Need Help with Payments How Would I Get Help? Cheer

I definitely don't mean to be rude, but that's the story of many of us working class people. I can't afford to put my son in expensive sports or recreation so we go to the local rec center. It's disappointing but it's life and there's way worse things. I'm just trying to help with perspective. Cheer and other rec stuff is a privilege, not a right. I mean I hope you find something but it's not something we deserve necessarily. The haves get to do it and the have nots can't. It's just the reality of life. Maybe things will change for y'all soon but for now she can't do it. Sorry it's that way but like I said there's many kids that don't get to participate bc of that reason. It sucks. It's not fair but that's how it is. :(

How old is your daughter? Where is dad in this picture?

The likelihood of someone cheering or tumbling professionally is low. I live in Plano where Carly Patterson and Nastia Lukin trained. My daughter did tumbling training at that facility. It is a very competitive and expensive sport.

My now grown daughter was in cheer many years through the school. It is a very expensive sport and we were not in competitive cheer which can be wildly expensive with all the travel, training and injury costs.

Our teams did fundraising for new uniforms and some expenses AS A TEAM but we still spent about $5000 out of our pocket per year. The cost increases each year as they get older for more specific training, etc.

We did have a scholarship fund and part of the fundraising covered the scholarship money. Our fundraisers were through the team (and parents) working hard to sell concessions, prepare and publish a football program for each game which included a lot of sales for local advertising, teaming up with football, baseball and basketball teams to hold silent auctions, ,etc.

In order to get a scholarship, there had to be a true need. School administration as well as coaches were involved in those decisions. Those decisions had several factors... family need, grades, etc.

I know it is hard but the bottom line is if you can't manage to afford it then it has to go. People do not seek out individual sponsors. Sponsors want more out of the deal that just paying for 1 persons training and expenses.

You might look around to see where you can cut cost at home, sell something you no longer use, stop going to Starbucks if you are a regular there (that adds up VERY quickly). Talk to the coaches and administration to see if there is a scholarship fund you may apply for.

It is sad but when there is something you can't afford such as cheerleading, you may need to stop. Think about the future... namely college savings plan so your daughter can get a good education.

Best wishes to you.

Those are very expensive sports.
While some places might give you some hardship discounts - it's still going to cost a lot.
Sometimes things are just beyond our ability to afford and there's no getting around it.
It might be time she looks for less expensive sports.
While I know you don't want to tell her this - what are you going to do when college comes along?

This question pops up on Mamapedia from time to time. You might search the site for older posts for cheer, dance and other similar activities.

The answer is, sadly, that kids cannot participate in things that require big outlays of cash. It's not fair, but it's the sad reality. So you have the usual options: apply for any scholarships (not possible, often), cut expenses elsewhere in your household budget (cutting cable channels, cutting fast food and dining out budget, and so on), take on more hours of work (adults or older teens), or see what you have of value that can be sold. Otherwise, your daughter has to find some free or low-cost activities.

What is the long game here? Is she going to professionally tumble or cheer as an adult? Will doing either of these items pay for her college tuition?

If you don't have the ability to put at least the amount that you are willing to spend on your child's "extras" towards a college education for your child, then you should be examining your priorities.

I work with people's budgets every day for my job - I just love it when families come in and are behind on either mortgage or vehicle payments (or both) because their kid just HAS to play a sport or do some other expensive activity. These are also the same folks, that when asked where their own retirement stands or if they have made provisions for their child's future education (assuming this is something they are interested in doing), the answer is always they are not prepared. But, by golly, those damn hockey fees are paid for this year!!

Ugh . . .

talk with the administrator of the organization and ask if they have scholarships available.

are you married to her biological father? What does he say about this?
If she's talented? You might find a sponsor for her.

Gymnastics is an incredibly expensive sport. She's only FOUR YEARS OLD...are you pushing this? At the age of 4, it's really hard to say "this is what I want" for the long term. If you can't afford it? Find a sport you can afford or start cutting back in areas that you can to afford it.

Welcome to Mamapedia, D.,

You need to go to the front office of your daughter's gym class and schedule a meeting with the owner, account manager, coach for help? When my husband was unemployed for almost a year? Our son was playing baseball. He qualified for a sponsorship through the club. Before that happened, someone paid for it - to this day we still do not know WHO to thank for that season.

What have you tried to do to raise the money? Have you sold things you no longer need in your home? Have you asked family for help?

Is she an Olympic Gymnast in the making? Have you asked for a sponsor?

I would try to gather information on the club. Find out if they offer scholarships. I would then go through my home and find things that I don't need and can sell. Have a garage sale - they still have them in December in Illinois - right? If not? Ebay things or go to your facebook marketplace and sell the items there...

You can also start up a go-fund-me for your daughter too.
where is her dad in all of this?

Did you ask about the possibility of a scholarship? Have you tried to hold a fundraiser? You could ask the owner of the school to sponsor a fundraiser on site.
Most home business owners ( Tupperware - Mary Kay - Avon - etc.) participate in a fundraiser once or twice a year. You can also get local business owners to donate silent auction items to help raise funds. Then set up a Facebook page and invite everyone on your friends list and ask them to invite their friends and on and on. The key is to get as many people to come as possible. If you do this right you will raise funds, these can then be divided equally among all the students or to start a fund to help the low income families to afford to go to meets and tournaments.

There might be organizations in your community that support activities like this. Ask the secretary at your child's school - they are usually aware of organizations in the community that they can connect you with. An alternative may be to barter work for reduced fees. My step-daughter trained at an MMA gym that was out of our budget, so she worked out a deal where she did some light cleaning at the gym for an hour or so a week and they waived a significant portion of the monthly fee. This worked well because she was a teenager and old enough to work. If your daughter is young, perhaps you could do some work for the organization in return for reduced fees? My kids once belonged to a hockey league where parents could volunteer at league-run bingo nights and get a discount off of their tuition.

I guess my question would be have you fallen on hard times? Loss of job? Major medical bills? I would then ask if they do temporary scholarships. If you are living above your means, your daughter may have to cut back. Maybe your daughter can assist a teacher in a different class to help off set costs. Maybe you can clean facility. These are just ideas that might be doable.

I totally understand where you are coming from. We are trying to figure out how to pay for my son's next season or Trampoline and Tumbling as he's got to do more this year than before as he will be a JR Elite. It's very expensive. I don't know how anyone could afford to do more than the one sport but others do. You might see if there are fundraisers to help some teams or gyms will have different ones. We are a part of a booster club that has helped in the past. It's not easy but you may have to tell her to choose one.

I know what it's like.

I will tell you that your cheer coach should be doing fund raisers every month, soliciting corporate sponsors, and more.

Our cheer squad hardly pays for anything except the lessons and one uniform. Other things are almost always paid in full.They recently went to Dallas for a weekend competition, 3 days in Dallas and all one of my friends had to pay was $100. For the WHOLE 3 day weekend.

Because they worked and did fund raisers and got donations from companies and they were on the radio, in the newspapers, and on Facebook asking for people to help.

I have friends on 2 different squads and my niece has her girl on a 3rd. The 2 squads are always having a Freddy's night where a percentage of their sales goes to the girls, doing a carwash, having a bake sale in the doors of Walmart, or something. They are out there working every week.

Then my niece, her squad doesn't do much fundraising. They pay out of pocket for most things. Their coach doesn't do that stuff.

My niece can afford it. My other friends can't. If they didn't have the fund raisers and corporate sponsors they'd have to drop out.

Finally, if you can't afford to pay for the tumbling lessons and the cheer lessons then you will probably have to come to terms with the fact that you aren't well off enough to have your kids on a cheer squad. Sorry, I know that sounds mean, but facts are facts.

If you can't afford it you can't afford it. If you can get the coach on board and do some work to raise the money then maybe everyone can have a bit easier time with this.