Parents Cancelled Practice

[Iwannabemargo]

OT but OMG I love your avatar. I could look at those gorgeous straight legs all day long! wow.

You and me both - showed it to Pink and Fluffy and asked her to "find the pike in that"

 

[iwannacoach]

We had practice shortened by two hours last Saturday. Apparently there was some horse race on......

No refund, no apology, no make up.

There are some folks who'd declare race day a national holiday that would overshadow Labor Day and the Fourth of July. Both in the horse world and NASCAR.

 

[Hollisbecky]

We have shortened practices on Fridays a lot (open gym and holiday parties are on Friday). No make up or refund but last month the gym owner bought the whole team a new practice leo, so kind of a wash!

 

[wnl256]

OT but OMG I love your avatar. I could look at those gorgeous straight legs all day long! wow.

Thanks! That's why it's my avatar.

I could do without the stick-woman icon over her feet, but I didn't notice it at the time (or I would have moved).

 

[GymMom67]

Our team practices have never gotten canceled in the 3 years we have been a part of that program. If the rec classes don't meet for whatever reason, they do offer to let them make it up, but they just fit them into other classes for one class. They do this if the gym is closed for a holiday. And once when my DD was still in rec, they canceled all the classes one day because it was summer and the power had gone out. We're in Texas, so you just can't do it without a/c. And they did the same makeup thing with them for that. They also closed the whole gym for an entire week once because one of the main coaches was killed in a tragic manner. They let the rec kids make it up, but there's just really not a way to make up team practices when they're there so much already.

 

[MILgymFAM]

We live in CA, so there is no weather closures to worry about. Rec classes canceled for any reason may be made up in a like class, or in the formal make up class at the end of the session. Team classes that are canceled are offered make ups if they were canceled for any reason other than a meet. There are no make ups for that reason, even if it isn't for a meet your child's level competes.

 

[beachgirl]

16 hours during the school year and 20 in the summer, we would LOVE a cancelled practice every now and then and please, no make ups.

 

[Pickle]

We are allowed two make up days a month if the kids miss practice for being sick, traveling, what ever conflict a family may have. This works because there are two groups at each level for the younger kids - M/T/F/S and T/W/TH/S. If a coach is sick then another coach fills in. If we miss due to a snow day they will try and set up another practice on a Sunday or a day that the group doesn't practice, but that seems harder for them to do. If we miss due to a meet they can try and schedule a make up with the other group.

 

[gymdog]

I guess I don't like paying for a service I am not receiving. I pay a lot of money each month, for few hours (compared to other gyms). I expect to have those few hours honored, not cut. And, this is not a huge deal for me, but could be for others, I plan my work around his schedule. When it changes last minute like this, I now have to add another expense of somewhere for him to go. Other parents have to scramble to find a babysitter or after school care as they plan their work day around gym as well. Now they have to pay the gym for gymnastics that isn't happening and pay someone to watch their kids during the time that they were supposed to be at the already paid for gymnastics.

I suppose I will deal with it. I see what most of you are saying. Doesn't make it right to collect money for a service not being provided, IMO

I assume your gym has you sign something with the rules and policies on it. What does that say? If not, they should, and you'd be doing them a favor overall to suggest they clarify the policy in advance.

We try to offer makeups when we cancel practice, but it isn't always possible for team. Rec classes are different, however, some months have an extra day built into the schedule.

 

[windydays]

We go four to five days a week. If gym is cancelled, we try to find another activity or quick trip that we don't normally get to do because we are at the gym. It is difficult for our family to be in one place altogether so we try to take advantage of it.

 

[skschlag]

I assume your gym has you sign something with the rules and policies on it. What does that say? If not, they should, and you'd be doing them a favor overall to suggest they clarify the policy in advance.

We try to offer makeups when we cancel practice, but it isn't always possible for team. Rec classes are different, however, some months have an extra day built into the schedule.

Nope. We have no contract that we sign at our gym.

 

[gymgal]

can you explain? I pay for 5 days a week all year long. We still pay over Christmas Break and thanksgiving. We pay for all holidays, snow days, heat days, flood days (yes we had those). I just want to understand how it all works.

So are you saying you actually pay per practice? If there are supposed to be 21 practices a month, you pay 21 times the practice rate? If you gym actually breaks it down like this, then yes, you could realistically not pay for the practices cancelled by the gym. But if your gym is like most, you are charged a yearly tuition that is broken into 12 monthly payments. When you sign on to team, the gym does not specify the exact number of practices your child will receive or how much each practice costs - only the average (example - 5 days/week). Now, I completely understand that some parents break that down to the practice (or even hourly) rate and when practice get canceled, they think that they are paying for a service they are not receiving. But that is not how it works. You are paying for your child to be on team and to be coached well. That service is being performed (hopefully).

Having said that, if unplanned cancellations are happening frequently, it means the gym doesn't have its act together. I would not be happy with that and I would be looking for another gym, not asking for money back for the missed practices.

 

[cbifoja]

We pay monthly. Four weeks times twelve months means we are paying for 48 weeks really. Those half weeks every other months could be seen as "free."

So when we get a week off for spring break or a week off during the summer or a week off for back to school, I still feel like my child is getting her training needs met.

Looking at just the first four months of 2014.... Basically there were four weeks in January, 4 weeks in February, four weeks in March, and then April had not only 4 weeks but if you count all the little pieces of weeks in those months, I ended up getting a whole week for free! I certainly wasn't charged extra to take that into account.

 

[skschlag]

I give. Really I do. I understand the logistics of it. But it is a problem. In the above scenario, we are not a week ahead for free we are a week behind what you are saying.

I would prefer a make up....saturday practice with HC to make up for missed days. But it won't happen. They won't pay. Usually we have to pay extra for Saturday practices. sigh.

I give up.

 

[momto8in10]

We have never had a canceled class, except for weather. If a coach is sick or unable to attend, the coaches are shuffled and we work with someone else. Maybe our bars coach does all events, or one of the optional coaches steps in.
On "long" months, when there is an extra day of practice, though, we don't pay extra, either...

 

[happychaos]

Practice is usually cancelled 5 or 6 times per year due to coaches being out of town/unavailable or weather. There is no make-up and no refund.

Several times per year we have the opportunity to do "extra", like routine clinics, a few practices over the holidays, or an extra practice before a meet. We are always charged extra for these.

 

[profmom]

You're not angry about missed/cancelled practices. You're angry about the lack of commitment and/or organization this signals. And you're right to be angry. It feels really different on the parents'/bill-payers' end if practice is cancelled or shifted because coaches are off doing something gymnastical with other gymnasts than it does if practice is cancelled or shifted for an unrelated, non-emergency reason. If a gym knows that this is a possibility, it needs to have some kind of plan in place to deal with the contingencies when they pop up.

As for extra practices, that's a funny one -- DS's coach occasionally tries to sneak one in under the radar screen. It's part of a longstanding cat-and-mouse game between him and the office manager. We've never been charged extra for an extra or make-up practice. In the scenario you describe -- mid-week practice is cancelled and it's not the thick of meet season -- on either the girls' side or the boys' side, the coaches would try to haul the cancelled group in on another day. The coaches on the girls' side will usually also run a free open gym or two near the end of the meet season to make people feel better about disrupted practice schedules.

 

[gymmomtoo]

I remember when my kids were compulsories and I got upset when a practice was cancelled (happened alot during meet season--especially on saturday practices!), but once they got to optionals, I was thrilled when a practice was cancelled! Felt like an unexpected vacation.

That said--they rarely cancelled practice and never for lack of a coach--always were able to move things around to make it work. And, as Dunno said, our HC/owner factored in several off days--most of which were never used, so I never felt like we were paying too much. And the gym is so busy with a moderate sized team and a large rec program that there wasn't any time to make up a practice anyway!

Of course if it happened on a frequent basis, then I might have had a different reaction!

 

[Lizandkatiemama]

With my oldest DD training optionals 3-3.5 hours, 5 days a week, my middle DD training compulsaries 9 hours, 3 days a week and my youngest training pre-team 4 hours a week, we pay A LOT to the gym. But if practice is cancelled, I'm just glad for the day off!

 

[heatherncastro]

They cancelled practice tonight .. No coach !