Parents Gymnastics Club Red Flags (What Have You Seen?)

[catchingupmom]

As a teenage gymnast although it may seem a fun or kind gesture but a coach that wants to be ur friend is a big red flag this will lead them to crossing many boundaries and making you feel uncomfortable.

Absolutely, my DD feels comfortable talking to her coach about anything (probably including parents) and does frequently. They know a lot about each other and have an amiable relationship but there are boundaries - no out of gym activities together, and no social media contact for example. An experienced coach draws a line and sticks to it. The one exception I saw last year (not with my child) was a number of the junior high gymnasts competed in our city track meet and a few coaches went to cheer them on, which was a nice support in a respectful way IMO.

 

[proud.gymnast]

Absolutely, my DD feels comfortable talking to her coach about anything (probably including parents) and does frequently. They know a lot about each other and have an amiable relationship but there are boundaries - no out of gym activities together, and no social media contact for example. An experienced coach draws a line and sticks to it. The one exception I saw last year (not with my child) was a number of the junior high gymnasts competed in our city track meet and a few coaches went to cheer them on, which was a nice support in a respectful way IMO.

yes definitely my coaches are the people i trust the most the only outside of my “activity” my coach has ever done for me is picked me up from my house to go get icecream as that night my house was not safe for me to be in it’s definitely a case by case boundary

 

[catchingupmom]

yes definitely my coaches are the people i trust the most the only outside of my “activity” my coach has ever done for me is picked me up from my house to go get icecream as that night my house was not safe for me to be in it’s definitely a case by case boundary

I'm sorry to hear that you had that experience. It is nice you had someone to go to. However, I will say that would have been against our gym and national safe sport policies as one on one with gymnasts is no longer allowed. I think multiple athletes with one coach is okay as is two coaches and one athlete, but I'm not a coach so not 100% sure.

 

[Coach Kate]

I'm sorry to hear that you had that experience. It is nice you had someone to go to. However, I will say that would have been against our gym and national safe sport policies as one on one with gymnasts is no longer allowed. I think multiple athletes with one coach is okay as is two coaches and one athlete, but I'm not a coach so not 100% sure.

At our gym, we are never allowed to be alone with athletes. We always have two coaches together in these types of situations.

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

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Are you at the wrong club? Here are 5 simple red flag signs in a great new article by our author Jen Kula...

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I have a question, I feel our gym pretty much ignored mental blocks. They don’t demean or punish for them but I don’t see any gymnasts beating them. This is becoming a red flag for me as it feels so hopeless. Would you all say that not having tools to help gymnast overcome mental blocks is a red flag?

 

[JBS]

Would you all say that not having tools to help gymnast overcome mental blocks is a red flag?

There are tools... however... it is a very individual thing. There are two major things to look at...

1. How to help an individual develop the tools to defeat mental blocks
2. Creating a positive / confidence driven atmosphere that minimizes the development of mental blocks / stress as a whole

As a head coach I can tell you... we could never address #1 until we first started focusing on #2.

In my opinion mental blocks and fears are a real thing and there are logical ways to combat them. However... if it is becoming "all consuming" and the fears are seemingly "illogical"... many times the tools end up just making athletes think about the issue more and it becomes worse.

Here is an article... #3 is vital...

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