C
cathiann
I'm posting here to get feedback from everyone--coaches, parents and gymnasts.
This doesn't personally involve my daughter, but just wondering what everyone thinks of the situation. Yesterday (Sunday) we had our last meet of the season. The head coach (let's call him B) always says that the two nights before a meet you have to get to bed early and get good sleep. And that if you miss practice right before a meet for anything other than illness, you can't compete that meet (they do make exceptions for school events, etc.) That's the background.
So Friday night, three of the girls (2 level 7s and 1 level 8) decide to have a sleepover. The girls are in 8th grade and I think the level 8 is in 7th, but I"m not positive. (just saying they're old enough to know the rules and follow them). Rumor has it (through the parent in charge of the sleepover) that the girls were up past one--wouldn't go to bed. IN the morning (practice is at 8:30), they wouldn't get up. The head coach B had the office person (and team parent) call the house and tell the mom to tell the girls if they don't get to the gym immediately, they wouldn't be competing on Sunday. The girls reportedly FLEW out of bed. Go to the gym over an hour late.
At the gym second head coach (let's call her L) pulled the girls aside and yelled at them--then they had to apologize to their teammates for their behavior (on the theory that their actions affected the team and the team's chances of scoring well)
Two of the moms involved are furious (the third didn't really say much). One thinks it isn't a big deal that they miss practice occasionally--even right before a meet and if they miss the meet--who cares. The other mom said the coaches were totally wrong to yell at the girls--it was her fault (the mom's--she did say she tried to get the girls up and they wouldn't move) and the coaches should talk to her.
My thoughts: gymnastics is a sport--with ANY sport you have to make a commitment and if you miss practices you typically are pulled from a game or competition--this isn't unusual at all. And although it may be more individualistic that many sports, it IS a team. Our level 7 team has 5 girls--if 2 are missing are perform poorly because they got little sleep, it affects the entire team. I also think the girls are old enough to know better--they were told to go to bed earlier--and didn't. They were told to get up--and didn't. Yes, they should get yelled at. Maybe it'll make them think twice in the future. (hey, the coach B yelled at Beth at the meet last weekend--talked to her for 5 straight minutes about looking at him when he's talking to her (she never has in the past--drives me crazy too)---I watched and at this meet anytime a coach spoke to her, she looked straight at him/her LOL!)
But... what do you think?
This doesn't personally involve my daughter, but just wondering what everyone thinks of the situation. Yesterday (Sunday) we had our last meet of the season. The head coach (let's call him B) always says that the two nights before a meet you have to get to bed early and get good sleep. And that if you miss practice right before a meet for anything other than illness, you can't compete that meet (they do make exceptions for school events, etc.) That's the background.
So Friday night, three of the girls (2 level 7s and 1 level 8) decide to have a sleepover. The girls are in 8th grade and I think the level 8 is in 7th, but I"m not positive. (just saying they're old enough to know the rules and follow them). Rumor has it (through the parent in charge of the sleepover) that the girls were up past one--wouldn't go to bed. IN the morning (practice is at 8:30), they wouldn't get up. The head coach B had the office person (and team parent) call the house and tell the mom to tell the girls if they don't get to the gym immediately, they wouldn't be competing on Sunday. The girls reportedly FLEW out of bed. Go to the gym over an hour late.
At the gym second head coach (let's call her L) pulled the girls aside and yelled at them--then they had to apologize to their teammates for their behavior (on the theory that their actions affected the team and the team's chances of scoring well)
Two of the moms involved are furious (the third didn't really say much). One thinks it isn't a big deal that they miss practice occasionally--even right before a meet and if they miss the meet--who cares. The other mom said the coaches were totally wrong to yell at the girls--it was her fault (the mom's--she did say she tried to get the girls up and they wouldn't move) and the coaches should talk to her.
My thoughts: gymnastics is a sport--with ANY sport you have to make a commitment and if you miss practices you typically are pulled from a game or competition--this isn't unusual at all. And although it may be more individualistic that many sports, it IS a team. Our level 7 team has 5 girls--if 2 are missing are perform poorly because they got little sleep, it affects the entire team. I also think the girls are old enough to know better--they were told to go to bed earlier--and didn't. They were told to get up--and didn't. Yes, they should get yelled at. Maybe it'll make them think twice in the future. (hey, the coach B yelled at Beth at the meet last weekend--talked to her for 5 straight minutes about looking at him when he's talking to her (she never has in the past--drives me crazy too)---I watched and at this meet anytime a coach spoke to her, she looked straight at him/her LOL!)
But... what do you think?