Parents Crazy gym parents

[midwestgymmom]

:shocked: Has anybody seen something like this: At our state meet a few weeks ago apparently at one of the level award ceremonies a parent was watching and waiting for their dd to get her medal and while they were announcing the placements started ARGUING WITH THE ANNOUNCER LOUDLY ABOUT HER DDS SCORE AND PLACEMENT:jaw-dropping: I guess according to the judges sheet the medal placement was right but they kept on arguing!:snooty: If I was their dd I would have been so embarrassed.:ziplip:The rest of the parents were so disturbed I knew these people existed but until you see them:faint: ...........does this happen very often:lookaround: ?

 

[JBS]

No...it doesn't happen very often. It happens in all sports every now and then. Any parent can get a little carried away when in involves their kids.

Their are some parents that are just plain crazy, too.:crazy:

Hopefully they'll look back on it in a couple of years and laugh.

 

[gym law mom]

I agree with JBS that you don't see parents out there arguing over scores very much, but this kind of behavior is seen in anything kids do from music to soccer to dance etc. I would hope the gym owner sits this mom down and not only tells her what she did was completely inappropriate, but that until she can control herself she is not welcome at meets. It might be interesting to see if the state USAG association gets involved.

Thing is, this type of behavior embarrases everyone from that gym--coaches, other girls on the team and parents. Probably if you could ask parents from that gym they would say this mom is no "wallflower" at practices---one of those constantly pushing her kid or in the coaches faces. What I've found with many of these parents is the pressure they put on their kids at home is worse than anything you see around the gym and many kids just quit so they don't have the push to always be on top.

Just curious---what level state meet was this?

 

[hammy]

It's one thing to check with a coach if you think your gymnast should have placed--sometimes the score that is flashed after a routine is different from what was entered into the computer (human error when displaying the score). One thing to keep in mind is that in the case of a tie in score the higher placement goes to the gymnast with the higher all around score.

In Feb. i was coaching my level 4s at their 2nd meet ever and when it came to the team award we weren't given an award. We (the coaches) went up and argued with those who entered the scores into the computer, showed them what we scored and we were given recognition for taking 2nd place, but we were not given an award because the other team had already left. It ended up being that they entered us in the computer incorrectly----this was sad seeing as we were one of the two teams hosting the meet.

 

[midwestgymmom]

Just curious---what level state meet was this?

The state meet was for level 4-10. I believe it was the level 6 session. And it was an error in that the score was recorded right in the computer but when the score was flashed the score thingy (?) wasn't working correctly. I think it could have been handled a lot more quietly and respectfully than screaming and calling names in a very small area at the announcer who had nothing to do with it. I'm sure most parents at the meet will recognize those parents anytime there is a meet.

 

[gym law mom]

Ok, well my daughter is a Level 6 and I've never started screaming about her scores while awards were given. So, not all Level 6 parents are whackos!

Hammy discussed the proper way for this to be handled and that is by the coaches---not the parents. At one meet this past season, one of our Level 6s did her bar routine and it was good---not great, but good. They held up a score of 6.85!! Now, to get that she would have had to have fallen and left out at least 1-2 elements which didn't happen. Her parents(and the rest of us) sat there shocked/surprised. Our head coach went to the bar judges and those tabulating the scores and found that the person holding up the score had MISREAD the judge's handwriting. They thought it was a 6 when in fact it was an 8. The score sent to accounting was correct--8.85, but the score held up was wrong. Unfortunately, the girl did get a glimpse of the score and totally messed up her beam routine even though the coaches told her it had been corrected.

No doubt about it---this parent was way out of line!

 

[gymbabisMom]

That's why I love the electronic score boards. Not that they are completely infalible, but they seem to work better than the score cards, which at the meets we've been at have usually been flashed by kids.

 

[MomChefKathleen]

At our State Meet, they started the awards for Level 4 9-year-olds, going out 14 places. They called 8 places, all with All-Arounds in the high 20's... the parents in the audience were shaking our heads and saying "No..." Turns out they only had the totals from the first three events. My daughter wasn't in the group that was called. So here these poor girls were standing up there and then had the medals taken OFF their necks and they were told to sit back down. Someone brought the correct scores. My daughter then placed 13th, so I know there were probably girls who initially thought they placed who didn't.

The announcer had been announcing during the meet itself, so she should have realized that an All-Around of 27 isn't going to place at the State Meet.

I felt so bad for the girls who had to take off the medals and sit back down. But no one challenged the announcer or argued at that point. There had been some corrected scores posted earlier as well.

Kathleen

 

[medic3188]

You know what I find difficult is when you are at the gym and parents are screaming at their kids who are down below. The try to coach their kids from the viewing area. The other thing that drives me crazy is the parent who sits there for the entire practice bragging about how great their kid is. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[Monkeygirlsmom]

I think its the coaches job to go and handle the situation with Class and not rudeness!! I can see a parent go up to the coach and say is this correct but then let the coach handle it. I know while at the gym I watch and let the coach be a coach if we are at home and she is doing cartwheels etc I might say straighter legs etc. but no more than that!! Im a parent not a coach!!

 

[gymmom]

I was at my daughters level 4 meet last fall. There was an entire support group for one particular gym who was very rude. They would cheer so loudly for their gym that it would cause the girls on the beam, bar, etc to wobble. I am all for supporting your team but this was excessive. They would not only cheer after the skill was done but keep cheering and it went on and on. I was disappointed that an entire gym of parents would feel that this was ok. It was obvious what they were trying to do. Very disappointing.

 

[gym law mom]

Thats ashame that the girls had a meet like that. Thing is as you go up in levels, the parents get quieter it seems. Not that we didn't cheer for our Level 6 girls(mine doesn't like her parents cheering for her!)---the meets seemed quite controlled as far as parental noise. Of course, by the time the girls get to Level 6 they are a little older and have more experience with meets so the obnoxious parents might be a little annoying, but wouldn't affect their routines much. Some girls on our team(mine included) like some background noise while doing beam---claim they are less nervous than when it is quiet.

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

This type of behavior should not be allowed for so many reasons. The coach should be approached with the prob - quietly, and they should handle it IMO. In our fball program if this type of behavior occurred the parent (sometimes the child) would be warned and/or asked to leave as the parents sign parental behavior agreements prior to their children participating that clearly state these types of behavior are not allowed and will not be tolerated. This is a growing problem in our country w/sports and is a horrible example for our impressionalble children... I wonder if most gyms have parents sign this type of agreement as well?

 

[gym law mom]

My older daughter is in high school marching band. In our state if the head judge at a competition feels "fans" from a certain school are too loud while other bands are playing or are being direspectful to other competitors, they will penalize the "offending" band----in other words they take a deduction off the final score. Our band director reminds us frequently of this rule and if any parents/alumni are caught acting up at a competition they will be banned from attending them. A little hard to enforce since these are all day events and people are coming/going at high school football stadiums, but names would be given to band booster officers who would keep an eye out for those that have been told not to come.

As far as gymnastics, the coaches do say you are there and representing our gym. There is a warning that parents acting inappropriately will be discussing their behavior with the gym owner. Thing is what I usually hear at a meet is one of our own parents whining about why her wonderful daugher was put up 1st on bars and won't get the big score like the girls going at the end.

 

[mesagymmom]

That behavior is over the top even for the looney parents I have seen in the many years of being a gym parent. I think every state has their well known parent nut cases who are way too involved and living vicariously through their child. Certainly we have a few famous ones here in AZ, but thankfully they are few and far between. Nothing like I've heard about in sports like figure skating.

 

[gym law mom]

MGM---I'm a figure skating parent too and believe me some of those parents go beyond obnoxious and annoying. Right now there are a few partents at our gym who are approaching the nastiness I've seen in skating. They're all full of themselves because their dd moved up. Thing these parents don't get is they ruin the sport for THEIR child and many times are the reason the kid walks away from the sport.

Obviously, we all want the best for our kids and for them to succeed and be happy. Some folks just go about it in a very unhealthy way.