Skating Club Trouble

[plinko]

never mind. On second thought, the internet isn't the best spot to post about this.

[slusher]

Oh I can't resist such a topic title!

My skating club has almost doubled its prices for next year. Apparently they lost a lot of money last year but won't provide any details and I'm really not sure who is making decisions. I have no choice but to pay if I want to skate, but am not happy. I can afford the price increase and have paid up, it was the mention of the mandatory fundraising program to be announced that irks me. I hate selling stuff.

[Skate@Delaware]

Ditto for our club also! But, unless we want to drive 1.5 hours away to another rink, we don't have much choice of another club. I like the rink where we are at. Last year, my daughter and I both joined. This year, only one of us will join. We are also not able to participate in a lot of the fundraisers because of her school activities, so it looks as though I will be doing some for her (which is allowed, but I hate selling stuff also-would rather just fork over a check and be done with it :evil: :evil: :evil: ).

Kind of bums me out that this decision was made without the vote or discussion of the general membership. And, I think that most clubs, being non-profit, have to make their books available for member scrutiny (I'm checking with my state's rules about that).

[Isk8NYC]

The rinks have had to increase their rental rates to cover increased fuel expenses and insurance costs. Those costs flow downhill.

Look at the bright side: next year is an Olympic year, which will hopefully increase skating participation. More skaters = less cost/skater.

I founded a small skating club (now defunct, along with the rink) and I provided the members with an accounting of where the money went. We did no fundraising, so it was important for the members and their parents to understand the financials since they were paying for it all.

I sympathize with the "hate to sell" feeling. I've found QSP to be a painless way to raise money. It's a magazine sales program. My family waits for the school magazine drive every year to renew their subscriptions. QSP will match prices if you have renewal card rate that's cheaper. (You can also do new subscriptions.) If you subscribe to magazines anyway, why not have 40% of the cost go to support a skating club?

[Skate@Delaware]

Our rink is under-written by the slots. It's basically a write-off. The cost of ice to the club went up only 10% for the upcoming year. It's a matter of the club getting greedy. :evil:

[Terri C]

As a club officer and adult skater, I have to comment here.
It is mandatory that in order for a club to be in good standing with USFS, the club must provide exclusive ice time for its membership. Ice time costs money and hockey,as we all know is well funded and more aggressive.
In order for clubs to buy ice for the club ice and test sessions, then the clubs must fundraise. Unfortunately, very few people participate (with the "oh, someone will do it" attitude) and then it gets to where yes, I can see why club dues increase and mandatory fundraising begins to exist.

[Debbie S]

Our rink is under-written by the slots. It's basically a write-off.

Is this Dover Downs (I guess your rink is on or near the track property)? Sheesh, another reason why slots should come to MD - lower ice fees. (Slots were voted down by the state legislature this year for the 3rd straight year :evil: )

[Skate@Delaware]

Is this Dover Downs (I guess your rink is on or near the track property)? Sheesh, another reason why slots should come to MD - lower ice fees. (Slots were voted down by the state legislature this year for the 3rd straight year :evil: )
Don't think that any of the slot $$$ gets passed on to the rink-it doesn't work that way at Harrington, they use the rink as a "tax-loss event" (I never told you this.....[shifty look around])

A large part of our problem is the State Fair Board. Many board members have been against the rink from the get-go. It barely passed getting built. It closes in the summer so "the 4-H and FFA have it for the Fair."

Now, the fair is at the end of July but our rink closes at the beginning of April. They start setting up for the exhibits July 15. They break them down the night the fair ends. It takes ice 3 days for melt and be removed and 1 week for ice to be made. Soooooo, we technically could have ice for most of the summer. The rink stands vacant and unused the rest of the summer (I know, We use the empty pro-shop for our exercise classes) and doesn't re-open until September. Think of all the classes and ice hockey and shows all summer long!!!! Think of all the lost revenue!!! Last year, the rink was just showing a profit for it's first time (after 3 years!)

If you push for an ice rink in Maryland, push that it stays open all year long, with day camps for the kids (maybe tied to the Y's programs), hockey programs, etc. Also highlight that they'd (Maryland) would have one-up on Delaware, who closes their rink in the summer so skaters have to go elsewhere (some are saying they will stay elsewhere like up north).

It's a sad event every summer and leaves us scrambling for somewhere to go....

[Chico]

I have no idea WHAT the problem is, but I do have advice. Stay out of it! Seriously, things are always happening at the rink. Unless you see someone get hurt or being unkind to someone, stay out of it. Things have a way of backfiring and you will get invovled is stuff you shouldn't and don't want to be.

Chico

[Skate@Delaware]

I have no idea WHAT the problem is, but I do have advice. Stay out of it! Seriously, things are always happening at the rink. Unless you see someone get hurt or being unkind to someone, stay out of it. Things have a way of backfiring and you will get invovled is stuff you shouldn't and don't want to be.

Chico
Which is why I'm not joining the club this year, along with these reasons:
1-Club membership $$$ has DOUBLED
2-Benefits of joining have not changed at all
3-No benefits to adults
4-No test sessions AGAIN this year :evil:
5-Banned from exhibitions if you can't do single jumps (or if you aren't "cute" little precious skater kid) :evil:

I've spent over $2,000 last year on programs for my "family" and promoting skating to friends, and my own sweat for this rink, only to have ZERO return to me other than : it's close to my house and the ice is nice :giveup: :giveup: :giveup: :giveup: :giveup: :giveup:

[slusher]

I used to get involved, sat on the board of directors in my family's club at one point, but as Chico said, things backfire, and it's not worth it. I had more headaches when I was involved than when I wasn't. Part of me wants to get involved to find out how bad the financial mess is but the other part of me says "maybe we'll sell chocolate bars, I can eat those" and just shut up about it.

The kid belongs to this club. I belong to a different club for three years now, because my family's club was not kind to adults for similar reasons as Skate@Delaware.

[dbny]

Twice burned, now an individual member of the USFS, always will be.

[Skate@Delaware]

Guess it pays to complain (loudly!) I was not the only one to complain, hence the changes:
Membership changed: rates lowered, with several ice time packages available (you can buy 1, 2, or 3 days per week of ice instead of all or nothing).

In-house competition scheduled for spring for all enrolled in learn-to-skate programs at rink; skating director did mention she would like to host another competition in 2007 that is open to all-stay tuned!

Test sessions will be coming soon (even for adults-they do realize they have 15 adults that skate and want to test.....)

The only loss was the Wednesday drop-in freestyle was given over to the club, so some people (not club members) were grumbling over that and you cannot skate on it unless you are a club member. I just hope that it won't be a crowded session, but since it is a school night and later in the evening the little girls won't be there.

[mikawendy]

The only loss was the Wednesday drop-in freestyle was given over to the club, so some people (not club members) were grumbling over that and you cannot skate on it unless you are a club member. I just hope that it won't be a crowded session, but since it is a school night and later in the evening the little girls won't be there.

I think (and sorry if it's been said again earlier in this thread or elsewhere) that USFS rules dictate that the club has to allow nonmembers to be able to guest up to three times per year. So, I know that's not much to a nonmember who had been coming each week, but it's better than nothing....

(Perhaps the club would allow nonmembers to guest more often, space allowing? The extra income would be good for the club....)

[blue111moon]

AFAIK, USFS rules do not require a club to open its ice to non-members. Such allowance would be up to each club and specified in the club by-laws. One major issue in allowing non-members onto club ice is liability insurance - if the non-member causes an accident, they aren't covered under the club policy, but the club could be deemed liable for allowing them on the ice. But each club is free to set their own rules.

[Isk8NYC]

The visitor rules are usually intended to allow people to try the Club sessions, then encourage them to join. Some clubs require that you be the guest of an activ member and limit the number of times you can guest without joining.
A number of clubs offer an associate membership that lets you pay the membership fee up front, and then you pay-as-you-go for the sessions you attend. I have divorced friends who've used this for their kids. With joint custody, you wouldn't be able to use the full membership. It saves some money and lets the kids feel they belong.

In terms of insurance, you just have to prove you are an active USFS/ISI member. The USFS/ISI insurance is tied to your membership, not the club or rink. (Most clubs DO include the USFS membership as part of their membership fees, so that might be the confusion.)

[Isk8NYC]

(Perhaps the club would allow nonmembers to guest more often, space allowing? The extra income would be good for the club....)

You're right: when membership or attendance is low, clubs are more likely to allow nonmembers to guest. When it's high, the members usually don't want to add to the crowding on the ice. The by-laws can be amended by the club officers.

[arena_gal]

Somewhere in the bylaws or constitution of a club there should be some wording about membership and guest privileges. Changes to that should at least be communicated, if not requiring a vote, to the entire membership.

My club almost got killed by drop-ins. There was a coach that liked to bring skaters in for drop-ins and they were there so much that they were considered part of the club, skated in some shows, etc. Then the coach found cheaper ice elsewhere and took the skaters with her literally the next day. The club had never thought that drop-ins would go away, or that the drop-in price of a session was so important. There always was a rule about drop-ins in the club by-laws, but it was ignored for convenience.

[Skate@Delaware]

They will allow drop-ins, but at $20 a pop it's expensive. They also have trial membership which will allow 10 sessions which can be applied to a membership package of your choice.

They were going to limit the number of drop-ins for safety, but decided to lift the restriction because they didn't want to seem unfriendly. That may change if the sessions become crowded (weekend sessions were getting that way).

The only way they seemed unfriendly was the way they restricted the ice dancers-no patterns allowed at all, although pair skaters are not restricted at all. We do not have any ice dance sessions at all at this time for our championship dancers (shame, really, since they have given so much to the club and rink in the way of their time and publicity).

Although the membership of the club is enticement so the kids can skate in the shows-doesn't work for me 'cause I'm a grown up and I get to skate in them anyway (if I want to)...