Parents cheering at events, what is acceptable

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TeamDad

Do you feel that there is a difference between supporting and cheering for your team and cheering in unison that is sooo loud that it disrupts the other athletes doing their rotations?

I've been at a couple of meets where one teams parents and supporters would be so loud that I felt that it was just over the top. It made me wonder what they had in their thermoses;) To me, it seems an unfair advantage. Their girls are able to concentrate while performing, and everyone else has to try and block out the huge outbursts and screams. I remember asking DD if it affected her routines, she said that she could definitely hear them. All I could do is shake my head, can anyone really be so clueless to all the other parents looking at them in disbelief, or could there be malicious intent?
 
I too have witnessed crazy loud fans. My dd was on beam and right in front of her were about 60 fans of one team cheering/screaming/top of their lungs yelling for their kids on vault (which was behind beam) I thought my dd was going get knocked off the beam by the vibration of their voices.

Considerate cheering for your team is perfectly acceptable. Just not the insanely, loud and out of hand cheering.
 
I had to laugh out loud at the title because my DD asked if I was going to cheer for her, so I went all out and was screaming and waving my arms and she looks at me and was like "Please don't do that, mama, you will embarrass me." :D

Seriously though, I think that they should remind people that they aren't at a football game or rock concert, they are at a gymnastics meet. By all means, cheer for your girls, but be reasonable. I know at first they really do have to learn to filter out sooo much (floor music, etc) and having to filter out over the top screams is ridiculous.

Maybe it was a plan, maybe they scream like that at their DDs practice to get them used to it. (kidding)
 
mariposamama, you just made me laugh. I like to think that I'm to old to get embarrassed but.....at this years states, as our daughter was getting ready to start her floor routine, my wife stands up on her chair and yells out "That's my little champion":eek:

I wanted to hide:D, but after two months of taking DD to physical therapy and kinesiology, we still didn't know if she was going to be able to be ready to compete and I think my wife just needed a little release. After the competition, she couldn't hold back the tears of joy
 
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Parents need to use their "inside" voices:) Most of the meets are in confined spaces and it can get quite loud if a bunch of parents are screaming their lungs out. I would say get it all out during march in. Some clapping for each girl on the team and/or "go ___" is totally appropriate. Shreaks and alot of screaming is not.
Acutally, my gymmie likes some noise when she competes----hates it when it gets too quiet. The girls are used to practicing with noise, so a reasonable amount doesn't bother them too much.

TeamDad---that is so funny about your wife. My gymmie has a rule---I'm only allowed to cheer if she gets a 9.5 or above!! Course by the time the score is up, she's somewhere else-----hmmmm maybe she figured out mom wouldn't embarass her that way? I break the rules anyway and applaud or call out her nickname----boy have I gotten some dirty looks from one irritated kid!!!
 
There is one certain gym in our area that is known for having loub, obnoxious parents that SCREAM for their dd's and teammates during meets. It is ridiculous. There is a big difference between clapping for your team while saying "nice job Suzie" and screaming so loud that it disturbs everyone else!
 
Those real loud obnoxious ones should put their kids in cheerleading - now there you see some really crazy wild parents !!! I think at meets cheering is totally acceptable if done with respect to those around you and those out there competing.
 
I'm a little guilty here. Sometimes my exuberence gets the best of me, but I am not a screamer. I'm more of a whooo-hooooer.

I have to watch the nickname shouting because yelling, "Do it Chicken!" doesn't always translate well when my DD is getting ready to do each event.

DD's coach used to have the girls practice their focusing skills by having the team run around the beam/bars and make lots of crazy sounds and body movements while one girl was doing her routine. This helped some of the girls quite a bit, but there is no real way to train for those big group outbursts. Heck, they startle me every once in a while.

Scream it out during the march-in and at awards, just contain yourself during the meat of the meet.:D
 
Haven't really experienced too many really obnoxious fans yet at L4. I heard at NJ L5 states one session had some really explosive parents. I do hate it though when all the events are done except for one and those poor girls (whoever the team) are trying to finish up their event with parents talking and other teams trying to move on to other events and being loud. UGH!
 
I had a good chuckle reading some of these replies. I know what you mean about the loud, obnoxious parents. We see it at a couple of our meets, and we've seen it in softball too. For example, my daughter's team was playing in a tournament this summer, and they played one team that had parents who would not shut up. They keep doing some thundering dog whoop howl, for lack of a better description and at one point one of the dads pulled out a trumpet and played a few notes. :eek: I guess in softball at least you aren't trying to balance on a beam, but it's still distracting, especially for the pitcher and the batters.
 
There's one team in our area that is well known for this. I don't think it bothers the kids, but the parents keep up such a constant roar that if you sit near them in the stands, you will literally leave the meet with your ears ringing.
 
I took DD to one of her friends comps and a parent got in trouble for using an AIR HORN! It scared the dickins out of the kid on beam and she jumped off crying so they let her restart and asked the parent to put the horn away. I dont know what people are thinking sometimes.

Liz
:nurse:
 
I took DD to one of her friends comps and a parent got in trouble for using an AIR HORN! It scared the dickins out of the kid on beam and she jumped off crying so they let her restart and asked the parent to put the horn away. I dont know what people are thinking sometimes.

Liz
:nurse:

That is unbelievable, what a muppet. Poor kid, they should've given her a ten and the gold, no way she'd get over that quickly.
 
I took DD to one of her friends comps and a parent got in trouble for using an AIR HORN! It scared the dickins out of the kid on beam and she jumped off crying so they let her restart and asked the parent to put the horn away. I dont know what people are thinking sometimes.

Liz
:nurse:

:yikes: How has someone like that managed to function in society long enough to make it to adulthood - let alone breed :eek:
 
:yikes: How has someone like that managed to function in society long enough to make it to adulthood - let alone breed :eek:
You have got be kidding me ,they should have kicked that parent out .My dd says she does not want to hear me so I clapp and let out a little Good Job .I do most of my cheering in the awards cermony.I have been to meets were some groups of parents seem to never shut up.
 
I don't know how it is in other States, but in NorCal where DD competed 3 yrs prior to coming here to FL, there is a rule. I was told it is, in fact, a USAG rule:

If a team and/or it's supporters are deemed 'too disruptive' (i.e. overly loud & obnoxious), that team can be ejected and disqualified from the meet, at the Head Judge's discretion. PLUS, we were told it is the HOST GYM'S RESPONSIBILITY to enforce this rule, or that host gym could lose their USAG Sanction for that meet, if it did not keep the crowd under control. :eek:

At one of our gyms where we hosted a meet, we actually had a Judge come up to us and request that we get a certain group of parents to 'pipe down', or they would proceed to eject that team from the meet, and our own host team might lose our sanctioning for that particular event (i.e., no-one's scores would count, from ANY team in attendance, which would of course royally tick-of all the other teams who attended)!

But that's NorCal for ya, pretty uptight and competitive. However, as a result, all of the meets we attended there had very polite crowds! :D
 
Are you in South Carolina? Cuz I know a gym there where all of their parents fit your description!! It was so bad at 1 meet that the meet director got on the mic and asked them to all quiet down!
 

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