Coaches Closed my gym, now what?

[taylortumbles]

Hello everyone. I have not been on here for quite some time!

I am looking for some advice and hope some of you could be of assistance .

I recently closed my gym in April. It originally began as a gymnastics program and evolved into mostly all star cheerleading. Long story short- I ran a program out of a YWCA. We fundraised for all of our own equipment and had classes for recreational children, Pre Team, and Team Levels 4-6. The YW in our city went under and took our equipment with it in liquidation even though the equipment was technically the booster club's property. It was a really ugly situation but in the end they decided as it was under the roof of the YW they had possession of the equipment, long and complicated. Anyway, I opened my own gym but could not afford much equipment and most of my team girls were heavily interested in all star cheerleading as it has been on the rise for quite some time so we converted to all star cheer. I closed in April, after owning and operating for 3 years, as I realized my heart was in coaching and the ownership aspect was not my cup of tea, not to mention- our city's unemployment rate is one of the highest so the economy was not on my side either. I had a lot of children under my roof taking classes for free as I have a big heart and people with a big heart do not belong in business. I closed to focus on coaching- my true passion.

I have 14 years coaching experience and hold certs in cheerleading and gymnastics. I am unfamiliar with the new compulsories for gymn- but I am excited to learn and get back into coaching gymnastics and while my first love is gymnastics, I would have no problem with coaching cheer as well. I have Regional, State, and National titles under my belt along with Junior Olympic titles. I am great with children and I closed my gym on excellent terms and have parents calling me all the time to ask where I recommend them to take their children. I also have a lot of parents wanting to follow me where ever I choose to coach and are willing to travel if necessary. I'm on the verge of completing my BS in Health and Wellness. I am very dedicated, reliable, and trustworthy.....

However

No one will hire me. I don't understand why. I haven't even gotten a single call and I've applied to gyms that are hiring. With the amount of experience and dedication I have proven over the years, I am shocked. I've been steadily applying for nearly 5 months and every position whether it is recreational, team, director, what not. I'm at a loss for words and understanding here.

Anyone know what is going on here?

 

[gymdog]

I don't know how networked you are in your area, but a lot of positions go by word of mouth in gymnastics, because everybody knows everybody. So that could be an issue.

 

[CreateMagic]

There's just not much out there right now. The unemployment rate is high as you mentioned, and that typically means people are cutting back, enrollment is down, etc. I'm currently in a situation where we have too many staff and I'm looking at possible not getting ANY hours at the gym I'm employed at because I don't technically "need" the job (its just my fun part-time position--I'm a teacher by day) whereas many staff I work with need the hours in order to pay their day-to-day bills. I know not everywhere is as bad off though. Would you consider a big move? You may need to look in more affluent areas where the economy hasn't taken quite as big a hit.

Good luck!

 

[10.0]

Another thing is if these other gyms know of you they may know from hearing it second hand or assume that you are interested in opening another gym. No one is going to want to hire someone who is planning on opening their own gym and potentially taking their customers with them. That would be my concern.

 

[taylortumbles]

I may consider relocating or simply volunteering at a local gym until something comes up- if they will even allow that! I have also considered getting into judging but money is really tight and there are a lot of costs involved in obtaining the certification if I am reading it all correctly. As I said before, I've been out of the gymnastics realm for a few years so I would need to renew my USAG membership along with purchasing the materials to study, do the background check, and the testing which all costs $$$. Yikes!

I have networked a little here and there but unfortunately we have a lot of immature coaches in our area. My teams gave Spirit Good Luck baskets to several teams at Nationals each year (we did random draw to determine the teams) and the gym closest to us did something rather appalling. The coach actually made the team hand it back to us. What a poor display of sportsmanship! Unfortunately the options here for gyms are very few. I wish we had a really strong program in this area .

Oh and I do not want to open another gym and it is in my cover letter and it is addressed in a professional manner.

 

[flip4u]

I have a job opening in Illinois. I also have a house available to rent if a person needs to relocate.

I had a coach quit 2 weeks ago, if anyone knows of someone looking for a job, please have them contact me at [email protected]

 

[coachmolly]

It could be that you have too much experience for what the gyms are looking for. Meaning that, while I'm sure they would appreciate your years of experience and knowledge of both gym and cheer, they might assume that with that knowledge comes a price tag they aren't sure they can afford at this time. Does that make sense?
Like others have mentioned, with the economy the way it is, enrollment is down in many places and classes are being combined and coaches being cut. The places that are hiring could quite possibly be looking for an individual who is qualified, but who they could get away with giving a lower salary.
You might be hesitant to get involved with another Y type program, but you could try to contact the local YMCA or a sports and rec center and see if they would be willing to let you start something up. You could also try schools to see if they are looking for a cheer or gym coach.
Getting a job seems to be tough for most people these days. My brother is a swim coach with a college degree who is working part time jobs trying to stay afloat.