I am about to hyperventilate...!

Our yearly club membership fee is going up from $50 to $500 a year!

The previous fee did not include any ice time, which one had to buy separately each month. The new fee includes one night of club ice a week. Beyond that, as far as I can tell, that is the only change. There has been no mention of ways to earn money/credits toward that cost.

Honestly, we never purchased club ice because the FS sessions fit our schedule, and we just could not afford another payment every month. We live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. I just don't think we can afford this gigantic hike in the fee. We can make payments of $100 a month for 5 months, but as I said, there is no $$ for any extra payment, no matter how many months. We might have to just do an individual membership.

What are the pros/cons of an individual membership?
Is there any major drawbacks to not being affiliated with a club?

Is this a normal amount and we have just been spoiled?
How does it compare to what other clubs charge per year?

I am in sticker shock at this point! The new fee goes into effect this year, and needs to be paid by June 25th. I don't know what to do!

Membership at the two clubs I've been at is $60 with $30 of that going for USFSA membership. The other club I belonged to you had to buy club ice (no other ice available) but it was a good deal - 4 mornings and 3 afternoons a week at $200 a month.

$500 a month for one night of ice a week sounds outrageous. I pay about $375 for 3 mornings of ice a week for both me and my daughter.

j

Oh, I just reread - it's $500 a year...even if it's only an hour a week that's less than $10 an hour for ice time, pretty cheap. Of course if you can't use it, it's not a deal.

j

$280/year not including any ice time
we do individual membership

$500 a year, not a month...if that were the case, I would have fainted!

We have other ice available. Usually, there is at least a FS session every evening in the winter, there are many more available in the summer. The club ice is on top of what, to me, was an already a pretty good amout of ice time. That is why we never had to purchase extra ice through the club. Now, they are including one night per week of club ice in the new higher fee, but, again, we already have good ice to begin with. I think that is the only benefit to the new gazillion percent increase in the fee.

$65/year with one hour a month of club ice time, which is usually a class or a workshop (which I never attend).

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$60 per year. No ice included.

$100 per year for adults, $120 for Adult\child, $60 per year for First time adult and $80 per year for first time child. Club sessions that occur every once in awhile are included.

The difference btwn the Regular Adult or Adult\Child and the others are the gifts that are received for the Regional or Adult Sectional Team, plus send-off parties for all major competitions (Regionals, Sectionals, Nationals, Jr. Nationals, Adult Sectionals, Adult Nationals and any internationals received by team members during the year). These send offs may also include critiqued exhibitions ("free"). Generally the beginners will not be getting this, so they pay less (as far as I understand it!)

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Our fees just increased to $70/year without ice time.

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Ours went from $90 to $95. Very small change... and we never include any ice time b/c the club knows never to assume that people are always gonna go to Club Ice. But for those who do consistently go to Club Ice, we DO have punch cards and the cost of the ice goes WAAAAY down!!!

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11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

We are $70 for a skating membership.
What I don't get is why are the clubs including the ice time? What if very few people come or worse yet no one comes? That's a huge loss for a club to take. I'd be asking my BOD some questions about this.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Probably because it's already pre-paid by everyone, so it doesn't really matter if anybody comes or not. I'm assuming that the $500 a year goes toward paying the rink for the ice time, so the club already has it covered whether 1 person or 30 people come to the club ice every week. My home club is $95/year and my associate is $50/year... neither include ice time.

The club I have been a member of for the past 4 seasons (since I became a 'serious' skater) charges $100/year. No club ice included, but they do have a recital type of show that this year included a judge's critique that is free to members.

The club I am joining next year (where I have been a non-home club member for the past 2 years) is $35/year (cost difference is the main reason that I'm switching) and they have club ice 2 nights a week during the fall and winter, but purchasing that is optional. Purchasing club ice is not restricted to home club members, and anyone who buys club ice sessions is automatically a member of the club (albeit not a home club member) and can test there w/o paying a guest fee. The cost for club ice this year was $10 per session, bought in 11-week chunks starting in October and January. Of course, if you have to miss a week or two, you don't get the money back.

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My family and I have been individual members ever since our first club went crazy and drove out four members who paid for every minute of ice time they offered, and our second club succumbed to club vs rink owner conflict.

Advantages of Individual Membership:

• $85/year for first family member
• $40 for each additional family member
• New rulebook each year
• Lapel pin for each member(first year)
• Subscription to SKATING (one per family)
• No approval from club test chair needed to test
• No club approval needed to compete
• Do not have to deal with ugly club politics (if present)

Disadvantages of Individual Membership:

• May have trouble getting into test sessions
• Test fees always higher for non-club members
• May miss out on a fun social scene

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Prices around here are all over, from 50 to 400$ a year. Those prices do not include any ice, just your right to buy ice on a discounted price.

The benefits I see of being member of a club are 2.

-The price discount. My local club offers ice at 12$ to members and 16$ to individual members. Also testing is cheaper for club members.

-you are automatically invited to all shows, exhibitions etc. With individual membership that is not sure.

The club we are signing in costs 90$ for the first year, 175$ for the next year. Unfortunately the 50k$ club is further away so I ll end up paying the money I save to gas for my car....

Our club is increasing to $70 this year. No ice included.

Our club fee to just join the club - no ice - was $200 last year. That gives you the privilege to buy club ice, which must be pre-paid for the entire season of Sept - April inclusive. Each 45-50 min of ice for the year was about $345. So, for about 12-13 hours of ice a week, the cost was about $4600.00. No such things as walk-ons or punch cards. Must pay for the entire season, so if you decide to quit or retire part way through the year, you are responsible for the ice bill.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart...
We belong to a local club.They used to run a concession stand during hockey games for Fundraising.Then they gave club ice 8 hours a week for 70.00
a month. I went to a meeting and asked why we required all this Fundraising just for club ice. I was told, we will look into it.I think the skaters that use the ice should pay for the ice.
Fast foward two years. We got rid of concession stand. Now they are saying its a minium of 500.00per SKATER for 3 major fundraising events.They will give you club ice at 50.00 per month./8 hours per week. WE skate at another rink and NEVER use club ice.
Before you say anything, I have spoken out. I have gone to the meeting, I have emailed board members, I have said my thoughts. Our mission statement says to honor all skaters. WE have the show for skaters that like that, we have testing/comps for skaters that compete, we have recitals for skaters that just do that. NOWHERE does it say give away ice, and then asked for 500.00 Fundraising.

If we had to do that much, we would end up buying the tickets ect. So its a cost WE would have to pay.I dont expect Parent A to pay for my kids testing, why would I pay for some ones ice time? We have 4 rinks in town.
I went to our skaters and asked if they would rather do the show and the two recitals a year, or use the money to train and compete. They chose to train.
Its not the fundraising I object to at all. Its WHERE the money it going to.I asked three weeks ago for the budget. I did tell them I just want to know how much we spend a year on ice and what income we bring in for the ice. I can and did already figure the numbers myself. We lose at least 20,000 a year just on club ice, which is the same number fundraising said they need to bring in. So far no budget.
Please understand we have a small club. I am very involved in the club. I am a test co chair, have done special events, work on bring guest coaches here, and get ice at the other rink when we need the ice.Kinda like a rink liason.I also for the past two years have been the ice show coord.I do alot for our coaches here.
But there is no way we can fundraise 1000.00 for someone elses kid to skate for free.
Its a shame, but we are going independent.I have talked to both kids coaches, who agree with us.
I hope you can work it out, but know there are others in your shoes too.!!! Good luck
oh just our fee is 70.00 a skater PLUS the fundraising

I think ours was about $65 per year (no ice time) and then we have to pay to join the state association as well if you want to compete at any level above our skate school which is about $85 per year.

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Well, it's been a few days since the notification went out about the raise, and I have been waititng to see if there would be another email regarding options if you can't pay, or don't want to skate club ice. Apparently, there are no other options. You either pay the $500, or you are no longer a member.

For others who skate even one night of club ice, this is a bargain. One night of club ice a week is about $15...$60 a month times 12 months is $720 a year. Thats just ice, add $50 for membership. Paying $500 is a bargain compaired to that. That is great if you skate it. We never skated it. It would be one thing if that was the only ice available, but we have a very generous amount of ice, and, for us at least, we didn't need to do it. FS sessions are $6, they suit our needs. We can skate 2 FS sessions for less than the cost of 1 club ice session. Now, with this increase, and the fact that there are no ice-less options, I am forced to help underwrite everyone elses ice. Those who skate club ice get a big $270 break for their wallet, those who don't get a $450 wallop to theirs. I am all for an increase in membership dues...but 1000%?!?! Sheesh!

From what I am seeing here, and what I have discovered with my research on other clubs nearby, this is a crazy amount to pay, and including ice time is apparently not normal. We are left with two options...go independent, or join another club, which is 3 hours away, so we wouldn't be able to do any shows or have any of the benefits of being a member, other than having their club name after my dd's on competition programs. We have a few weeks to decide, and I am not the only one in this boat. I'll see which way others go.

I think what heats me up the most is that there is just no other option, no explaination, no nothing. There haven't been minutes taken or posted from a meeting in probably a year, so there is no way to see what was talked about when they voted on this (only those who could make it to the meeting voted, which was probably about 8 people...and they ALL skate club ice! There was an email sent out informing everyone of the meeting about 6 hours before it happened. Not much notification). We have no newsletter. There is little communication from the board to the membership. The majority of info gets passed along through the grapevine, and is usually not very complete or accurate. Not a well run organization.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. I don't have a good relationship with the president or the incoming vice president, and their kids have really turned on my dd (who is 3 years younger!). The atmoshpere there is nasty, hyper competitive, and WAAAAY clique-ish. It is a poisonous club. I would be happy to not be associated with them anymore. But we still have to skate there (only one rink here, next closest is about 2 hours away), and I am afraid of further nastiness and isolation. But it looks like it will happen, and we have no choice about it...*sigh*

I believe ours is $75/year. It's the cheapest in the area.

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- Ashley

My club has been $65/yr for a few years now (we're only four or five years old), but I know it's going up at least a bit this year.

Unless your daughter is testing frequently, it sounds like you'd be better off doing in individual membership. If she's testing often, though, going individual may mean being shut out of test sessions (if the numbers go over what can be accomodated, club members almost always get priority) and if she does get in to a session, you'll be paying a significant guest fee (most clubs in our area charge $30 or so; I can't remember if that's per test or per session).

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