- Dec 14, 2009
- 997
- 1,775
This thread is interesting to me now. I just (as in this past Saturday) finished off a season on an i4 team and probably spent close to, if not slightly more than $1000. This includes tuition ($50/month starting in August), music, choreo (done in-house unlike other teams in the gym), uniform & sneakers, and 4 comp fees We didn't travel outside of New England, and only had 1 two-day comp (so entrance fees were a little lower). Like Tealxblack25 said, we also only competed against ourselves at 3 out of the 4 competitions. That was frustrating, but given the newness of the division, it was expected. The gym also made sure our uniform and music/choreo fees were cheaper than the other teams in the gym. The gym worked really hard to keep our fees down and work with us so that was helpful, but I'm not sure how many gyms do that.
I've been out of undergrad for almost three years so paid for this myself, but a lot of girls' parents paid for the season. I know for me, this cost was about all I could handle, if it was any more I wouldn't have been able to afford it. As it stands now, I'm planning on "re-retiring" because my loans can certainly use that $1k more than my aching, 25 year old cheer body. ;) Not too mention the fact that I wasn't a fan of having no competition, and attendance issues at practice. I'm pretty sure there was 4 times when our team had full attendance... and that was at our 4 comps. I've seen it said on here for years that attendance is a struggle, but I guess I didn't believe it until I lived it. Hard to hit a routine when not everyone comes to practice!! Despite that, I think Open teams are a really good thing, (and starting the i4 was an awesome idea that I hope takes off more), but it's certainly not for everyone.
I've been out of undergrad for almost three years so paid for this myself, but a lot of girls' parents paid for the season. I know for me, this cost was about all I could handle, if it was any more I wouldn't have been able to afford it. As it stands now, I'm planning on "re-retiring" because my loans can certainly use that $1k more than my aching, 25 year old cheer body. ;) Not too mention the fact that I wasn't a fan of having no competition, and attendance issues at practice. I'm pretty sure there was 4 times when our team had full attendance... and that was at our 4 comps. I've seen it said on here for years that attendance is a struggle, but I guess I didn't believe it until I lived it. Hard to hit a routine when not everyone comes to practice!! Despite that, I think Open teams are a really good thing, (and starting the i4 was an awesome idea that I hope takes off more), but it's certainly not for everyone.