£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?

I pay £50 per month and daughter trains for 5 hours a week.

So, it's not a lot of money, but it is a lot of training.

Sounds reasonable to me. My kids do dance and the monthly fees are £300 per month.

You specifically said £370 every 3 months which is fine. How has that now gone to £370 a month, which is a ridiculous amount?

OP, just no. How many other potentially 'elite' athletes are they signing up? In our city they have an intense swimming programme (which costs nothing like this). My friend's child is part of it, alongside 100s of others, and involved 4 sessions a week, including one at 5 in the morning from year 4. Her poor sister gets dragged along and my friend is totally aware that, whilst her DD is a great swimmer, she is not going to ever be on the national side, let alone reach Olympic level. Because you have to be really bloody stand out talented to do that, not one of 100 + gifted people.

Joining up and commiting to hobbies is really expensive. If you want DS to do gymnastics then find a club he enjoys and see how he gets on.

Also maybe consider joining him up to a cheerleading team (depending on where you live). DD joined one at 4, was totally doted on by the older squad members and it was totally about everyone together as a team and having fun. We stumbled across it as a holiday club but she carried on and went to nationals etc. Most are stunt teams (no pom poms in sight) and I really grew to respect it as an activity. Everyone was so supportive of each other (and our club had a few disabled members). The team work is incredible. Our coach was amazing and they did well but it was all ultimatly about fun. Some teams maybe nore focused in the prise and practice several times a week (look up Acension Eagles on you tube). Our city has some incredible squads, particularly the uni lot and it is honestly amazing to watch.

We pay £135 a month for elite squad training for the same hours as you. 3 hours 3 times a week. I think that’s pretty reasonable. DD is 9. The girls will go up but the hourly rate will go down as training increases.

I signed ds up to our closest gymnastics class and on his first session, the coach said to me, in his words 'he's got some serious talent, to good to be here, he needs to be somewhere to help him grow' and recommend either Park Wreckin or Birmingham. And Park Wreckin is our closest. I think thats why its so hard because even though its a lot of money, he does have a gift. But my worry is, what if he's to 'old' or not up to the same standards as the other 10 year olds and it turns into an expensive 'hobby'. Just wanted to know if it was an reasonable amount to pay but as mis read email first time and broken down the cost think its not as bad as I initially thought.

It was an open day we went to with around 40 boys attending. Would be interesting to know how many boys got 'offered a place'

9 hours a week for £57 a month here.

With a really good club who have just had gymnasts compete in Portugal.

He will be behind the other 10to boys who have been training for 5/6 years already.

Best to set a time scale.

I'd say as he's going to be 11 and assume he's starting secondary next year that's a natural place to re evaluate.

Train for a year. Work out if the training is giving him what he wants and he's achieving the right level for the training.

My ds started competitive swimming late. He was 11. Of course he was behind those who had been squad training for 3-4 years.

He then suddenly caught up. Last year he competed a county development competition and was 11/12th in his age group.
This year he won a few medals and got some 4/5th places above kids who he was miles behind a year ago.
That helped us make our decision about his training schedule over year 11.

I paid around $1200 a month when DD did gymnastics. Yes, a month. Not a typo.

The relief I felt when she quit was insane. I went on holiday.

I think it’s desperately sad that the judgement as to where it’s worthwhile for a 10 year old to start competitive gym is all about whether he will win medals for it.
Gymnastics is fantastic for strength/ flexibility and stamina and is a brilliant basis for a number of other sports and activities. I don’t know this club but I’ll bet my bottom dollar that they’re also teaching some serious lessons about dedication, team support, work ethic, personal challenge etc etc. It’s way more than poncing around in a leotard.
Mine have been to national championships for several years on the trot now and have won various medals / titles there, but the most important lessons their coach and their squad teach them are nothing to do with flying around with pointed toes.
OP those fees are reasonable for the amount he’s getting.

Another who thinks those fees are reasonable. When my DS did serious swimming about 8 years ago we were paying much more than that.

My DD(8) trains 13 hours a week and it cost £90 a month. This is acrobatic Gymnastics though so not sure how that compares? Then of course comp fees, leotards, travel expenses on top of that.