Parents Regulations for cheering parents?

[high5]

I am a relatively new parent to the gymnastics world and could not find any resources on Google. There was a father who constantly yelled "YAH!" and cheered for his daughter at the state meet. It was very disturbing for the girls during their routines, and I could see some coaches on the floor giving him a 'look.' He kept yelling the entire session. Are there any regulations that ask the cheering audience to be courteous? I felt bad for the performing girls.

 

[mezzamare]

People routinely cheer on their gymnasts and teams here where we are. It's even encouraged to cheer and make noise at many of the meets we attend. I see the same in many videos online.

I also see videos of very quiet meets where the norm seems to be less noise. Just seems to differ in different places.

I wouldn't go screaming my head off if I were seated right next to an apparatus, though.

 

[DataMom]

Our state meet was held in a city that also has a large gym. Those family members cheered SO loudly for every girl on the team after every event, and it was really a distraction for some of our girls.

 

[josie55]

As they get higher in levels, cheering is definitely encouraged and appreciated. It's good preparation for college gym. I agree that it's not always the norm in other levels, and my daughter would have been mortified if we screamed loudly for her when she was just starting out, but we had some loudly cheering parents on our team and I always found it kind of fun and entertaining. Once my daughter was competing beam at L7 regionals during the state team competition. The announcer chose that moment to announce (over the PA system, of course) the state team standings, even saying "come on, let's hear some CHEERS!!" So he announced each state's score as people screamed. I was super annoyed, but I will say that I don't think it bothered her one bit and I'm not even sure she heard it. It did not seem to impact her performance.

 

[Dahlia]

As long as cheering is positive, I don't have a problem with it, volume and all. I'd only have an issue if parents were being negative towards their athlete or others. And I suspect that could get them kicked out of a meet if the meet director is on top of things.

 

[gym_dad32608]

I've never heard of any regulation about cheering. Obviously one would think people understand proper etiquette but unfortunately in today's world that sometimes is not the case. Our coach has told us that if you are drawing attention to yourself via over-the-top cheering then you are drawing attention away from the gymnasts and any college coaches that may be there.

A year ago at State, American Twisters (which is an amazing gym with wonderful talented gymnasts) decided they wanted all their gymnasts that were not competing to come with homemade maracas. They are a large squad so essentially at any given moment there were loud shakers and screaming regardless of performance. Honestly, it was obnoxious and rude. They didn't need to draw that type of attention, they already had such high-performing gymnasts. That's about the only time I have been upset/annoyed at cheering at a meet. Glad to say they got the memo for this year's state competition.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

I've never heard of any regulation about cheering. Obviously one would think people understand proper etiquette but unfortunately in today's world that sometimes is not the case. Our coach has told us that if you are drawing attention to yourself via over-the-top cheering then you are drawing attention away from the gymnasts and any college coaches that may be there.

A year ago at State, American Twisters (which is an amazing gym with wonderful talented gymnasts) decided they wanted all their gymnasts that were not competing to come with homemade maracas. They are a large squad so essentially at any given moment there were loud shakers and screaming regardless of performance. Honestly, it was obnoxious and rude. They didn't need to draw that type of attention, they already had such high-performing gymnasts. That's about the only time I have been upset/annoyed at cheering at a meet. Glad to say they got the memo for this year's state competition.

They did this at other meets and it was insanely obnoxious

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our girls practice their routines with the teammates being loud and distracting so they get used to it.

 

[high5]

Thank you all - I guess it is no problem then. I was surprised to see that this father yelled so loud when his daughter finishes, while the other girls are still in the middle of performing. This was at the lower level (3) state meet, and some of the little ones seemed a bit scared. I guess it's no problem according to your inputs. Thanks for educating me!

 

[gym_dad32608]

Thank you all - I guess it is no problem then. I was surprised to see that this father yelled so loud when his daughter finishes, while the other girls are still in the middle of performing. This was at the lower level (3) state meet, and some of the little ones seemed a bit scared. I guess it's no problem according to your inputs. Thanks for educating me!

Technically not a problem, but definitely side-eye worthy at a Level 3 state meet.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I am a relatively new parent to the gymnastics world and could not find any resources on Google. There was a father who constantly yelled "YAH!" and cheered for his daughter at the state meet. It was very disturbing for the girls during their routines, and I could see some coaches on the floor giving him a 'look.' He kept yelling the entire session. Are there any regulations that ask the cheering audience to be courteous? I felt bad for the performing girls.

i wonder if we’re in the same state? There’s a dad here who does that for every girl on his daughters team, really loud and abruptly, after every routine. I saw a girl visibly jump-startle on beam in the middle of her routine, and lose her focus and balance, because the beams were near the crowd and it was so sudden and extremely loud. I’m all for cheering, I tell the parents that it’s not a funeral, they need to cheer, but a really loud, abrupt noise can be very distracting and as in the case I mentioned, cause a problem (unless that’s the goal?).

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

So long as you don't act like a soccer fan.... you are all good



This competition had many gymnastics fans very worried about a hostile Olympic crowd that didn't understand gymnastics.

 

[high5]

i wonder if we’re in the same state? There’s a dad here who does that for every girl on his daughters team, really loud and abruptly, after every routine. I saw a girl visibly jump-startle on beam in the middle of her routine, and lose her focus and balance, because the beams were near the crowd and it was so sudden and extremely loud. I’m all for cheering, I tell the parents that it’s not a funeral, they need to cheer, but a really loud, abrupt noise can be very distracting and as in the case I mentioned, cause a problem (unless that’s the goal?).

I hope that is not the goal! Coaches on the floor and some of the parents gave him a look, but he didn't seem to care. Oh well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it.