Parents How much does the coach truely help you child at gym?

[momof5]

The way our gym does things is that there are a bunch of stations sent up and the coach is usually spotting at one station and the girls rotate through the stations. They work indepednently at the stations without much supervison. The coach will ocassionally help someone at a different station. Is this similiar to how other gyms are run? I am concerned that the kids aren't receiving enough coaching. How much do the kids work on there own vs getting 1:1 help at your gyms?

 

[bogwoppit]

Sounds pretty normal to me, keeping the girls busy by moving them through stations means they aren't standing around waiting their turn with the coach and they are learning by doing. If the group was very large, like over 10 girls, I might worry about not enough time, but less than that I'd be thrilled that the coach is creative enough to keep the girls moving.

AT our gym if there are 9 girls on the beam, they are all working all the time, the one coach moves around and helps where it is needed or asked for. Sometimes that does mean the girls who ask get more, but on the whole it seems balanced.

 

[mariposa]

That sounds like how it is at DDs gym as well.

 

[ZJsMom]

That does sound normal. Setting up stations is an effective way to have the kids use their time instead of waiting in line for a turn with the coach. Of course, how much they can/should do on their own depends on the age and level. How many kids are in a group? At our gym, for compulsories the ratio is 8-12 gymnasts per coach. When we first got there, I was concerned that 12/1 seemed like a lot, but they do well and the kids progress well, so it seems to work fine.

 

[momof5]

My concern was because of the size of the class. There are 13 kids in the class. The coach was spotting on the vaulting table and thats the only time the whole 1 1/2 hrs my dd was helped by the coach. Her time with the coach was about 5 min for the whole class. My dd did several of the stations wrong and never received any correction. I am not sure the coach noticed or not. I think it would be great if the coach walked around while the kids were working and spend time observing all.

 

[TeamDad]

I tend to agree with you. It can sometimes seem that the lower levels don't get as much attention as the higher levels and the attitude is that they have several years to get it right. This would bother me...especially the lack of corrections and the possibility of injury. Sometimes the norm isn't always right for everybody...especially when it's your child who gets hurt or wants to excel.

There might also be some bias that half of you will drop out anyway, who knows. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that the lower level parents spend almost as much money, have just as much concern for safety, put just as much time in and want their children to get corrections and not get treated like second class citizens just because they're not L8. I hope that this isn't the case for you.

Rant off>

 

[gymch34]

Is this a team or rec group? How old is your daughter? Those are very important factors. I'm sure the coach is coaching more than you think- even if I'm spotting one station, Im constantly monitoring others with verbal corrections, etc. The only other choice is to have kids stand in line and wait for the coach.......not cool. It sound as though the coach is doing all the right things with a very big group- maybe some kudos could be sent his/ her way!

Is this one of the first classes? If so I'm sure more coaching will go on as time progresses and the coach gets to know the kids.

We coach/ shape/spot/ correct our compulsory kids MORE than optionals- thats when they get their basics. I am 10x more exhaused after coaching a compulsory group than when I coach an optional group! Almost every coach I know does exactly the same.

 

[Blackie6]

My DD is a L4 and while our gym also does "stations" there is plenty of one-on-one too. I stayed a little bit yesterday at the begining of practice and after warm-ups they did bits and pieces of their floor routines. One row would go first while the others watched and as they did things in a line the coach would adjust hands, feet, legs, ect...really paying close attention to even how they placed weight on legs. he kept changing the lines so there wasn't a lot of down time. Same was happening on beam when I did the pick-up. This group is doing L4 again so she seems to really focus on form this year where last year I thought is was more just learning the skills and the routine. Our team last year was very large, about 15 girls, and we often had up to 3 coaches at a time working the stations. I was also concerned about unattended stations when my DD was doing ROBHS full speed down cheese mats and looked like she was going to land on her head and break her neck!

This year since we are down to about 8 with only one new L4, we mostly have the one coach, but sometimes 2. Sometimes at a station the girls are working without a coach but our coaches have eyes in the back of their heads and the girsl know it. Usually the coach is close by or the stations to watch or help. I can't complain about our gym this year, they really seem to be correcting even the little things like heads up, tip-toes on beam, hand movements, ect...even during conditioning the coach walks around them correcting positions.

I am not sure how old your DD is or what level she is at. I know last year I sometimes felt my DD (she was 6) didn't get helped because she was so young and the other girls were so much better, but I think now it was because the other group was older and moving up and the coach had to get that group ready. This year it seems to be our year to get ready. If your DD is older, maybe the coach thinks that some stations the girls know what to do correctly? Does your DD feel like she is not doing things right and needs help? Can she ask the coach or should I say feel comfortable asking the coach for help? I know when I watch the upper level girls there are alot of times where they work/condition by themselves & the coach pulls them away for one on one time on the routines.

 

[Blackie6]

My concern was because of the size of the class. There are 13 kids in the class. The coach was spotting on the vaulting table and thats the only time the whole 1 1/2 hrs my dd was helped by the coach. Her time with the coach was about 5 min for the whole class. My dd did several of the stations wrong and never received any correction. I am not sure the coach noticed or not. I think it would be great if the coach walked around while the kids were working and spend time observing all.

Oh, I didn't see this other comment & I already posted something. I read now that your DD was not doing the skills correctly at the stations. Is this something you can speak to the coach about? A similar thing happened last year w/my daughter doing ROBHS wrong (very wrong) down a cheese mat. It was probably the only time I got upset & told the coach at the end what had happened. I felt it was sort of reinforcing a bad habit by her doing the skill wrong so many times! Because our team was so large last year she did not see it, and the other coach was not paying attention either. I believe it was just an honest mistake, but I think it made her more aware of how they set up the stations & it's never happened again.

Is this a pre-team or L4 group? Are other parents concerned too? Maybe the coach isn't aware or maybe feels he/she has enough time to work skills better before comp season?

 

[flippymonkeysmom]

We have a lot of stations set up as well - but the coaches do check to make sure they are doing them correctly. Actually I'm convinced one of the coaches has eyes in the back of her head, lol. I would be upset if they weren't at least looking over occasionally to give corrections. That being said - sometimes with real young kids if you over correct you could turn them off on the sport. If you are really concerned you could casually ask one of the coaches or someone else to see what the rationale is.

 

[kristilyn73]

I think that Optionals are trained different than compulsories, and team in general is trained different than Rec or pre team. My DD is an optional she does stations for Vault. For Beam, Floor & Bars they first do the skills individually. They do 5 of each skill, and have to show the coach #3 and #5. Then they do routines and the coach watches all the routine. Class runs late because of this sometimes!

I think that what you are experiencing is normal for lower levels. I agree with the other poster. Make sure your DD feels confident enough to ask for help if she needs or needs further explaination.

 

[Billy]

Our gym operates almost exactly the same way. And the coaches are only human. They can only do so much. That said, I do think you should speak with the coach if you think there is a problem. My DD was having trouble a couple weeks ago. Because of her size, she kept getting placed with the same three girls who were always goofing around and climbing on the equipment, even in the middle of someone else's turn. So, we spoke with the coach about it and she hadn't realized the extent of the problem. Since then, DD has not be put in a group with those girls again. I do believe the coaches are doing their best but they cannot possibly see everything. I also think most coaches would be willing to fix a problem if you bring it to their attention.