Our club recently raised its rates on an annualized basis from $1200 to $1800. :cry: This is a swimming fee only. Workout equipment and other amenities are not available. Proactive coaching has been nonexistent and often we get a workout and a lifeguard. This will likely have a severe impact on our team numbers, if it doesn't end the program.
We have available to us eight 75 minute practices per week. We are planning on approaching the board of directors of the club, so we are trying to get an idea of what other US Masters team participants pay.
Please describe your fees and services as briefly as possible and participate in the poll attached to this thread if I can figure out how to do that.
Thanks.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
