High School Cheerleading Coaches

Non refundable only applies to if you back out of the deal. If the product, the camp, is no longer available for your daughter they must refund. Just stop talking to them and take them to small claims court

Keep copies of all communications with them. Document all conversations, date time and what was said.
File a claim in small claims court and let a judge sort it out.

We went through years of cheer and if I'd known about all the drama involved especially with coaches and cheer moms, I probably would have discouraged my daughter from being in cheer.

What I can say is that it was a learning experience for all of us and my daughter is more equipped now to deal with adversity than she ever was. In that regard, she excels eith dealing with people and learned a great deal through the adversity. So, something positive did come from the experience.

We went through hell when daughter was named varsity captain and a couple of moms/daughters thought they deserved captain. They made life hard fur daughter but she hung in there like a captain should and kept her cool.

As far as tryouts go... Coaches are not the judges and not a part of the tryout process. I do know coaches have some input because there was 1 girl who was a huge troublemaker and by law, they had to allow her to try out but strings were pulled for her to not make the squad. This was in 10th grade.

We were required to join a gym 11-12th grade as well as pay fur competition training separately.

No one who did not make the team trained with the team in any way. Anyone who didn't make the team and wanted further training were on their own.

Cheer is an expensive sport filled with drama and potential injuries.

Read everything you signed as far as the training and gym fees. If you paid by credit card, dispute the charge with your credit card company. There's no reason for nasty emails. That's unprofessional. Save the emails you have thus far for potential use in getting a refund and dealing with the school.

Our school district is pretty strict with rules for cheer. Are you in a school district or are yiu in competition cheer? School districts typically have more rules and regulations. Some cheer competition schools can be shady and only in it for the $$

Best wishes.

The whole process sounds like you're required to buy a pig in a poke with no guarantee your daughter would be accepted.
I don't know if it's typical but this group sounds shady and not very honorable.
It also sounds like a neat little way for them to pocket some extra funds.
I'm sorry your daughter feels hurt by this but this doesn't sound like a good group to be a part of.

Something's off about this. The high school can't charge a fee for something they won't allow your daughter to participate in. If joining a gym was a prerequisite for the camp, it will be in the paperwork you signed. A non-refundable deposit/fee is non-refundable if YOU back out, not if they rescind her acceptance and drop her for no reason or even if the camp is over-enrolled. I'd stop focusing on the hateful things, collect the emails and go to the district office or athletic director. There's something missing from this story. Be professional, collect the info, and go to whoever is the arbiter of the program, or to court. Don't talk to the coaches any further.

no experience whatsoever with the cheering world, and there may well be more to the story.
but the bare bones of it is that this unacceptable. if indeed you paid for the camp in full, never heard anything back and then found out you were dropped and there was to be no refund........well, if it were i, i'd be a hornet on steroids.
is this a school-sponsored thing?
if so i'd be drumming my fingers on desks all the way up to the superintendent.
if private, i'd be speaking to an attorney. i'm assuming you have all the documentation necessary?
i'd be okay with being out of pocket to make sure they never, ever did anything like that again.
IF there's not more to the story. i suspect there is.
khairete
S.

We have had our sports issues, however, not cheer. (see hist if you care to see the issue). I suggest you let them know that you are making your final attempt to respectfully request your full refund or you will be filing with the small claims court or perhaps Better Business Bureau?? Is this part of the school or a side business?

It sounds life you have asked enough and it is time to move forward with legal action.

I believe you get what you paid for and if THEY can't adhere to that, you get your money back. Camp and gym are two different things and I think you should go after them.

Your title says "High School Cheerleading Coaches," which implies they are the coaches at the high school. If that's the case, contact the principal. I don't normally advise parents go to the principal without at least talking to the teachers/coaches involved, but you've done that.

Your post actually makes it sound like this is a private organization and not school sponsored. In that case, talk to the owners of the camp, gym, whatever. There must be a company that is running the camp, hiring coaches, providing facilities, etc. Unless these "coaches" are just running their own camp out of their house or something.

Contact your credit card company and they will put through a chargeback. Since you didn't receive the services and YOU were not the ones who backed out I have not doubt they will get you your money. Don't see why you would continue to want to be involved with this group. This is exactly why you should pay for EVERYTHING by credit card.

Oh wow. This sounds like a scam. You need to get a lawyer involved. Did you pay with a check? (I'll bet you did.) Are they part of Better Business Bureau? Are they at all involved with the county? Talk to a lawyer. You need help with this.

Well, was joining the gym mandatory? Did you sign some kind of agreement?
I would go back and look at your paperwork.
That's the only way to know whether or not you have grounds to demand your money back.

This is outrageous! I would not let this go. Keep demanding a full refund.

I would be highly suspicious that the coaches have a direct, personal financial interest in the gym. While some HS programs require kids to join a gym (as someone noted below), if these coaches have a personal financial stake in the (outside? Not at school?) gym they require kids to join -- well, even IF that's allowed by the school system, which it may or may not be, it still smells.

If the gym was a requirement of attending the summer camp, they should have made that crystal clear, and they should have done so in writing. If the gym membership refusal meant your daughter would be ejected from camp, that also should have been said in writing up front. What did you sign to get her into camp? Did you read the fine print? I'd get out whatever you signed -- I sure hope you have a copy -- and review it. You may screwed, to be blunt. But it sounds as if these coaches have horrible communication skills at the least, and probably make a bundle by requiring gym memberships. If there was NO written contract, it's past time to blow the whistle on them to the school--it all should have been in writing.

I can't see why any reputable camp organization would drop a kid and not notify you of that. YOU had to contact THEM. Unprofessional. Even if i'ts your fault that you have to eat the money now (if there was fine print that you missed), this crew sounds shady. I would not want my kid further involved with this organization. Since this is part of the high school, I would write strong letters of complaint to whatever part of the school oversees this. Be wiling to admit it if you blew the details and be willing to suck up the loss of your money, BUT the coaches still were out of line not to communicate properly and in a timely manner.

Keep and print out all their nasty e-mails. That's documentation of their attitude. I'd give them all to the school. Again, be willing to say if you were wrong about money issues, but these people need to be called out on how badly they represent the SCHOOL with their nasty language that they're dumb enough to put into writing and send to you.

If it were me I'd find a way to go over their heads. Start a media blitz if that doesn't work. Post everything all over Facebook and get people on your side. Find a way to put pressure on the school administration. If they did this to you then they've done it to others. They took that check and cashed it and kept the money. That's fraud.

If she had no skills in tumbling she should have not been invited if they didn't think she had potential. It's all about the money.

If she's not even currently taking tumbling on a regular basis and has good skills in it then she is probably pretty far behind the others. Not to be mean but they might have figured that you weren't really all that interested. Taking tumbling is required and they need it whether or not they make the team. You can't really get on any cheer squad without a strong tumbling background, not a good squad anyway.

She's not a prospective candidate, probably never was. They played you to get the money. They probably have a contract with the gym to send the kids there and when you didn't play along they dropped you and her because no profit for the gym. Plus they figured if you guys were serious about this you'd want her to have the skills she needs to even be considered. Tumbling is a necessary part of cheer.

If she has any hopes of making the team she should be in tumbling at least a couple of hours per week. Find a rec cheer squad and even if she's on the second or third squad she will still gain important skills that will help her throughout life.

Doing gymnastics and tumbling strengthen the core and those muscles grow in different ways.

Muscle memory is a huge part of tumbling and the tricks need to be practiced and practiced and practiced. Even when they're out doing fulls on the floor and Arabians and more they still need to do the basic back handsprings and whips and back handspring kick outs. They have to do the basics plus the more skilled things.

My 11 year old has her full on the springboard floor and she's starting to think about trying the Arabian. But there is a lot of things in between. She performs with another girl in shows a double cartwheel where they are grasping each other's legs and flipping cartwheels over and over.

My 8 year old is about to get his layouts really good. He's not far behind the 11 year old.

Can you see my point? What tumbling skills does your child have? Does she have any? If she doesn't then she isn't going to make a squad that's any good.

So the tumbling is where you need to spend your money. Okay? I really really don't mean to be mean, not at all, but you don't sound like you know much about this. She needs to go in next year and kick butt and she only has a year to learn all the tumbling and get the trick as good as the other kids.

I'd stay away from this gym if they're in cahoots with the cheer coaches. Find another place. I'd also consider a rec cheer team. She will learn more about the whole cheer process doing that anyway.

Cheer is dancing to music, precision movements, and tumbling. Chances are if they aren't proficient at tumbling the rest won't be up to par either.

As for the camp, go for it, go to the admin office and raise a stink. Take copies of the emails. Tell them you paid money and THEY decided to drop your child. THEY bought her gear and paid for her room then THEY wouldn't let her go. IF someone used that room then they stole that money to pay someone else's way.

Tell the admin office you've talked to an attorney and you might want to do that too. If you have a legal leg to stand on then you will have a lot more confidence in this presentation and request for a full refund immediately. If they even offer a partial tell them you are prepared to go to court and the attorney feels you have grounds for psychological damages since they have been so nasty.

They are at fault here. THEY invited her, THEY took your money, THEY decided to kick her out, THEY decided to buy the gear and pay the room, THEY probably put some friend in it and gave them a free trip to camp.

I am finding more and more thieves in this world than I ever thought possible.

Put photos of messages, emails, etc... on FB and ask people what they think, ask them to share your posts and ask their friends. Name the school, the people, the problems you've had, if there is anything in writing about the camp they gave you like a flier show that so you can prove they gave you something. Humiliate them and make their bosses question their very existence in this program next year.