Parents Another way to look at spectating

[BachFlyer]

Let me preface this post by saying that I LOVE being a gymnastics parent, because on the whole, I think we gym moms and dads have been trained very well and we are on average The Most Polite Parent-Spectators ever. I have gone to baseball and soccer games and sitting in the bleachers makes me embarrassed for the children of the many sideline-coaches. I find myself saying "shhhh" under my breath all of the time. Still, I LOVE this woman's take on our place as parents in the world of sports and I wanted to share:

http://momastery.com/blog/2014/03/10/how-to-watch-your-kids-game-without-being-a-jerk/

 

[cbifoja]

Personally, I hate going to gym meets and sitting near "that gym" whose parents choose to act like they are at the Super Bowl. I usually attend with my parents, who are getting on in years...one of them suffers from frequent migraines. Inevitably that parent has to leave because of the ridiculous noise level. I love cheering for our gym and the girls but to scream at the top of your lungs for every tumbling pass and every landing is just obnoxious. Does pride have to be at a thousand decibels????? I mean seriously....is this the first time in your life that you've seen your kid stick a landing??? Good lord, have some public awareness....... I think of gymnastics meet as having more decorum, like a tennis match - not like a hockey or football match where it is more acceptable to yell and scream.

 

[MaryA]

I can't read the article. I'm working out of a school today, so maybe it's one of their filters. But I do agree with cbifoja... I think it's great when the gymnasts cheer loudly for each other. I actually wish that the vibe out on the floor was more like at a college meet, with everybody running eagerly up to their teammates to congratulate them on a job well done. But in the stands? Come on... people are video taping. We're indoors. It's very close quarters. Other girls are competing on other apparatus. Applause and a "Yea, Suzie!" is fine. Loud screaming and carrying on... I mean, don't we already all leave the meets with a headache? I know I do!

 

[BachFlyer]

I agree with both of you. When I said polite, I guess I sort-of forgot all about the ridiculous "cheering" type screaming - I was thinking more about how most parents refrain from screaming stuff like "point your toes!", "run faster, you clod", "jump for gods sake, JUMP", or "swing.harder.now!!". Because I can't tell you how many games I've been to where parents are yelling so their kids can hear them (instead of mumbling under their breath)... "Where's your DEFENSE!!??!!!", "or "Look for the glove, the GLOVE" or "Are you gonna let that kid BEAT YOU?!" at other games!

 

[MaryA]

I agree with both of you. When I said polite, I guess I sort-of forgot all about the ridiculous "cheering" type screaming - I was thinking more about how most parents refrain from screaming stuff like "point your toes!", "run faster, you clod", "jump for gods sake, JUMP", or "swing.harder.now!!". Because I can't tell you how many games I've been to where parents are yelling so their kids can hear them (instead of mumbling under their breath)... "Where's your DEFENSE!!??!!!", "or "Look for the glove, the GLOVE" or "Are you gonna let that kid BEAT YOU?!" at other games!

Ugh. I have a gymnast and a dancer, so I can't even imagine...

 

[cbifoja]

I agree that we don't hear the coaching from the stands like you hear in other sports. Yes, that is definitely something positive that gymnastics has over soccer. I have to admit that when DD played goalie for soccer, I'd find myself yelling "get it, get it" when a ball was kicked toward the goal! But I'd never dream of yelling DD to "stay hollow" or whatever would be the right thing to say!

 

[gymdog]

Personally, I hate going to gym meets and sitting near "that gym" whose parents choose to act like they are at the Super Bowl. I usually attend with my parents, who are getting on in years...one of them suffers from frequent migraines. Inevitably that parent has to leave because of the ridiculous noise level. I love cheering for our gym and the girls but to scream at the top of your lungs for every tumbling pass and every landing is just obnoxious. Does pride have to be at a thousand decibels????? I mean seriously....is this the first time in your life that you've seen your kid stick a landing??? Good lord, have some public awareness....... I think of gymnastics meet as having more decorum, like a tennis match - not like a hockey or football match where it is more acceptable to yell and scream.

I agree. It's not appropriate for lower levels and younger ages. I think that the TEAM excitement and cheering is great for older girls, as MaryA described. But it can be overwhelming enough of a situation for the younger girls and I think they benefit more from more quiet and direct praise. You really don't know how all of those young child will react to sudden screaming, and I've heard it so loud that in a small gym, you could barely hear the floor music on the floor in a session of rookie kids who don't have a lot of meet experience. Some restraint is more respectful. Save it for coming to watch the level 10s, where the audience is usually much smaller anyways

 

[skschlag]

I guess I see it a bit different. You will hear our parents erupt when a kid hits a new skill for the first time. When our boys got the giants in meets, we let them hear we were proud. When a kid that has been struggling on pommel stays on and nails it, we cheer. Now, to the person not from our team, you may have NO idea why we are cheering, but to that kid, and our team, it is a HUGE deal.

 

[kandkfunk]

I was just thinking about this subject this morning. I can honestly say I've never heard of a parental brawl breaking out at a gymnastics competition. I definitely like that aspect of gymnastics viewing.

 

[skschlag]

ALthough at our state meet, there was a parent from one gym that stormed out mad at the judging and said she "just had to get out of here and cool off before I go after that judge." I was appalled, and kinda laughing that someone would get that worked up over judging.

 

[htimcj]

I guess I see it a bit different. You will hear our parents erupt when a kid hits a new skill for the first time. When our boys got the giants in meets, we let them hear we were proud. When a kid that has been struggling on pommel stays on and nails it, we cheer. Now, to the person not from our team, you may have NO idea why we are cheering, but to that kid, and our team, it is a HUGE deal.

Any time I am at a meet and hear loud cheering I just assume some one just made a skill for the first time or one that someone struggles on it. I always smile.

 

[cbifoja]

You all aren't fully understanding what I was describing in my post.

Imagine a BIG gym.....15 level 7s. And for all 15 gymnasts, this cheering occurred. For each tumbling pass...each one of all 15 girls. For every stuck BHS on beam...all 15. Every landing on beam. Every landing on bars. Each vault...both of them. For. All. 15. Gymnasts.

And I'm not talking a yay! go gymmie! style cheer. I'm talking a stand up and scream at the top of your lungs and not just one or two people but a crowd of between 10 and 15 parents. It was excrutiatingly loud and just very very obnoxious.

I seriously have no problem with cheering on a gymmie. And while I can't imagine a gymnast hitting a skill for the first time at a meet (not within my realm of experience), I do get cheering for a hit skill when a gymmie has really struggled with it. But this gym was so beyond that and I honestly felt sorry for the kids who were on beam when there kids were on floor. And I was doubly thankful that we weren't in the same flight as this group so that our girls never had to have that loud blast of noise every minute or so. It would have been similar to having a air horn go off every now and then,

 

[BachFlyer]

Imagine a BIG gym.....15 level 7s. And for all 15 gymnasts, this cheering occurred. For each tumbling pass...each one of all 15 girls. For every stuck BHS on beam...all 15. Every landing on beam. Every landing on bars. Each vault...both of them. For. All. 15. Gymnasts.

And I'm not talking a yay! go gymmie! style cheer. I'm talking a stand up and scream at the top of your lungs and not just one or two people but a crowd of between 10 and 15 parents. It was excrutiatingly loud and just very very obnoxious.

Uggh, I actually think I may have been at this meet(s), or the parents of this gym got lessons from the parents you describe! Except these people had signs, chants, and were actual standing up to DO the girls routines with them - and this was an upper level meet. This behavior qualifies as "not Polite" and "being a Jerk". It's one thing to be glad when your team does well, but it's another to be super in-your-face about it and so obnoxious about it that even the other gymnasts/parents are cringing and embarrassed for you.

The parts I liked most about the blog I linked to:

Please respect your kid’s courage. Be in AWE of her. Look at what she’s doing! She’s out there on a big field in front of screaming adult spectators trying something new and scary and taking huge public risks. Can you imagine the COURAGE that takes a child? Can you imagine how scary that would be for YOU? Have some reverence for every kid out there, especially yours. Don’t wait till she scores ten goals to be proud of her.

Consider displaying appreciation for the other team.... When trying to have compassion for both teams it’s helpful to remember that many of these players JUST GOT BORN during the past decade or so.

Ask your child how she’d like you to cheer for her. My son likes me to be really quiet on the sideline. Tish likes me to call out her name a few times per game, but not too much. Amma wants me to cheer for everyone throughout the entire game as loudly and often as humanly possible. One player on Craig’s team last year always wanted to play defense... he said he was “afraid to score” because he knew his very vocal dad would go crazy with loud pride and this kid was just too shy to handle that. He was afraid to tell his dad though, so he played beneath his ability all season.

 

[ollieblueeyes]

We compete against a gym like this and I totally get it and it's totally annoying. The team is rather young. Hoping when they get a little older the kids will ask the parents to tone it down a bit.

You all aren't fully understanding what I was describing in my post.

Imagine a BIG gym.....15 level 7s. And for all 15 gymnasts, this cheering occurred. For each tumbling pass...each one of all 15 girls. For every stuck BHS on beam...all 15. Every landing on beam. Every landing on bars. Each vault...both of them. For. All. 15. Gymnasts.

And I'm not talking a yay! go gymmie! style cheer. I'm talking a stand up and scream at the top of your lungs and not just one or two people but a crowd of between 10 and 15 parents. It was excrutiatingly loud and just very very obnoxious.

I seriously have no problem with cheering on a gymmie. And while I can't imagine a gymnast hitting a skill for the first time at a meet (not within my realm of experience), I do get cheering for a hit skill when a gymmie has really struggled with it. But this gym was so beyond that and I honestly felt sorry for the kids who were on beam when there kids were on floor. And I was doubly thankful that we weren't in the same flight as this group so that our girls never had to have that loud blast of noise every minute or so. It would have been similar to having a air horn go off every now and then,

gym

 

[sce]

Imagine a BIG gym.....15 level 7s. And for all 15 gymnasts, this cheering occurred. For each tumbling pass...each one of all 15 girls. For every stuck BHS on beam...all 15. Every landing on beam. Every landing on bars. Each vault...both of them. For. All. 15. Gymnasts.

And I'm not talking a yay! go gymmie! style cheer. I'm talking a stand up and scream at the top of your lungs and not just one or two people but a crowd of between 10 and 15 parents. It was excrutiatingly loud and just very very obnoxious.

That is extreme. I did not understand because I've never seen cheering to that extreme. I do like one point int eh article, about knowing how the child feels about the cheering. One boy form ds' gym feels yelling his name, shout outs to him etc put pressure on him. So we refrain doing that for him. We cheer when eh completes a routine but that's it. Ont he other hand, my ds likes shout-puts. So we buy them for him and for the team as a whole.