Parents Minor Rant

[COz]

My 5yo has been doing the "run then slow down before the springboard" straight jump vault. The other day her coach somehow managed to persuade her to run full tilt towards it. Unfortunately she didn't manage to actually jump and run straight into a pile of mats and ended up flat on her tummy.
It was absolutely hilarious and we (a couple of other mothers) laughed our heads off. I then felt a bit guilty that perhaps she would be upset that we were laughing and fortunately she didn't seem to notice or be offended. There was no stopping that laugh though.
I think there's a moment in there where your brain figures out if someone's injured or not and then let's you laugh

 

[gymdog]

If we weren't laughing in some of our practices, I'd be crying. The kids have a pretty good sense of humor. But I can see how the original scenario described could be uncomfortable. Pretty much the same thing from someone else who is warmer or more approachable would have probably been taken differently. I'm a little curious about the structure/culture of your gym though that one coach is openly calling another a jerk to the kids (even if it's true).

 

[MILgymFAM]

I'm a little curious about the structure/culture of your gym though that one coach is openly calling another a jerk to the kids (even if it's true).

My first thought may have been that the coach was a jerk, but my second was that DDs coach shouldn't have said that. We have been at this gym for less than a month, so I don't really know the structure or culture. My initial observations is that our program, xcel, is completely separate from both JO and rec, and the program doesn't feel a part of the gym as a whole at all- maybe the coach for xcel (there is really only one) feels apart from the other coaches. It doesn't seem good to me either, but this gym was our best option (if the most expensive) and I do like DDs coach, very much. The xcel program doesn't even seem a whole of its own. DD, for instance, has met no one else who works at the gym, and won't even meet the other girls on her level until their first meet. All around different from what we are used to. At our old gym the coaches were ALWAYS a united front.