For Parents Gym World

[Gymmomsarethebest]

So recently my original gym mom bestie decided a gym switch maybe a good fit for her daughter. She was at the gym we both met at. Well all the very known, good gyms are about 30 min some in same region. She set up 2 evaluations, one gym in current region one in a neighboring region. Her daughter got offered spots on both teams and she arranged to watch/observe so they could make a final decision. Well before she could the old gym/owner whom she had become good friends with already knew and had removed her from all team communication, terminated enrollment and has seemed like she blocked her number. Now I already knew this owner took things very very personal, and my friend who has been friends with the owner forever wanted to take her to lunch and just explain the move and situation.
My question is why the heck did the new gyms decide to get tell the old gym when no contracts were signed? No agreements were made, just an eval done. Seemed like she was better off lying about her being on a team
or not giving the owner name. Is this everywhere? Or with gyms in same region? Now her hand was forced and she wanted her daughter to have time to make the decision.

 

[springsforlegs]

The gymnastics world is VERY small, and the owners all talk to each other. Most likely the two gyms she went to for an eval talked to her old gym to find out what kind of athlete she is, what kinda of parents she has, etc. They want to know a lot more than can they do the routines. They have to know if the new athlete will fit into the program and align with the current team.

My son changed gyms during the off season. Our current gym knew we were looking, and I was very open and honest about it To all parties (we left because the team dissolved, so we had no choice). Even with the open communication, the gym we went to talk with and “try-out” at, talked with the owner of the gym before saying he was accepted, plus prior to even offering the team contract, they had to have a formal conversation to make sure we were current on dues and fees.

 

[txgymfan]

This situation has been very difficult when an owner is spiteful. We have had members unable to continue the sport because the original gym demanded additional money ( after fees were paid in full) and told future gyms the family was trouble etc.

 

[JBS]

Is this everywhere?

Yes and no... just depends on all of the people involved. We do nothing for low level kids anymore... we'll just take them as long as it's not during season. For optional level athletes we give the other club a courtesy call. We will field questions all day long... but at the point that they do a practice workout with us we call. We tell the prospects this and expect them to tell the other club first.

Money owed to another club does not affect our decision.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Here in Australia you can’t actually enrol in any other gymnastics club in the country if you owe money at another club.

All gymnasts who train in any registered gymnastics club are registered on the Gymnastics Australia Database. When a gymnast goes to a new club, and we go to register them, the Database will tell us if they have ever been enrolled in another gym anywhere in Australia. Then you need to apply to their previous club for a transfer.

The previous club must approve the transfer unless the gymnast is still training there (then they get dual membership) or if they have outstanding fees. The outstanding fees must then be settled with the previous club before the gymnast can commence training or competing elsewhere.

 

[cogymmom2dd]

This is totally normal in my area and there are many local gyms that make you sign a waiver stating that you give them permission to contact your child’s current gym before they will even let you schedule an evaluation if you are trying to transfer/ try out for their teams.
The gymnastics world is very small and gyms talk. We had a parent who took it upon herself to private message a host gym on social media about some of their COVID procedures not being followed during a meet and she was reported to our owner, who then had to send a message out to parents reminding us of this. I feel like it’s totally normal and acceptable to contact a current gym and get a proper report from the coaches, because let’s face it- we have some parents who think their kids are the next Olympic gymnasts and have it in their heads that their kids need the best training, coaches, etc. when in reality their kid lacks certain skills or really just isn’t that great, but the parent has their kid up on a pedestal and can’t see the areas that are lacking.

 

[gymgal]

Unfortunately, yes it is common place - to the point where some owner will sabotage the transfer by relaying bad/false information to the new gyms to get them not to take on the new gymnast. You would think this only happens with the top gyms but I have heard it with lower tier gyms as well . Frankly, I have never understood it. Why would you make it harder for a gymnast to leave your gym when you don't want them there in the first place? - presumably something is going on in the relationship that is causing the family to leave.

 

[mommyof1]

This is totally normal in my area and there are many local gyms that make you sign a waiver stating that you give them permission to contact your child’s current gym before they will even let you schedule an evaluation if you are trying to transfer/ try out for their teams.
The gymnastics world is very small and gyms talk. We had a parent who took it upon herself to private message a host gym on social media about some of their COVID procedures not being followed during a meet and she was reported to our owner, who then had to send a message out to parents reminding us of this.

Let me get this straight--you do not think it appropriate for a parent who witnessed a violation of COVID procedures during a meet to contact the host gym to report it? As a parent I wouldn't actually bother to make such a report (I'd assume that anyone who would host a meet right now didn't really care about COVID precautions anyway), but I would not want my child's gym telling me I had no right to speak up about a safety issue. Silencing parents' and gymnasts' safety concerns has caused the sport a whole lot of trouble.

 

[cogymmom2dd]

Let me get this straight--you do not think it appropriate for a parent who witnessed a violation of COVID procedures during a meet to contact the host gym to report it? As a parent I wouldn't actually bother to make such a report (I'd assume that anyone who would host a meet right now didn't really care about COVID precautions anyway), but I would not want my child's gym telling me I had no right to speak up about a safety issue. Silencing parents' and gymnasts' safety concerns has caused the sport a whole lot of trouble.

I never said that. The parent reported someone from the host gym who was lining up the kids for their awards. She was shouting their names and pulling her mask down every time that She shouted, spraying her droplets everywhere. The host gym sent all athletes their COVID procedures and they were violating their own rules, which was masks at all times if you weren’t an athlete. The parent sent a message to the host gym pointing out that the person who was pulling her mask down to shout out names for awards was potentially exposing everyone. The host gym sent our gym a message making them aware of this parent and the gym just sent a message reminding everyone that gyms talk and they would prefer approaching a coach about the issues right then and there in the moment and let them handle it.
On paper, the COVID precautions looked safe, but once we were actually there, many of the people working the event were not following them.
I did not perceive it as a silencing of safety concerns at all. It was a more of here is the chain of command to follow if you have concerns. If anything, it was the host gym who was trying to silence that parent by reporting her to our gym owner vs maybe rectifying the issue in the moment. They probably spent more time contacting our gym owner than they did talking to the person that was in violation.
We have a team handbook and in that handbook, it’s very clear that issues at meets get communicated to the owner to take care of, not parents approaching other gyms and their owners- This has always been the rules regardless of a pandemic or not.

 

[ldw4mlo]

All you have to do is look on meet scores to see where a kid has been. It’s a small community.

 

[ldw4mlo]

(I'd assume that anyone who would host a meet right now didn't really care about COVID precautions anyway),

I’m not sure why you would assume having a meet means people don’t follow and care about Covid precautions

Meets can be done within CDC guidelines.

My experience is they are being done very safely

 

[cogymmom2dd]

I’m not sure why you would assume having a meet means people don’t follow and care about Covid precautions

Meets can be done within CDC guidelines.

My experience is they are being done very safely

Yes, this has been our experience also. Host gyms send out their COVID procedures well in advance- typically it is the exact document they submit to the local health department to get approval for the event in the first place. If a parent doesn’t feel comfortable with the precautions, that is their choice to not send their kid. Usually there is a spectator limit, masks, modified awards, etc.
We have had 1 meet where the rules looked good on paper but then once we got there, they weren’t enforced.
We have had 2 meets where they were followed to a T and had no concerns and I am not aware of any of these being deemed as super spreader events and requiring us to quarantine.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Yes, this has been our experience also. Host gyms send out their COVID procedures well in advance- typically it is the exact document they submit to the local health department to get approval for the event in the first place. If a parent doesn’t feel comfortable with the precautions, that is their choice to not send their kid. Usually there is a spectator limit, masks, modified awards, etc.
We have had 1 meet where the rules looked good on paper but then once we got there, they weren’t enforced.
We have had 2 meets where they were followed to a T and had no concerns and I am not aware of any of these being deemed as super spreader events and requiring us to quarantine.

Our experience as well with other sports as well as gymnastics. Many things have been done safely with precautions in place. No need for life to stop for everyone just because some believe it should, especially with plenty of studies in place proving safety precautions are working.

But this thread has gone off topic. I know that wasn’t your intent with your post @cogymmom2dd. Someone took your comment and hijacked the thread with an unnecessary Covid comment.

To get back on topic, this is unfortunately common in the gym world. I see it from both sides, but sometimes some gym owners can be unnecessarily vindictive and cruel if there are issues with leaving. This gym owner should have just had a conversation with the mom.

 

[kendo348]

I hope to never switch gyms but have imagined that if we are ever in that situation, we would watch practice first and ask for an anonymous evaluation at the new gym, since knowing her name is irrelevant to evaluating her ability and personality. If they offered her a spot and we decided to accept, then we would give out contact info. Is that an unreasonable approach? Would most gyms refuse to even entertain the idea of a switch without having a name first?

 

[mommyof1]

I hope to never switch gyms but have imagined that if we are ever in that situation, we would watch practice first and ask for an anonymous evaluation at the new gym, since knowing her name is irrelevant to evaluating her ability and personality. If they offered her a spot and we decided to accept, then we would give out contact info. Is that an unreasonable approach? Would most gyms refuse to even entertain the idea of a switch without having a name first?

I don’t think any gym would allow a gymnast on the floor for an evaluation without a signed release that included her name.

 

[kendo348]

I don’t think any gym would allow a gymnast on the floor for an evaluation without a signed release that included her name.

Oh, right. Insurance... that seems pretty obvious now haha.

 

[txgymfan]

I do understand the thought, it’s just too hard to stay anonymous.

 

[dgraves92]

I can say that, yes, everyone knows each other, this applies to both coaches and owners. I can't say it's like that everywhere, it depends on people. We have a registration, so it would be difficult to arrange that here.

 

[gymgal]

I hope to never switch gyms but have imagined that if we are ever in that situation, we would watch practice first and ask for an anonymous evaluation at the new gym, since knowing her name is irrelevant to evaluating her ability and personality. If they offered her a spot and we decided to accept, then we would give out contact info. Is that an unreasonable approach? Would most gyms refuse to even entertain the idea of a switch without having a name first?

You would be surprised by how many coaches and gymnasts within the potential gym would know the prospective gymnast/parent. Even if they don't know the name, they will remember what gym they are from. You are never anonymous in the gym world.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

So we were trying out new gyms and had a parent from the new gym contact our head coach to tell her we were there. She recognized my daughter and her friend from meets, I have no idea what her motivation was or why she did it, but she’s not happy we moved to her gym.
So yeah, be wary of coaches sharing info because the circles are small - be equally wary of some parent spotting your kid and making it their business to know what you’re doing.