Parents Head coach?

[mom2newgymnast]

Something I've been curious about... so I thought I'd ask here. When parents talk about the head coach at the gym (as in being coached by the head coach or talking to the head coach, etc), who are they referring to really? Is there one coach at your gym that is THE head coach? Are there head coaches per level? Is the head coach the owner? Do they work with all levels or just the upper levels? I assume it's different at every gym, so I'm asking at your gym how it works?

The coaches (2 really) at my dd's gym that I consider the head coaches are also the owners. They only coach the level 10's I think. They might occasionally watch the 8's and 9's. I rarely even see one of them at the gym when we are there and I have no idea what the other looks like. They don't really seem interested in the lower level gymnasts. Pre-team and level 2 has their own coach. Level 3 has 1 main coach and then some of the level 4-6 coaches that help out on different events. Levels 4-6 seem to have event coaching. There is 1 coach that is the main point of contact for levels 3-6 and I guess I would consider him the head coach for the lower levels. He is the one that we are supposed to contact about any issues anyway. I have no idea about levels 7-9.

I've read lots of posts where people talk about their lower level gymnasts working with the head coach or suggesting talking to the head coach about an issue,etc which is what made me wonder. Honestly, if I tried to approach our head coach about an issue with my dd (a level 3) gymnast, I'm not sure if he would even know who she was. It's just not how it works at this gym.

I'm fine with the way it works at this gym, so this is really just a curiosity question. I haven't been involved with any other gyms so I don't know what's typical or not.

 

[Muffinsmom]

We have a compulsory/TOPS Head Coach for levels 1-3 and an optionals Head Coach for xcel-L10. Then over them is our Team Coordinator and then the owner who doesn't do anything as far as I can tell.

 

[Sasha]

We have multiple, different "Head Coaches":

- HC Girls Compulsories
- HC Girls Optionals
- HC Xcel Team
- HC Boys Developmental and Compulsories
- HC Boys Optionals

We also have a couple "Program Managing Coaches"(different from above people) of
- TOPS & Developmental (girls)
- Future Stars (boys)
- Rec (boys and girls combined)

Our owner is also a part-time coach, but not the Head Coach of any of the above.

Our other coaches (who are not HC of anything specific) mostly split their time between groups. So a Girls' coach may teach sections of Girls developmental, Compulsory, and/or Optional on different days, as well as Xcel, depending on the coach's expertise and availability.

I like this model, as most of the same, experienced coaches will work with kids all the way from developmental through Optionals. And the Xcel team has equally qualified coaches as JO (hence a very polished and competitive Xcel team).

 

[MILgymFAM]

A listing of our experiences:

Gym 1: HC was the HC for all of team. Not the owner, but the owner was semi retired and used to be the HC. There were event coaches and one all around assistant. Rec coaches never coach team. Team coaches do occasionally coach rec.

Gym 2: HC for us meant the HC for Xcel. Xcel was completely separate from JO. This was a huge machine of a gym and I have no idea who the JO coaches were, but they didn't coach anyone other than JO. No idea who the owner was. The Xcel HC was a one woman show. No assistants and she coached every practice, every level.

Gym 3: HCs are also the owners. They are a married couple. They are the only people to coach team. They also coach rec. There are three additional rec coaches.

Gym 4: HC is also the owner. He coaches optionals on everything (his wife, who isn't officially a coach at the gym, coaches optionals on beam) and all team levels on bars. There are also two compulsory coaches, each with different levels. The HC doesn't coach rec, but the compulsory coaches do. There are additional rec coaches, mostly teens, who do not ever coach team.

 

[raenndrops]

HC at our gym is also the gymnastics coordinator. She coaches our team L3+ and Xcel. She coaches 2 Jr. High teams. She coaches a High School Team.
In addition to HC, we have Assistant HC who helps with all the teams... and we have assistant coaches just for OUR team. They are mostly teenagers, but we do have a couple in their early 20s. We have several teens and a few parents that coach rec classes... and the teens just go where needed.
There is a coach that only works with L3s and a coach that mostly works with L4s (but he also teaches the boys rec class and works with "Kip Club" no matter what level they are).
We have another coach that mostly works with L5-L6 and Xcel... but she also works with L3 as needed.

If we have a problem, we go to the HC... unless she is not there, then we go to Assistant HC. If I personally have a problem with something, I go to HC or text her if she isn't at the gym .

 

[kitkat]

In our club in Ontario our head coach is in charge of all the competitive coaches and makes the decision for anything competitive. meets, Leo's, tracks, levels,etc.
He arranges all the coaches for all the competitive levels.
In our gym we also have a head coach for recreation as well.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Generally the head coach is the technical director of the program, in charge of deciding which kids do which levels, what drills and techniques should be used, skill priorities, etc. They are also generally in charge of meet sign-ups, training for other staff, and so on.

The position of "head coach" is not one that is in any way standardized throughout the industry, so the exact breakdown of hierarchies and assignments of duties varies a lot from gym to gym.

My own gym is a bit complex in this regard. CSC consists of (I think) 8 gyms around the San Jose area; two large mothership gyms that train all levels, and a number of smaller satellite gyms that only go up to a certain level (which varies by site). I am the head coach of the girls team and T&T team at one of the satellites; this means that I am in charge of technical direction from preteam up to level 5, and then once they reach optionals they transfer to one of the larger sites. I have several assistants that work under me, but I also recieve some technical direction from the optional coaches at the other sites. I also handle meet sign-ups. So I'm the head coach for my site, but not for the competitive program as a whole.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Thanks for the responses so far! It's interesting hearing how other gyms are structured.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

2 Head Coaches and they are owners. They work with all levels. 3 coaches then 2 assistants.

All work together, under the 2 HCs. There are no assigned coaches to a level or group. They train all or most events but they do have their specialties. I think once in 3 years has there been a practice that neither HC was there.

And there is always one HC on the floor at all times. And in nearly 2 meets, there was one where neither HC was the coach at our session. Most of the time it's both of them, occasionly only one.

 

[1canadiangymmom]

HC only works with the National stream girls and a couple 9's and 10's. As does the assistant HC, all others are just coaches. 2 for pre team, and 2 for all others.

 

[suebee]

HC works with optionals only, I think starting at level 8, but I'm not sure since we aren't anywhere close to that.

There is a main coach for each level (often times the same person is HC for multiple levels) and then assistant coaches for that level. I think HC oversees the main coaches, but in a kind of hands-off way. I doubt HC is at all involved with who moves up in compulsories and I doubt HC knows many, if any, of the compulsory girls' names. This was why dd was so excited a few weeks ago when HC worked with her group and asked her what her name was.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

At our gym, the person I consider the HC is the director of the girls team. Boys team has its own director (and HC). This person is the go-to, highest on chain of command as far as coaching staff. I suppose the owner would be ultimate highest chain of command..!
Our HC coaches our Optional girls and our special TOPs/HOPES girls.
Then, there are HCs for other parts of our program, one for each compulsory level, one for Xcel and one for our developmental team.
They all answer to HC/director of girls team.

 

[Committed]

The HC at DDs gym is the owner/HC. This person determines all levels and coaches the upper Optionals.

Otherwise, I will call DDs coaches: beam coach, bars coach, etc.

 

[z2akids]

The HC at DD's gym oversees the coaching of the entire gym - rec and team. The HC sometimes is a level coach and/or takes a rec class. However, HC's main responsibility to to the smooth running of both the rec and team programs. HC has final say on who moves up, tests girls for team, schedules meets, decides on competition leos, works with the booster board, etc.

Our gym has soemwhete betwren 75-85 team girls. HC knows each one by name along with who their parents are and probably the biggest strengths/weaknesses of each of the girls (gymnastics-wise).

Then, each level has a HC and at least one assistant.

 

[munchkin3]

Old gym used to have ONE coach do competitive boys AND girls levels 3-10...... He was exhausted and happy when they added a boys head coach, and assistant girls coach.....they have a very successful program...

New gym, compulsories have their own coaches, with one who is the point of contact.
Optionals has 4-5 coaches with one coach who is the HEAD coach and is in charge of deciding placement and training.
Then this entire program was written by a mix of the head coach, national ex-gymnasts and owner who is an ex gymnast....

It seems extremely well organized.

 

[cbifoja]

The coaches in our gym tend to be either rec or team. Our rec coaches will coach whatever classes work for their schedule. Our team coaches coach one level but then will help with other levels or substitute if needed on the recreational side.

Then we have the head coach, who supervises all recreational and team coaches. That coach also coaches the highest optional group and is the gym owner. All decisions about move ups are determined by the individual coaches but I imagine HC would say no if there was a compelling reason.

Any problems can be taken up with either team coaches or HC at the parent's discretion. We aren't a big gym (60 team kids) so no rigid chain of command or impersonal hierarchy to try to figure out. I think that's why I'm always baffled when people on the board say they are afraid to speak to their daughter's coach. Our coaches are in the lobby at the end of training talking to parents about how training went and asking if anyone has questions. I can't imagine any of our team parents not being OK with talking to their daughter's coach.

 

[wgymmom]

HC is HC over the whole program, and works mostly with the optionals. There is one day a week where only compulsories have practice, so they can get HC training time then. We have separate ownership.