniforms were around $50, but could be found 2nd hand or cheaper. Equipment could cost anywhere between $100-700 if you got fancy (we didn't).

 

[shadow]

Gymnastics is about $300-500 a month plus competition fees and travel. Leotards about $300 a piece. 20-25 hours a week in the gym. Kid quitting because they had no life... priceless.

 

[BlueCat]

Nearly every youth sport has a huge range of cost levels. There are (relatively) cheap ways to do it, and there are relatively expensive ways to do it. It all depends on your area, the program you are a part of, and how serious/elite you are.

 

[CheerMomNTx]

Nearly every youth sport has a huge range of cost levels. There are (relatively) cheap ways to do it, and there are relatively expensive ways to do it. It all depends on your area, the program you are a part of, and how serious/elite you are.

Totally agree and any time your child is a part of a travel team, the price is going to be up there.