BEWARE! Airborne's new owner are unethical and dishonest, in our experience. Immediate termination of my level 10 athlete, a six year veteran of an Airborne's competitive team, from the team/gym within 24 hours and two emails while gaslighting the situation with false accusation: unfathomable. We had (still have) never met or even spoken to the new owners. Their primary reason after I debunked numerous false accusations, was because I refused to purchase a competition leotard through them. Here's the kicker, they already OK'd the parents to select and purchase the leotards directly without them. I personally requested and received permission via email from a Director at Airborne with at least one of the owner's acknowledgement to inquire about wholesale pricing and to purchase the competition leotards directly. Since I had been ordering gear for the team for several years, I directly contacted the leotard rep and was able obtain wholesale pricing, without use of a booster club, put design options together, and secured sizers upon Airborne's approval of design. Parents were also granted permission by Airborne to use practice time to size the girls.
Apparently Airborne planned to use the sizers I secured to place the order directly and (surprise!) upcharge all parents with no communication at all. I heard this through the grapevine during the designated practice for parents to size the girls (our family was in crisis mode so I wasn't able to be at the gym). I did the work to design and secure great pricing for the team, with permission from Airborne, for the team's benefit, and then they underhandedly swooped in to charge the team without even the courtesy of asking if they could use the sizers I secured. This felt very deceptive and manipulative.
It gets worse than just charging me for the work I did. My first communication I had with Airborne owner's was when I sent an email to them per directors/head coach suggestion explaining the history, their previous approval, and the work I put into it. Their following emails had numerous conflicting statements as well several false accusations towards me, such as I used an old booster club to obtain wholesale pricing (another company also offered wholesale pricing to us as parents) and that I never did the ordering for the team. They continued to knowingly falsely tell parents that I unethically used an old booster club to obtain wholesales even after they were told that I had written proof to the contrary. One would expect people who work with children to promote ethics, integrity, and communication. Airborne's behavior is unacceptable for any business, but especially for those entrusted with children and teens. I had kept the Director/Head Coach abreast of how pricing was obtained and every step I was taking via text. I openly and transparently communicated, truthfully, in good faith. Once the booster club accusation was debunked the owner's told others that I sent excessively negative emails but neglected to mention that my emails were in response to their false accusations. Of course I was frustrated and could have had less harsh emails rather than responding to them in the same manner they were treating me.
My daughter had completely trusted and had had a close relationship with the head coach. His actions, or lack thereof, caused her to lose her great love for the sport and caused damage with trusting another coach in a different sport. All the correspondence is in writing. Please feel free to contact me on this matter at
protect.our.child.athletes@gmail.com. I will do everything I can to keep this from happening to another child/teenager.
Oh and btw, booster clubs are for the benefit of the athletes, not a pro-profit business (don't get bullied into pay-for-play, it's illegal). You can find more information on this at https://usagym.org/PDFs/Member%20Services/webinars/dec14.pdf read more