Parents Communication Issues? Disorganized?

[WingingIt]

I'm feeling very frustrated with my DD's gym right now. After considering switching, we decided to give it one more season (and take it from there). I had a long talk with the HC and I thought we had a plan in place for this coming season (we compete in the Spring). My DD was level 1 this past season, did very well. There was talk about moving her up to level 3. She would go up in hours. I felt like this was a good plan for her. Move Ups were supposed to happen after AAU Nationals. They did not. We had a week off... still no news. Started up again... nothing. So now, she's still training with level 1-2's. A slew of new girls showed up yesterday.... the groups were big. My DD was in the group with the "big" girls and was training level 3 skills like handstands on the beam and backward press rolls (or whatever you call them)... but I'm so confused. I overheard (this is how I get a lot of information, unfortunately) the coach telling another mom in the same situation that she HOPES to have more info by Sunday. But this has been going on for weeks now. There's always discussion of one more meeting and then we'll know what we're doing. I didn't go through with switching because I was told it was very likely DD would move up. The other group with the higher levels is so much more organized. They have better coaches and I can see real progress in their training (I have friends with daughters in that group). So here I am, considering calling up the other gym again... BUT my DD has her heart set on one more season at this gym. But I'm feeling like I"m getting the runaround and I honestly don't feel like talking to HC yet again about the same thing again... to be told AGAIN that they'll know something in a week. I don't think I'm even looking for advice. I'm just frustrated and anyone else I know wouldn't understand. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Flyaway]

Lack of communication seems to be a common theme among gyms. I can only say that if it's important to you to know exactly what's going on, keep pressing for information. Most meets have registration deadlines in the fall, so the coach should know what the general plan is for your dd (ie, if she's going to compete lvl 3 in the spring, they would be training for it now). It's not absolutely necessary that you know and understand what's going on with every other kid in the group or the other groups (and this fact is SO HARD for me! I want to know everything and it's been challenging to just stay focused on my kid), but it's ok to want a general idea of what the plan is for your dd and it's NOT wrong to keep asking until you're satisfied.

 

[WingingIt]

Thank you. I honestly don't care what the other kids are doing or not doing. But sometimes the only way I know anything is because someone tells me what they were told and if it feels revelant then I ask HC who either verifies, clarifies or tells me they don't have an answer. Lately, no answers. I really (naively) believed we would have our training schedule by now. This is the third time I've been told that they need to have another meeting before deciding.

 

[Flyaway]

It does feel late to not have an official training schedule. How do you know when to bring your dd to gym?

 

[WingingIt]

For now, I'm just bringing her to the level 1/2 group until told otherwise. Meanwhile, they brought in a ton of new girls to this group, so clearly they have made some decisions.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

We do spring compulsories too. All our move ups happened before summer training started. It IS good that your DD is training the L3 skills as she should be, but I would want the official word and change in training groups as well. I couldn’t imagine (as a coach) wanting to train budding L1’s together with budding L3’s....

 

[WingingIt]

I got an update today (that I had to ask for). DD will be moving to the other group and the move will happen by September due to some scheduling and spacing issues. I'm satisfied for now... though it would have been nice to not have to go chasing down the information. Meanwhile, I started getting those emails about fall registrations for extracurriculars and what now so it's good timing to know what the schedule should look like.