PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 expensive it would be. :svengo: My 16yo recently joined one of the high school teams and I just received the bill for her uniform. I'm almost speechless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It would be nice if these things were in the info before you join a club. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Marmalade Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 expensive it would be. :svengo: My 16yo recently joined one of the high school teams and I just received the bill for her uniform. I'm almost speechless. Crazy isn't it. When I was in HS, the uniform was provided by the school- but the school kept it at the end of the year and then they went to the new batch of girls. One batch of uniforms probably lasted 5-6 years before the school bought new ones. DS has a friend who switched from dance to cheer this year- it's not affiliated with a school, but the cheer outfits where she is are legendary in the area for being crazy expensive. Swarovski crystals are pricey. At least this way your DD will have a memento to keep all the days of her life? Albeit a very expensive memento. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 It would be nice if these things were in the info before you join a club. :grouphug: Maybe they did and I overlooked it. Maybe. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Crazy isn't it. When I was in HS, the uniform was provided by the school- but the school kept it at the end of the year and then they went to the new batch of girls. One batch of uniforms probably lasted 5-6 years before the school bought new ones. DS has a friend who switched from dance to cheer this year- it's not affiliated with a school, but the cheer outfits where she is are legendary in the area for being crazy expensive. Swarovski crystals are pricey. At least this way your DD will have a memento to keep all the days of her life? Albeit a very expensive memento. I showed 16yo the invoice and informed her that she can't quit now. I said it jokingly, but I was also very serious. I found out today that DH received a year-end bonus. That was short lived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 We had fundraisers for ours as I went to a poor high school. Now I live in a wealthier area and I don't want my kids to do it because we cannot afford that every year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 DDs cheer bill was $1000 for fall and about $200 was paid by fundraiser. Winter was another $100 since she already had all the uniform from fall. After buying the uniform, it still cost me about $100 for alterations and 2 different shorts for under the uniform because the ones purchased as part of her uniform, don't fit her right. The only ones that really cover her bum and keep it covered are the Nike Pros which are not cheap. They don't get to keep the uniform except the personalized part like their jackets and the under layers. The think that bugs me, is that it costs $600 more than other sports at her school and we still have to pay another $5 per person to go to the game to watch her cheer. We usually only have one person there for her because it gets too expensive to go 2-3x per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I don't get why a public school would be charging that much. My drill uniform and my softball uniform were both provided by the school. If there were fees, it was less than $40 and not for the uniform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Wow, things have changed. When I was a cheerleader, our uniforms (that we kept) were about $150 each as I recall. We thought that was a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plateau Mama Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Around here the girls have several uniforms. Home, away, travel, Disney Uniform, etc. so glad my daughter had zero interest, although softball isn't cheap either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Around here the girls have several uniforms. Home, away, travel, Disney Uniform, etc. so glad my daughter had zero interest, although softball isn't cheap either... Wow....is that for public school cheer or competition? Almost all of the public and private schools in our area only have cheerleaders at home games unless it is a state game or special event. Just the uniform was a couple hundred, I can't imagine what it would cost adding all the variations that your girls have, plus the time commitment to cheer at all those games. They already cheer 2-3 times per week. (football/volleyball and girls/boys basketball) DD wanted to do competitive cheer in addition to public school, but it is $3000 per season, plus travel. I can't afford it this year after just spending $1000, but she will likely ask again next year. :0( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It would be nice if these things were in the info before you join a club. :grouphug: For us in public school, the tryout consent paper work had the basic 'expect cheer to cost up to $1000 but fundraising will be provided to drop the final bill'. All the official fees were fully detailed and discussed at parent meetings after tryouts but before the parent signed the final contract with the coach/team/school. Her private school told us up front and charged about $300 for participation, uniforms and under layers. The uniforms belonged to the school. They didn't mention that the $100 shoes were extra since many girls already had them already. Not really a big deal, I do expect personal equipment for any sport, but wish it would have been in the first estimate for full disclosure. There were also extras that the coach added on, ie they had to have like an exact brand/color shimmer powder and exact brand/color eye makeup etc. There was a shirt that was designed by the team that we had to pay for etc. It was probably about another $100 once those were added up. So it was about $500 total. I think that since it was private school, the coaches weren't used to people being on much of a budget when it came to sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 There were also extras that the coach added on, ie they had to have like an exact brand/color shimmer powder and exact brand/color eye makeup etc. Egads. I mean, I get it. My stepdaughter does cheer, though it's not like that (uniform is the cheapest possible, and it's through parks and rec, and everyone is welcome). But if she made it on to a competitive team, we WOULD fork out, because that's her sport. It's really hard to say no to a sport especially to a girl who isn't doing other sports. Still, that would piss me off. I mean, would not "light blue" suffice? Can anybody even see the difference what with all the skin tones, or all they all white kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yikes. I remember cheer being reasonably cheap back when I did it in middle and high school. The school provided the uniforms, though I think we had to provide our own turtlenecks for underneath. Even the year we had competition uniforms, those were still supplied by the school. We just had to buy our own shoes, and if we went to camp, we had to pay for that, and the varsity crowd had to buy camp clothes. I feel for all of you with these competitive and expensive sports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 A friend's son wanted to join the cheer squad in high school, uniforms were $2000. He didn't join. I have heard that families with financial difficulties can apply to the school for help and that they try to make it work for kids who want to participate/make the squad but can't afford it. I'm still aghast at the cost though, and feeling like my kids outside the school system extracurricular are maybe a better deal than I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about. I was thinking, the TV show? The detergent???? Can you tell I have all boys??? Yeah, as a sport, cheer is expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 This gym mom feels your pain. Booster club dues, meet fees, competition leo (more expensive than any article of clothing you've ever bought for you kids), warmups... then you must have this kind of shoes (I miss ribboned flip-flops - those were only $1-$2! Gas to/from meets, meals out, and usually about $20 for admission to meets (isn't that the ultimate kicker?). And all of this is before tuition! Going into optionals, now we can expect a more expensive leo, choreography fees for beam/floor, music fees, and a bigger, farther away meet! But yeah, it's hard to say no to your child when that's IT for them. Rebecca doesn't do anything else, and she doesn't want to. It would likely ruin her life if we made her quit, and I'm not exaggerating. And then those faces when they win or perform... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 My oldest ran XC (cross country) in high school. Thankfully the school provided uniforms. At the time I didn't realize how nice that was. 16yo joined the cheer team after football season, so maybe there was information that we missed. This is her first sport ever. It's probably good I didn't know about the cost in advance or I probably would have been scared off. Competitions are coming starting in January. Oh, boy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about. I was thinking, the TV show? The detergent???? Can you tell I have all boys??? Yeah, as a sport, cheer is expensive. All temp-a-cheer! Cold water, too! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 DDs cheer bill was $1000 for fall and about $200 was paid by fundraiser. Winter was another $100 since she already had all the uniform from fall. After buying the uniform, it still cost me about $100 for alterations and 2 different shorts for under the uniform because the ones purchased as part of her uniform, don't fit her right. The only ones that really cover her bum and keep it covered are the Nike Pros which are not cheap. They don't get to keep the uniform except the personalized part like their jackets and the under layers. The think that bugs me, is that it costs $600 more than other sports at her school and we still have to pay another $5 per person to go to the game to watch her cheer. We usually only have one person there for her because it gets too expensive to go 2-3x per week. So far the uniform total is less expensive than your total. But yeah, that doesn't count those cute little uniform shorts that didn't fit quite right and the Nike Pros we bought which weren't on sale. And then there is the time and gas money to drive back and forth to the school. My second dd was in a local choir for 2 1/2 years. It really bugged DH that we were shelling out $500+ a year in tuition and then we had to pay about $10 apiece for each ticket for the family to be able to attend her concerts (at least three per year). And then, there was the finale - a trip to Greece this past summer. We are not wealthy. Coming up with the funds for that trip left us in a constant state of financial duress for a good year. Thankfully the grandparents donated to the cause. But, how do you say no? When dd was 12yo was diagnosed with depression. She spent years in counseling and taking medication. Choir helped her heal. :) For that, I am extremely thankful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 But, how do you say no? When dd was 12yo was diagnosed with depression. She spent years in counseling and taking medication. Choir helped her heal. :) For that, I am extremely thankful. This is why I invest the time and money I do in my children's activities. Anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders--all run in the family; I've seen the positive mental health impact that being deeply involved in an activity they love has on my children, and I will sacrifice a lot to give them that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 This is why I invest the time and money I do in my children's activities. Anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders--all run in the family; I've seen the positive mental health impact that being deeply involved in an activity they love has on my children, and I will sacrifice a lot to give them that. You are wise. Being an introvert, I didn't realize how important it was to be involved in an activity/sport. Looking back I can see how band, drum lessons, XC, swimming, cheer, etc. have helped my girls move through the pain and angst of growing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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