Saving pennies

By Alan Tapley

Editor’s note:  Alan Tapley is the parent of two female swimmers, ages twelve and fourteen.  Over the past eight years he has been with them at hundreds of meets and practices.  He has had countless conversations with swimmers about what they would like the public to know about their pursuit of this grueling sport.

Nothing drains the pocket book like club swimming.  It’s a continuous fee followed by an ongoing expense.  Many families cut costs by volunteering time, forgoing travel meets, or buying used technical suits.  But the bills keep coming.  Monthly fees, torn suits, lessons, meet expenses, hotels, airfare, the list never ends.  Add a half second at a meaningless early November meet at your local pool and you can live with it.  Add a half second at a big travel meet that included hotel, airfare for two or more, a new technical suit, and rental car, and you feel terrible.  But as a swim dad that sees thousands go to the cost of my children swimming, I almost pulled off the impossible.  The perfect meet.  The event was Winter Junior Nationals, the location was College Station, Texas.  The home of Texas A&M.

Airfare – While nothing is free, my wife travels so often for business that our family had just enough miles to book a round trip ticket to Houston for my daughter and I, all paid for by points.  The plane trip from Houston to College Station would have cost a bit more, but it was suggested that to drive that distance, if you have the time, was just as convenient.  So technically, the whole flight was covered.

Car rental – The rental car was paid for by points as well.  I had to open up a gold card with the rental car company at no cost, then my wife was able to transfer her points to my account.  Sure, I had to pay for gas and there is always some kind of tax or fee as well, but basically it was free.  It wasn’t a Porsche, but it was still free.

Hotel – We lucked out on this one.  With only four members of the team going to Juniors, we weren’t obligated to pay for the hotel through our team and thus, could try to book it ourselves.  The team was nice enough to reserve a room for us, and it just happened to be the same hotel chain that my wife often stays at.  With a little convincing after a talk with the hotel manager, the room was paid for using hotel points.  And although my daughter never takes advantage of it, I think breakfast was included.

This all sounds pretty easy, but understand that most of this is based on pure luck and timing.  If our airline didn’t have flights to Houston, or we had used up any travel points at the last meet or vacation, we would have had to pay.  If the rental company wouldn’t let my wife transfer points to me, we would have had to pay.  If the hotel had to be a specific one, we would have had to pay.  Honestly, the stars were aligning.

Technical suit – Now, I have no idea whether a sponsor provides free stuff at large meets, or the team decides to outfit their own swimmers?  But we ended up with a free technical suit, swim bag, warm up suit, and warm up swim suit.  It wasn’t the most expensive technical suit, but it had comfort straps, came in black, and was the right size.  My daughter would have preferred the $450 version, but hey, free is free.  It was new, and let’s be realistic, she was only swimming two events and maybe a time trial.

Okay, look.  I know that we’ll fork out plenty in Entry Fees, Starbucks, lunches and dinners.  There’s usually a charge for coach’s expenses and time trials.  We’d stock up on bottled water, snacks for the meet, and energy drinks.  We’d buy a tank top, t shirt, and hoodie as souvenirs.  We’ll probably end up going to a movie on an off day, buying a pair of goggles when one snaps, and forget something important like Advil or shaving cream.  But after all the years of draining our bank account, I’m calling this meet basically a freebee.  And believe me, there’s a huge difference between enjoying the journey of a young swimmer when it doesn’t cost three grand