All-Star Team Parent/parent Committee

[XtremeWpg]

Sorry if this is posted somewhere, I didn't find anything in my search

We're looking into a parent committee and team parent for our next season.

If any of you are on, or have these, can you share me what the roles and responsibilities of a team parent or a parent committee are for your gym?

Right now, our parent committee is primarily responsible for fundraising, sizing kids for their uniforms and gear, assisting us in running our events. Team parents...this is where its gotten cloudy.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

 

[OnceUponACheerleader]

Different responsibilities for different ages & levels. (ie. a IOAG5 "team mom" likely doesn't need to help other moms with hair and makeup )

In general the team mom could be a single point of contact for parents/athletes regarding questions like "when are we meeting, where are we meeting, what is our hair supposed to be, pink bow or gold bow... etc". Have the team mom send out an email before competitions or events running over details. Also could be responsible for maybe organizing 2/3 team bonding activities (outside gym-time) for the team.

For the little ones, like I said, helping moms with hair and makeup.

For older ones, organizing fundraisers (i.e. worlds teams).

Also, even though it is likely a volunteer position, careful not to pick a crazy cheer mom, but also someone who isn't afraid to have a voice among the crazy cheer moms.

Tough balance. Good luck

 

[CookieMomster]

At our gym we have a large team parent program, with each team having a team mom or dad assigned to it. Their roles include being the team administrator, communicator, event planner, etc. The gym has somebody who communicates weekly to all of the team parents through a weekly newsletter and then we communicate with our families and update our team Facebook group. We also collect any waivers needed, do the uniform sizing, hand out practice wear, send out the info regarding competition details, report times and locations, buy the Christmas and year end gifts for the coaches and CIT's, and anything else the coaches tell us to send out (i.e. parent meeting, change in times, videos that we were posted to Facebook but families don't have FB so we email it out). As for events, we're expected to plan 3 events every season: a summer party of our choosing, a Christmas party, and a year end party.

We also receive a social budget that covers those incidental costs and are responsible for tracking the receipts and adding them into a spreadsheet to keep track. We try to eliminate the need to ask parents for additional money for events, special gifts, etc and the social budget comes out of the fees that we pay. I also use those funds when I surprise the team with popsicles after practice in the summer, or give them a little swag item for their 1st comp or Nationals. So we need responsible team parents who can be trusted with the money and also be transparent with it.

Essentially our team parents are the main go-to person on the team and that leaves the coaches to focus on the coaching. If you have a concern on the team there's a hierarchy to escalate it. First you go to the team parent, then it goes to the coach, and then it goes to the owner. It's been very effective for us.

With that said, I agree with the above comment. It needs to be a role for a parent who wants to do it for the greater good and not self advancement. It's a position that can attract crazy parents and you'll need to weed through them to find the solid parents you can count on.

We don't have a parent committee but we do have a group of volunteers that cover the front desk and pro shop, and also help out at events. Then when we have big events we put a call out to those volunteers and our team parents and people just step up to help. We also invite parents who aren't involved and it's a good way to recruit volunteers.

I've done the role for 4 seasons now and started when CP was a Tiny. Back then I was doing a lot of team building things (i.e. ice cream parties, team party planning, hired a lifeguard for a summer pool party, tea parties at the gym in the family room, craft time after practice, etc). I was also the designated team photographer. I also walked the new families through the cheer season and answered tons of questions, did lots of hair and makeup, organized a rotating snack schedule for competition days (those tiny's got mighty hangry after an early report time and convention centre and arena food is just plain gross!!!).

During the mini and youth years my role has been more so team support and communicator (I use MailChimp to send out my team emails and make it a weekly newsletter with everything they need to know for that week and what's coming up), event planner (I'm a master at the pot luck and booking team reservations for lunches and dinners), makeup artist and hair styler. I'm also the team travel agent and help families with travel planning for comp's and tend to book extra hotel rooms at great rates and share the deals. It's definitely evolved over the years. After 5 seasons you get to know the families and welcome a few new faces every season. I'm also not the only person who does all of this. I've been blessed with families who also like to help out and we do this together. Scary to think I just do this as a volunteer as I also have a full time career and 2 kids who are both in competitive sports.

 

[alpaca]

CP has been at 2 D2 gyms. One gym had a team parent/parent organization. The other gym did not.

At the gym that had the team parents/organization, it was a nightmare. The team parent lorded it over the other parents and made themselves into a little club. Sitting in the back offices when there was no need and isolating themselves from the other parents. They were also ill informed and are actually doing things against the IRS rules for a 501 (c) (3). The rules are pretty clear, they just chose to ignore them for "the gym's" benefit. More like the owners benefit if you ask me. This gym had issues with team parents not communicating the info the info to parents. These team parents are the owners friends . Their kids get special treatment and therefore the team parents are not well liked.

At the other (larger) gym there is no team parent and no official parent organization. There are 2 people who have been at the gym awhile and take care of a lot of administrative duties. I do not know if they are paid or volunteer. Emails are sent from the owner as well as those 2. There is also a facebook group. Don't use facebook? Not an excuse, make an account just for cheer. That's to make sure that everyone gets the info. There is no 501 (c) (3) . There might be some slight favoritism to these parents kids, but that's natural. The gym is growing and I doubt that it will be an issue this year. This system has worked well.

 

[emo_wifey]

Our team parents are responsible for planning team bonding parties and gifts, getting approval from our owner if anyone wants to make anything other than cookies with the logo, team names, etc. on it, and helping the coaches make sure everyone is checked in and ready to go at our meet times. A lot of information we need is communicated from the gym/coaches through gymwide emails and Band, so they really don't have that responsibility, but are a good resource for questions. They organize snack bags if any are being done, the gym has changed how we are allowed to do them so that team parents aren't asking for money all the time.

 

[cheermomforever]

Sorry if this is posted somewhere, I didn't find anything in my search

We're looking into a parent committee and team parent for our next season.

If any of you are on, or have these, can you share me what the roles and responsibilities of a team parent or a parent committee are for your gym?

Right now, our parent committee is primarily responsible for fundraising, sizing kids for their uniforms and gear, assisting us in running our events. Team parents...this is where its gotten cloudy.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Our team parents are mainly responsible for getting info passed onto to their specific team. They also do maybe a small birthday celebration monthly for all athletes that month, get togethers- team bonding at the beginning of the year and /or during the year maybe answer simple questions instead of bothering coaches, reminder of things due or coming up, mainly a middle person between for coaches and athletes. our coaches appreciate them alot!!

 

[Carriejoe]

I have been team mom for the past few years now. This past year for an IOAG6 team. Certainly different responsibilities with an older team - mostly figuring out swag for Worlds, arranging team bonding/parties, fundraising but most this year was being the connection between the coaches and the parents.

I've found that it helps the coaching staff to have one point parent to give info to pass it along to everyone else. Lets them keep their focus on coaching.

 

[Power1979]

We have a Boosters board for the gym and Team Mom for each team at our D2 gym. The team mom coordinates the private affiliated Team FB Group with information regarding bonding activities or reiterates the information distributed by the gym owner via the Remind App. The boosters is an official board that coordinates our Bingo workers weekly as we have a gaming license and run a Bingo hall. The head booster board will coordinate the end of year celebration and all fundraisers. That's how we do it and it works great so far. If a team mom doesn't work out she won't be appointed to that position the following season.

 

[5monkeysjumping]

I've been team parent for the last two years. Mostly, we made sure the athletes arrived at travel comps, checked them in at the venue and helped hand out shoe tags, helped distribute information from the gym, ran the team Facebook group, coordinated any team get togethers. It was a lot of fun, but I think I am ready to take next year off. My other kids are getting busier with activities and I feel like they think I favor my CP a lot, with how much time I spend with her.