WAG Gym Policy on Canceling Practice

[Sasha]

Cancellations / no classes that parents are happy/fine with at our gym:

- planned days off around holidays
- planned vacation week after season concludes
- day off after a competition (for girls who competed)
- days off for hosted meets
- unplanned days off (announced day of, or a few days before) for an emergency like losing power, or vomitting coaches, etc....

Cancellations/no classes that parents are mildly annoyed by:
- planned days off to supposedly account for those "5th" weeks in a month - meaning to make sure we don't get 'more' than we pay for

Cancellations that parents get angry about:
- unplanned days off when Optionals have a meet, and so they cancel compulsory classes. Usually there are only a few days notice Especially when it's a travel meet and half the week is cancelled. And this happens multiple times a season. And it can happen on a day we pay an extra monthly fee for, with no refund.
- unplanned days off for coach's vacations. Sure, coaches definitely need vacations, but when I take a vacation, I have to plan for someone to cover my work. With all the other weeks and days off, it's just one more thing that gets unpredictably thrown at us.

For the above two scenarios that cause angst, parents feel the gym should offer something, even if there are fewer coaches (they don't ALL go to the meets - we have about 9 coaches), or they should hire a sub or offer a makeup day. Once or twice might not raise eyebrows, but there are spells where it feels 'frequent'.

There are never makeups offered for any cancelled practices, no matter the reason.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

At dd's gym, they rarely cancel practice. If their main coaches aren't there, they usually find someone else to fill in. Last winter, we missed quite a few days due to the weather and there was some general unhappiness/complaining as many felt like we weren't getting what we paid for. But nothing really came from it. A couple of weeks ago they cancelled practice at the last minute (literally 15 minutes before start time) because both coaches were sick and there was no one else to fill in because most of the coaches were at an away meet for the optionals. They did end having a makeup practice the next Sunday.

Personally, I would be annoyed if they regularly were cancelling practices multiple times a month. Occasionally is understandable, but if it something happening that frequently, I think they should make alternate arrangements.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Our gym does a pretty good job at still holding practices even during meet season (unless of course we are hosting a meet and literally have no gym to practice in cause it's setup for the meet). All of our levels have their own coach, plus our head optional coach and a few assistants can help either back at the gym or at the meet, so usually at the very least the team can still have practice w/ only their level coach.

My DD was once at a gym that cancelled practice A LOT during meet season cause they didn't have enough coaches to cover both the meet and back at the gym, and it was really annoying - especially since it was a low hour gym and missing a weekend practice was a much bigger deal. I like how our gym now is so much better.

Even when we cancel for weather (which rarely happens to begin with) they will usually pick a day a few weeks later and hold a makeup practice that people can come to if they want - usually only half of the kids show up (and they anticipate this by having less coaches), but it's still great that they do it.

 

[duyetanh]

No makeups for absences here.

 

[raenndrops]

We pay for 42 weeks a year of practice, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We have July off (with the option to attend 2 weeks of rec camp and workout/ be junior counselors for free) and only 2 weeks in December… and the week of Thanksgiving, Spring Break, Memorial Day week, and Labor Day week.
We only cancel practice for Level 2 or Level 3 Snow Emergencies and for super extreme Cold.

Set up for home meets happens the last half-hour of practice on Thursday night practice. Parents come in and help out so it goes quickly. All it entails is rearranging beams, putting out judges tables and chairs, taking extraneous mats upstairs to block the extra uneven bars, and sweeping / vacuuming.

We only have one "real" travel meet a year, and not all the coaches go, so we can still have practice if it falls during a practice week.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We try to cancel practise as rarely as possible. It may only happen once or twice a year, we know before hand when it will happen and don't charge for those dates.

But coaches work for a living it's not something they just do for fun. The coaches still need to be paid their usual coaching wages even if they don't coach their usual classes because they need to attend a meet. Otherwise you would be asking coaches to give up their usual income to take kids to compete. Most are paid to go too meets anyway but if they would have earned a higher rate by coaching their usual classes, they would need to be laid at that higher rate, or they are again losing income by taking kids to comps.

If a substitute coach is brought in, then that coach needs to be paid too, but the gym aren't going to charge more for classes run by a sub, so the dollars paid for classes already have to stretch further.

 

[pt coach]

We try not to cancel but sometimes it is unavoidable. This weekend we are hosting a meet (off site). The levels not competing on Friday will have practice but we had to cancel the rest of the practices for the weekend due to the meet. With 2 gyms running at the same time, all of the coaches are coaching the rest of the weekend. No makeups will be offered...most of the effected kids come 5 days a week anyway so I don't know when they would do a makeup!

 

[chalkbowl]

But coaches work for a living it's not something they just do for fun. The coaches still need to be paid their usual coaching wages even if they don't coach their usual classes because they need to attend a meet. Otherwise you would be asking coaches to give up their usual income to take kids to compete. Most are paid to go too meets anyway but if they would have earned a higher rate by coaching their usual classes, they would need to be laid at that higher rate, or they are again losing income by taking kids to comps..

I know when I'm not in the gym....I don't get paid. So when I attend a competition I receive my $50/session & mileage, but am not paid anything for my work I would have done at the gym. I think that's a situation many hourly coaches in the US find themselves in.

 

[momof2gymmies]

Our gym rarely cancels. If school is closed they will re evaluate in the afternoon. If there is a meet and coaches are gone, or the coach is sick they get someone to fill in. Last year they cancelled 4 times - 3 for snow, and we were offered make up times, and one when the owners mom dies and all the coaches went to the wake. If the girls miss because they are sick or have something else to do they are allowed to make up, but no more than twice a month and there has to be room in whichever group they go to.

 

[GymMom4]

Now that we have more team coaches they rarely cancel practice. There are other coaches to help out when head coaches have a meet to attend. Previously when coaches had to be out of town for an optionals meet the compulsories wouldn't have practice and vice versa.

When practice is cancelled because doc bad weather (rare here) they make up if possible but that is hard with a big team and each group being alotted certain days/hours.

When we host a meet the kids still have practice the day before; some of the time is spent going over skills/routines and part is spent wiping down mats, etc.

 

[Texasmomof3]

My dd is level 6.

We haven't had a practice cancelled in the 8 months we have been at this gym, and that has included compulsory season, optional season, and two gym-hosted meets. They did end Friday practice an hour early on the day before the two gym hosted meets, so we could set up the equipment and get ready for the meet the next day.

I know that recently the compulsories did have two practices cancelled, because of coach illness, one group of coaches gone to an optional meet and another coach gone to Karolyi. I don't think any of those parents minded from what I heard.

 

[Mish]

Practice is never cancelled unless we are hosting a meet (or extremely dangerous travel due to weather). Sometimes that stinks bc if we compete on a Sunday, the girls haven't practiced since Thurs. (meets start on Friday). We do host several during the season, so that is the only time when it's mildly annoying.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

We try not to cancel practices but sometimes we have to because we practice in a large sports center and gym is only a small part of that. This center is used for other sports events and even for concerts, trade shows and all that, the list just goes on. And when some of those events takes place they close the gym completely! It annoys us SO MUCH, I almost feel physical pain when I think about it. Right now we haven't been able to practice in the sports center for two weeks! So TWO WEEKS OFF if we couldn't find a free school gymnasium to do some conditioning and dance work and even if we could it's just once a week! That's ridiculous. The parent's don't get any discount and the coaches don't get paid for the days off.

I know when I'm not in the gym....I don't get paid. So when I attend a competition I receive my $50/session & mileage, but am not paid anything for my work I would have done at the gym. I think that's a situation many hourly coaches in the US find themselves in.

This is the another problem we have! That's why we try to set our practices for weekdays only.

 

[meganliz77]

We will have practices cancelled, primarily due to meets. Part of this is explained by our HC, is that we do not pay extra expenses for our coaches during meet season (travel expenses or anything) and to keep the cost down for us that last practice is typically cancelled. Make up classes are offered when another group, say optionals, have a meet that conflicts with the compulsory schedule. Our gym is also pretty generous in that they offer 2 weeks worth of practices during Christmas break each year, when the gym is otherwise closed to rec kids. These are 2 free weeks to sort of make up the difference.

 

[ShesAMonkey]

It's a rare thing at our gym. I can remember once in our 6 years at the gym so far that we had practice cancelled due to extreme weather. Occasionally, practices will get moved around during meet season, but they generally try to make sure the kids get their normal hours in. Compulsory girls have a Christmas break, but optionals are heading into the meet season so the coaches use the time off from school for extra hours. Optionals generally have one week off over the summer, as the compulsory girls are getting ready for their season. The gym will be closed Christmas Day (but not Christmas Eve!) and New Year's Day and Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. Other than that, pretty much no days off.

 

[l.c.o]

We've experienced both sides of this. At a former gym, practices were fairly frequently canceled due to scheduling.

At DD's current gym, I think it's been outright canceled twice, once on home meet weekend and once for weather. Occasionally they'll bump a practice by a couple of hours, or reschedule.

ETA: now that I'm thinking, that home meet practice may have actually been rescheduled.

 

[CTMOM]

Yes, it happens for those reason and weather (snow or excessive heat). They try to offer a make up, but it's not always possible. The monthly fees are based on 4 weeks per month, but some months have a few extra days that you are technically not paying for, so it all works out in the end.