Parents Where do you find honest reviews.

[Calimomof2]

I feel like this is one of the most secretive sports. How do you find out about gym and coach reputations, their coaching style, training style etc. Every sport I and my kids have ever been involved in has been relatively easy to get information on. I have checked online and only find glowing positive reviews about all the gyms and coaches in my area. I find it very hard to believe that with as many students gyms and coaches have they have never had a disgruntled student or parent. So is there some site I don't know about or do I just have to take a leap of faith.

 

[Madden3]

Not original, but I got curious and I checked Yelp reviews for several different gyms in my area, including the one my kids go to, and each one had a decent mix of reviews from one to 5 stars. They also all had lots of reviews. So If I was looking around for a gym, I would think most Yelp reviews were real and honest. That does not necessarily mean they are objective or will be helpful or relevant to you. If you read the reviews the complaints are often about isolated issues such as a birthday party gone wrong or one bad interaction with someone on the phone. So you want to dig deeper. Also of course you need to skip the paid "reviews" (ads) that often appear at the top of your results when you search a business.

There are sites that features reviews by employees. I have found those review sites helpful at times, because happy employees make for a happy place. Unfortunately the number of reviews is usually very low and I would suspect that a disgruntled employee is more likely to leave a review than one who is reasonably happy. Glassdoor is one such site.

All that said, I really think the best way to know if a gym is going to be a good fit is to have your child take a class (or several classes.) Many gyms offer one free trial class. If you are looking for a team, there are other things you may need to know that are not going to typically come up in reviews and you might want to call or visit the gym.

 

[John]

I suggest, for team, asking for a free week for your athlete. Any gym that cares will want to know if your athlete is a fit for their gym as well.

More importantly I suggest you visit the gym and watch practice, the interaction between athletes in training groups and athlete and coaches.