Parents Coaches not around for awards??

[Deleted member D3987]

Is it customary for the coaches to bail the second competition is over? 4 of our girls placed and our team won 2nd place all around and the coaches left and weren't there to support our girls and congratulate them!!! I'm shocked, pissed and dismayed!!!!

perfectly normal.

 

[sce]

I think many on here are acting like awards are as long as a session. If they take any longer than 30-45 minutes after the conclusion of the session, that is a poorly run meet/awards ceremony (host gym should do better). If sessions are packed such that there is no breather/buffer time in between for attendance of awards, breaks, etc., that's a meet that's taken too many registrations (also a parking nightmare). One lone coach for multiple teams/sessions at a meet is also an issue - both for things like this, and for reasons like what if a gymnast gets injured mid-meet...I can see if there is only one or two gymnasts in a session one is enough, but for a larger team like compulsories it's not really ideal. You guys are really comfortable w/ only one overworked/sleep deprived coach at a meet for a team of gymnasts?

All the meets my dd went to had back to back sessions. Warm-ups for the next session started during the previous session's awards. Most of my Ds' meets have been this way as well. Whether we had 1 or 2 coaches depended on how many athletes we had competing. The coaches also needed a break. Sometimes the only time they had to eat was during awards.

 

[raenndrops]

In the vast majority of sports, coaches are there at the ceremonial award moment... If a football team wins a championship, the coach doesn't congratulate the kid who scored the winning touchdown in the 4 quarter and then high-tail it out of there as soon as the clock runs out leaving the kids and parents to raise the trophy on the field. I think we as gymnastics parents who think it's perfectly fine that coaches don't attend awards cause they work so hard for all the other kids besides our kid's team, are giving the gyms an easy pass on this one...staffing or meet schedules should be such that a coach can be there for awards for all teams more often than not (understand sometimes exceptions occur). Would an elite coach not attend the medal ceremony at the Olympics cause they've been there all day and want to get something to eat? So we're saying just cause these kids are "only level 3's and 4's" it's okay for their coach to not be there?

For the most part, my daughter's teams have had coaches attend her awards on a very consistent basis, so it's really not been an issue for her...even at state meets when there is just one or two girls in a session, coaches make an effort to stay. Maybe it's a regional thing cause I think most gyms around here do this.

The football coach usually doesn't have to coach another game right after that one, so the comparison is invalid.
Our HC is lucky if she even gets to see her own daughter's awards session.
A typical (non-home) meet for HC:
Out the door between 5 and 530am. She usually drives another coach with her and the other coach meets her at her house, so that coach is up even earlier.
With session 1 girls as early as 745am.
Grab food and coffee as she can.
Meets are typically 4 sessions (so we only need to do 1 day meets).
Stretching for the next session starts even before awards are scheduled to start. Awards often don't finish until AFTER the new session has started. I know this because I am there for all sessions and go to awards to get placements (sometimes the host team emails results to HC, and I need them sooner). Then I have to rush back to get scores for the next session. Thankfully, I have my brother to also get scores (not available anywhere after the fact except the papers the coaches get).
Final session typically starts warm up around 630-7pm. Awards don't start until close to 10pm.
I understand HC not really wanting to stick around when she has a 2ish hour drive home (then the other coach has an additional 25 minute drive after that.
We do have a couple coaches that come for fewer sessions and sometimes, one of them will go to awards if they aren't coaching the next session, but it doesn't happen every meet.

 

[raenndrops]

The message it sends to me is "we own your life and are going to make you sit through something totally meaningless at 10:00 pm when you have a two-hour drive ahead of you and a kid whose entire school week is going to be wrecked by staying up so late." I understand why we are required to stay, but sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.



Not in my world! Meets are 100% for my kid. I only go because she wants me to.

My gymmies always slept in the car on late nights or early mornings.
And if your session is ending around 10pm, then odds are that you have NOT been there since 8am... or even 12pm.

 

[raenndrops]

The bolded is what I'm saying is the issue. Why are coaches at the meet from 7Am to 10PM?...it's because someone other than the parents/kids of the team that is there for just one session is stretching them way too thin. Either the gym shouldn't have one coach coaching 3-4 different levels, or the meet should be spacing the sessions out better. We are essentially accepting less for our children because the businesses we are paying for this service are overworking their employees.

That's like going to a restaurant and accepting that your waitress can only serve 2/3rds of your meal because she's been working a triple shift and is tired so you feel bad for her and understand (which many people would, but it doesn't make it right and it's giving the restaurant owner a free pass)...

Coaches are paid to COACH. There is no coaching to be done at Awards. The coaching of your gymnast is done for the day at that point.

 

[raenndrops]

Please don't think i am being snarky, but i have NEVER been to an awards ceremony that was under 45 min. Never. And many of these meets were very well run. Dont forget, you are corralled into a room to wait while they put the stickers or writing on the medals (if you are lucky they do not do this, and you must remember a sharpie to write on it for your kid if they place want to know what it was for later on). And even if they do not put info on these medals, you must wait for them to organize them all and dont forget ties, because they happen! So there is a LOT of wait time...its inevitable. Then they do the raffle prizes for session...this happens at 75% of the meets we go to. Then the awards. So many levels. Then the team award. I am sorry but OMG.....
Its really not fun. I would kill for a 30 to 45 min awards session.

I run the most efficient awards in our district. The goal is to start announcing the first set of awards 15-20 minutes after the last score is flashed.
The scores have to be inputted into the computer. Then the results need printed out and brought to the awards area.
I have basic awards ready. We add in ties and remove extra ribbons (from ties or scratches). Then we bundle them. Each event for an age group is stacked on the announcers sheet. Ties are highlighted. We get a couple age groups at a time so we can start getting ready ASAP.
After the first age group is ready, we have a volunteer that makes sure all gymnasts are present. Once we have 3 age groups ready, we start the ceremony.
I miss the stickers,but it makes my part 5-10 minutes faster.

 

[Mamabear123]

Can I just say that as a parent, I really appreciate when the person announcing the awards speeds through them. When they call out like 4 names back to back without pausing, let the kids get to their spot and then keeps it going.


One meet we went to, the guy had a speech before and after each age category and another speech after calling out the first 3 placements. It was long and miserable.

Our awards always include judges awards. The judges from each apparatus picks 1 girl (so 4 girls total) to recognize something special and she gets an extra medal or prize. The only time this didn't happen was at states. Does this happen in all districts/regions?

 

[amiandjim]

No, I have never seen judges awards here.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our awards always include judges awards. The judges from each apparatus picks 1 girl (so 4 girls total) to recognize something special and she gets an extra medal or prize. The only time this didn't happen was at states. Does this happen in all districts/regions?

No. Exception the acutal Judges Cup...........

 

[momstrong]

This. Awards is the time for the gummies to decompress and be together. They are no longer competing against each other. It's together and fun time. They could give a hoot if the coaches are there.

I so wish this is how my dd felt! I should start a new thread asking for advice on how to deal with her upset. I don't think

At my kid's first competition they gave medals to everyone on every event, including kids who had scratched. There were a lot of unhappy faces during that awards ceremony. It was awful. My kid still hates participation medals and meets where they place out all the way.

Definitely! Mine wants to improve, but doesn't want to be called up for last/second to last place!

 

[profmom]

At one of his meets last year, DS, a L9, got an AA award over a couple of kids who didn't compete AA. He literally threw the medal in the garbage can. Granted, he was teed off because his pommel routine stunk up the meet, but I do wish meet directors would recognize that very few upper optionals appreciate receiving participation medals.

I think it would be very hard for a boys' meet to get through awards in less than 45 minutes unless you're talking about a really small session. You run up against the simple arithmetic of six events plus AA; even if you only go out four places, that is 28 medals for each age group. We do attend one meet that comes pretty close to meeting this standard, and I can recall being ticked off many years ago when my son won pbars and I was barely able to snap a photo of him saluting before they rushed him off the podium to move on to high bar. (Of course, now the "worst award session" trophy in my mind goes to that meet where we had to wait an hour for them to start, they placed out nearly all the way on everything -- I am talking like 12 places for some groups -- and they did individual age years on every stinking event and AA. I thought any minute they were gonna start calling parents up.)

I think we have a nice balance at our hosted girls' meet. We do take a little while to get ready to distribute awards, but that's because we check really carefully before we start handing them out. Once it's rolling, it goes relatively quickly and even for large sessions with several age groupings, people are out within an hour. I'd rather meet staff take an extra ten minutes to make sure it's right than have them rush it forward, only to hand out the wrong awards for the session, skip people, call people up in the wrong order, and/or miscalculate the team awards (yes, I have seen all of these things happen).

If your coaches have the time and energy to go to awards, and if this matters to you as a parent, good for you. I would just ask that all parents recognize that it's completely reasonable for coaches NOT to attend award sessions for all of the reasons that have been articulated.

 

[gymmomx2]

After reading all these posts, I thank the gym gods for the following:

1. Our awards only go to 8th place
2. There's nothing written on the medals or ribbons
3. Most of the time the announcers only say "Susie from Gym X" when they call up the kids. The inexperienced ones sometimes call using first and last names...bad idea! Awards are done so quickly there's usually hardly time to snap a good picture of the kids on the podium before they all disband. After years as a gym mom, I don't actually care anymore and sometimes don't even take pics of my kids on the podium
4. No Judge's awards or Team awards

Also, our coaches often do attend awards and even sit with and talk with parents They even sometimes discuss scores and placements (GASP!!!) . They do not sit with the athletes or try to coral them in any way. My kids don't care one bit if their coach is there. I don't either but do appreciate when they stay so I can snap a picture of my kid with their coach...I like to have one of these each year Sometimes the coaches even join the team for dinner if we are in the last session.

We are lucky I guess

 

[mommyof1]

At one meet my daughter's gym attended, they made all the kids sit behind a screen during awards. Awards were handed out by event and age group (so all groups for vault, then all groups for bars, etc.). A volunteer behind the screen lined the girls up in order of placement while the previous age group was getting awards, then sent them out as their names were called. Instead of first place being in the center of the podium with the even places on one side and the odd places on the other side, the podium was a staircase with 1 at the top, then 2, 3, etc. so they could just stay lined up. It was very efficient and everyone got to the right place. And it was actually possible to take pictures.

 

[BachFlyer]

At one meet my daughter's gym attended, they made all the kids sit behind a screen during awards. Awards were handed out by event and age group (so all groups for vault, then all groups for bars, etc.). A volunteer behind the screen lined the girls up in order of placement while the previous age group was getting awards, then sent them out as their names were called. Instead of first place being in the center of the podium with the even places on one side and the odd places on the other side, the podium was a staircase with 1 at the top, then 2, 3, etc. so they could just stay lined up. It was very efficient and everyone got to the right place. And it was actually possible to take pictures.

I have been to a few where they do this, it's wonderful!!

 

[profmom]

My son hated that format. He wanted to be out there cheering when his teammates won medals.

 

[twinmomma]

I have been to a few where they do this, it's wonderful!!

This is sort of how they do T&T flight awards. Line the girls up immediately after their flight, give awards. Done. But it's not done in front of the entire session. Teammates are rarely all in the same session so the whole "I want to cheer on my teammates" thing is essentially lost in most T&T meets.

 

[MILgymFAM]

This is sort of how they do T&T flight awards. Line the girls up immediately after their flight, give awards. Done. But it's not done in front of the entire session. Teammates are rarely all in the same session so the whole "I want to cheer on my teammates" thing is essentially lost in most T&T meets.

I'm so gonna miss the T&T non-awards! Ha. I loved that it added zero minutes to most meets!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I so wish this is how my dd felt! I should start a new thread asking for advice on how to deal with her upset. I don't think

Its life lessons and a time and maturity thing. Hard to escape life with no upsets or disappointments..................

You explain to her that her coach needs to coach or prepare to coach. That it has nothing to do with her, good or bad... And coach is well aware how well she did or did not do. You ask what did coach say after your beam? Your Floor? Your Vault? Your Bars? And point out see he/she is there for important stuff. The awards are fun buts more important how your skills are. The focus should always be on skills and personal improvement. Not on a score or a medal. Those are nice. But its not what matters. Did you do the xyz you have been working so hard on........... and so on.....

 

[momstrong]

Its life lessons and a time and maturity thing. Hard to escape life with no upsets or disappointments..................

You explain to her that her coach needs to coach or prepare to coach. That it has nothing to do with her, good or bad... And coach is well aware how well she did or did not do. You ask what did coach say after your beam? Your Floor? Your Vault? Your Bars? And point out see he/she is there for important stuff. The awards are fun buts more important how your skills are. The focus should always be on skills and personal improvement. Not on a score or a medal. Those are nice. But its not what matters. Did you do the xyz you have been working so hard on........... and so on.....

Oh my dd isn't bothered that the coaches aren't there - I'm actually not sure if they are or not. And I am with all those that say they don't need to be!

I kind of hijacked the thread or got side tracked. She is more upset to get called up for 11th place AA! She would rather not get called up then get a participation medal in front of everyone!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I kind of hijacked the thread or got side tracked. She is more upset to get called up for 11th place AA! She would rather not get called up then get a participation medal in front of everyone!

Very sorry I misunderstood.

I'm not a fan of taking AA all they way out either...................... So I'm with your daughter..................