All-Star New Uniforms 2016-2017 Season

[Beans100]

I hate fundraisers that are like hey give me money. Every fundraiser we do the girls on the team work and it's not selling things. Its babysitting, hosting a cheer clinic, running a bingo, serving food etc.

I like this approach a lot better. My parents were never a big fan of fundraisers and would usually just pay the minimum amount themselves or else pay the opt out fee. Personally, I find asking for money to be very,very uncomfortable. I would rather offer a service and be paid for that.

It might be interesting if gyms let their cheerleaders sign up for chores and services that they would be able to do and other people could hire the cheerleaders out. For example, if you need your lawn mowed, or your toddler babysat or tile scrubbed, the gym could set up the job, but the money would go to help pay for that athlete's season.

 

[Alexx]

My old gym does that now. I think my family would be willing to do it, but we never really bugged them with fundraisers other than when we sold candy bars.

 

[Pebbles49]

I definitely agree with those who hate fundraisers that have the athletes begging for handouts, my daughter did this 1 time and I felt so exploitive. I do not classify this gimme (handouts) type fundraisers a good thing for "my child" and prefer her earning the money by providing a service or selling something...jmo

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

The thing that was posted was a sponsorship, not a fundraiser. Sponsorships usually target businesses, fundraisers target individual people. You offer a good or service to people, you don't offer those things to businesses. If a business sponsors an event or the team then the event or team will use the business' logo someplace as advertsiement in return.

Businesses will occasionally sponsor individual athletes too, which I assume is what that graphic was meant for. That's why the person is "asking for money and not working for it".

 

[Doctorcheer]

The thing that was posted was a sponsorship, not a fundraiser. Sponsorships usually target businesses, fundraisers target individual people. You offer a good or service to people, you don't offer those things to businesses. If a business sponsors an event or the team then the event or team will use the business' logo someplace as advertsiement in return.

Businesses will occasionally sponsor individual athletes too, which I assume is what that graphic was meant for. That's why the person is "asking for money and not working for it".

So their gym would allow them to wear other logos? Or even their logos on warm ups. How about some good old work.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

So their gym would allow them to wear other logos? Or even their logos on warm ups. How about some good old work.

It depends on the agreement that the business sets up with the individual athlete. If they sponsor them and send $100 maybe they don't want anything. If they sponsor them and send $1,000 maybe they ask the parents to put a sticker on their car or take a picture of them wining a trophy and post it to instagram and mention then company. It usually doesn't affect the gym if they sponsor an athlete. If a business sponsors a gym, like for a competition they host or maybe helping pay for travel expenses for a team to go to worlds, they will put their logo some place like on the back of their worlds/event shirts.

Regarding your "good old hard work" comment - there are many areas and families where that is not an option. Either they can't sell things for some reason or can't offer services for some reason and need to access other avenues to pay for cheer. This literally happens all the time in youth sports - youth soccer, baseball/softball, hockey, football, lots of places. Why shouldn't cheer be able to use this method of geting funds?

 

[FaithOverFear!]

We do the sponsor my uniform thing. I've found it to work well so far. I don't think it's asking for handouts so much because my gym does a lot of other fundraisers that involve selling things. It's not begging IMO, no one is obligated to donate. My uniform is around $430 and this is the only option I have to get it cheaper.

 

[Doctorcheer]

It depends on the agreement that the business sets up with the individual athlete. If they sponsor them and send $100 maybe they don't want anything. If they sponsor them and send $1,000 maybe they ask the parents to put a sticker on their car or take a picture of them wining a trophy and post it to instagram and mention then company. It usually doesn't affect the gym if they sponsor an athlete. If a business sponsors a gym, like for a competition they host or maybe helping pay for travel expenses for a team to go to worlds, they will put their logo some place like on the back of their worlds/event shirts.

Regarding your "good old hard work" comment - there are many areas and families where that is not an option. Either they can't sell things for some reason or can't offer services for some reason and need to access other avenues to pay for cheer. This literally happens all the time in youth sports - youth soccer, baseball/softball, hockey, football, lots of places. Why shouldn't cheer be able to use this method of geting funds?

See we as the coaches come up with fundraisers such as community babysitting on a Saturday in December when parents can Christmas shop. So in my opinion it is an option for kids to work for their money if their gym invest in that work ethic. We do about 8 events each year. To me the sponsorship of a child is weird and feels exploitive of the child. If parents have to do this then this speaks to the issue of how out hand cheer cost are

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

See we as the coaches come up with fundraisers such as community babysitting on a Saturday in December when parents can Christmas shop. So in my opinion it is an option for kids to work for their money if their gym invest in that work ethic. We do about 8 events each year. To me the sponsorship of a child is weird and feels exploitive of the child. If parents have to do this then this speaks to the issue of how out hand cheer cost are

That's great for people who live close to the gym. But when you have people who don't, them spending ~$20 in gas to get to the gym to make $30 from baby sitting, it isn't worth it. And while that option may be accessible for all the families at your gym, that may not be a reality for all families in other gyms. Some athletes have parents who work long, long hours who can't always accomodate the extra hours it takes to fundraise. Some athletes rely on carpools to get to cheer because their parent's don't have two cars and can't get to the gym to practice, let alone fundraise. There are many situations where a sponsorship is important to an athlete and their family.

There were a handful of athletes that I cheered with who relied on sponsorships to afford cheer. I, myself, was able to fundraise all of my expenses through a concessions booth our booster club ran. It was a total life saver and allowed me to afford cheer. It was also nearby and I had two parents who both had cars and who had the flexibility at their jobs to get me places when I needed to get there. I had other team mates who lived over an hour away, who's parent's didn't have two cars or flexibile jobs and that fundraising revenue wasn't an option for them. Our gym offered other fundraising options like selling wreaths, candles, etc, but those aren't nearly successful enough to support an athletes expenses.

A sponsorship is not exploitive of a child. A business sponsoring a child is a business that is suporting the growth and development of that child and is a business that is giving back to the community through that child. We've all raved about the benefits of cheer here - businesses who sponsor youth sports, whether it cheer or little league baseball, are helping kids have those experiences and learn the life lessons that come along with sports. There's nothing wrong with sponsoring an athlete or an athlete accepting a sponsor.

 

[Doctorcheer]

It is my opinion that it is exploitive. It is your opinion that it's not. Neither is right or wrong.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

It is my opinion that it is exploitive. It is your opinion that it's not. Neither is right or wrong.

I'd really love to hear why you think it's exploitive.

ETA: sponsoring youth sports/rec teams specifically as we are not discussing NCAA.

 

[Doctorcheer]

I'd really love to hear why you think it's exploitive.

ETA: sponsoring youth sports/rec teams specifically as we are not discussing NCAA.

Let's take this to PM

 

[SL&AM]

This seems creepy... like buy my body parts. Weird fundraising tactic.

I saw this last season as well; I'm not a fan.

 

[SL&AM]

See we as the coaches come up with fundraisers such as community babysitting on a Saturday in December when parents can Christmas shop. So in my opinion it is an option for kids to work for their money if their gym invest in that work ethic. We do about 8 events each year. To me the sponsorship of a child is weird and feels exploitive of the child. If parents have to do this then this speaks to the issue of how out hand cheer cost are

Sponsoring is nothing new---I remember way back when in my youth sports day when my mom would go around to area business who were willing to sponsor my sister's cheer team. My little did AS Dance last year and they have a letter drafted to use. Then, depending upon how much they give, their name/business is placed on a shirt that the entire studio wears at ever single competition and local events. It's great exposure.

This sponsorship, however, I'm not so much of a fan of---but sponsoring in general isn't some new concept because cheer is pricey.

 

[parker]

It's clear the board is divided on whether this style of fundraising is appropriate, but wouldn't it just be one of many fundraising options for a big gym such as VAS? This is a good option to have if you're trying to get donations from people who can't support the athlete through the other normal fundraising methods that have been mentioned. This way, Susie can get money from her uncle in another state or her aunt who doesn't have children to send to babysitting night or her grandmother who just doesn't want to pay $10 for yet another roll of wrapping paper. AS Cheer costing as much as it does, I'm sure Susie (or her mom) is also selling lemonade and washing cars to raise money; this is just tapping a different market.