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.
