£370 for gymnastic fees ridiculous?!

[sarah8484]

My son has been offered a place at a gymnastics club. The fees are £370 every 3 months. For a 3 hour lesson once a week. He is really gifted in gymnastics and would love him to do it but the cost just seems so extortionate. So stuck with what to do. Anyone else's children do gymnastics? Can i ask what you pay?

£370 per term for 9 hours a week sounds more reasonable.

£370 a term for 3 hours a week does not.

£370 per month for 9 hours a week does not.

It maybe helpful for you to be sure as you have typed various things and it's hard to guide you to what's reasonable without the right information.

£83 per month (every month) for 5.5 hours per week plus annual membership/insurance plus competition fees.

@RandomMess if you don't mind me asking, how much are the competition fees? Does the fee vary from competitive to competition?

£52 for 12 weeks for an hour a week.

Sorry my DC do a very similar sport but I suspect competition fees will be different!!!

All the DC that compete in gymnastics seem to loads more, mine do 4/5 per year. £20 per entry (compete in 2 classes so £40) plus spectator tickets..

You also need to ask if they need a squad kit - how much is that?

So it's actually about £10 per 3 hour session? That sounds pretty reasonable.

Op. It's hard to follow this.

You started off saying it was 370 every three months. Then said not it's 370 a month.
You started off saying it was 3 hours once a week.
Now you're saying it's 3 x 3 hours, but have not clarified the frequency, is that weekly, or per month?

It's really hard for people to say if it's expensive if you're not too sure what it's actually for.

We're paying £3.77 for group training, some sessions are much smaller than others though.

Its 3, 3 hour sessions per week so 9 hours a week in total (mis read the email so thought initially it was a 3 hour lesson a week) and £370 every 3 months. Confusing myself also right now

£3.77 per hour!

Honestly training that much isn't good for their bodies

Assuming 12 weeks for £370 that's £3.45 ish per hour.

I have 2 daughters and I just paid £220 for 2 and they do 5hours 30 minutes a week and also paid insurance which was £32 for 2

Unless this is some kind of elite/international prep club, that's a lot. My daughter's fees are about 80 quid a month and she gets ~18 hours a week of coaching for that. Is your son getting 1-to-1 tuition???

Also @RandomMess, you say training that much isn't good for their bodies. The OP hasn't stated her son's age, so on what basis are you making the claim that 3 x 3 hour sessions will be a problem....?

Basically if he's already a teen he's a bit old to start a development group having only done gymnastics at school and actually get anywhere...

Of course he could be the exception to the rule!

9 hours a week for for 13 weeks is 117 hours. £370 for nearly 120 hours is only just over £3 an hour which sounds pretty reasonable to me?

£120 a month is a lot of money, but it's also a huge amount of time.

My ds is 10

I would check things like is it on in the school holidays, what contract are you signing up to, is he expected to compete if so how often and where.

Can he do a trial 2/3 weeks?

He may not enjoy it.

Is it £370 a month or every 3 months?

@sarah8484
That's crazy. I can sort of understand it in London as everything in London is ridiculously expensive but outside London, crazy. It's always more expensive than most other clubs though due to insurance but that seems particularly toppy. Are there any others near by you could join instead? (sorry haven't RTFT)

@MustardScreams its every 3 months

I really would talk to some other clubs about what they would offer your son. Not because of the cost, but to get a clear idea of his potential. 10 is quite late to enter a competitive squad system, and given how intense the training is likely to be, he could finish up with a huge knock to his confidence if he isn't able to catch up reasonably quickly.

He could, of course, do it for fun, but 9 hours a week is more training than any of the non-competitive groups I know - seven is the most for the non-elite boys at DS1's old club, which had multiple streams and various levels of competition.

The problem with coming in late is that there is a national system of development that all serious clubs follow, with the boys taking a grade each year, with the end aim being to reach a level to compete at British championships and similar events. Most boys will have entered at level 1, which is Under 9 (or even at Underage level 1, so Under 8) and, by the age of 10, will be at level 2 (or possibly even level 3, birthday-dependent). So if your son is going to be expected to compete, then he's going to be expected to master some hard skills very quickly. It's possible - I know a boy who started at 9 and made phenomenal progress and is now one of the best in the area in his age-group - but his coaches were very clear that this is highly unusual.

I would be trying to find out what path they see your DS following, and how ruthless they're likely to be if he doesn't progress quickly enough - and what other options there are for him.

It may be that he really is that good, and this club are going to work hard to get him to where he needs to be - but I'd be inclined to try and get a second opinion and some clear predictions about where they see him going before committing to an expensive, and quite possibly soul-destroying process.

Honestly training that much isn't good for their bodies sad

Evidence?

Park wrekin is one of the top clubs in the country. A club of that standard should have a clear understanding if what is or isn’t good for them.

For example, out if that 9 hours 30-50% will be flexibility, conditioning, and basic body shapes.

Depending on age much of the training will be done into pits and in soft landings to reduce impact. Trampolines and sprung floors to learn skills and again reduce impact.

9 hours a week quality gymnastics is far better for their bodies than an hour running or playing football every day.