Day: August 23, 2014

High School

Question of the Day

I’m still new to rowing and I was wondering about regattas. How much does the busing and hotels or housing usually cost? I know my parents would help with paying but I’m scared that it might be to expensive for them.

I can’t tell you exactly because a) it’s different for every team and b) it’s almost always covered by whatever your fees are that you pay at the beginning of the season. I know the hotel rooms we got for 40ish people in Princeton, for example, were a few thousand dollars (on top of the $2k-ish we paid just to get there…) but that was all factored into the $500 in fees each kid paid at the beginning of the season. When I coached at BCHigh in Boston I think their fees were $1500/season or something like that. It really depends on the area you live in and your team. Where I’m from is a fairly solid middle-class area and the finances of the school, team, etc. reflect that, which is why our fees aren’t nearly as much as a more affluent area like Boston’s are.

One thing you should take advantage of though is fundraising opportunities, assuming your team has them. If you have the chance to lower the amount you have to pay by selling stuff to friends and family, do it. It’s basically free money.  If your team doesn’t do stuff like that then just have your parents talk with whoever handles the finances and see if you can work something out where you pay whatever the fees are over the course of the season instead of all at once.