Kids Tournament Entry Fees

[imnofish]

I admit that I haven't been to a kids tournament for years, but I am amazed at how expensive the entry fees have become.  I get that the costs go up, but is that the only thing driving this trend?  Also, with so many families struggling financially today, could this be a factor in decreased participation in the sport?  If so, how might the problem be alleviated?  Not saying anyone's doing anything wrong, but would love some honest, respectful feedback from those currently involved at this level, including parents, coaches, club presidents, etc. 

[padre]

No doubt overall it did make a pretty big jump.  I do notice a lot of tournaments going to t-shirts for first place which does up the cost a bit.  However, really awards have not changed in price at all.  I believe a few started the trend and everyone followed.  I would hope it would not make another jump for quite some time as the tournament is making a hefty amount off of the entry fee where it stands now.

[teeaykay]

ImNoFish,

As a Club that hosts 4 tournaments per year we are faced with meeting the changing needs of the wrestling community, including wrestlers and their families who participate in these events, and the huge volunteer staff required to run them.

The challenge of hosting a "best in class" event involves many cost considerations including:  TRACKWRESTLING (on-line registration, mat side scoring), FACILITIES (Custodians, Food Service Workers) , EQUIPMENT (mats, clocks, pcs, etc...), AWARDS (Trophies, T-Shirts, Brackets), and REFEREES (WIAA)....  all of which require a lot of financial resources.

Our focus has been to offer the best possible tournament at the lowest possible cost.  While these tournaments collectively represent a source of funding for our Wrestling Program, the vast majority of what we collect goes toward covering the tournament specific costs.

From a Club perspective, and with regard to retaining our youth wrestlers throughout the Middle School and High School years, we are seeing a growing trend toward youth events more geared toward wrestlers receiving proper coaching mat-side.  This trend includes events such as the "No_Shout" tournament in Freedom last week, as well as an increase in youth duals where the sense of Team is brought into the sport at an earlier age.   

Regarding participation, we have scaled-back our Youth Tournament this year from a (Pre-K thru 8th) event, to a (K-5) event and our numbers are tracking higher this year that in the past couple years.  We take this as confirmation of what our wrestlers and their families are looking for.

Not certain this answers all your questions however hopefully it provides some additional perspective from the Club standpoint.

[Handles II]

Youth tournaments are designed to make money. Plain and simple.  When club A starts charging a dollar more for registration and admission, schools B and C follow suit.

Many clubs make enough money on registration and concessions to not charge for admission, OR they could charge admission but have free registration. Yet it doesn't happen.

[bulldog]

Maybe I am missing something about the entry fees but it seems most of the tournaments are still under $20...more like $15.00 per wrestler. That is a pretty good deal for 3 matches. As teeaykay said, there are costs to running these evens and to run a good one you need a little more. WIAA refs and trackwrestling are expenses that are well worth the cost to run a good event. Trophies/t-shirts/brackets are not getting cheaper and kids like getting them. Plus you have to pay for custodians at the school and if you are on a Sunday and go past 3:00 you are paying time and 1/2.

And the costs teeaykay talks about make a better tournament. The pay off...run a better tournament and the better athletes come to it. You get the best of the best. And that makes for some great matches.

I don't mean the k-2 matches...but the 5-8 matches. We would see match-ups that you didn't get at state because kids didn't meet up there or because they went other weight classes. And all this...we would be sold out 5-7 days before the tournament. Gave us time to bracket better, make sure we had all the details covered. So a little more in entry fee but a higher level tournament resulted...IMO

I don't know about all sports but to me $15 is a steal...my boys also compete in martial arts and that is $40 for one event + $15.00 for each additional event. So if a kid competes in forms, sparring, and weapons you are looking at $70.00 per kid

And YEAH...tournaments are a fund raiser...no apology for that...wrestling teams need to raise money for new mats, new singlets, warm-ups, cleaning supplies, mat tape, tournament entry fees, assistant coaches, youth coaches, middle school coaches...every club I have been a part of the youth tournament raises funds that ultimately support the high school team but that is okay in my mind because if HS teams only depended on the money they got from the schools they could not pay for mat tape and cleaning supplies.

Nobody is getting rich off of youth wrestling tournament funds raised...the money is going back into the sport.

[imnofish]

"And YEAH...tournaments are a fund raiser...no apology for that...wrestling teams need to raise money for new mats, new singlets, warm-ups, cleaning supplies, mat tape, tournament entry fees, assistant coaches, youth coaches, middle school coaches...every club I have been a part of the youth tournament raises funds that ultimately support the high school team but that is okay in my mind because if HS teams only depended on the money they got from the schools they could not pay for mat tape and cleaning supplies. "

Thanks for your insights, guys.  Glad to hear that things appear to be going well, despite the increase.  Wonder how well multiple-wrestler families are dealing with this, though.  We had 4 boys wrestling in our family; today that would cost us about $60.  So, are decreased athletic budgets resulting in club tournament entry fees being used to make up the difference?

[bulldog]

I talked to my wife about this tonight...she reminded me that we put the boys in little league when they were kids. It cost $50 just to be on the team and this was not a traveling team...just part of the league that played inter-squad teams. Plus we were required to sell candy bars...we could sell them or opt out for $100. Meaning we didn't have to sell the candy bars. So it cost us $150 to put the kid in little league and we did not get 10 games out of it.

Add in traveling team fees the cost per game drove up from there...

I would guess families may have to budget a bit more if they cannot afford the increase in entry fee...just like everything else, costs go up. It was $10 in 2000 to get in tournaments...and $15.00 today. $5.00 increase in 15 years...I am okay with that. 2030 we will be up to $20.00

[imnofish]

Thanks for providing more history on this topic, Bulldog.  I don't recall the fees being that high up in our area in 2000, which makes me wonder how much variation we are seeing across the state today.
Maybe some tournaments are less expensive in low-income areas?  Anyway, I hope it keeps working out for the betterment of wrestling and wrestlers.  Kudos to all those dedicated folks who work so hard to make quality youth tournaments available!

[padre]

Some schools are luckier than others. Some have to pay larger fees to use the facility than others. Also, if you do use WIAA refs(not a large percent do) it does really up the cost. However, I have also noticed a larger charge at the door this year where we have gone which probably easily offsets that extra amount. While I understand it's a fundraiser I hope it holds where it's at for awhile as we all have families that struggle with cost and one of our big arguments for wrestling is that we keep costs down.

[ecnorth]

EC North on Sunday still only $12!!!

Full mats for grades 3-8 (and even some of the first and second graders)
Some WIAA Refs, and current college wrestlers as refs
scoreclocks, trackwrestling, etc...
Plus a free practice session with UWEC wrestlers!

Focus is on providing a quality wrestling experience.........as far as a fundraiser, we will be fortunate if we break even.....but that's another discussion!

[DocWrestling]

My perspective over the years with some differences ...

1) Schools used to allow use of their facility for free to run the tournament.  You now have to pay for the amount of hours of use and custodial fees.  Shrinking school budgets and nothing for free anymore. 
2) Awards- Awards used to be ribbons, then medals, then it was trophy for first and medals for rest, then trophies for everyone, then bigger trophies for everyone, then custom trophies, now T-shirts.  We still have trophies and medals left over from tourneys years ago because you have to make sure you have enough but don't always get to use them all and ends up wasted cost.
3) WIAA refs-  The trend towards WIAA refs is a big expense vs. using the high school kids.  This could be seen as a positive growth though maybe.
4) Trackwrestling-  This is a minimal expense and well worth it.

I think we need all clubs to collude together and abandon awards or just give the champion a medal.  More money into the clubs pockets and gets rid of the madhouse that is giving out awards at end of tournament.  Truth is families need to appreciate the volunteers behind all these tournaments because they take a ton of work and don't really make huge amounts of money when you take in how much organizing time, effort, and volunteer hours it takes to run.   There are easier ways to often make money but at least it allows the hometown kids to be able to wrestle at home even if their parents might not see it because they are volunteering somewhere.

[jdwrestle]

We're affordable...come wrestle with us Saturday – January 30th, 2016

Kenosha Wrestling Club 11th Annual Youth Wrestling Tournament
Kenosha Tremper High School – 8560 26th Ave
Weigh-ins: 7:30 am – 8:45 am
Wrestling will start at approximately 9:45 am
Age Group: K-8 Format: 4 man round robin
Format: Folkstyle USA Cards Required
Awards: Trophy 1st – Medals 2nd-4th
Concessions served all day
Register at www.trackwrestling.com
or mail-in (address at bottom) postmarked by January 22nd, 2016
Pre-Register: $15.00 ~ walk-in: $20.00 ~ limit 500 Wrestlers
No phone-in registrations, refunds or substitutions
Questions – please call Dominic Garcia at 262-960-3733

[DocWrestling]

I talked to my wife about this tonight...she reminded me that we put the boys in little league when they were kids. It cost $50 just to be on the team and this was not a traveling team...just part of the league that played inter-squad teams. Plus we were required to sell candy bars...we could sell them or opt out for $100. Meaning we didn't have to sell the candy bars. So it cost us $150 to put the kid in little league and we did not get 10 games out of it.

But you also likely did not have to buy a USA card, or spend as much time traveling with gas money, or spend money on concessions because the events last so long, or you did not have to pay admission to the games.

While I think 75% of families can mostly afford all this to give their kids a great experience there are some that cannot.  In the end, In comparison to other sports, I still think wrestling is probably the cheapest sport available to families which does help draw in kids.

[imnofish]

I think this is a great discussion.  Really nice to see the many variables being discussed in such a respectful manner.  Nobody has been put down or called names, etc.  This represents the best of the wrestling community.  Hope to see more of this on here!   

[bulldog]

I talked to my wife about this tonight...she reminded me that we put the boys in little league when they were kids. It cost $50 just to be on the team and this was not a traveling team...just part of the league that played inter-squad teams. Plus we were required to sell candy bars...we could sell them or opt out for $100. Meaning we didn't have to sell the candy bars. So it cost us $150 to put the kid in little league and we did not get 10 games out of it.

But you also likely did not have to buy a USA card, or spend as much time traveling with gas money, or spend money on concessions because the events last so long, or you did not have to pay admission to the games.

While I think 75% of families can mostly afford all this to give their kids a great experience there are some that cannot.  In the end, In comparison to other sports, I still think wrestling is probably the cheapest sport available to families which does help draw in kids.

I would have to disagree somewhat with you Doc...you don't HAVE to buy a USA card for the large majority of youth wrestling tournaments, gas money...we still had to travel to different ball diamonds in the area (and most youth tournaments were within a 30 minute drive if I wanted to stay close) and concessions...I never left the ball park without buying dinner because they always seemed to have games at dinner time.

And I was just talking about the games played on weeknights. Add in weekend tournaments...you are stuck at the ball park for Saturday and Sunday all day.

But I do agree the cost for wrestling is by far the best value...$15 for 3 matches. All you need are wrestling shoes and a head gear and you are in. I have had the discussion with parents whose kids play youth hockey and I am so happy my kids didn't pick that sport. I cannot imagine 4 kids playing youth hockey....