Cheer Camp Money Spent On Something Else

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Jul 15, 2017
20
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We paid camp money to the Cheer Coach which she stated was non refundable. But because a certain amount of girls didn't pay on time the coach canceled camp and kept the money saying it would be spent on something else. Then she waited til the end of the year to tell us parents that she paid someone 70% of our cheer money to help the girls with a competition routine.I didn't think this was fair. We as parents didn't agree on this! Can this be done?
 
I'm assuming this is for school cheer? You can't attend camp if you don't have the funds to pay, and it isn't up to the coach to come up with the money. Many schools hire a choreographer for competition, so that doesn't seem out of the ordinary. I also don't think the coach has an obligation to ask permission from parents on how the money will be spent, as long as it is being spent on things which benefit the team. You are entitled to ask for an accounting of what your money was spent on to ensure it wasn't kept by the coach, and if you think there was money paid that was not spent on the team then you could speak with the athletic director.
 
I personally feel that if you paid for camp and camp didnt happen, the money should have been refunded. Now if there was a contract somewhere laying out fees and music and choreo fees, maybe not.
 
I personally feel that if you paid for camp and camp didnt happen, the money should have been refunded. Now if there was a contract somewhere laying out fees and music and choreo fees, maybe not.

Yes. I agree and no the money was only to be paid towards camp and nothing else. Thank u for replying
 
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I'm assuming this is for school cheer? You can't attend camp if you don't have the funds to pay, and it isn't up to the coach to come up with the money. Many schools hire a choreographer for competition, so that doesn't seem out of the ordinary. I also don't think the coach has an obligation to ask permission from parents on how the money will be spent, as long as it is being spent on things which benefit the team. You are entitled to ask for an accounting of what your money was spent on to ensure it wasn't kept by the coach, and if you think there was money paid that was not spent on the team then you could speak with the athletic director.

I understand u can't attend camp if the funds are not there but for the parents that paid money for what we were told was for camp should have been refunded or told before time that she would use it for something other than camp. Thanks for replying
 
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Our friends overnight camp was canceled due to lack of funds. It was replaced with choreo/skills practice. They brought an outside coach to their HS. It was cheaper than then spend the night camp. So the money was shifted to that. It happens.
 
Our friends overnight camp was canceled due to lack of funds. It was replaced with choreo/skills practice. They brought an outside coach to their HS. It was cheaper than then spend the night camp. So the money was shifted to that. It happens.

OK thanks for replying
 
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This happened to us last year. We put the money paid towards uniforms since it was the next thing to be purchased.

If you don't like it, ask. They should be transparent but it's likely that money is one big pot and can be used as the program sees fit.
 
But I still think things need to be communicated to parents. That seems like an issue in cheer at some places, lack of communication. What business do you give money to for a service, the service isn't provided, the money kept for "something else" but not communicated as to what that something else it, then find out later what other service it was spent for? If it isn't laid out in the contract what fees are for, the money should be refunded and then ask later for money for choreo. All star contracts usually put this in writing so you know where your money is spent. If this was school cheer or not, the information needs to be communicated. Just because "this happens " in other places, doesnt make it right. As a consumer you get what you pay for. This person was not given what she paid for. A simple courtesy of telling parents what the team/coach wants to spend the money for would have been appropriate. Lack of communication is a pet peeve of mine.

Example, I call a contractor to pave my driveway. He doesn't complete the job for whatever reason. He keeps the money, then later tells me he spent it to landscape my lawn. Was I told ahead of time he was going to landscape my lawn? No. Did I ask him to do this? No. Maybe if he had come to me and said well the lawn needs this and that, I would have said ok go ahead and use the money I already gave you, then it would be ok. The one simple common courtesy of communicating what's going on would have probably been the best route to take. In my opinion.

And to clarify, in all star, you generally know what all money is needed for ahead of time. Were the parents told the team was going to get a choreographer? Just because you have some extra funds in the pot from a service that wasn't provided doesnt mean you can just arbitrarily decide to purchase a service no one was told about or agreed to. It was other peoples' money, not the coach's money to spend.
 
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This happened to us last year. We put the money paid towards uniforms since it was the next thing to be purchased.

If you don't like it, ask. They should be transparent but it's likely that money is one big pot and can be used as the program sees fit.

OK but I still feel she should have told us what the money would be used for instead of spending it first then telling us after. Totally unacceptable to me but thank you for replying.
 
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But I still think things need to be communicated to parents. That seems like an issue in cheer at some places, lack of communication. What business do you give money to for a service, the service isn't provided, the money kept for "something else" but not communicated as to what that something else it, then find out later what other service it was spent for? If it isn't laid out in the contract what fees are for, the money should be refunded and then ask later for money for choreo. All star contracts usually put this in writing so you know where your money is spent. If this was school cheer or not, the information needs to be communicated. Just because "this happens " in other places, doesnt make it right. As a consumer you get what you pay for. This person was not given what she paid for. A simple courtesy of telling parents what the team/coach wants to spend the money for would have been appropriate. Lack of communication is a pet peeve of mine.
Example, I call a contractor to pave my driveway. He doesn't complete the job for whatever reason. He keeps the money, then later tells me he spent it to landscape my lawn. Was I told ahead of time he was going to landscape my lawn? No. Did I ask him to do this? No. Maybe if he had come to me and said well the lawn needs this and that, I would have said ok go ahead and use the money I already gave you, then it would be ok. The one simple common courtesy of communicating what's going on would have probably been the best route to take. In my opinion.
And to clarify, in all star, you generally know what all money is needed for ahead of time. Were the parents told the team was going to get a choreographer? Just because you have some extra funds in the pot from a service that wasn't provided doesnt mean you can just arbitrarily decide to purchase a service no one was told about or agreed to. It was other peoples' money, not the coach's money to spend.

I totally agree Lisa. I feel as a coach you should communicate to the parents about what's going on. Don't make decisions to spend our money on things you didn't discuss with us. To me it's rude and disrespectful. Thank u for replying
 
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But I still think things need to be communicated to parents. That seems like an issue in cheer at some places, lack of communication. What business do you give money to for a service, the service isn't provided, the money kept for "something else" but not communicated as to what that something else it, then find out later what other service it was spent for? If it isn't laid out in the contract what fees are for, the money should be refunded and then ask later for money for choreo. All star contracts usually put this in writing so you know where your money is spent. If this was school cheer or not, the information needs to be communicated. Just because "this happens " in other places, doesnt make it right. As a consumer you get what you pay for. This person was not given what she paid for. A simple courtesy of telling parents what the team/coach wants to spend the money for would have been appropriate. Lack of communication is a pet peeve of mine.
Example, I call a contractor to pave my driveway. He doesn't complete the job for whatever reason. He keeps the money, then later tells me he spent it to landscape my lawn. Was I told ahead of time he was going to landscape my lawn? No. Did I ask him to do this? No. Maybe if he had come to me and said well the lawn needs this and that, I would have said ok go ahead and use the money I already gave you, then it would be ok. The one simple common courtesy of communicating what's going on would have probably been the best route to take. In my opinion.
And to clarify, in all star, you generally know what all money is needed for ahead of time. Were the parents told the team was going to get a choreographer? Just because you have some extra funds in the pot from a service that wasn't provided doesnt mean you can just arbitrarily decide to purchase a service no one was told about or agreed to. It was other peoples' money, not the coach's money to spend.
I would agree if this was for all star. School cheer is entirely different - budgets are so limited that you are basically taking money from wherever you can get it. If they couldn't attend camp because some parents didn't pay, then the next best use of the funds was choreography. I have seen this happen often with school cheer, so it doesn't strike me as odd or unfair at all.
 
Agree better communication would be nice, but most sponsors are Teachers. Teachers that are already overworked and under paid. They usually get a very small stiffen for Coaching that doesn't compares to the extra hours they put in. HS Cheers coaches that stick with it, do it because they love the sport & the kids. So, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
Were they supposed to get their choreo while at the camp? If so, hiring a guest choreographer makes total sense when the squad falls short of their fundraising goals


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