Parents Crazy Gym Parent Behavior (Yours or Others)

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JBS

ChalkBucket Founder
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Thanks to Jen Kula for another great article that you can read at the following link...


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What's your biggest CGP moment? What about the biggest CGP moment you have seen or heard about from another?
 

What's your biggest CGP moment?​

What about the biggest CGP moment you have seen or heard about from another?​

 
I have been the "team mom" for DD's team, and had a parent call me in tears when told their gymnast wasn't moving up to the next level.

Also, many parents at DD's gym arrange for private tumbling lessons at a nearby tumbling gym because they feel that our gym does not do a good job of teaching tumbling to lower level Xcel groups.
 
My biggest CGP moment, that I am honestly ashamed of because I let frustration get the better of me, was seeing my kid bail out of every front tuck (run, straight jump… stop) and I got mad. It was the second day in a row, after she’d been doing this skill for a few years and I didn’t realize that the previous day she had landed on her neck bailing in midair because a kid ran out infront of her. I pulled her over, told her to do the damn front tuck or go home. I’m not proud of it, it was a multiple level meet move up season combined with a gym move to a much further location combined with financial difficulty and I was at my wits end.

She did go and do it. And bailed in midair and landed on her back.

I was so shook up, I backed away like a 1000 steps. Her coach fixed what I broke :(

The most CGM behavior I’ve seen? Many stand out. But THE most… there is a little girl who moved to our old gym, her mom wanted her to her more intense uptraining. Nothing was wrong with her old gym (it’s a very good gym), they drove an hour to our new gym and then bought a house next to the gym. But the level 4 season was approaching and she was not getting her kip. Her mom lost her mind. She paid for private after private. 3 privates during the week, 1 hour at a time (on top of 17 hours of practice). Saturday privates - she’d pay for 3 hours of them. Just to work on this kip. And it wasn’t happening.

Every single week, this kid was injured with something. Hurt shoulder, hurt knee, hurt ankles. Her mum pushed forward. She bought a springboard for home because vault was also a weak point. She had all the equipment. She tried to recruit my kid to come to a “play date” to “teach her daughter to kip”. I politely declined, my kid is not a coach and I want play dates for kids to be kids. She was homeschooled and her mom made sure she worked out at home for an hour before practice, because she had fractured her foot and after it healed she was convinced her daughter was weak. That she’d lost so much muscle she’s never get it back (she was 9). 6 months later, she said she still needed to work out outside of practice.

She had an issue with the coach at our old gym and moved gyms. We trialed out coincidentally at the gym she moved to and her daughter cried the entire time we were there about how much she didn’t want to be at the gym. I talked to her mum, gently, about maybe letting her explore new hobbies over summer, even if she doesn’t quit gymnastics, but maybe she could find something else she loves.
She eventually let her quit.

(this does not have a happy ending) 4 months later, we find out her daughter is now doing Xcel at a 4th gym, and we met back up at a competitive camp…our kids are in different groups, but my daughter said at stretch and lunch, she cried the entire time she was there.
I know this is specific enough info that someone might know exactly who I’m talking about but I have needed to vent this to someone for so long, it hurts my heart, and I know I’ve been a crazy person too.
 
I have been the "team mom" for DD's team, and had a parent call me in tears when told their gymnast wasn't moving up to the next level.

Also, many parents at DD's gym arrange for private tumbling lessons at a nearby tumbling gym because they feel that our gym does not do a good job of teaching tumbling to lower level Xcel groups.
I was rushing earlier and didn't get to add this: The parents arranging private tumbling also have trampolines/air tracks at home and encourage the kids (who are just beginning tumbling, mind you) to work on BHS and similar skills at home.
 
I've seen several parents move to homeschooling (specifically for gymnastics not for educational reasons) to get more hours and to be with the "better" coaches. Almost all of those kids have since quit. I saw one mom ask the coaches if she should get this $300 split machine to help her daughter with flexibility. I personally enjoy hearing all the level 3 moms talk about their kid going to the Olympics lol....that doesn't happen at gym as much but some of them will post about it on facebook etc.
 
One of the moms from a couple of seasons ago actually called the coach and asked that the team first place trophy be taken away from my daughter and given to her daughter because it meant "more to her."

Back story: Our previous gym did not display team trophies. So if the level 7 team got first place, the coach would usually pick the gymnast that go to take the trophy home. Usually it was first place all around, but in levels when the same kid got the highest all around at each meet, the coaches would choose the girl who improved the most, met a goal, did a skill well they had been struggling with, etc. This particular meet, CGP Mom's child got 1st in the all around in her age group and the highest all around on our 9 person team. She had also had the highest all around the week before. My DD got first on floor, 2nd on bars, 2nd on beam, and 1st in the all around for her age level, but got 2nd highest AA for our 9 person team. Coach chose to give this week's trophy to my DD as the other girl had taken home the team trophy (1st place as well) the previous week. CGP mom called the coach, demanded that my daughter return the trophy so it could go to its rightful owner. She couldn't understand why my daughter had 'earned it" (well because that's the way the gym did it). Never mind that my daughter was a 4th grader and her DD was 13 and was throwing a tantrum about not getting her way. I have not spoken to her since.
 
I started a forum a few months after my daughter was born to attract other CGP and have fun conversations... well... look where we are now.

Welcome to ChalkBucket!
 
Hehe, I have one of those splits machines. It’s only good for middle splits though!
 
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I don't know which exact split machine it was I was just politely overhearing what she was asking the coach....my thought is just work on the splits at home its one of the few things you really dont need anything to work on! Her DD isnt in gymnastics anymore so I hope she didnt buy the split machine. She was just an intense mom all the way around, I think she had some personal regrets about not pursuing some of her sports dreams and projected that on her kids so she didnt want them to miss any opportunity kind of thing. She was...interesting
 
I am so thankful that most of the parents at my gym are down to earth and normal. We did have one CGP on DD1’s team a few years back. This poor girl had been to 3 gyms in 3 years. Mom pulled her out of L3 at their old gym because she didn’t meet the gym’s score requirements for mobility to L4. This was a season where we didn’t have JO compulsory teams, only XCEL. She demanded that her DD be put on Gold, although she could barely do her BHS consistently. She sat through all practices, paid for privates, was the most racist person I have ever met. She was toxic and made our gym look bad at meets. Totally embarrassing.
My DD has friends who are gymnasts at a different gym. Their moms would qualify for CGP status by my gym standards. They do privates routinely to ensure their kids compete at certain levels. They travel all over for private camps- travel by plane, hotel stays, etc. Some homeschool their first graders for ‘better coaching during the day’, have all of the equipment at home for extra practice, etc.
 
The main CGP that I see is just the parent that is constantly looking at other gyms to see if the grass is greener somewhere else and if they are progressing kids through the levels quicker. Regardless of how well their kid is doing or what kind of relationships they are building.

Feel bad when the kid seems to have a good connection and making friends and then they have to start all over at a new gym.
 
One thing that I have found, at least in my personal gym journey with my child is the CGP seems to be more pronounced for the lower level, very young gymnasts. I hated going into the parent room when the littles (my name) were practicing, so much chatter, scholarship this, olympics that. Most of the time it was was so misinformed I almost spoke up. My theory is that once they hit optionals and then level 9/10, I think a little humility/perspective is gained at how hard and challenging it is and how many great gymnasts are out there.
 
One thing that I have found, at least in my personal gym journey with my child is the CGP seems to be more pronounced for the lower level, very young gymnasts. I hated going into the parent room when the littles (my name) were practicing, so much chatter, scholarship this, olympics that. Most of the time it was was so misinformed I almost spoke up. My theory is that once they hit optionals and then level 9/10, I think a little humility/perspective is gained at how hard and challenging it is and how many great gymnasts are out there.
You’re right, the level 7-8-9-10 parents don’t stay at practice, ever, the level 6 parents nearly all work second jobs at the gym to help pay for the crazy jump from Compulsories to optionals, and the compulsory parents are nuuuuuts. Why does your 8 year old level 4 have 34 thousand followers on IG? Please stop trying to get me to follow her
 
I recall one Mum coming in and complaining that her 7 year old was no where near where she should be at her age. I was so surprised because she was by far the most advanced 7 year old in the gym.

I mentioned that, just to look around and see what the other 7 year olds were doing in the gym and that her daughter was doing a phenomenal job. She scoffed and said something along the lines of our other 7 year olds being useless.

They have been looking up “7 year old gymnasts” online and watching them. Watching some of the best 7 year old gymnasts in the world and assuming that was what a 7 year old should be doing if they had decent training. Basically couldn’t understand why her kid wasn’t doing double backs and other similar D value skills.

I didn’t quite get the words out to tell her, that there were no 7 year old gymnasts in all of Australia doing skills like that!
 
Why does your 8 year old level 4 have 34 thousand followers on IG? Please stop trying to get me to follow her
Haha, so true, it should be a sub-category of CGP or Instagram Crazy Gym Parent (ICGP). And the shameless hawking of various brands, talk about trying to live vicariously through your child....

Although with NIL, IF they do make it college or pro, they can monetize those 34 thousand pretty good.
 

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