Women Biased Coaching

[NaomiN]

When does coaching get to be too much. Yesterday, one of my teammates was so upset after gymnastics. For some reason the coaches at our gym really seem to hate her for no particular reason. She is kind to the coaches and has never disrespected them. It takes her longer to learn new skills, but once she gets them, she ends up being very good at them. In fact, she is one of the best on the team. Although, two coaches at our gym always single her out. They are always watching her constantly to look for her mistakes. They are yelling at her when she doesn't do something perfectly the first few times and giving her unhelpful corrections that do not explain to her how to do the skill. For example, she was trying to do a tap swing with a 180 turn dismount, she tried it a few times but was letting go too late. Our coach told her to stop doing it instead of giving her helpful corrections. In conditioning they are constantly watching her for bent legs in leg lifts or ropes, pausing during push-ups, v-ups, etc. Me and my other teammates constantly make similar mistakes but we never get singled out like her. On vault, our coach constantly is yelling at her and expects her to be perfect the first few times she tries something. The coaches are always sassy and mean to her and make snotty remarks for no reason. They don't seem to care about her well being. Today, she told me she is thinking about quitting. I feel really bad for her and I don't know what to say. Do the coaches really care about her gymnastics, or is this just biased coaching.

 

[trackandfield6]

When does coaching get to be too much. Yesterday, one of my teammates was so upset after gymnastics. For some reason the coaches at our gym really seem to hate her for no particular reason. She is kind to the coaches and has never disrespected them. It takes her longer to learn new skills, but once she gets them, she ends up being very good at them. In fact, she is one of the best on the team. Although, two coaches at our gym always single her out. They are always watching her constantly to look for her mistakes. They are yelling at her when she doesn't do something perfectly the first few times and giving her unhelpful corrections that do not explain to her how to do the skill. For example, she was trying to do a tap swing with a 180 turn dismount, she tried it a few times but was letting go too late. Our coach told her to stop doing it instead of giving her helpful corrections. In conditioning they are constantly watching her for bent legs in leg lifts or ropes, pausing during push-ups, v-ups, etc. Me and my other teammates constantly make similar mistakes but we never get singled out like her. On vault, our coach constantly is yelling at her and expects her to be perfect the first few times she tries something. The coaches are always sassy and mean to her and make snotty remarks for no reason. They don't seem to care about her well being. Today, she told me she is thinking about quitting. I feel really bad for her and I don't know what to say. Do the coaches really care about her gymnastics, or is this just biased coaching.

Bless you for having an empathetic spirit towards your teammate. Coaches should not do that, obviously, and yet human nature often gets the best of us. It's still not right. Have you spoken to your parents about this? If so, and I hope you have, perhaps they, and you, could go to the owner and explain what is going on. Unfortunately things can often get worse for the 'bullied' person, after the 'bullies' have been spoken to. There are precious few that look with a heart towards others these days, and at least you can say that you notice it, and can have your teammates back should that be needed.