Transport charges for Sports teams

Dear Parents, 

The selection for different sports teams is in process and soon the coaching will begin. In case your child is selected for any team, they will need to travel to tournaments outside the school. The tournaments that the different teams participate in are shown in the table below along with the (approximate) number of days of the tournament. Some tournaments wrap up in a day, some get rescheduled or extend over multiple days.

In our experience so far they have been conducted at the maximum over the days shown in the table below. This is of course if the team keeps winning and going ahead. 

The transport charges for a trip to and from the venue for the entire team will be shared with the parents once the date of the tournament and the venue becomes known, since these are calculated based on the distance. These charges are calculated per person and per trip. As mentioned, the school is not charging for extra coaching / equipment / logistics / administrative work. 

Transport charges are assuming a full - sized team. Transport is not economically viable when there are lesser participants representing the school, so transport will not be available in these cases. In case of individual sports as well, transport will not be coordinated by the school. Parents will have to make their own arrangements, to and from the venue. 

The payment has to be made as specified in the instructions shared with you for that tournament. Do note that this is only if you wish for your child to be a part of the interschool sports teams. It is not compulsory. 

It is possible that a certain tournament will take fewer or more days. It is possible that transport charges change or registration charges change. We will calculate that as we go along with these events and then refund the excess or communicate the difference for payment. 

We have not written about the CBSE tournaments here because those keep changing in their pattern / location / dates and it is hard to make any kind of guess for those.

Here are some questions that may come up in your minds that we are anticipating (and we have been asked by parents before) and therefore answering

1. I do not want to pay this amount at all. Can my child still participate in the tournament?
   No. 

2. Why is the school charging for this? We are already paying fees which include sports.
   Fees cover daily sports in the school. The student will continue to play that. These charges are for travel for out of school tournaments and registration fees for those. 

3. If I pay the amount and then my kid decides to drop out of the team, do I get a refund?
   No. This is non refundable.

4. If I pay the amount and then my kid does not go for a tournament on a certain day, do I get a refund?
   No. This is non refundable. 

5. If I drop my kid to the tournament then do I get a refund for that trip?
   No. We are distributing the cost over the entire team. So every team member will have to contribute. Only if parents are managing transportation for ALL students in the team  then we do not have to arrange for transportation at all, then that cost will not be incurred at all and adjusted in the final calculation.

6. The school should pay for this because the students are playing for the school.
   Thank you for these thoughts! We will think about this and whether we should try to factor that into the fees for all the students. If that does happen, we will let you know. But for now, we are not planning to charge the whole school for the expenses of a select few in a team. 

7. But - some schools send their buses and do not charge. So why not Walnut?
   We do not know the detailed working of these schools and which events they cover, what all they offer and which events they charge for. But do note that there are many factors of comparison that we can sit and hash out between all other schools and Walnut. Each school runs on its own philosophy. Also Walnut School does not have its own buses and has to rent them from external resources for such occasions. External events are not covered in our fees. We hope that it is noted that there is a lot of extra work that goes into participating in these events from the school staff. Lots of paperwork, processes, running around, coaching, equipment etc. Dedicated staff is needed even on the days of the events to be with the teams. All that the school is doing for the students anyway.

8. Will you show us the bills of all the expenses?

   The school is not looking at this as an income source. We ask you to think about this and go ahead only if there is a basic level of trust.