for 2012
A Parent's Guide to Surviving the Summer Swim Season
Fees & Finances
Unfortunately, competitive swimming can be one of the more expensive amateur sports for its participants. Unlike most other members of the League, we are a not affiliated with any Country Club or Civic Association. While this has its good and bad points, it's primary impact is on the way we must handle our finances. Everything the team does must be paid for by our members; as a result, we try to do things as economically as possible for you.
You may be interested in just where your money goes. In addition to the RCSL Swimmer Registration fee and paying our outstanding coaching staff, the team must pay for pool rental, trophies & awards, web site fees, Championship tent rental, banquet expenses, equipment & repairs, supplies, copies & duplicating, bank charges and postage & shipping from this fee.
Please remember that you may incur other expenses beyond the basic team fees, some of which are outlined on the 2012 Information Sheet or herein. Most of these are optional and are, therefore, not included in the basic fee so that you will only pay for those items you choose to purchase or the activities that you participate in.
We will again be using the team web site for electronic registration and fee collection. By using the web site, you will be able to avoid filling out the paper forms of the past and can pay your fees by credit card or electronic check. In addition, the information collected will be automatically updated to the team’s swimmer database and we will be able to use the web site for payment of other fees such as purchasing caps and t-shirts and paying for your banquet "tickets".
Team Registration Fees
The League has increased their registration fee by $5.00 this season. This is the first increase by the League in several years. To “soften the blow” of the increase, the League is allowing a $5.00 “discount” on the fee for all swimmers registered before the end of May. We intend to increase our fee by the $5.00 with an “Early Bird Discount” of $5.00 for all swimmers that complete their registration with us by Monday, May 27th.
In light of the continuing success of our team fund raisers, this will be the only change in our fees. For those who register by May 27th, the TOTAL FEE will be the same as the last several years’ fee (our last fee increase was for the 2004 season) – the fee for the first swimmer in a family is $170.00 with each additional swimmer costing another $140.00. Each swimmer that registers by May 27th may take the $5.00 “Early Bird Discount” off their fee. Our Online Registration System will be set up to automatically apply this discount through the deadline. We must have the athlete’s registration form, proof of birth date (if new to the team) and full registration fee paid in order to complete their registration with the League; if any of these items are missing at the deadline, we will be unable to claim the discount and your team "Early Bird" discount will be similarly cancelled.
Fees are due upon registering with the team and prior to participating in any meets. Refunds will be made only up to two (2) weeks after registration or our first practice, whichever shall come later. A pro rata portion of the Fee will be refunded based on the number of practices and/or meets in which the swimmer participated – the RCSL registration fee portion of the total fee cannot be refunded once a swimmer competes in a meet.
Fund Raisers
Each year we try to provide opportunities for the swimmers and their parents to participate in various fund raising activities to help keep our costs to our members down. Some things, such as Home Dual Meets, T-shirt and Racing Cap sales, etc. provide the team with a sense of unity and team spirit while raising a small amount to defray other costs.
Our major fund raiser is our “Swim-A-Long,” designed to allow the swimmers and/or their families to earn/raise money in the community to support our efforts. This event is usually scheduled in place of a practice in late June or early July and we try to have some fun with it in addition to recognizing our top fund raisers at the banquet.
Your input is always welcome and your participation is encouraged in any and all fund raisers we hold. If we fail to have adequate participation in these efforts, we have two choices – reducing expenses by cutting back on banquet awards, tent size at Championships, participant ribbons and other such items that benefit the kids or raising fees in coming seasons – neither of which we want to do. So please, when the fundraisers are presented, pitch in when and where you can.