So, as a former gym owner, you think it is acceptable to start a thread about a gym upholding a contract that your relative knowingly signed, and then turn it into a gym bashing and accuse the gym of cheating? I hope you have proof about all of the turd you just stirred. Do you know for a fact that there were youth age kids on minis? I cant tell you how many times Susie's Mom says (and it is normally directly after the awards ceremony at a competition that Susie didn't win) "I know that girl and there is no way she is 8 years old" and it turns into "the gym that won just cheated". That is not proof!! Did you see the registration form your SIL completed? - You just admitted she as no clue about the rules - maybe she filled out the paperwork with the age she was at the time, which if she misses the cutoff by 3 months could very well have happened. We are at a new gym this year and I haven't given the gym the birth certificates yet. Maybe I put down the wrong age on the form and maybe my kids were placed on a team they are not age eligible as a result. Is this gym cheating? Not the gym's fault until they compete with them on that team. The point I am trying to make is accusing a gym of cheating on social media is SO damaging and unfair, and in some cases can not be reversed, and people need to be very careful about calling out a gym by name, which as now basically been done (even though I had to ask off line many people have posted that they know who you are referring to). As a former gym owner and USASF judge, I would think you would take the high road and place a phone call asking about your niece specifically, and then take the appropriate steps (which is not creating a thread on fierceboard BTW) if they continue to keep her on the team she is ineligible for.
As far the original purpose of this tread before it turned ugly, yes many gyms use contracts and they have every right to do so, just as we as the customer have every right to not sign them. Lesson to be learned - don't sign if it you are not prepared for the consequences. If my kids were at a gym that required full payment for the year regardless of the gym's actions, you better believe I would go somewhere else or mark up the contract to give myself and my kids some rights.