Parents Cancelled Practice

[Sasha]

If coach is sick/vacation (rare), then we usually have a sub. We did have an alternate day offered once when there was an actual full-class cancellation.

There have been shortened practices, however, for some administrative reasons (coaches trainings, gym maintenance, etc.), with no make-up offered. I am kinda annoyed by those, to be honest, since my DD only goes 3 days/week currently. For example, classes might end at 6pm instead of 8pm one week, so DD ends up missing 6 hours that week with no makeup offered.

This hasn't been too frequent, but still.... that feels like a lot. If it was one hour here or there, I would be less annoyed.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Not sure many of you have to deal with this very often, but I thought I would ask.

If your gym cancels practice (or just your "team" that you are on), do you get a refund/prorate?

no. it all balances out over the course of a year.

 

[skschlag]

no. it all balances out over the course of a year.

can you explain? I pay for 5 days a week all year long. We still pay over Christmas Break and thanksgiving. We pay for all holidays, snow days, heat days, flood days (yes we had those). I just want to understand how it all works.

 

[heatherncastro]

I hope we get a really good boys coach .. Soon .

 

[heatherncastro]

One that will show up to practice .

 

[Deleted member D3987]

because most of us build in the annual cost that you don't pay for those days. and it's still 4 or 5 bucks an hour. daycare isn't even close. even babysitting costs more than what we charge for team.

if we charged for each and every day that they were actually in the gym, we'd make more money.

 

[skschlag]

dunno-
I see that. We have at least 10 days that are built in to the calendar. They are holidays that we are off every year, and pay for. But when practice is cancelled with one day notice, and cancelled for more than one day, it is very frustrating. I have paid my dues...rec prices, pre team, compulsary. And at all those levels, he could make up a day that was missed for any reason. But now, at a level when he needs to be in there working out regularly, he can't.

I realize I am just frustrated and venting. sigh.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i realize that too.

 

[skschlag]

i realize that too.

Thanks for understanding. This was an easy thing to deal with.....it has been a rough year.

 

[curlymop]

Really? So you pay even if the coach decides not to hold practice.

I think I am having a very hard time with that. I run a preschool, and if I have to close the preschool for any reason, the parents don't pay. (snow days/flood days/etc).

Wow, I've never heard of a preschool that does that! All of the preschools my kids have attended (church affiliated, though not sure if it makes a difference) have followed the local public school closings. Several years ago, we missed the first two weeks of February due to snow. Public school ended up extending the school year into the first week of July, but preschool only added one day that was previously scheduled as a teacher work day. No refunds.

For gym, we've only had one practice cancelled due to snow this year, and there was no make-up. If it were due to the coach being unavailable, and especially if it happened more than once, I would have expected a make-up class. Right now my son only practices 2 days a week. If we miss a couple of practices, suddenly it's been a week and a half since he's been in the gym.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

My kids go so many hours, if practice was cancelled, I think I would celebrate.

We try to make sure we have a replacement coach. Sometimes, we have done make ups, especially if it is the coaches fault that we have to cancel. My kids have Saturday practice, and during meet season, they miss a lot of Saturday's. We have never even thought that we need make ups for those days.

 

[profmom]

I think it's often a totally different dynamic with optionals, both because practice is so frequent that missing one here and there doesn't feel as frustrating and because an extra coach who can just step right in there and spot some guys doing pbars dismounts isn't just going to pop up out of a bush somewhere. But the scenario of finding out Monday that Saturday's practice is shortened or cancelled because Coach A has to be at a meet is really different from finding out Wednesday that Thursday's practice is cancelled because Coach B has Clark Kent duties (or there's no explicit or implied explanation at all). And I don't know about you, Skschlag, but at this time of year, DS even begrudges cancelled open gyms. His head would explode if I told him today that there's no regular practice tomorrow.

 

[Ex member]

can you explain? I pay for 5 days a week all year long. We still pay over Christmas Break and thanksgiving. We pay for all holidays, snow days, heat days, flood days (yes we had those). I just want to understand how it all works.

At the gym my dd's go to, we pay by direct debit on the same date every month no matter how many weeks there are in the month. This question was brought up by another parent a few days ago when the coach was telling her thaat one of their staurdays might be cancelled (they only train once a week on a saturday) due to a competition being held at the gym (which they can take part in), the parent said that we have paid for the class in advance and they were paying for nothing, the answer given was no refunds due to the fact that the direct debit is set up in such a way that it works out you get up to 11 free weeks so if classes needs to be cancelled occasionly then no money is lost. The gym only closes 2 weeks for Christmas and 1 week in the summer for maintance, so that still leaves 8 weeks of sessions being provided for free.

 

[wallflower]

Never had a make-up and have not had practice A LOT of times. Pretty much every time the coaches travel to a meet and it's one we don't go to (like 9/10 regionals, nationals) practice is cancelled for Thu, Fri and Sat. There just aren't enough coaches left behind to have practice. I understand and just enjoy those days off.

 

[skschlag]

I guess I don't like paying for a service I am not receiving. I pay a lot of money each month, for few hours (compared to other gyms). I expect to have those few hours honored, not cut. And, this is not a huge deal for me, but could be for others, I plan my work around his schedule. When it changes last minute like this, I now have to add another expense of somewhere for him to go. Other parents have to scramble to find a babysitter or after school care as they plan their work day around gym as well. Now they have to pay the gym for gymnastics that isn't happening and pay someone to watch their kids during the time that they were supposed to be at the already paid for gymnastics.

I suppose I will deal with it. I see what most of you are saying. Doesn't make it right to collect money for a service not being provided, IMO

 

[ollieblueeyes]

In the team handbook it is outlined that the tuition is based on a 50 week year and that is done to account for the occasional closing. There would be no makeups for team girls. Its what I agreed to when I signed up for team.

Our team cancels/shortens practices for meets on a regular basis to accommodate early start times or travel of the athletes. They do not cancel due to coaches not being available. In the 3 years we have attended they have cancelled due to building maint. one time and have never closed due to a sick coach. I expect the gym to have a contingency plan in place for normal day-to-day business events (coaches ill, coach vaca etc.). If they were cancelling due to these types of things, I would question the no credit/makeup policy. This year, there was a lot of snow days this year and they actually did schedule make-ups even though they were not required.

I think its how the gym is being managed. My gym does a very good job of making sure they are able to take care of business. I would not support the policy if they were not.

 

[rjb123]

We had this happen this winter for an issue beyond anyone's control at our gym. The gym had to be closed for around a week ish. The optional girls were in their competition season, so the HC worked out practice times at surrounding gyms. The compulsory girls had make up training on their regular days off (ie Sundays). Most chose to skip it, but DD went after church and found them to be VERY good - few kids in her group showed, lots of individual coaching etc. Other than this though, I can't think of a time when practice has been cancelled.

 

[rjb123]

Oh I just remembered we had a few snow cancellations this year too. HC scheduled make ups on Sundays/ days off for those too. She also sent an email to the girls (on the snow days) telling them to do their homework, rest and (ha ha) don't forget to work at least an hour of conditioning in. LOL!
I really do like her a lot.

 

[wnl256]

If your gym cancels practice (or just your "team" that you are on), do you get a refund/prorate?

No. The monthly rate is what it is. Usually, canceled practices are made up elsewhere in the schedule, but not always. The gym rationalizes this by saying that we don't get charged more for the months when there are more practices (i.e.: February costs the same as March).

 

[Jenny]

No. The monthly rate is what it is. Usually, canceled practices are made up elsewhere in the schedule, but not always. The gym rationalizes this by saying that we don't get charged more for the months when there are more practices (i.e.: February costs the same as March).

OT but OMG I love your avatar. I could look at those gorgeous straight legs all day long! wow.