Coaches Complaints about summer camps

[Dsaramina]

I am just taking over a new gym as head coach/manager and I started August 1st. I was not in the gym at all for a summer camp that we ran in July but we had one of the senior coaches running it. I provided her a schedule that had a lots of gymnastics interspersed with breaks, craft, and lunch as it was a full day camp. I received an email that said the parent was disappointed in the camp as it was basically a daycare and her child said she learned almost no gymnastics each day. Since there was no other rec or comp in the gym the week of the camp I said the senior coach could modify the schedule as she needed (she's coached rec for 6 years). How would you proceed?

 

[gymcat]

I would start by asking the coach in charge how he or she ran the program. Most gym camps are glorified day cares, unless they are specifically team camps, in my experience , so I wouldn't assume your coach did anything wrong.

You could reply to the parent that you are sorry he or she was unhappy with the program and offer a gift certificate for x$ if their child would like to take a class in the next session.

Not everyone is going to be happy all of the time, so I wouldn't worry about it too much if it's one complaint.

 

[raenndrops]

Even though she is a senior coach, if she has ONLY coached rec, she may have been in over her head a bit with running a gymnastics camp.
Find out what the coach did / had done for the campers each day.
I would apologize to the parent (and offer a discount for a class for one session). And in the future, devise a plan where the children are placed in ability groups for camp and work on appropriate skills and drills for their levels. Have coaches that can implement these (as well as modifications for gymnasts slightly ahead or behind on a specific event).
We run a week long camp, but it's only 2 hours long. They do 3 events each day (after warming up) and there is a game at the end. With an all day camp, they should easily be going to all 4 events (or 5 if you have tumbletrak and/or trampoline as a separate event) each day.
Here would be a suggested schedule (assuming a 9-5 camp and 5 events).
Day 1
9 - 9:30am Warm up and stretching and introductions
9:30-9:35am Water break
9:35-10:15am Gymnast evaluation (lines on the floor - go through several acro, turns, leaps, and jumps)
10:15-10:20am Water Break (and determination of your training groups)
10:20-11:00am Craft Project (and more time to figure out training groups if needed)
11:00-11:05am Water Break
11:05am-12:00pm Game time
12:00-12:45pm Lunch
12:45-1:30pm Event #1
1:30-1:35pm Water Break
1:35-2:20pm Event #2
2:20-2:25pm Water Break
2:25-3:10pm Event #3
3:10-3:15pm Water Break
3:15-4:00pm Event #4
4:00-4:05pm Water Break
4:05-4:50pm Event #5
Days 2-4
9 - 9:20am Warm up and stretching
9:20-9:25am Water break
9:25-10:15am Craft Project
10:15-10:20am Water Break
10:20am-11:15am Game time
11:15-11:20am Water Break
11:20am-12:05pm Event 1
12:05-12:45pm Lunch
12:45-1:30pm Event #2
1:30-1:35pm Water Break
1:35-2:20pm Event #3
2:20-2:25pm Water Break
2:25-3:10pm Event #4
3:10-3:15pm Water Break
3:15-4:00pm Event #5
4:00-4:05pm Water Break
4:05-5:00pm Game Time
Day 5
9 - 9:20am Warm up and stretching
9:20-9:25am Water break
9:25-10:15am Craft Project
10:15-10:20am Water Break
10:20am-11:15am Game time
11:15-11:20am Water Break
11:20am-12:00pm Event 1
12:00-12:40pm Lunch
12:40-1:30pm Event #2
1:30-1:35pm Water Break
1:35-2:15pm Event #3
2:15-2:20pm Water Break
2:20-3:00pm Event #4
3:00-3:05pm Water Break
3:05-3:45pm Event #5
3:45-3:50pm Water Break
3:50-5:00pm Open Gym

If you only have 4 events, then the time for the 5th event can be split amongst the other activities / events.

 

[Dsaramina]

I would start by asking the coach in charge how he or she ran the program. Most gym camps are glorified day cares, unless they are specifically team camps, in my experience , so I wouldn't assume your coach did anything wrong.

You could reply to the parent that you are sorry he or she was unhappy with the program and offer a gift certificate for x$ if their child would like to take a class in the next session.

Not everyone is going to be happy all of the time, so I wouldn't worry about it too much if it's one complaint.

Yes, that is almost exactly what the parent said, that it seemed like a glorified day care. I spoke to the coach and the coach said the girls in the camp (only three) were not interested in doing gymnastics for long periods of time and were more interested in doing crafts. I think you're right about just apologizing about the program while not apologizing about the coach (because I think she was just trying to make them have fun).

 

[Dsaramina]

Even though she is a senior coach, if she has ONLY coached rec, she may have been in over her head a bit with running a gymnastics camp.
Find out what the coach did / had done for the campers each day.
I would apologize to the parent (and offer a discount for a class for one session). And in the future, devise a plan where the children are placed in ability groups for camp and work on appropriate skills and drills for their levels. Have coaches that can implement these (as well as modifications for gymnasts slightly ahead or behind on a specific event).
We run a week long camp, but it's only 2 hours long. They do 3 events each day (after warming up) and there is a game at the end. With an all day camp, they should easily be going to all 4 events (or 5 if you have tumbletrak and/or trampoline as a separate event) each day.
Here would be a suggested schedule (assuming a 9-5 camp and 5 events).

If you only have 4 events, then the time for the 5th event can be split amongst the other activities / events.

Our schedule was very similar to this (we run six events: artistic, tramp, and rhythmic) but with a bit less open gym even. Also I think it may have been a difficult camp for most coaches to run as there were only three gymnasts in the camp and they had a whole 6.5 hours to fill. Unfortunately we have a very small facility and usually small classes so it can be difficult to split by ability (during summer). It is a good thing to cover in the fall staff meeting though. The club I am taking on has not done a lot of coach development.

 

[raenndrops]

Our schedule was very similar to this (we run six events: artistic, tramp, and rhythmic) but with a bit less open gym even. Also I think it may have been a difficult camp for most coaches to run as there were only three gymnasts in the camp and they had a whole 6.5 hours to fill. Unfortunately we have a very small facility and usually small classes so it can be difficult to split by ability (during summer). It is a good thing to cover in the fall staff meeting though. The club I am taking on has not done a lot of coach development.

3 gymnasts would be even easier, even with only 1 coach (but I know most gyms have 2 coaches in the gym at a time for liability). Differentiation is key in that case.
The campers could be evaluated day 1 on everything, not just floor and drills and skills planned accordingly for each one.

 

[Dsaramina]

3 gymnasts would be even easier, even with only 1 coach (but I know most gyms have 2 coaches in the gym at a time for liability). Differentiation is key in that case.
The campers could be evaluated day 1 on everything, not just floor and drills and skills planned accordingly for each one.

I know how I would coach the camp and we already have our own recreational program guidelines, so that isn't really what I am asking for.
My question referred to something that has already happened and how to address it through email with the parent.

 

[coachmolly]

Most rec kids do not have the endurance nor the desire to do 6.5 hours of gymnastics. We do a morning only camp (3 hours) and by the time they leave, the kids are just done. We do about 30 minutes at the beginning for stretching/warm-up, a 15 minute break in the middle, and about 15 minutes of games at the end. If we were going to keep them all day, I can't imagine doing any more gymnastics than that. I think we would probably do gymnastics rotations from 9-12, a break for lunch, and then spend the afternoon doing a craft, games, maybe some outside activities if you have an outdoor area, and a mid-afternoon break. You could bring them back into the gym at the end for some open gym time, but I can't imagine they would want to do much in the way of structured training at that point.

3 kids for 8 hours is rough, while a small group of kids might seem more manageable, keeping that number of kids engaged for that length of time is hard. Especially if the kids are not particularly interested. The girls are taking more turns, getting more worn out, and really can only go so long. Plus they are rec kids, they probably don't eat, sleep, and breathe gymnastics like a team kid does. We have a minimum number of kids needed to run a camp- to make it financially successful for the gym but also to keep it fun for the kids. 3 kids is essentially a really long private lesson, or a babysitting session.

I think you would be hard pressed to find a full day gymnastics day camp that provides a large quantity of gymnastics instruction, so I sort of doubt the coach in charge did anything wrong. And kids get out of camp what they want to get out of it. We had a handful of kids who did not learn much in the way of new skills over the course of the week, and that was with pretty focused gymnastics instruction. It wasn't for lack of trying on the part of the coaches, it was because the kids just wanted to hang out with their friends and do what they wanted to do.

I would respond to the email, apologizing to the parent and offering a discount. Tell them you would take their feedback into account for future years. Ask the coach who was in charge to make notes about what went well and what she thinks should be done differently for next year, also try to get an account of how the week went from her. Use all of this (as well as looking into other gym day camps) to start coming up with a plan for next year.

 

[fuzi]

"I'm so sorry you were not satisfied with the camp. I plan on taking your feedback into account for future years. As an apology, let us provide your daughter with 1 free month/session of gymnastics classes."

 

[fuzi]

And for the future, you might want to think about how you advertise your camp. We offer day camp daily 9-2, with the option to stay for another hour of open gym, but we don't promise much gymnastics instruction. It's an active day camp, with lots of gym play, games, races, and obstacle courses, a small bit of gymnastics instruction, and some mellower activities like crafts, with a break for lunch. We also offer a couple of weeks of half-day "gymnastics super camp" or "tramp + tumble super camp." Those are days have a WU period and several rotations of instruction.