Coaches How many of you do grade checks?

[GymCoach&Mom]

I am a strong advocate of checking my team girls grades. Even younger girls, I want them to always have their ind of keeping upon school work, it's #1. Similar to school sports, if I see bad grades I will hold back practices. Curious to see how many others do the same... So far it's been working great and I've had remarkable feedback from parents

 

[coachmolly]

No. Not my job. If a parent wanted to cut back their kids hours for low grades, I would absolutely be on board, but I'm not going to make that decision for them. I will applaud a child who comes to me thrilled with their grades, but also continue to support a child who is barely passing.
I say this as someone who struggled through school terribly and gymnastics was I place I could get away from that. My struggles in school were between my parents, teachers, and myself- I didn't need to include my coaches in that circle as well. At one point I had a coach ask for report cards, creating a rule that girls with grades below a certain level would have some sort of consequence that I don't recall, fortunately my parents were not on board and I did not need to show them. I just recall being mortified at the prospect. I felt badly enough about my school performance at the time.

 

[bogwoppit]

But what if a child does not learn like the others? If they are always a B or C students with maximum effort. Would you hold back practices?

As a coach I would not have thought it was my business. As a Mom of two gymmies I would have said MYOB.

 

[coachmolly]

That's exactly what my mom said when a coach requested grades, Bog. I just didn't get along well in a large, public school setting. I went on to have a great GPA in college and am currently in grad school, apparently my lack of success as a middle schooler hasn't held me back too much.

 

[bogwoppit]

My son struggled in high school despite having an IQ off the scales, school is not every child's thing and has nothing to do with being bright or hard working.

Now he is very successful and has a full time job he loves and a separate business he loves even more. Had he been judged by his coaches for his school work he would have failed at everything. I do not see how that is constructive.

I would hate to see gym taken away from child who struggles in school.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

No, but we support a parent if they pull a child for a few days or a week due to poor grades. And then I give the child a hard time about it... Works every time.

 

[JBS]

No...but I am aware of how our optional level gymnasts do in school. I am not an advocate of over achieving in school. I like to see them maintain a "B" average (most maintain an "A" average).

Heavy course load...tons of community service...and all "AP" classes is a waste of time. If they are choosing to be very intense in gymnastics...then they should be "normal" in school.

The US college system is a terrible money cow anyways.

It's terrible when you watch a "legacy" kid that is dumb as a rock go to a school that your top gymnast and "super student" got denied from.

US college / education system...haha...don't get me started.

 

[Aussie_coach]

No way. Gymmastics is not a sport just reserved for those lucky enough to have high intelligence or be learning difficulty free.

Gymnastics is a sport that everyone should be able to enjoy. Gymnastics helps the. With their school work, it switches on their brains and helps their learning ability. If they are struggling in school they will benefit from training.

What's more every kid needs to experience success in life to grow up to be well rounded happy people. If they are not experiencing success in school and we take away the sport where they might be able to experience success we may destroy their confidence completely.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

No...but I am aware of how our optional level gymnasts do in school. I am not an advocate of over achieving in school. I like to see them maintain a "B" average (most maintain an "A" average).

Heavy course load...tons of community service...and all "AP" classes is a waste of time. If they are choosing to be very intense in gymnastics...then they should be "normal" in school.

The US college system is a terrible money cow anyways.

It's terrible when you watch a "legacy" kid that is dumb as a rock go to a school that your top gymnast and "super student" got denied from.

US college / education system...haha...don't get me started.

bwahahahahahahahahahaha! preach baby!!

 

[aileenmaryf]

I am so glad I never went to your club when I was a gymnast. I struggled in school due to a learning disability similar to dyslexia AND my ADHD (which I wasn't diagnosed with until my senior year of high school). For me gymnastics was a place to get away from school. There was one time where I failed a class and my parents made me stop going to practice until I got my grades up...It actually backfired on them. I was actually less focused on school because I had way too much energy and I was so stretched out that I got less homework done.

Now, as a coach of a high school team, there is a policy that if a student fails a class, they are only allowed to compete some percentage of meets (I think it is 20%). I am not sure the number as I have not had to enforce it yet; however if a girl did fail a class, they would still be allowed to attend practice. Its not my favorite rule ever

 

[CreateMagic]

I ask to see report cards...and we celebrate all successes. One of my girls was struggling in an area and was nervous at first. I very quickly pointed out the excellent effort comment and told her we all have things to work on at school, just like gymnastics! And then I threw them a pizza party. There's no negative consequences with me. I also encourage doing homework before coming to practice (obviously, the final call is the parents in this case, but I let them know that it's ok to be a little late if they have to be), and I offer tutoring if they want it. I'm a teacher too. The parents have commented on several occasions that they like that I do this. My gymnasts also talk about what they're learning at school while they're stretching, with the same excitement as all the other stories they tell me (my babysitter is getting married, my cat's birthday is next week, we had red velvet pancakes for breakfast....). It's all in how it's presented and what's done with the info!

 

[JBS]

A club by us does awards and honors all of their team gymnasts that are receiving A's or B's with a certificate. They reward those doing well...but they do not punish the students with lower grades.