Parents New coach approached me about DD's behavior

[Deleted member 18037]

I would of or would be talking to the coach first... before putting this on the 6 yr old.

As in this is so interesting because you are the first one to mention this. What do you do to keep the kids focused? What are you doing to keep the kids engaged..... you realize she is 6. Perhaps if you let me know what you have tried I could give you some insight as to whether that is a good approach or not for my kid or not.

I would also be asking the coach how long she has been coaching and who (as in age).

Maybe she is just not used to 6 yr olds. There is a huge difference between a kindergarten kid and a second or third grade kid. Yes the are all kids but huge difference in how you keep them engaged and how long the can stay engaged for.

 

[Alibri]

Well there's a little bit of a recent update on the situation, but it doesn't have to do with my DD's behavior. We missed practice today because we are on a weekend/spring break ski trip. I heard that almost all of the girls came out hysterical today from the intense stretching and conditioning. Even preteam, which has older girls, had trouble. So this is the third time in 2 weeks that girls gave come out crying.

I plan on definitely being more observant because of this AND because of the comments on my DD's lack of focus.

Why could this be happening? Is there a method to this madness? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Could she be thinking that she needs to catch the girls up on strength and flexibility since they lost time with the previous coach change? Is this normal training before they actually learn routines and get ready for competitions? Are they trying to weed out girls who might not be able to handle team since this is their first year?

Our gym is not known for being uber-successful at the compulsory levels, although we have a handful of successful optionals. Could they be trying to alleviate that with this new intense lower-level training?

Any ideas on what could be going on with the sudden intensity?

 

[Seeker]

Has this coach worked recently with this age/level? Seems to be a bit overzealous imo. Do you know anything about the past experience/former gym this coach came from? My dd has been in gymnastics for 5 yrs now and I've never seen that happen. It is obviously too much for them and it is concerning that the coach doesn't back off a little as they catch up.

For a young group of kids at a lower level, it is not okay. Hysterical is never okay.

 

[duyetanh]

I feel like the land of the lost robot....
"Warning, warning...."
The latest news has a red flag waving frantically, imho.......yikes.

 

[OwlGalLiz]

True, but this is a very black/white take on it. There have been a few coaching changes at OP's gym with what sounds like a new (and possibly extreme?) coaching style from the new one. OP also says that she has never heard anything negative about her DD before. So right there, that raises more questions for me if this were my DD. It could be the OP's DD is showing her headstrong-self. Or it could be that she is not adapting to this coaching style. Both have different solutions.

This exactly. In our case, an active 6 year old needed to switch gyms in order to have the coaching style that worked best for him. Not all children mature at the same rate, and not all children respond to the same type of coaching style.

 

[OwlGalLiz]

And all the crying after conditioning? Something is up. Best to stay and observe. That's not normal. This does sound more like a coach who isn't used to training and handling littles - yet.

 

[Aussie_coach]

That is ridiculous. The gym is being negligent to allow a coach to coach their programs in such a way.

 

[e'smum]

she's freaking 6!!!! our HC for excel teaches Lvl 3 and some of the advanced rec/pre-team classes. she just posted a pic of a group of 5-7 yo's in that advanced class that said she was worried about, in the beginning of the year, how she was going to get this big group of girls to stay on task. she said she was proud that, by the end of the year (the rec classes are now preparing for their end of year program) that the girls are *90%* there. she's tough too. but she was happy that 90% of the time they were focusing and working hard. that's realistic.

i'd stay and watch and get a handle of things and maybe start looking around for other options for your gymnast. she's a baby in the gymnastics world and doesn't need to be ruled with an iron fist right now.