mom2newgymnast
Proud Parent
- Jul 8, 2014
- 1,394
- 1,373
This is something I've been wondering for a while, but I've been worried about asking because I fear it might be controversial and I'm kind of thin-skinned. And it's a bit of a spin off of some recent posts, although not in response to any specific post..
Why it is so bad for a gym to be selective, have age limits, have form/scoring requirements to move up, etc? Whenever a gym that does any of those things is talked about, it's usually portrayed as a strong negative. But why really? Don't most sports have teams/clubs/leagues/whatever they are harder to get on than others? What is wrong with a gym focusing on a team that they feel could win at states or compete in college or qualify elite for example? Why is that a bad goal for a gym?
Now, I'm going to add some clarifications, before I get completely downvoted. I'm not saying that they should kick someone off team because they had a bad meet, mental block, injury or whatever. And I'm not saying that they should ONLY care about winning and hold their gymnasts back to win or train excessively or whatever. I believe that is wrong personally. And I do understand, as a parent, being peeved if my child wasn't accepted on a team because they were too old or they were told they had bad form or something similar. I would probably be pretty upset in the moment.
But I don't really think a gym is wrong for not accepting a child on their team if they don't fit their criteria. It IS a business and if their business goal is to try and get the most athletes to college for example, should they have to accept everyone that tries out even if they know that isn't realistic for that child? For example, if they tell them they are too old for their DP team, but they can join Xcel or the rec team, why is that so wrong of a gym? Most teams have size limits so they can effectively coach the athletes they have, so it's not really realistic to just accept everyone. Thoughts?
Why it is so bad for a gym to be selective, have age limits, have form/scoring requirements to move up, etc? Whenever a gym that does any of those things is talked about, it's usually portrayed as a strong negative. But why really? Don't most sports have teams/clubs/leagues/whatever they are harder to get on than others? What is wrong with a gym focusing on a team that they feel could win at states or compete in college or qualify elite for example? Why is that a bad goal for a gym?
Now, I'm going to add some clarifications, before I get completely downvoted. I'm not saying that they should kick someone off team because they had a bad meet, mental block, injury or whatever. And I'm not saying that they should ONLY care about winning and hold their gymnasts back to win or train excessively or whatever. I believe that is wrong personally. And I do understand, as a parent, being peeved if my child wasn't accepted on a team because they were too old or they were told they had bad form or something similar. I would probably be pretty upset in the moment.
But I don't really think a gym is wrong for not accepting a child on their team if they don't fit their criteria. It IS a business and if their business goal is to try and get the most athletes to college for example, should they have to accept everyone that tries out even if they know that isn't realistic for that child? For example, if they tell them they are too old for their DP team, but they can join Xcel or the rec team, why is that so wrong of a gym? Most teams have size limits so they can effectively coach the athletes they have, so it's not really realistic to just accept everyone. Thoughts?