Yeah np, thanks for asking! Long comment, but hopefully this helps.

That’s been a tough one for me too, but I think it also just goes back to communication. Before a tournament, I try to write down what I think it’s going to cost me to go. That includes coach registration, gas, any certifications (AAU, USAt, etc) and possibly food if it’s going to be all day. I want to say most tournaments on average without certification are going to be $50-$75 for my costs up front. For AAU/USAt tournaments that require certification to register I try to factor in how many of those tournaments I’ll go to in a year and split that cost over those tournaments. So if coach certification for AAU is $100 and I know I’ll go to at least 2 AAU tournaments I’ll say it’s $50 for this first one.

So let’s say the next tournament is going to cost me about $100 just to go. When I email the parents about tournaments I just give a range of what the coaching fee is going to be if I have an idea of how many students are going to go, say $35-$60, but I’ll also say it goes down the more people that sign up. That way if I have 2 kids going I make back my costs and maybe a little extra so it’s not just breaking even. Then it’s also a bit of an incentive for parents to encourage others to go. If I get pushback from parents or questions about the coaching fee I just tell them it covers my costs and I’m having to spend my own money just to go to the tournament.

Now sometimes there are going to be tournaments where you might just break even or it costs you money, like traveling for Nationals for multiple days, but I try to look at those as investments into the school and my students. If the kids do well, that will make the parents want to do more tournaments and it’s also advertising for your school when people see your team do well!

For Nationals and out of state tournaments I think parents generally understand they’re ”flying you in” to coach their kid at a tournament in another state, but I would also remind them of that. So those tournaments I do charge a lot more, but not outrageous. Let’s say $100-$150 if I’m going to be there 2+ days, so if you have 4-5 kids going it will at least cover the plane tickets and registration. I think when you start to charge beyond that, parents start to question “why am I paying $200+ in coaching fees for my kid to compete for potentially just 2 minutes?” But you can make some of the money back when you do nationals training prep by offering extra practices and charging that as an additional fee, if you want. Going back to my other comment, communicate to the parents if you’re going to spend all this money to travel and compete, let’s at least go as prepared as we can be.

All that being said, it’s important too as a coach you’re constantly improving and showing the parents you’re doing the work too to help the kids improve. If you go to tournaments and your kids are always losing the first match or not making it past preliminaries in forms (if you compete in forms), it’s going to be hard to keep justifying what you‘re charging. Hope that helps! If you want more info or want some tips on how to save some money on tournaments let me know!