Parents Blatant Favoritism

[NC_GymMom23]

I am sure this has been discussed but I am curious who all has dealt with favoritism from coaches. My daughter has started to notice the blatant favoritism that we as parents have been seeing all year. We were truly hoping the girls wouldn't notice but also knew it would eventually happen. My daughter has always been a hard worker and thrived on being pushed and learning new things. Her team just had their last regular meet of the season with a month before state and typically their coach will start working upskills for the first couple of weeks then switch back to routines for a week or 2 before state. This week my daughter (and I) have noticed that most of the girls have been working hard on upskills while my daughter and another girl have been made to do routines over and over or a specific skill from their routine over and over all through practice. While I appreciate the coach finally helping her with the things that have been a struggle all season I also feel that it is too little too late at this point and it isn't very fair to let everyone else learn new things and not these 2 girls. It also seems as if she is being punished for having a middle of the road season (not great but not terrible either as she has still shown lots of growth). I am not sure how to handle this or if I should try to let it go. I don't want to hear "trust the coach" because at this point she is starting to lose her trust and so am I but I also don't want to make things harder for her.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Feel free to decline to answer, but what part of NC are you in?

If you're in the Raleigh/Cary area, there's like twelve or so gyms you could try out and search for a better fit.

 

[Lobster]

Why do you think a month is too late to fix things that have been a struggle all season? It seems like a good amount of time to make a final push towards being as prepared as possible for state and the post season.

From your description it sounds like the coach is giving each athlete what they need.

As a parent if we had a month until state and my gymnast had things they were struggling on I’d be upset if they were working upgrades.

 

[NC_GymMom23]

Feel free to decline to answer, but what part of NC are you in?

If you're in the Raleigh/Cary area, there's like twelve or so gyms you could try out and search for a better fit.

Not looking for a new gym at this time but it may be a consideration in a few months. Just curious what others have experienced.

 

[NC_GymMom23]

Why do you think a month is too late to fix things that have been a struggle all season? It seems like a good amount of time to make a final push towards being as prepared as possible for state and the post season.

From your description it sounds like the coach is giving each athlete what they need.

As a parent if we had a month until state and my gymnast had things they were struggling on I’d be upset if they were working upgrades.

Like I said I appreciate them working on routines to clean up for state however I feel that really working hard on the specific areas where she has struggled every single meet at this point is too late. In our state you don't place at States unless you are scoring 38+ AA. There are teams who consistenly score near perfect because they hold girls back to sweep the podium. Our girls know they aren't coming home with state medals with 35-37 AA scores. Also, if you were seeing these practices you would see the blatant exclusion of these 2 girls who are just as ready and capable of learning these new skills and have scored similarly to most of the other girls.

 

[Dahlialover]

Short-term, my only action would be to encourage my child to keep a positive attitude and focus on the skills she is assigned to work on. Long term, I would wait to see if your daughter is going to have The same coach next year, and, if so, I would consider alternatives.