Parents Communication with the gym

[Chekylejones]

Hey guys. My daughter is a level 3 team gymnast and is in the middle of meet season. We are new to gymnastics within the last 18 months and I am trying to understand communication expectations from a gym. At our gym we don’t have any communication with the coaches and we don’t get any kind of progress updates. Nothing about what we need to be working on or follow ups after meets about where points were missed kind of thing. Is this normal in competitive gymnastics or should I expect a good level of communication about my daughter’s progress throughout the season? Any response will help. Thank you

 

[Coach Kate]

Not doing follow ups with parents after meets is normal, unless something really unusual happened. Your job as a parent is to support your athlete. You can always ask your gymnast what corrections their coach is giving them if you're curious and if they feel like they are making improvements.

As far as practice, with team, honestly, if the athlete is putting in effort and we're just kind of rolling along, there really isn't much to say a lot of the time during the season. I would make it a point to try to talk to a couple parents a week about something their child has been working on, an upgrade, or just something they're doing particularly well at, but if there are 20 kids on a team and I talk to 4 a week, it might be a month before you hear from me again.

 

[mezzamare]

In compulsory we didn't hear much from the coaches outside of a meeting after the season was over. Definitely no debriefing with us about meet performances or anything like that.

 

[Issagymnast]

Hey guys. My daughter is a level 3 team gymnast and is in the middle of meet season. We are new to gymnastics within the last 18 months and I am trying to understand communication expectations from a gym. At our gym we don’t have any communication with the coaches and we don’t get any kind of progress updates. Nothing about what we need to be working on or follow ups after meets about where points were missed kind of thing. Is this normal in competitive gymnastics or should I expect a good level of communication about my daughter’s progress throughout the season? Any response will help. Thank you

Hey guys. My daughter is a level 3 team gymnast and is in the middle of meet season. We are new to gymnastics within the last 18 months and I am trying to understand communication expectations from a gym. At our gym we don’t have any communication with the coaches and we don’t get any kind of progress updates. Nothing about what we need to be working on or follow ups after meets about where points were missed kind of thing. Is this normal in competitive gymnastics or should I expect a good level of communication about my daughter’s progress throughout the season? Any response will help. Thank you

Hi, fellow Level 3 parent here. We competed last year Level 2 had no idea my daughter was great until she won 1st place in several meets. I say that to say most gymnastic centers are notorious for bad communication!!! In a year we heard nothing. After meet nothing. Not a word. We barely knew when and where to turn up for meets. We later heard from gym owners they dropped the ball on communication and would do better this year (doubtful). This year they did assessments a few times and graded our gymnasts giving us a report card of sorts. However, just know this. Coaches are there to coach. Unless your gymnast needs support/help they will not talk to you unless about behavior or being absent too much from classes. Assume all is well. No talk = good in gymnastics. Get used to it. We formed a Level 3 Whats app group and a wider gym parent Whats app group and get our info from there. Also understand that the receptionist if experienced generally knows everything about gym, meets, comps, gymnasts etc. Ours is a wealth of info and we get our info from her mostly. She is a gem. Hope this helps!!!

 

[GymDadWA]

This is normal, if there is something you do need to do at home they will tell you, but don't expect to need to do anything just be a cheerleader for your gymnast. In general very little good happens when parents try to coach their child in gymnastics. If they want to do some body weight strength building like handstands and planks that's fine, but don't try and at home coach. Especially routine work, they have enough going through their heads and they don't need mom and dad's advice to confuse them.

I know in other sports it's normal for the kids to practice with their parents at home or at a park, but in gymnastics this isn't expected.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yes, this is very normal.

Most parents have not done gymnastics themselves and wouldn’t necessarily understand the corrections and feedback.

It’s never a good idea to practice at home, at best it can allow bad habits to creep in and at worst can result in serious injuries.

The gym may contact you if there are serious issues with things like effort or behaviour or if your child needs a physio, otherwise parents generally just enjoy watching their child progress.

 

[Dave7]

Hi, yeah.....this is normal. Well normal for the sport which isn't "normal" in the world of all sports but it is what it is. The divide or disconnect it not imagined, it's just the way things are. Some coaches are the exception and try to bring everyone on the journey. I wonder which style has better retention rates. As a parent and advocate you should be made feel like it's OK to have the occasional interaction with an adult that spends a lot of time with your....anyway yes it's normal but ask for a catch up if you feel like it...would be odd if the occasional coach up chat was not welcome but be considered and request a time if it doesn't suit them at pick up....most of the time it's only a 3 mins chat...should not be an issue.

 

[coach_M]

As a coach, I don’t spend a lot of time chatting to my squads parents about how their kids are going. Like people are saying, if there is an issue (behaviour, injury etc.) or if they’ve achieved something new/exciting or improving on something they’ve been working really hard on then I’ll find a minute to relay that, but aside from that, regular check ins just don’t feel all that necessary.

Parents are also welcome to watch training or ask questions if they’re really keen to know something or follow their child’s day to day progress a little more closely

 

[Dave7]

As a coach, I don’t spend a lot of time chatting to my squads parents about how their kids are going. Like people are saying, if there is an issue (behaviour, injury etc.) or if they’ve achieved something new/exciting or improving on something they’ve been working really hard on then I’ll find a minute to relay that, but aside from that, regular check ins just don’t feel all that necessary.

Parents are also welcome to watch training or ask questions if they’re really keen to know something or follow their child’s day to day progress a little more closely

Sounds good approach there for you .....can I ask what you feel about gyms that do not allow any parents in to ever watch any practice and who also don't welcome many questions....in this day and age is the the norm in many places?....dont think to many parents want to watch more than the very occasional pop in and watch for a bit.....but I wonder if it normal that the parents never can set a foot inside to watch and that also done make coaches interaction welcome?....is this in a high percentage of gyms

 

[Gymgirl84]

In my country (Europe) in most gyms parents are not allowed to watch. Part of the reason is that most gym have no designated place where the parents can be comfortably for everyone.

 

[coach_M]

Seems really odd that parents would not be allowed to watch practice - I suppose I can understand it if the gym does not have a suitable viewing area for parents, as it could be a concern that if parents are sitting right there in front of the kids that they’re going to try and coach from the sidelines. If that’s the case, I can’t imagine any reason to discourage parents from asking questions about their child’s progress provided it’s not literally all the time (the answer isn’t going to change that much and by end of training we are ready to get out of the gym)

 

[raenndrops]

Sounds good approach there for you .....can I ask what you feel about gyms that do not allow any parents in to ever watch any practice and who also don't welcome many questions....in this day and age is the the norm in many places?....dont think to many parents want to watch more than the very occasional pop in and watch for a bit.....but I wonder if it normal that the parents never can set a foot inside to watch and that also done make coaches interaction welcome?....is this in a high percentage of gyms

In the US, not allowing parents to observe practice is against SafeSport rules.