Parents Won't Pay

[matthewmovement]

I'm a high school student as well as a gymnast, obviously.

The gym that I go to is 40 minutes away from where I live. Practices are four days a week three hours each. With gymnastics and school I only have a couple of hours a day to do anything else.

My parents have decided that they are going to only pay a set amount of money each month for me to do gymnastics starting in February. This means that I HAVE to get a job.

The problem is most places don't want to hire me since I don't have a lot of time to work other than on weekends.

Has anyone else had problems similar to this? What do you suggest I do?

 

[AmyCollins]

job

I worked at Outback Steak house as a hostess in college. they were always begging me to work weekends!! weekends are very busy in the restuarant industry! It's worth a try!!! Good Luck!!!

 

[matthewmovement]

Hmm... I've never really been interested in a job in the food industry... But, the trade off would definitely be worth it.

Thanks for the idea.

 

[ZJsMom]

You could also try asking if there's something you can do at your gym. Where my kids go, some of the upper level team members coach preschool and rec classes. We also have a juice bar some of the kids work at.

 

[matthewmovement]

I have considered that but, due to my lack of experience in gymnastics let alone coaching it I don't expect it to happen. Still something I will look into though.

It would be convenient considering I spend most of my time over there anyway.

 

[CreateMagic]

Do you like/are you good at working with kids? Are you responsible? That's really all you need to teach recreational gymnastics. When I started teaching gymnastics, I was 15 and didn't really have any experience with the sport (actually, pretty much none). The gym owner had seen me working at a summer camp, and noticed that I was really good with the kids. When I went into the gym a few weeks later to get information about team for my sister, she hired me. Talk to your gym owner or whoever does the hiring. Maybe you could start as a "helper" in a few classes a week and try it out. Good luck!

 

[matthewmovement]

Thats interesting. I too have worked at a summer camp. Two years at Boy Scout Camps. I just got my eagle actually.

But, yes I do work well with children. I will definitely be talking to my coach about this tomorrow at practice.

Thanks for they ideas guys.

 

[sasquatch]

Hey Matthew,

I think working at a gym is a good idea.
As soon as I get my drivers license, I'm gonna try work at one. Maybe then I can learn some real gymnastics.

 

[BlairBob]

Matthew, guys like you are we look for to start coaching the boy's classes more often than not. Quite often as coaches, we like to hire from within the the high school age gymnasts looking to make a bit of extra money.

One, they're cheap and moldable/trainable.

Two, they already know how things work in the gym and are familiar with the gym.

Three, little kids love coaches who can show neat tricks are if you're strong.

If you coach little boys, 5-7, you will soon be able to coach anything else. Everything else is a breeze besides the emotional drama of coaching girls. However, young boys are even more of wusses than little competitive girls. And they're dirtier, smellier, and more of monsters.

Hopefully, I won't have scared you away.

Due to the distance of your gym, you might look for a weekend job locally. Newspaper routes are tough.

btw, I didn't know you were a gymnast, Matt, on GB's forum.

 

[matthewmovement]

I've just stopped by a few local restaurants to pick up applications... Filling out applications is really boring...

I have been on in all of the boys classes at our gym at one point in time this year. Spent two weeks on recreational, the coach approached me to see if I wanted to compete. I was like, "Definitely." Started as level four, went to the level 5 team a month later. Competed level 5 once(embarrassing). Now I'm on the level 6/7 team. So I've pretty much trained with guy that goes to our gym.

Thanks for the input Blairbob.