WAG Changing Gyms at upper levels

[iluvgym]

And to go along with everything that's been posted already, keep in mind that the grass is sometimes greener, but many times not!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

My personal opinion is, if you are going to try out, then you should tell your existing coaches you are leaving. Period.... then go and try out other gyms and find one you like. Treat your gym like you would a relationship (with respect), either work it out or break up....

 

[mimi]

So, just to play devil's advocate, if you are a coach, and you are looking around at other potential coaching opportunities, do you announce it to your current gym while you are in the looking/interviewing process?

 

[gymbeam]

lol, mimi- good point!
coaches would not tell gymnasts and families they are looking for greener pastures, i'm pretty sure of that.

 

[bookworm]

And to go along with everything that's been posted already, keep in mind that the grass is sometimes greener, but many times not!

The grass was always greener for us....do your homework and research the places you are considering and it should work out.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Proper etiquette would be to not leave your existing team high and dry without a coach, without giving them notice to replace, period. So yes a coach should tell the employer in my opinion that they are unhappy and are thinking of leaving. How many times have you heard of a coach just quitting without notice and gasped at the notion. I would love to say that the two examples are the same but giving two weeks notice or longer is the correct procedure and the best for the team. If you are up front with the coaches or an employer things tend to either workout or at least end well. So to give you a proper reply, if an employee is sneaking around and I find out I will probably ask them to leave. I will do the same to a gymnast. Which I have done. Just go talk to your coaches people its better in the long run. "Hey we are not happy about this and this, we want to be up front and tell you we are looking at other options" . When I am told this it usually ends well, the only time it goes sour is when recruiting takes place.

 

[Granny Smith]

I think 2 weeks notice from a coach or from any employee in any business is the standard, but I do not tell my employer I am looking around or interviewing for other jobs. The 2 weeks notice is notification, which is done after the fact that I have been hired by the other company. Nobody in the business world gives notice without another job secured (unless that is your intent). You don't tell your boss you are looking to leave and then just hope for the best. I wouldn't expect a coach to either.

 

[Granny Smith]

Which is why I always say as a parent, if you are looking at other gyms, be ready to leave because there is a strong possibility that they current gym will ask you to leave if they find out (which is why you really should be ready to leave once you decide you want to start looking). It is a chance you are taking, but you know that once you start to look.

 

[Muddlethru]

I think 2 weeks notice from a coach or from any employee in any business is the standard, but I do not tell my employer I am looking around or interviewing for other jobs. The 2 weeks notice is notification, which is done after the fact that I have been hired by the other company. Nobody in the business world gives notice without another job secured (unless that is your intent). You don't tell your boss you are looking to leave and then just hope for the best. I wouldn't expect a coach to either.

Completely agree. Not all gyms conduct themselves in a professional manner. Many coaches take gymnasts leaving their gym personally and react with hostility. I agree it is professional courtesy to give advance notice but only as indicated above by Granny Smith. The risk of letting the coaches know even before you secure a suitable gym could leave the gymnast high and dry indefinitely. Appropriate notice should definitely be given either as a courtesy or in compliance with team contracts. But if I am certain we are switching, securing a new gym is the first order of business.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I guess I will dive in a little deeper, and talk about the major thing that upsets me. We spend years coaching and building a relationship with a gymnast, a relationship of trust and respect,,,,, then a parent takes them in secret to try out at another gym (okay fine, no harm). Then when I ask little Susie, "where were you yesterday", she replies "I was sick". Wow, after all these years the parents have now told and taught a child to lie to an adult who has dedicated themselves to that child. The relationship is now broken and your child is put in a horrible position to lie to the very people that she adores..... And that sickens me every time,,,,, Now I have had several parents be completely up front, it's still sad but at least DD does not have to lie to her coaches..... How about just being honest, seriously folks, don't ever make your child lie to a coach....

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Can anyone tell me how many girls are in your 9/10 training groups? Choices are limited. Concerned about group size and going to a gym without pits. The only ideal gym is 90 minutes away. Ugh....

nope, don't do that.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

10-12 kids at the upper levels is too many. It's very difficulty to polish and clean when there's that many to watch. That would drive me nuts. We go 6-8 at the most for level 9/10

depends on who is coaching them and how many assn't coaches. i've had as many as 18 level 10's. it was like coaching 3. other times i've had as little as 7. and coaching them was like having 30. LOL

 

[Muddlethru]

I guess I will dive in a little deeper, and talk about the major thing that upsets me. We spend years coaching and building a relationship with a gymnast, a relationship of trust and respect,,,,, then a parent takes them in secret to try out at another gym (okay fine, no harm). Then when I ask little Susie, "where were you yesterday", she replies "I was sick". Wow, after all these years the parents have now told and taught a child to lie to an adult who has dedicated themselves to that child. The relationship is now broken and your child is put in a horrible position to lie to the very people that she adores..... And that sickens me every time,,,,, Now I have had several parents be completely up front, it's still sad but at least DD does not have to lie to her coaches..... How about just being honest, seriously folks, don't ever make your child lie to a coach....

I see your point Coachp. My daughter's former coaches are notorious for being downright mean, offensive and has attacked, cursed gymnasts and parents who have pulled their kids from their gym. Now, I will tell you their training is subpar. My daughter trained with them for 4 1/2 years. It was very difficult for my daughter to,switch and it was for me too. We've grown to love the families and even the coaches. But safety and her progress as a gymnast was at stake. We had been looking at gyms for months. Staying at her former gym was not a possibility because no amount of talking to the coaches would change things. When we decided on a gym, we switched over night. We paid through the month (we switched mid month), our account was current and we even already paid first installment of two meet assessments. We left with a balance of over $500 on our account. I wish we could have said proper goodbyes but I was afraid of the confrontation and was advised by many parents who left that emailing the coach was the best approach.

Now some coaches can deal professionally with losing a gymnast. But many can't. So the way a gym operates pretty much determines how the families react or conduct themselves. Luckily for us, I did not have to tell my daughter to lie because we left right away. But I can honestly say that should we decide to switch from my daughter's current gym, it is highly likely we will give her current coach the courtesy of advance notice because I feel it will be received with not as much animosity or venom as her previous gym.

 

[cbifoja]

I agree with the posters who say they don't give notice when LOOKING for a new job! I can't imagine there are many fields where that wouldn't blow up in your face. And after you get a job, then yes, absolutely give notice. In some fields, they ask that you leave immediately and that's fine. In other fields, you work out your notice and then leave amicably. But at least you gave notice and acted professionally.

As a coach, I would hope they would give AT LEAST a two week notice, just because it isn't easy to replace a coach. If the owner feels the leaving coach will be recruiting, then I would support the owner asking the coach to leave immediately. Just do it respectfully and remain above the emotional response you might feel at the betrayal.

It's different for a gymnast. They aren't being paid to provide a service. They are ultimately a customer. I understand about having personal relationships and honestly, that's why DD is still at her gym because she and I love HC. But if we were looking around, I would go on a day that didn't require DD to miss her current training if at all possible. Then I would let HC know only if the other gym was a good fit and DD was definitely leaving. But I wouldn't get the HC all anxious by telling her I was looking at another gym for DD.

I KNOW that HC hurts when long-attending gymnasts leave. I've seen her cry over some of them. I don't think most parents take a gym switch lightly and I imagine we struggle with losing our old gym family as much as the HC struggles with losing her gymnast. But sometimes it just needs to happen and neither party is "bad" or "has something wrong." Sometimes it's just what is best, albeit painful, for the gymnast.

 

[gymdog]

So, just to play devil's advocate, if you are a coach, and you are looking around at other potential coaching opportunities, do you announce it to your current gym while you are in the looking/interviewing process?

Absolutely! People who leave high and dry get a reputation. No one will want to hire them. You let them know with enough time to hire and finish out the season, transition out as desired.

 

[Quadqueen]

Absolutely! People who leave high and dry get a reputation. No one will want to hire them. You let them know with enough time to hire and finish out the season, transition out as desired.

Gymdog, what she meant was telling your head coach/owner, "hey, I'm not really happy here. I think I'm going to start looking around for a coaching position at a better gym." It's not about giving notice when you actually are offered and accept another job. That's just professional courtesy.

 

[gymdog]

Gymdog, what she meant was telling your head coach/owner, "hey, I'm not really happy here. I think I'm going to start looking around for a coaching position at a better gym." It's not about giving notice when you actually are offered and accept another job. That's just professional courtesy.

I didn't say "better" gym, but I have left one gym ( was working here through college, wasn't a great fit) and I told the director before the end of the season or before I had another job " this will be my last season here, just to let you know". Usually you start to plan next years numbers ahead of time so I informed her then (season wasn't over, I hadn't contacted any other gyms). 9 times out of 10 for normal circumstances (I.e. the person isn't nuts) they will not ask you to leave immediately, they're going to use you as long as they can because it's very hard to find qualified coaches. I knew I'd have a new job in a second so it was no loss but by no means was I asked to leave nor did it even cross my mind as a possibility. This is a very different industry than corporate America, a gym can't afford to let go of a coach during the season except for extreme issues. Just saying, this isn't a great fit and it'll be my last season, isn't gonna do it for 90% of gyms out there. I refuse to work for crazy people so the other 10% isn't an issue for me.

 

[gymdog]

Also people saying "I'm not happy here" and threatening to quit happens on like a weekly basis in this job, half the time they're not even going to take you seriously until you've signed another contract. You must not be a coach also don't know why you guys think a coach can look around and it won't get back like when a family looks around. We talk about EVERYTHING. Often know within minutes when a family looks at another gym. All they need is your child's first name and level, they can match up the state results easily...obviously people talk about coaches leaving too.

 

[Quadqueen]

Good for you for giving so much notice that you were looking. I don't think it always goes so well. Some gym owners ARE nuts and get so offended when a coach gives notice that they're just nasty and they tell the coach not to come back - whether they have the classes/team covered or not. It happened just last week at our old gym.

 

[gymdog]

Good for you for giving so much notice that you were looking. I don't think it always goes so well. Some gym owners ARE nuts and get so offended when a coach gives notice that they're just nasty and they tell the coach not to come back - whether they have the classes/team covered or not. It happened just last week at our old gym.

If you work for crazy people that's what happens. It's pretty easy for anyone with sufficient connections to know how everyone in the state runs their gyms, so personally I don't find it hard to avoid. It really doesn't matter because coaches are in high demand in many areas now and can get another job easily in most cases. Owners and managers know this. So they don't really hold a lot of the bargaining power. In an area like mine that is heavily populated where gyms are bursting at the seams with enrollment and there are serious quality staffing shortages, someone like me has nothing to worry about. So go ahead and fire me prematurely but they're the ones who lose out by having an immediate staffing crisis and I will likely come out ahead anyway. There's just no point and any rational person could see that. I have no problem disclosing when I have problems incompatible with my continued employment, and the degree of incompatibility.

Edit: also sounds like in your example the coach gave notice anyway so either they just didn't care anymore because they hated it so much or the above applies and they knew they'd be able to get a bette position quickly enough that it didn't really matter.