Kids Netball club - pay annually or termly?

kingfisherblue

Gosh, I worry about telling parents that we charge £15 per half term, and that there are no refunds if their daughter leaves partway through (Rainbows and Brownies). It's £20 for Guides

It does sound as though the club wants a commitment for both terms though. Are there any Terms and Conditions on their website?

Red-Squirrel_2

michaels wrote: »

But the second term commitment is open ended, there is not even any certainty that it will be a week day or even outside of school hours....

Seems a little unfair on my daughter to say that she does not want to play in the summer just because I have queried what would happen if the training is changed to a time that she can not make.

If it’s for school age children I think you can be fairly confident it would be outside school hours!

jackomdj

Can I ask why she is going to two clubs? My daughter plays and they can't join another team as they play league matches against the other teams.

Our club is PAYG, other than the netball association fees which you pay at the start if the season. It is more than just a group she goes to, it is a community, as they train they become a great team together progressing in their abilities. It could be that they feel you don't have the commitment, rightly or wrongly, so they would rather train another child who they know will be more likely to stay, which is subsequently better for the whole team.

Our older girls (I say our, I mean the club) do play at different times and they do expect the commitment to be there, although they do understand that the girls may have to miss some training due to other commitments.

michaels

jackomdj wrote: »

Can I ask why she is going to two clubs? My daughter plays and they can't join another team as they play league matches against the other teams.

Our club is PAYG, other than the netball association fees which you pay at the start if the season. It is more than just a group she goes to, it is a community, as they train they become a great team together progressing in their abilities. It could be that they feel you don't have the commitment, rightly or wrongly, so they would rather train another child who they know will be more likely to stay, which is subsequently better for the whole team.

Our older girls (I say our, I mean the club) do play at different times and they do expect the commitment to be there, although they do understand that the girls may have to miss some training due to other commitments.

This would be her only netball team.

But as well as the latin there is also the football (training and matches), drama singing and dancing, guides, clarinet, church youth group etc so there is a fair chance that if they change the practice time to another random afternoon/evening she will not be free.

LandyAndy

michaels wrote: »

This would be her only netball team.

But as well as the latin there is also the football (training and matches), drama singing and dancing, guides, clarinet, church youth group etc so there is a fair chance that if they change the practice time to another random afternoon/evening she will not be free.

Sports clubs do require a certain amount of commitment. Having eight or nine other activities means that some things have to take second place. You can't expect a club to just take account of your daughter's (very) crowded schedule.

gingercordial

michaels wrote: »

Hence my next response that we were happy to pay for the whole year but wanted to check that there would be a refund if they changed the training time to one that was impossible. (If we booked a holiday in the school hols and the travel company came back and said they had moved the dates to the term time and that there was no refund option we would be able to complain to trading standards on unfair terms grounds).

I am not sure that netball clubs fall under trading standards.

I'm the treasurer of a small charity which has members who pay an annual sub. All of my work is voluntary in my spare time and there isn't much of that as my day job has long hours. I simply wouldn't have time to keep track of which of our members wanted special arrangements, had part-paid and needed chasing, wanted a refund or whatever. You pay when you join in full for the year, no refunds, that's the deal. So please bear in mind this treasurer may be doing it for the love of it too and just cannot do alternative arrangements.

onlyroz

Sounds like you are saying that she can attend this club for now but that it will be a lower priority than her other activities - and those will take precidence. I can see why the club managers might prefer to go with more dedicated participants.


I'm a bit bemused about how any child can find the energy for Latin, football, netball, clarinet, drama, singing, dancing, guides and a church group. Where does she find the time for school work, or even just relaxing?

Comms69

It's really simple.


The terms of membership are payment in advance. Either agree and pay, or don't agree and look elsewhere. The clubs has no reason, nor obligation, to prioritise your wishes.

pollyanna24

To be honest, I can see it from both points of view.

But what is the hold up in deciding a time for the summer term?

There could be all manner of reasons as to why someone can't make a particular time on a particular day, but to not even let them know when that time is going to be before they pay seems a bit unfair.

Malthusian

pollyanna24 wrote: »

To be honest, I can see it from both points of view.

But what is the hold up in deciding a time for the summer term?

Because securing facilities for any sports club is a pain in the backside. There may be other, bigger teams who use those particular facilities. It's quite possible they simply can't guarantee a particular time slot this far in advance.

I read in the Grauniad today about how the Sunderland women's football team are struggling to find facilities to train in after they had to stop using the men's training grounds to make way for the Sunderland youth teams. If a semi-pro senior side attached to one of the biggest men's clubs in the country can struggle to secure facilities, anyone can, let alone a kids' netball club.

When you deal with this kind of pain in the backside year in year out for free and the only thanks you get is complaints and refund demands from parents who aren't happy with it, the last thing you need is people trying to dictate their own special terms on behalf of a DD who isn't particularly interested in netball.

Maybe the OP should start his own pay-as-you-play netball club.