All-Star Cheer Athletics (questions/rumors)

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

One of the first things you would have to jettison is the idea of having full uniforms. You would simply HAVE to be in shorts and a t-shirt to even think about getting the price down anywhere near the range you are talking about.

Our gym has three tiers of teams. We have full allstar (silver) half-year allstar (purple) and exhibition(black). The "purple" teams use the last version of uniform. It gives the silver teams an outlet to be able to sell their old uniforms (half of new price) once we change styles. Then, the parents of the purple teams are able to sell to new purple level students when they move up to silver.

It would be a matter of determining if this type of team would be worth it long-term as a loss-leader for your business. Would the gym be willing to lose a significant amount of money on these types of teams in the hopes that they can recruit a portion of those kids for your "regular" all-star teams? (and then recoup some of that lost money.)
I agree that a half-year, rec team scenario is a potential way to increase participation. I'm not sure that going to 6 events and keeping the total cost near $400 is realistic, though.

It definately helped in recruiting too. Out of 16 on the mini half-year, 11 moved up to full all-star, 4 are waiting to do half-year again, and one is taking a year off to just tumble and focus on competitive swimming. Right now on CP's mini 2 there are 27 girls, and 11 are from last season's half-year team.The tiny team, I think all but 2 out of 10 moved up.

Purple team travel fees were $300 last season, and we exhibitioned twice,went to two locals, and Nationals at CANAM. However, these teams were $95 per month including practice and tumbling for seven months. The exhibition teams are $60 per month, and you can add on tumbling for an extra $25.

The half-year teams are great. My youngest is doing one this year. She isn't nearly skilled enough to be on the regular allstar team with the tiny's from last season. It is an excellent way to get your feet wet and just get some skills. Also, it proves to parents that they CAN afford it, especially if they make baby steps from exhibition to half year to full allstar.

 

[cheermommaRN]

Half year is what hooked us into full all star. AZ Heat offered what would be considered mini 1 back then and we "competed" (exhibitioned) at comps run by our gym and at VOS, it equated to 4 competitions, all local. After that my oldest begged to do what the "big kids" were doing and we switched. I think all mini/tiny 1 teams should be bare minimum uni and shortened season. Not many parents want to pay the big money for their 3 year old.
I also think the "all inclusive" packaging that CA offers is the best idea out there. Nothing irritates a parent more then paying your monthly tuition and then being asked for another $250 for choreography (especially when we all know it will be changed through the year), or more money for competitions. I liked the fact I was paying $250 and it included EVERYTHING except uniform and "sunshine" fees.
I think one of the ways to bring the cost down for large gyms with a deep talent pool of coaches is to do everything in house from music to choreo. I know some small gyms are not able to do this but if choreographers offered more competitive pricing for the smaller gyms it would help bring their price down also. For me it has never been the monthly fees it's always the "extras".

 

[BlueCat]

how did u decide to get ur new uniforms i think its called screen print siince it was so unheard of in the cheer world?how did u no about screen printing?

Varsity calls it "infused", but technically it is called "dye sublimation". It effectively "burns" the ink/color into certain types of fabric rather than sticking a new layer on top (like you would screen print on a t-shirt.)

We have been wanting to do it for several years, actually. We could find people willing to do dye sublimation, but they didn't have the patterns (nor enough desire to make the patterns) for cheer uniforms. Varsity and other uniform manufacturers had the patterns, but didn't want to mess with dye sublimation. We finally convinced one that it would work and that if they wanted to keep making uniforms for us (and many other programs to soon follow) they needed to figure out how to make it happen. (For all we know, they may have been going to do it anyway - that is just the story from our side.)

The technology for it has been around a LONG time in bicycle jerseys and has started to make its way into other sports and other areas. There are several advantages and a few disadvantages. The huge advantage is that you can basically make any design you can possibly think of in full color. The disadvantage is that it doesn't yet work on all fabrics, including those that are typically shiny or "blingy".

 

[BlueCat]

I also think the "all inclusive" packaging that CA offers is the best idea out there. Nothing irritates a parent more then paying your monthly tuition and then being asked for another $250 for choreography (especially when we all know it will be changed through the year), or more money for competitions. I liked the fact I was paying $250 and it included EVERYTHING except uniform and "sunshine" fees.
I think one of the ways to bring the cost down for large gyms with a deep talent pool of coaches is to do everything in house from music to choreo. I know some small gyms are not able to do this but if choreographers offered more competitive pricing for the smaller gyms it would help bring their price down also. For me it has never been the monthly fees it's always the "extras".

We love the concept, too. It makes things much simpler on both sides. Everyone knows exactly what the costs will be and the billing is very simple and straightforward. Some people have accused us of using that to "hide" the costs and make more profit. I'm not sure how we could be more open about it since we can tell you exactly, to the penny, how much everything will be for the entire year. Is there a profit margin for us built in to that cost? Absolutely. It is probably not nearly as high as Suzy Cheer Mom thinks it is when she busts out her calculator, but we certainly build in some "padding" to make the business function. I don't think we have ever pretended otherwise.

The downside is that when someone asks "How much is your tuition a month" it sounds very high at first. When they do the math and figure out that it isn't much different than what they were paying total before, then they are usually down with it.

I think that it was Kevin Brubaker from CheerSport that first suggested that method of billing to me? I could be wrong.

 

[fiercecat24]

what rumors were there?

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

The downside is that when someone asks "How much is your tuition a month" it sounds very high at first. When they do the math and figure out that it isn't much different than what they were paying total before, then they are usually down with it.
quote]

Does your gym offer multi-child discounts? Just curious... Not that I have any plans to move to TX, but I thoroughly enjoy that fact that you are being so transparent and honest and it's nice to see how gyms outside of NC work...

 

[BlueCat]

We do not offer multiple-child discounts. Our tuition (and our expenses) are the same whether they are related to someone in the program or not.

 

[mstealtoyou]

mine shows me in kansas, but i live in florida..

I remember this from the old Pro X board. Mine showed Kansas as well and I'm in NC. Seems like it was because I had AOL? IDK it's been so long ago.

Someone look and see what it says now.

 

[BlueCat]

what rumors were there?

I'm not sure what you are talking about.

 

[raee_lymi]

It shows me in the Woodbury Premium Outlet stores? Haha close enough.

 

[cheeroracle]

I explained this earlier in the thread.

Sorry about that! I will go look

 

[newcheerdad]

I'll post this in the CEA thread as well - but here's a question:

Are you concerned about the "gym consolidation" trend, where large programs seem to be assimilating smaller gyms at a fairly rapid rate?

 

[BlueCat]

I'll post this in the CEA thread as well - but here's a question:

Are you concerned about the "gym consolidation" trend, where large programs seem to be assimilating smaller gyms at a fairly rapid rate?

There are positives and negative to gym expansion, in my mind.

Positives: as a result of a free market system, the businesses with the best product will tend to thrive. This is a great motivation for gyms and coaches to improve their "product" (which is the experience that the athletes have.). Also, more athletes will get to experience the positives of being part of some of great programs in the sport. Businesses also get some advantages to "economies of scale" and can be more efficient. This has a tendency to lower the prices for the athletes and their families.

Negatives: It can dilute your most talented staff. There comes a point where coaching more teams begins to affect the quality of what you can do. It can also severely harm other gyms and their quality. A big name gym dropping into their area is not usually a good thing for a young, small gym. The big gyms often have built in advantages that are difficult for small gyms to compete with. Consolidation/expansion also threatens to make the industry's lack of competition problem even worse. (Gyms don't want teams to compete against themselves. Big gym owners are also motivated to keep a huge number of divisions on the age grid.)

 

[newcheerdad]

There are positives and negative to gym expansion, in my mind.

Positives: as a result of a free market system, the businesses with the best product will tend to thrive. This is a great motivation for gyms and coaches to improve their "product" (which is the experience that the athletes have.). Also, more athletes will get to experience the positives of being part of some of great programs in the sport. Businesses also get some advantages to "economies of scale" and can be more efficient. This has a tendency to lower the prices for the athletes and their families.

Negatives: It can dilute your most talented staff. There comes a point where coaching more teams begins to affect the quality of what you can do. It can also severely harm other gyms and their quality. A big name gym dropping into their area is not usually a good thing for a young, small gym. The big gyms often have built in advantages that are difficult for small gyms to compete with. Consolidation/expansion also threatens to make the industry's lack of competition problem even worse. (Gyms don't want teams to compete against themselves. Big gym owners are also motivated to keep a huge number of divisions on the age grid.)

From a pure business perspective, I have no issue with gyms doing what they think is best for their program overall - if they think they can serve the needs of athletes in three, four, five, or fifty locations, then so be it.

From a competitive perspective, I do have a concern with the rise of the super-gym, and how it may crowd out other gyms that want to get a foothold locally. I do think that the big gyms would want at least some local competitors, if for no other reason than to have a critical mass of teams to compete against in the area rather than always having to travel out-of-area for comps.

I do wonder if the day is coming that we see the first "national" brand name where someone has a facility in 20 states.

 

[iReign]

I have a question about the uniforms. What is the price for a custom designed uniform like that. I'm really interested in the cost vs traditional uniforms.

YES! The Screen Print Uniforms? I Was Wondering All Season....