Coaches: Your Competition/Test Fee Charges

[SynchroSk8r114]

Just wondering how much the coaches on here charge to accompany their students to tests and competitions? Please elaborate on your poll answer if you'd like.

For instance, I give my students options. They can either pay $10/event per skater or pay $25/all day. This allows students to save money if they're competing in 4 events, so by taking the $25/all day option, they'd save $15 rather than paying $25/all day if they skate just one event/test and can pay just $10.

[Virtualsk8r]

Depends upon the level of competition, the location and how many skaters are attending the event....Charges for test supervision are based on level of test - dance, freeskate, elements, skills, competitive etc. and if they are held in club or elsewhere.

I know many coaches who charge a flat fee per day for competitions - ranging from $250 and up plus expenses. Others charge a flat $1000 -$2000per competition and divide that among the skaters attending.

For competitive skaters, the rule seems to be a minimum of hour of lesson time per event plus any practices......regional, sectional or national can be more because of the time spent waiting for the event.

And then there are coaches I know who don't charge enough to cover their expenses and end up poorer after a weekend away!

Parents don't always realize the total expense of coaching their skater at a competition ---

[Skittl1321]

I haven't done a competition yet- so I'm not sure about what my coach charges.

For a test (which was local for him, so I didn't have to pay his travel expenses, just mine) I paid for 1 hour of lesson time. I thought it was expensive, but I definetly needed the coach there for my moves test. I did PB freeskate without a coach to save money. I'm not sure if I'd make the same decision for Bronze.

[deannathegeek]

Claire's had two different coaches, and each of them did the same for competitions-they just charged the cost of a private lessong for being at the event. Of course, her competitions were at the basic skills levels, and they were local so the coaches didn't have to do any traveling.

I myself don't have a coach (think Chas Michael Michaels :lol:), but have always wondered about this myself...thanks for starting the thread!

[Kim to the Max]

I haven't done a competition with my current coach, but past coaches have divided their hotel/food/travel fees among the skaters they had there and then charged a fee for the events.

With current coach, the local test session I did was $10, which seemed really low to me, and I'm going to be doing a non-local test session coming up, so we'll see what she charges me (our conversations go something like this...Me: "How much do I owe you?" Coach: "I don't know. How about x?" Me: "Okay, I only have $20 bills so, I will pay you more and then just credit it to next time")...if I don't think it's enough (we will be driving about an hour or so to get there), I will give her extra, and insist that she take it...or I'll buy gas gift cards and put them in her book when she's not looking...seeing as she drives a jeep, I know it's not cheap to fill it up :)

[slusher]

Our coach totals up all the expenses (travel, meals, lessons lost) and divides that among all the events skated. So if you go and skate 3 events, you pay 3 shares of the cost. Skate one event, pay one share. A coaching charge is added to each share.

Unfortunately there is always one skater who seems to have an event on a different day and a different area, the coach will stay over an extra day
( or two if it's a late night event), and that charge for one skater's event goes into the pot to be shared by all. Supposedly it eases the financial burden, one day one of our skaters could possibly be in that situation, but we've never been on the winning end of that equation. (and lately it's been the same skater every time)

So all we ever know is that we're paying a half hour lesson fee, and the rest depends on how many others are going and how long the coach stays away from the club.

[Debbie S]

Both of my coaches charge their 20-min lesson fee for each event at a comp, and for test sessions my main coach (secondary coach has only been with me at comps, not tests) charges a 30-min lesson fee. They're both $1/1 min, so it's $20 for comps and $30 for tests.

For comps (or tests) out of area, they charge mileage (I think there's a standard USFSA/PSA amount per mile that's listed somewhere on the USFSA website). I haven't run into this with my coaches, as I've put myself on the ice (or asked friends who were there) at out-of-area comps, but most coaches in our area charge for a hotel stay if they need to stay overnight, and split the costs among all students at the comp (same with mileage). Of course, it gets a little sticky if it's different students' events on diff days that require the coach to stay over - I'm not sure how the cost-splitting works then.

[littlekateskate]

We pay 20.00 per event plus travel fees and gas mileage are divided up between which skaters that go. So that can totally depend on price. I wish it were a flat fee for the competition.

[aussieskater]

Our coach totals up all the expenses (travel, meals, lessons lost) and divides that among all the events skated.

While I have no issues with coaches charging travel and accommodation if they're accompanying skaters to out-of-town events, I've often wondered why coaches can charge meals when they're away, since this is an expense they would have at home anyway?

On the other hand, do most coaches charge for lost lessons (eg: away for 5 days therefore missing 22 hours of teaching time at $60/hour = $1320)? If they do (which would be reasonable), this would make it really expensive for the skaters. If not, how do they not lose money on the event?

[slusher]

It's standard practice for my industry that there's a meal allowance, it's pretty skimpy at $25 a day. It's not meant to cover the cost of eating out completely. Although, some of my tech friends eat three meals at McDonalds daily and continue to do so on per diem and make money off it. yes, ick.

As the thinking goes, when you're away of course you have to eat, you would be eating anyway, and the extra meal allowance is to cover the fact that you can't prepare food for yourself and have to eat out which is more expensive. Not all coaches understand this, and are complete pigs on the parents of their skaters. Very thrifty coaches find the coaches lounge at the arena and eat lunch there, which is free, and then we have been known to take the coach for dinner, which can be as thrilling as Wendys.

[jskater49]

Our coach, you share expenses with the other skaters, plus we split her lost coaching fees while she's away, and $25 an event and that includes practice. My other coach charged a little less for putting you on but then you paid her standard coaching fee for practice - divided by who else was on the practice she was also working with.

My dd has just started coaching and though her coach advised her to charge $15 to put on her student at a competition, but since it was solo dance and it was 3 events in a row, she only charged $5 an event, $15 total. It's a lot different for a solo dance event that lasts maybe 20 minutes and a ladies intermediate free style that can take an hour when you count off ice warm up (our coach is very good about coaching you off ice before a competition ), warm up and then waiting several groups before you go on.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

My coaches don't charge for a competition at our rink; they say that for "away" competitions a fee needs to be negotiated individually. It's some years since they came to a competition with us - in some ways, I prefer them not to be there!

For tests, technically one pays a lesson fee, but last time we tested they refused to take it, which was very nice of them.

They've just reissued their fee sheet, which includes such things as blade adjustments, sharpening (they don't do this themselves, but take a car-load of boots to the sharpener) and cutting music. It's good to see it all written down so there can be no arguments.