All-Star The Current State Of Allstar Cheer

[NJ Coach]

I've had multiple conversations recently about the current state of cheer. The people I've talked with are all coaches within the industry, and every single one of us have the exact same concern. Allstar has, over the last few years especially, become a sport that can only be afforded by the more affluent members of society. Each year, we all see more and more families priced out. Tuition and gym expenses are one thing, but the biggest hardship I see is surrounding competitions. I was shocked at some of the entry fees EP's are asking this year. Add STP onto that, and it's become more than most families can afford.

I don't know how a family, with multiple children, can afford having 1 child in cheer, let alone multiple. Each year, more kids have to say goodbye to something they love, because the money just isn't there.

 

[cupieqt]

I said goodbye to 5 families this season because of costs. 3 of those were families with siblings in cheer.

If all star cheer did not require gyms to field multiple teams and need HUNDREDS of kids to field those teams then we would not be having this conversation.

No other sport requires private companies to try and create 27 teams with 20-30+ kids all paying thousands of dollars a year to participate. It's not sustainable.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

The main reason we're losing athletes this year is due to finances.

 

[NJ Coach]

I just don't see the industry, in its current state, as sustainable. Why do you NEED a $500 uniform? Why does an EP NEED to charge $170 competitor fee? Why do we NEED the huge setup (stage, lights etc) for every stupid competition?

 

[FaithOverFear!]

It makes me really nervous about whether I'll still be able to cheer till I age out. I know my mom can afford it right now, and she tells me not to worry about it but I'm afraid it will only get worse from here. It's my main passion and I'm so sad that regularly people are being forced to stop what they love just because it comes with an expensive price tag. Not to mention it sure makes me feel guilty just watching all of those fees add up during the season.

 

[LINDSAY1272]

I think this because gym owners keep trying to have their programs outdo each other. Who can go to the most prestigious competitions, who can wear the most extravagant uniform, who has the most flashy practice wear, who offers the most opportunities to travel, original music, etc. Top of the line everything comes with a high price tag. Maybe we need to lower our standards and not supply the demand for such luxuries. And I say this as a guilty gym owner.

 

[cupieqt]

Tiny-Open, Levels 1-4.2: 32 x 19 = 608 athletes needed (19 teams total)

Junior-Open, Levels 5-6, including small/medium/large coed, restricted teams, international open teams and all girl:
36 athletes per team x 6 teams = 216 athletes needed
24 athletes per team x 6 teams = 144 athletes needed
Plus 50 athletes needed for 1 small coed and 1 medium coed team
14 teams total: 410 athletes needed

PREP teams (since they do count towards all star numbers now)...

32 kids per team x 12 teams= 384 athletes needed

The grand total for any gym to field a team at every age and every level is 1,402.

Now let's assume no one really expects you to have a team in every level at every age, so let's be super conservative and do only a third of that number.... Wait that's 467, lets do 1/8 of that original total.....Yea you're still gonna need 175 athletes to field multiple teams in order to attract all the baby level none's and senior world champions to your gym and have a competitive program year after year.

Someone please use the google and tell me the average number of athletes needed for other sports programs. I've done a lot of math tonight and I'm tired.

 

[cupieqt]

I think this because gym owners keep trying to have their programs outdo each other. Who can go to the most prestigious competitions, who can wear the most extravagant uniform, who has the most flashy practice wear, who offers the most opportunities to travel, etc. Top of the line everything comes with a high price tag. Maybe we need to lower our standards and not supply the demand for such luxuries. And I say this as a guilty gym owner.

This is a huge part of the problem. But more than that even is the ability of gyms to be able to field enough teams to attract people. I lose more kids to "well you don't have a Sr L4 this year" than I do the kids that wanted more travel comps or flashier uniforms.

 

[Major_Hutch]

I had to admit, when I started college cheer, I wasn't expecting the $$$ the sport required. Now this is coming from somebody who came out of the Hockey world. What has always gotten me was the Uniform Costs, especially for something an athlete might wear 10-15x per-season maybe less. I mean some parents are paying almost $200 for their TINY's cheer Uniform. I could dress a kid in top name brand hockey equipment, and their uniform kid for that price. I think All Star is at a point where it needs to possibly take some notes from a couple budgeting and sustainability courses.

 

[NerdMobile]

Our gym offers a full year, non travel option that in theory is more budget friendly. The teams still go to big comps, just none that require a hotel stay, long drive, airplane, etc. They rent their uniform from the gym. They have one less practice a week (travel does 3/wk, non travel 2/wk) but they still get 1 tumble class a week as part of tuition and the option to participate in the parent booster club. The tiny team program (4 teams) has similar pricing and setup. When the half year teams come on board they have the same pricing scheme.

Last year the gym had monthly meetings with a parent committee to offer two way communication in an organized format. Each team had a parent rep or two. The owners clearly had an eye on the bottom line for parents. There was often discussion about why they restricted things and how it tied to money. For example the gym requires at all comps every athlete in the venue must dress comp ready ONLY- hair/makeup done, uniform on, warm up jacket on, comp shoes. One team mom wanted all the athletes to wear red converse for awards. The owners felt allowing this would mean families would have an added expense of buying converse...even if it was just an "option" as they would not want their kid to be the only one not to do so. They ultimately said no to the policy change request out of concern for parent pocketbooks. Similarly they talked about value and costs in travel, competition selection, program goals, etc. Our pricing broke down what dollars went where when each payment was due so we could see that they were practicing what they preached.
That said, there were places they could not cut corners that simply come from the industry. They candidly discussed the need to have a certain percentage of athletes in varsity shoes and having to order uniforms from varsity despite the high costs of both because of the control of that company. They couldn't choose to save money for parents in those areas for fear of poking the giant with negative outcome.
The gym is also very lucky to have a beast of a parent booster club. The year before we came to this gym I paid $13k for 2 kids (1 full year, one half) not including any travel costs. Our first year here I paid under $10 thanks to the fundraising options. That included all our fees, privates, clinics, classes, spirit wear, shoes, uniform, AND travel expenses. So far this season I have not yet put in a dime and she has over $1k credit on her account. I know this option means many kids who would be priced out before they started can participate.

 

[NerdMobile]

I forgot to add, last year there were 19 full year teams and then 3 half year...and dance teams. The full year cheer had just over 400 kids. This year we have 13 teams I think...and about 250 kids.

 

[purplecheer]

I love so many things about cheer. The inclusivity of all abilities and body types, the team aspect, performing, friends, skill building, I could go on and on. I would hate to see some people not be able to experience these things because cheer gets too expensive.

Coming from Australia, I feel like we are a few years behind America when it comes to trends. But honestly I don't know if that's a bad thing. Australian cheer is in a wonderful state right now, it's growing without pricing people out...yet.

You don't need 3 new sets of fancy sublimated practice wear every year. You don't need to fly across the country 3 times a year. You don't need $400 uniforms with more rhinestones than you could ever count. What you do need is hope, passion and a dream to be the best cheerleader you can be. I have none of the material items, but the hope, passion and dream is what I do have. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

From a 14 year old who would like to cheer for the next 10+ years and doesn't want the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality to stop her from chasing her passion.

 

[Beans100]

The prices will keep going up until the gyms/parents refuse to pay them. If you are a parent who is concerned about costs, consider bringing up the discussion at a parent meeting. Chances are, you are not the only one who thinks the practice wear is excessive or that the uniform is overly priced or that there are too many travel competitions. If enough parents agree, the gym owners will eventually have to change because the majority will be priced out; this will then force the companies to change since their customer base can no longer afford them.

 

[Sully Gondron]

Not to mention the amount of money it costs for music mixes with the new rules. I'm a music mixer, and I've seen prices from other vendors. I understand these larger companies have overhead costs (multiple mixers they have to pay, etc.) We've decided to stay small and not increase the amount of mixers to our team in the effort to keep our prices reasonable for youth teams to All-star teams. Like any industry... once demand increases the only way to reduce it is to increase price. At some point the industry goes down due to greediness and demand decline. I guess an industry decline is on the way. :-(

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

The prices will keep going up until the gyms/parents refuse to pay them. If you are a parent who is concerned about costs, consider bringing up the discussion at a parent meeting. Chances are, you are not the only one who thinks the practice wear is excessive or that the uniform is overly priced or that there are too many travel competitions. If enough parents agree, the gym owners will eventually have to change because the majority will be priced out; this will then force the companies to change since their customer base can no longer afford them.

I think this is a change that the entire industry needs to be "burdened" with - not just the gym owners. If a gym owner says to it's customers "we are going to cut down on expenses this year, no more comps with hotel stays, no more multiple sets of practice uniforms, no more frivilous stuff" then they are probably going to lose families to other gyms because that's not what they want. At the same time, if gym owners don't do that, they will lose the families by pricing them out. It is a double edged sword. Gym owners charge what they need to to keep their customers while not trying to price others out. While the gym owners have the most "talk with your money" power, they can only do so much. If they decide to "talk with their money" and boycott NCA or Cheersport or Worlds even, parents will up and leave and go to another gym. Then what?

There are other things that can also be scaled down that gym owners have little control over. EPs can stop charging ridiculous amounts for entry fees, STP can go away, the production level for competitions can be brought down, they don't need to hand out freebies to participants, etc. I feel like it's safe to assume that EP's make more money than any other group of people in our industry. They probably make hundreds of thousands in profit a season. But by providing an "experience" they can charge more for their product. And they aren't going to say no to making more money. They certainly play a role in this, too.

I also feel like the mindset of cheer needs to change and that's on the shoulders of the parents and the athletes and what they want/need. You don't need 11 pairs of Nike Pros. You don't even need Nike Pros. You don't need 17 bows. You don't need the Nfinity bedazzled backpack. You don't need to get a fake tan for comp. You don't need to do you hair and make up like a rock star for every comp. You don't need to stay at the fancy hotels or the ones closest to the convention center (unless STP makes you). Parents and athletes want frivoulous things. They also don't want "janky" competitions. They want the ones that have that "experience" factor. But they will complain that cheer is too expensive. Now what?

All the while, all star cheer has a governing body that is becoming increasingly incompetant and is not working for the people it's supposed to be working for. So if the parents can go to gym owners with issues, who should the gym owners go to with the parent's issues? Because gym owners can't control the prices of the comps or the STP mandates or the extravagence of the comp's production - all things that add to the parent's cost each season. They have no one to rely on or anyone who will actually try to fix the issues because haha our governing body is entwined with probably the biggest profiting entity in our industry. The system is broken and it is corrupt. You cannot expect a governng body to take appropriate steps to combat an issue like the cost of cheer when they are benifiting from it.

I don't think this is an issue that can be taken on unless the system is fixed. Fix the system and then maybe you can try to tackle the other things that affect the cost of cheer.