WAG Doing numbers and small vs. big meets

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Muddlethru

Proud Parent
I am now member of the board of our parents' association as well as the appointed liaison between parents and coaches. Before I approach the coaches and/or before our board comes to a decision, I was hoping to get your insight first.

1) the mothers are concerned our beam coach (really has no gymnastics or even dance experience, but is a hard worker) is having the girls do excessive numbers. At one point I started a thread awhile ago wherein this beam coach was having the girls do 50 back tucks on beam, 50 switch splits, 50 series etc. The general consensus I got from the responses here was it was too much. So, I did approach the HC and brought it to his attention. So, that changed. She no longer does those crazy numbers on those skills. However, today a mother approached me and said she was having the girls do 100 split jumps on beam. I asked my daughter about it and she confirmed it has sometimes gone up to 150 and the Level 7s according to her has reached 200. I think it is ridiculous, but I could be wrong. I however think this coach is moody and sometimes if she is in a bad mood she takes it out on the girls to do more and more numbers. She gets punitive and unreasonable when she is in a bad mood. I was also told the progression on getting skills is problematic. Another mother told me her daughter was training a switch split back tuck on beam with panel mats up to the beam and was told to do it without panel mats at competition level the very next day. The gymnast did it, fell and sprained her ankle. Are these worth bringing up to the HC? Perhaps 150-200 split jumps on the floor is ok but is it problematic on beam? I don't feel like bringing this up to the coaches unless it is truly unreasonable.

2) The gymnasts of the past two presidents of our board have since graduated. The board is now composed of parents in our L7 and new L8 group. They put together our meet schedule and present it to our HC for approval. I am new to this board and start my service the beginning of Sept. We have about 7 Level 10s this year. Two mothers approached me they are not happy that our only fly away meet (we usually have 3 but this year only one, which is fine with me but it is a distance away) had only two girls compete Level 10 last year. We've always tended to go to bigger meets with a good number of L10s but I see the appeal of small meets. It can be more relaxed and likely to take home a trophy. But I am not sure how I feel about flying half way across the country (spending over $1,000) to compete amongst ourselves. Then again, who also wants to fly clear across the country and spend over $1,000 to potentially get annihilated? Thoughts?
 
1) Beam coach needs dealt with - def bring it up to HC. Numbers and progressions are both a problem.
2) Just because L10 isn't represented as well in the association, doesn't mean that their needs should be disregarded. If you can't find a larger meet for everyone to travel to so they can get good competition, would it be possible to send JUST L9/L10 to a couple of other travel meets that will allow them to actually have some competition?

Good luck as you work through this!
 
Here are my thoughts.

1. I would approach the issues with the beam coach as a parent and not as a board. *are you a 501c3? Technically, if you are, you should be more separate from the gym. So IMO, i would deal with this as a concern just as a parent. I have been on our board for 3 years now, and we do not tackle coaching issues as a board at all.

2. I do not like traveling to meets to compete against just our team, or for that matter, teams we see in our state. When we travel it is to see other competition, and to grow from it. we tend to travel to meets that will have competition, not easy meets.

Good luck! tough position to take on :)
 
Here are my thoughts.

1. I would approach the issues with the beam coach as a parent and not as a board. *are you a 501c3? Technically, if you are, you should be more separate from the gym. So IMO, i would deal with this as a concern just as a parent. I have been on our board for 3 years now, and we do not tackle coaching issues as a board at all.

2. I do not like traveling to meets to compete against just our team, or for that matter, teams we see in our state. When we travel it is to see other competition, and to grow from it. we tend to travel to meets that will have competition, not easy meets.

Good luck! tough position to take on :)

At our former gym, booster and gym was separate. That is why I was surprised that the parent's association in our current gym puts the meets together. Our coaches are not the most experienced and parent's association is about 4 years old. And yes, we are a 501C3. I think there is a stronger tie between the coaches (not gym owner or gym really) to the association because they are fairly new to the game and rely on us for assistance.

I like your answer to number 2. I will keep that in mind.
 
yeah our board has NO say in meets. None. coaches/owners do that. We do ask that the boys and girls not be out of state at the same time, but that is just a request. They do not always listen to it.

In our state, there is no way we could be that linked. It woudl be a violation of non-profit status...
 
Our board is 501c and has absolutely no say in meets...I honestly would think it would be crazy if we did. We aren't the coaches. Not bashing your situation; I find your situation very different. Good luck, and ooh boy...not sure about that beam coach.
 
as a mom that drove 14 hours each way for a "great nationally known meet" that had us competing against ourselves and 1 other gym (at our level) and DS's part of the meet being canceled, please make sure if it is a travel meet that it truly is a well run and well attended meet for all levels going.
 
For us, our fly away meet is looked at as a chance to get some national exposure and for the guys who are aiming to qualify to nationals to see what the competition is doing. I would not be at all happy with going to a fly away meet that didn't have more competition than what we see in our own region.
 
Another vote for keeping the parent organization and the gym separate. You don't want to jeopardize your 501(c)(3) status.

The beam issue needs to be brought to a coach from a concerned parent NOT the parent org. Meets should be up to the coaches. Letting a few parents have a say could open up a can of worms. I guess the parent org could have some suggestions if the coaches are looking for someone to do the legwork, but then have the coaches make the decision.
 
While it's always nice to win a trophy, and have fun ... Can you find some closer, local meets to do that, and save the travel meet for the big competition. Travel meets really should be to see what competition is out there.
 
We have no PTA or anything.....owner does not want to deal with is entity. (Nor do I) But there is a good group of parents that organize for helping out, and fundraising etc......it's all handled through the gym.....
Parents have zero say in meets.....this years optional meets are all BIG meets......the closest meet is a 4hr car ride, the rest are all flights away....some team members will have to go with friends to make it more affordable. If you cannot make a meet, it is on a case by case basis, but everyone on the team is expected to be there.......this is understood when joining the Optional team.
 
Thank you to those that responded. I had my thoughts on all these but wanted validation. Since I also will be new on the board I wanted to pick and choose my battles. Our board "recommends" a meet schedule. The HC looks it over and approves it. Now, I don't think the HC researches the meets. So perhaps I will bring the fly away meet to his attention. Not sure if I'll approach him about the numbers yet.
 
Those numbers are way outside the norm of anything I've ever seen or experienced. Seems like a recipe for injury to me. I'm not sure how you even physically do 150 split jumps?? This cannot be productive!! :confused:
 
Those numbers are way outside the norm of anything I've ever seen or experienced. Seems like a recipe for injury to me. I'm not sure how you even physically do 150 split jumps?? This cannot be productive!! :confused:

I agree. That is why I had to speak with my daughter (mothers may exaggerate). She confirmed the numbers. I asked her do they actually do 150? She said yes. They do what they are told. She further elaborated that one day it used up almost their entire rotation in beam doing the jumps because the coach kept on adding 50 if they even missed doing a split jump that did not hit 180. I'd like to bring this up to the HC but I seem to be the only one willing to confront him. Everyone is afraid.
 
Regarding meets, I know that the optionals at DD's gym go to a few large travel meets a season so that our 10's can compete against girls they may see again at Regionals (see where their routines place in comparison to other regional gyms). I have also heard that at some of the larger meets, that there may be college coaches observing. I remember hearing from one of our level 10 moms that there were college coaches present at Circle of Stars this past year. So I can understand why your moms would want their kids at the larger meets.
 
I agree. That is why I had to speak with my daughter (mothers may exaggerate). She confirmed the numbers. I asked her do they actually do 150? She said yes. They do what they are told. She further elaborated that one day it used up almost their entire rotation in beam doing the jumps because the coach kept on adding 50 if they even missed doing a split jump that did not hit 180. I'd like to bring this up to the HC but I seem to be the only one willing to confront him. Everyone is afraid.
Wow....this is not a good scenario for anyone. I can't believe that the HC witnesses this type of coaching and allows it to continue. Sounds like she is in dire need of some professional development.
 
Doing those kinds of numbers on beam is just asking for ankle and knee problems. I think you and others should speak up. It's shameful for those who've been there a while to expect you as a new board member to do it alone.
 
I would not be happy about paying to fly to a meet to primarily compete against girls from my own gym. I wouldn't even be happy to drive much more than 1-2 hours to compete against girls from my own gym.

Unfortunately, last year, even at L7, my dd's age group (12/13) pretty much competed against her own teammates at the meets we went to, until she got to states. Luckily they were all pretty local meets, but it wasn't much fun for that group.
 
Wow....this is not a good scenario for anyone. I can't believe that the HC witnesses this type of coaching and allows it to continue. Sounds like she is in dire need of some professional development.

HC does not watch beam. That is why I think he may not know. They do rotations. So while some girls are on beam with this coach, some are on bars with the HC. So, I think he may not be aware. We've already had some confrontations (which I might have not handled properly or delicately) in the past which was not well received. So I have to be strategic. I spoke with my daughter and she said, this happened about three times. I asked her if she thought I should bring it up. She seemed to agree but indicated that I should perhaps wait until it happens again and then bring it up then. I really prefer not to stir the pot too much.
 
Doing those kinds of numbers on beam is just asking for ankle and knee problems. I think you and others should speak up. It's shameful for those who've been there a while to expect you as a new board member to do it alone.

I think they want me to speak up for two reasons 1) I've already done it in the past and 2) while they feel the numbers are high, I think they are not certain it is a bad thing either. They know I do quite a bit of research on things. So I think they are banking on what they think I know (which is really not much. So I do post these questions here).
 

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