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Anonymous (e624)
I am seeking advice for my daughter who will be a senior in high school. My two daughters are at a new gym that opened roughly three years ago. A mother who was closely involved in helping to open the gym has some optional level daughters and was personal friends with the owners and worked at the gym up until last September. Without going into detail, her girls and family have gotten special treatment and coaching far above what the other girls have received. Many families have been annoyed by the special treatment of this woman's kids, and some have even left the gym because of this family. We have been doing gymnastics a long time though, and I can honestly say that we haven't been at a gym yet where there hasn't been some degree of favoritism. So we stuck this out, and despite the drama, my younger daughter has been pretty successful. Last year, the mother was interacting very inappropriately with our previous coach and the coach was very blatantly favoring the mother's kids and other kids were flat out not getting coached. The owners fired that coach in January, and my oldest daughter who was the only level 10 in the gym (first year) was left to finish the season with no bars coach which was very hard for her. Well, they hired a new coach, and the mother (who was married) had an affair and is still having an affair with the new coach. This started last summer very soon after they hired the new coach. The gym fired the mother but she told all of the other girls that another gymnast in the gym had gotten her in trouble and that's why the gym fired her. So all of the girls ganged up on the gymnast. The truth eventually came out, but this whole situation has very much disrupted the gym training and the relationships between the girls. Way too much drama to post here, but the mother is constantly in the coach's ear still and unfortunately she causes a lot of trouble between the girls. We just had state meet, and it was really awful. Her kids continue to be the primary focus of the gym because of this coach. The owners had assured us that they had severed contact with the mother and were only communicating with the dad, but this is just not true and they are still including the mother in communication. This is now the third season this mother and her family have torpedoed training for these gymnasts. I am at a loss and don't know if we should move my oldest daughter for her last year. She has been plagued with injuries and had a rough road. She does have a few possible college options. This is so stressful and my heart just breaks for her. Should we stay put for the sake of stability or move and get out of this mess?