Parents Is this normal? (A team placement question)

[SGMOM]

I am new at this gym mom thing, and quite surprised to have a kid that is so in love with gymnastics. The only things that I know about gymnastics are things that I have learned from or for my daughter.

Our gym competes levels 2-10. Although we get feedback from the coaches, the level our kid ends up at for the season seems to be a closed door decision between the coaches and the owner in some meeting that happens sometime in January. The coaches say they don't always agree with the placement. Neither the gymnasts nor their parents don't know anything until we get an email about a week before the new practice schedule starts that tells us when the kid needs to be at the gym and how much we are paying. There's no communicated criteria as to whether a kid will advance, and numbers seem to play as much of a factor as the kid's talent. Some say favoritism is also a factor. Is that how most gyms are?

 

[lhmom]

With DD's gym, usually the HC follows a certain path-the girls usually do 2 years at level 4, one at 5, and 1-2 yrs at 6. Optionals are determined where she thinks the girls are skill-wise. I think the other 3 coaches put in their opinions, but she makes the final decision. I remember this spring when they put out the summer schedule, 2 of DD's 1st yr. teammates were moved up, mainly because of their age (several years older than DD and the other 1st years) and they had their kip. There has really never been anything communicated with the parents, but no one seems to be bothered by it.

 

[BlairBob]

this is why you're supposed to have a general team meeting followed by private 1-1 coach and parent meetings

 

[Quadqueen]

Our gym also doesn't give much of a heads up, but this decision is made in the spring, after states. Ours is based on both scores at current level as well as skills the gymnast has at the next level. There is no hard and fast "two years at L4, 1 year at L5" or anything like that at our gym.

If you're confused about how the decision was made, I would ask your DD's coach for a meeting.

 

[Empowered]

Move ups at my daughter's gym are based entirely on skills and that makes it extremely black and white and doesn't leave a lot of room for arguments. The skill sheets for each and every level 4-10 are posted for every parent to see and kept up year round at the gym. When the gymnasts are tested we are given a copy of that sheet and told how the girls faired on each and every skill. If they pass a skill they might make a note of "needs to improve form on this skill" and if they don't pass a skill they explain why.

Her old gym would move gymnasts up at the end of each season based on the "expectation" of the gymnast, without having uptrained skills and they ended up with a L5 team that had 10 girls who couldn't yet kip 2 months before season started.

Having seen both ways and the drama, fights, etc. that the latter method caused, I would never be comfortable again at a gym where I didn't know EXACTLY what was going on.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yikes!........................................

 

[bogwoppit]

yikes!........................................

You seem to have developped a stutter!!!

 

[AGM78910]

Move ups at my daughter's gym are based entirely on skills and that makes it extremely black and white and doesn't leave a lot of room for arguments. The skill sheets for each and every level 4-10 are posted for every parent to see and kept up year round at the gym. When the gymnasts are tested we are given a copy of that sheet and told how the girls faired on each and every skill. If they pass a skill they might make a note of "needs to improve form on this skill" and if they don't pass a skill they explain why.

Her old gym would move gymnasts up at the end of each season based on the "expectation" of the gymnast, without having uptrained skills and they ended up with a L5 team that had 10 girls who couldn't yet kip 2 months before season started.

Having seen both ways and the drama, fights, etc. that the latter method caused, I would never be comfortable again at a gym where I didn't know EXACTLY what was going on.

Our gym has the same system of posting the skills plus any gymnast can ask to be tested on a skill at any time. I have never heard of any drama or problems from this. It is fair and equitable.

DD used to be at a gym where move ups were at the HC's discretion. Talk about drama! One of the gymnasts who came in last place at the state meet was moved up over gymnasts that had placed in the top 7. Lots of gymnasts left after that.

 

[gymmomtoo]

At our gym after the season is over the gymnast, parent(s) and coach (usually just one coach is there) meet to talk about goals for the next year and level the gymnast would like to compete. Usually they are very receptive to what the gymnast wants. I've heard of cases where the parent & gymnast think staying a level would be better--and the coaches go along with that. Heck, my own daughter wanted to repeat level 9 when the coaches wanted her to move up--and they supported that. But the opposite isn't always the case--they seem to give lip service to the idea "Okay, we'll see how it goes--you can work out with the 9s and we'll reevaluate in October" but at the "re-evaluate" the gymnast always ends up in the lower level. Maybe they deserved to be there, maybe the coach just didn't deviate for the preconceived notion--I don't know!

It wasn't always this open though--it used to be that the coaches came and said "this is your level" and that what it. They have become much more open--probably due to parental feedback!