My daughter joined the neighborhood swim this year. I’m trying to figure out of they are asking too much.
She is 7. She can go go practice as many days a week (up to 5). The cost is $100 per month. The instruction seems decent. She has been doing it for 3 weeks now. This fee seemed a little high, but I can deal with it.
If she wants a “team” suit, she has to spend $65. They only do 2 orders per year. She really only needs a “team” suit if she goes to any of the meets that are offered.
They also want her to have a “team” swim cap. The cap cost is $12.00.
This is my first experience with a swim team and I am not sure if this is normal or not.
We are in Southern California, so I expect our costs might be a little higher than some other areas.
$100 a month is on par with USS sanctioned club teams for that age range. Summer league in my neighborhood was $100 for the summer, but it was pretty heavily subsidized by the HOA.
It only gets more expensive from there.
I just looked up the fees for my old club team and they go to about $200 a month for the top high school group, but everyone paid yearly at $2000. On top of that, you have to pay for meet entry fees. Typically $5-10 per event for a USS sanctioned meet (the equivalent of USAT or USAC).
Team suits can be expensive, but if your team has any form of sponsorship (Nike, Speedo, TYR, etc), you can get a discount at swim shops (I can’t tell if you mean summer league or USS; most, if not all, USS teams have some form of sponsor). $65 seems slightly high, but definitely believable. Personalized caps sound about right at $12, but just a generic team latex cap should be given to her. I always got them whenever I asked, but I would assume if I abused it (asked for one at every meet), I would’ve had to pay for them.
So to answer your question, yes, while it’s not on the cheap end, it’s absolutely normal. Just be happy she’s not asking for a $5k carbon frame with Di2’s
I supervise a swim club of 170 kids. We have a full-time salaried head coach and a staff of about 10 part-time assistant coaches. In order to cover the direct expenses of the program we charge approximately $400 per swimmer for a 5 month fall/winter season and $200 per swimmer for a 2.5 month summer season. The swimmer is also required to have a membership to the facility where the team practices which runs about $17 a month. Parents are also required to work four, Friday-Sunday swim meets that we host throughout the year. The money we bring in at these meets also helps to cover the direct expenses of the program. The cost would be much less if we didn’t have a full-time Coach, but I believe the quality and consistency of the program would really suffer. I’m in the midwest and the cost of living in my area is considered to be low.
Thanks everyone.
The suit cost is what seemed high to me. She can get a Speedo from Sport Chalet or Dicks for $25. Justifying the additional $40 for “team” specific gear seemed a little high.
But, “it is what it is.”
Team suit price is about right. That is in the better range, as tech suits can run upwards of $400. A lot of teams only do orders at the beginning of each season and part of the cost is the screening of the team’s logo on the suit.
As for swim meets, that depends on the team. If you are located in Orange, Riverside, LA, Ventura, SLO counties, Southern California Swimming meets (the local swim committee aka LSC) is divided into 5 or 6 regional committees. Local (non-dual meets) can cost $20 or more ($5.25 per swimmer + $3 per event) depending on the number of events she swims, usually limited to 4 or 5 per day.
As other’s have said, team fees can hit the $200 range, this does not include the family commitment hours (volunteering to work at swim meets: timing, snack bar etc. ) Some teams have an annual minimum number of hours and if you do not meet those hours an additional fee is added to your training fees.
Just count your lucky stars she don’t ice skate. How much do you think it costs to rent a rink and a private coach per hour? When you get good, only one person on the ice at a time for their individual performance. Even at 0300 in the am it costs plenty. Swimmin is cheap. Couple suits ,a dozen hats , a few gargoleys, and a coach …gas up the truck and you are there. I probably spend as much as an age grouper on tires each year.
Costs about a grand to put a football player on the field, bout $600 for a hockey player plus ice and coaching, couple three bills for a trackie, three bills baseball, two for a soccer player. Get in cheap for a wrestler. Forget about golf. if your kid even talks about horsies, put them up for adoption.
I have been swimming neighborhood league/year round/high school since '95 and coached my neighborhood team from 05-11.
Year round program dues varied from ~100/month at a program called NOMAD where I started swimming 3 or 4 90 min practices a week. By the time I was done swimming there around high school age it was 125 for 5 2-hr practices a week plus dry land. Meet fees were separate and usually around $3/event. Across town MAC Aquatic club was something like $150 or $175/mo for comparable practice scheduling but better coaching.
The summer league team I coached charged $55/swimmer when I began coaching in’05. This included 4 or 5 1-hr practices per week for an 8-week season. No meet fees, coaching was provided by neighborhood athletes or local college-level swimmers. Other teams in our league have been known to charge twice that, and our dues have gone up to $75 as of 2012.
Just paid $275 for 6 months. 12 year old goes 4 or 5 days a week for 75 minutes right after school. Yes, sometimes its 6-8 per 25 yd lane (Our facilities are crap) but its a good deal. Coaches are good. About a quarter the cost of dance or horses. (Which we dont do anymore) … 3-4 suits a year and few caps & a few meets = $300-$500 more. (We don’t swim year round). Very few sports are as affordable.
Just count your lucky stars she don’t ice skate. How much do you think it costs to rent a rink and a private coach per hour? When you get good, only one person on the ice at a time for their individual performance. Even at 0300 in the am it costs plenty. Swimmin is cheap. Couple suits ,a dozen hats , a few gargoleys, and a coach …gas up the truck and you are there. I probably spend as much as an age grouper on tires each year.
Costs about a grand to put a football player on the field, bout $600 for a hockey player plus ice and coaching, couple three bills for a trackie, three bills baseball, two for a soccer player. Get in cheap for a wrestler. Forget about golf. if your kid even talks about horsies, put them up for adoption.
Thanks. I have 3 girls - Ages 7,5 and 2. The 7 and 5 year old were in group ice-skating lessons for about 6 months last year. More “learn to skate” than anything. Hell, we are in Soc Cal, so they are already probably better ice-skaters than most kids around here (I am from Michigan originally and we spent everyday in the winter on the ice). They don’t like being cold, so I think the extent of their ice-skating will be at birthday parties. (The 5 year old was hanging with the bigger kids and advanced pretty quickly. She’s kind of a tom-boy and is pretty tough).
The 2 older one’s are also in soccer (rec league, so the fees are reasonable. $150 per season and this includes uniforms and field time. I coach both of them). The 5 year old really wants to try softball/tee-ball next season. The 7-year old seems to really like swimming so far. I’ll let them try any sport they want (as long as the commit to finishing the season if they don’t like it).