Masters Fees Survey

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 06:25:50 GMT

I post this with reluctance. The practice that I coach is $ZIPPY, Zero, NADA. (above and beyond the normal dues). The deal I made with management is that they can market it anyway they want but the bottom lie is that 1) I coach from the pool not the deck. Everyone is quite happy with the way I run it. I have 2 workouts 4000 yds and 2400 yds. We do plenty of stroke drills and sets that I do provide individual analysis. 2) If at anytime the regional Y rattles the cage about charging extra for coached workouts, its over and we go back to being just a group of folks who enjoy working out together at 5:30 AM. Its hard for someone to be pissed at the coach for having you do 10 x 200 when I'm in the next lane doing it with them! As it stands, some of the swimmers decide to join the regional Masters team and compete at meets. The rest are triathletes or not interested in going to meets. It works for us.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:20:42 GMT

I just joined the team near my house. Fees are $20 one time joining fee. $30 per month for 4 EARLY morning 1-hr practices. (yawn--5am M, W, F and 6am on Saturday) Some flexibility in monthly fee if only swimming on Saturdays, or a few times per month. The pool pass is $50 for 24 visit punch card (which is only good for maters or lap swimmers). But if I had $240 burning a hole in my pocket I could by an annual membership and swim masters and any other time I want. So far I've only been to 2 practices, so I've only been coached from the water, but he was really paying attention and gave some good pointers.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:34:20 GMT

Facility Fee (includes full-service health club with 4 locations, combo locker, nursery, etc.): approximately $90/month for family Coaching Fee is $20/month We have 6 workouts a week, MWFSa am and T-THpm plus our coaches leave us printed workouts at the pool.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:19:48 GMT

Our program is in the Kansas-side suburbs of Kansas City, MO. It is administered by our county parks & recreation department. They also administer the 500-swimmer age-group team. Fees: $60.00 for a 15-swim punch card. We all put our cards into a box on the pool deck, and the coach on deck punches them after we get into the water. The cards don't have an expiration date. Workouts: 3 morning, 3 evening, 1 Saturday, all 90 minutes long Coaches: On-deck duties shared by four age-group coaches; one of the four is considered our "head coach" and writes all of the workouts. Anna Lea

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Fri, 25 May 2007 09:28:01 GMT

Ouch!! That's EXTREMELY high- and with no coach on deck? Interesting, though; I grew up in Brewster (for those who asked, it's about 50 miles north of NYC). Where is this? It's been a long time since I've been- or swam- there, so it's probably a new place. But, yeah, you're getting ripped, esp. if there's no coach on deck. BTW, when I did swim, I paid only $45.00/month, which included a weekly clinic, and nine coached workouts. And if you couldn't afford it, the fees could be waived.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

bbpolhill — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:57:59 GMT

In NYC, our fees are $95/month for 10 practices per week (1.5-2 hrs.) and awesome coaching spread across four coaches. But I have seen our team finances and we aren't getting hosed: pool time is just expensive and hard to come by. (The three big city teams all swim at the same pools, because it is next to impossible to get another pool to give anyone time.) This is a big help since you are, in effect, in a similar economy as compared to Westchester. It is difficult and unfair to compare the prices of more rural locations in most places in the U.S. to Westchester County. You have a much higher level of service, much more pool time, and still pay 37% less when compared to our suggested increase.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

bbpolhill — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:47:08 GMT

Ouch!! That's EXTREMELY high- and with no coach on deck? Where is this? It's been a long time since I've been- or swam- there, so it's probably a new place. But, yeah, you're getting ripped, esp. if there's no coach on deck. Some (roughly 30%) of the time there is no coach on deck. The rest of the time there is an experienced and valuable coach who is (I guess) too tired to proactively coach. If you ask, you will get a response that is very helpful, but for the most part there is just silence, a workout on a white board, and pace clocks. The concern is not about the coach or the facilities, but rather the unfair increase. I live in Brewster, but work out in Mount Kisco. We're not officially getting ripped off until we pay the fee increase which is effective in September. As I mentioned, we are trying to negotiate with the club and all of this feedback has been very valuable. It's easy to assume that $1800 annualized is too much to pay, but now we can say unequivocably that this is an atypical charge for a Masters program.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

osterber — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:24:25 GMT

Wow, you all sure pay a lot to swim! Since I'm still in college, I'm fortunate enough to have free access to our pool. The hours are really strange, but it's much better than having to pay, and it's a 10 minute walk from my dorm. Now, if only tuition weren't $30k+... Nah... you're paying $30,000 per year for your swim program. ... but you get a free college education thrown in. :-) -Rick

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:38:45 GMT

Our situation here is a bit different in that our 'masters' program is actually a swim class offered by the local community college. There are advantages and disadvantages to this - lower costs (thanks to the state subsidies for community colleges) make it an affordable way to swim 5 mornings a week, but because it's seen more as a course and not so much as a masters team, we don't have much of a team mentality. Additionally it's not truly year round, since it runs on the school calendar. Overall it runs about $400 per year if you sign up for every quarter.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

swimshark — Mon, 21 May 2007 03:19:27 GMT

Wow, $1800 a year is very high.I hope you all can negotiate a lower amount or get more for that kind of money. I can give you different perspectives. In Oregon I swam for one of the largest masters team. We paid $40 a month to the team in coching fees. We also paid around $380-400 for out-of-district membership to the Rec Dept. In-district paid around $108 for their membership. That got us 4 practices a day, 5 days a week (1 90 min session and 3 60 min ones). Now they've taken away Fri night and added Sat morning. This is with 2 ASCA coaches and several other highly qualified coaches. One on the deck at a time. Here in VA (DC metro area) I pay $400 a year to join the facility and nothing for masters practices. We get 2 weekday sessions and a Sat session a week, all hour long. The coach writes a workout on the board and gets in with us. At times he will get out and coach from the deck but he is not a paid coach (but is qualified). But, I normally swim with a local USS team. I practice with the Senior program and we swim 90 min a day on weekdays and 2 hours on Sat (if not cancelled due to meets). If I paid full price, it would be around $2100 a year. This is in addition to me, as a master swimmer, joining the pool. The kids don't have to join the pool. Alison

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Karen Duggan — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:54:29 GMT

WCM is $175 for the year I think. We have to buy our pool passes from the city and that is $49.50/month (Masters rate only) everybody else is $60.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

some_girl — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:47:54 GMT

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Sun, 20 May 2007 10:13:04 GMT

Outside Pittsburgh, fees range: In an exclusive private health & fitness club that has soup to nuts (indoor tennis, spa & cabana, etc.) the workout is posted all day long and changes daily. The fee for a personal coach rannges from $27 - $47 per 30 min. session. The initiation fee and monthly dues are high!! (25 yard pool) At one YMCA - Masters Swimming is offered M, W & F for 1 hour in the evening. There is no "on deck" coach - someone just writes the workouts for each swim. The program is free with membership ($125 / month for a single adult). Participants pay any and all additional fees for meets, suits, etc. If a member wants to join USMS, they get their own membership as "unattached". Workouts are e-mailed on request. (25 yard pool) At another YMCA - Masters Swimming is offered M, W & F mornings and T & Th at noon. Practice duration ranges from 1 hour to 90 min. There is an "on-deck" coach for all practices and each workout is different. Workouts are e-mailed by request. A $25 fee for members to join the team and membership to USMS is additional - but there is a recognized team. Any and all fees for meets, suits, etc. is additional. Membership is $60 per month (for a single adult membership) (25 yard pool)

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:21:25 GMT

RE: Masters Fees Survey

bbpolhill — Fri, 18 May 2007 02:29:24 GMT

My dues are $59/month, for access to something like 20+ coached workouts/week. There are normally 2 coaches on deck for every workout. We have facilities on the ASU campus, as well as Scottsdale. There are options for students and annual payment that are reduced. Every now and then, I'll look into other local programs, but I've been swimming with this group for about 9 years, we use fantastic pools, and the coaching is great. That's it. :whiteflag: I'm moving to Arizona! :cool:

RE: Masters Fees Survey

aztimm — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:57:59 GMT

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:22:13 GMT

Another free loader here. No additional fees on top of the regular Y membership ($80/m). Of course it's me that puts up the workouts. No on deck coach. Which I guess leads to a question if people would rather pay more and have an on deck coach, or not pay or pay just a fraction, and you have a person that posts the workouts and everyone plugs forward.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:46:24 GMT

I feel extremely fortunate....I workout here on base for free. I pay the USMS fee each year and that's about it....When I do venture up to Macon where the rest of the team works out it's $25 a month.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:53:36 GMT

I don't even have a club, but used to pay $40 a month for a pool, coach and team before I moved to Atlanta. I pay her $40/month to e-coach me. Its been working so far. I need to get my wife to video my swimming so she can critique my technique. My e-coach recently delivered her first baby. I've kept her on as my e-coach since I can't find a coach/Team that I can get to in this Burg.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Muppet — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:25:16 GMT

Brad, that does seem very excessive. You guys should be looking into where all that money goes. A little oversight may uncover some deeper issues. My team has 6 workouts a week. We pay by the workout in 15-swim increments, based on membership level. The highest per-workout fee works out to just about $4.05. I end up spending about $700 a year based on my schedule (am using 169 swims/yr as my estimate). Assuming a $7 drop-in fee, my same schedule would land me at ~$1160/yr. I'd say that your team charges a flat fee regardless of whether you swim once a week or 5x a week, which is ok if your per-swim cost is low, but at that price (using my #s, thats $10.65/swim), you deserve a volume rate. Good Luck!:duel:

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:12:57 GMT

Similiar to Gkami - regular family Y membership about $800.00 a year, but no masters coach :shakeshead: - we were to have one but she spent more time with the age group kids, we were to have two practices a week but it came down to 2 maybe a month sporadic becuase they changed the times so many times. There are only one or two designated master swim times, but most of us just rotate through the lap swim times. I would love a coach, having never swum competitively before- I am sure I am making mucho errors. So I read read read all your postings, and take workouts from mag's and posting.I keep dreaming I will find a coach and pay for some private lessons. But $1,800 a year Ouch no way cant do it. Too many opther fees to be paid, my daughter's soccer team (UNDEFEATED THIS SEASON :cheerleader: ) runs about $125.00 in fees a season, piano lessions are 9 for $420.00, and private school tutition,:doh: So,there is little extra money for mommy's stuff.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:30:53 GMT

We have 6 practise times with certified and excellent coaches (2) on deck every practise. Only downside of having such great coaches is numbers! Our top number was 49 in 6x25meter lanes, usually average 26-30 evenings, 26 thus thurs am in 4 lanes, and 36+ sat am (more triathletes attend sat am) Mon and Wed pm 8:30-10pm, tues thurs 9 -10am, Sat am 7:30-9am. No weekends July and Aug so we do open water. Pool closed 4 weeks mid Aug- Sept. We are $4.25 per session, or you can buy a facility pass for $48.00 per month, ($39.00 over 55) which entitles you to a lot , masters, length swimming, dryland classes; pilates, piloga, boot camp, plus weight room sauna hot tub etc. That puts us in the $ 400.00 area (most attend 3x a week and no weekends 3 months and pool closed lessens our fee. We don't pay for open water. Kiwi

RE: Masters Fees Survey

Former Member — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:17:08 GMT

Based on what I'm reading here, I'm getting a bargain. $175/annual, 5 workouts per week. We are coached from the deck once a week, the rest of the time our coach is in the water with us.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

bbpolhill — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:11:45 GMT

Sounds like you are getting hosed paying out $1800 a year without full-time on deck coaching. For that $$, in addition to the coach, I'd want free team suits and warmups, a team massage therapist, warm towels... We are only getting hosed if we decide to pay it. The feedback has been resounding and should help in our "negotiation" with the club. This fee is effective in September and is 50% over what we currently pay.

RE: Masters Fees Survey

aquaFeisty — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:03:54 GMT