WAG Switch gyms or stay?

[Gymmommy71]

Around here that would mean that my kid would never be at any gym......every gym that I know here has a clause like that in their handbook

My goodness. That's like being forced to marry the boy that you go on your first date with in 8th grade w/ no option but an ugly and costly divorce to get out.

It almost seems like bad business to have policies like that - like imagine if cell phone carriers had such rules .

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Around here that would mean that my kid would never be at any gym......every gym that I know here has a clause like that in their handbook

We don't have any such thing in our handbook. Oh wait we don't have a handbook we have a few typed pages,

Basically tuition is billed in 11 week cycles. Once a cycle starts you are on the hook for tuition. If you don't stay after the cycle, you are done.
Really easy. 2 payment options. Full before cycle starts or half then half.

 

[l.c.o]

Around here that would mean that my kid would never be at any gym......every gym that I know here has a clause like that in their handbook

Wow!!! I would feel super uncomfortable with this.

In these parts, it's common to sign paperwork accompanying a team handbook to commit for a year, and often even for it to stipulate a required 30 days notice/payment before you leave a gym.

My DD returned to her original gym a year ago, after leaving it three years prior, and she's been unbelievably happy. The no returns clause makes me sad, because sometimes there are personality conflicts/personal issues, etc that some maturation/time can help overcome.

 

[flippin out]

Wow!!! I would feel super uncomfortable with this.

In these parts, it's common to sign paperwork accompanying a team handbook to commit for a year, and often even for it to stipulate a required 30 days notice/payment before you leave a gym.

My DD returned to her original gym a year ago, after leaving it three years prior, and she's been unbelievably happy. The no returns clause makes me sad, because sometimes there are personality conflicts/personal issues, etc that some maturation/time can help overcome.

While it is in every team handbook around here, most gyms will take a good family back provided that the exit was amicable -- no bad mouthing on either side, no recruiting others to leave with them, etc. I've seen gyms welcome kids back, it happens frequently. I've also seen gyms that refuse no matter what. It's their policy. It just depends

 

[theBananaBunch]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! Coach wasn't there today, so hopefully either DH or I will talk to them next week.

 

[z2akids]

One thing to keep in mind is that the higher the levels get, the tougher the skills. That often means much more conditionin simply to have the strength to acquire the skills. It also means that skills take longer to learn. And, the expectations regarding how well a skill is pefeormed will increase. All of those things can cause it to look like a child is having slower progress. Just because you do not see as rapid of skill acquisition does not mean that they aren't progressions as expected.

When my DD was on old L3, I thought her early back handsprings (for instance) looked great. But, at new 3 and now at L4, they continue to work on thst form and it is amazing how much better they look than when I jlused to think they were fine. Our Optionals girls still work BHS and their BHS look even better. So. While it seems like my DD should have moved past them, that is by no means the case.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

I'll provide a different perspective from Mrs. Puma.

As a parent of a 7 yo L3, I think that for us parents who are relatively newbies to competitive gymnastics, it can be hard to know whether what you're seeing at your gym is potentially a problem, and wondering whether there are better options out there is pretty common.

I considered changing gyms last year. I thought that the gymnast:coach ratio was too high and that my dd wasn't getting enough individual attention. The schedule wasn't great for our family and wasn't going to get better in the next couple of years and I knew that other gyms had schedules that would work better for our family. And there didn't seem to be enough uptraining. I know others in our group had some of the same concerns and yes, girls left for those reasons after the L2 season and switched to other gyms.

At dd's gym, there are different coaches for L3 than for L2, so I figured I would wait to see how things went with the new coaches for L3 before deciding whether to look at other gyms. (And I was busy and tired and not really looking forward to the task of researching new gyms anyway.) I was surprised that the girls who left all left prior to the official move up to L3, so before starting with the new coaches, so their parents had had enough and left.

I've talked to some of the moms who left and they're all pretty happy they switched and they all seem happy with their new gyms. Interestingly, my dd ended up really liking the new coaches, and at least for now, I'm pretty happy dd stayed. Plus what ended up happening is that more girls left than new girls came in, plus some girls are repeating L2 and there were no L3 repeaters, so that all ended up making the gymnast:coach ratio, which was my big concern, better too. Of course, that can always change again, and maybe there will be a huge influx of new girls or a bunch of repeaters for next year. Who knows? But my dd is happy and seems to be progressing. Could she be progressing faster? Maybe. But most kids at our gym do 1 level per year and I think she's on track for that, and the uptraining has also increased in L3, perhaps due to new coaches, so that too seems good. Although she does not have her kip, her coach says she's really, really close (but she's been saying that for 3 months now!), and they're really working them.

I think that some wondering whether there is a better gym out there is normal for a new competitive gym parent, because we just don't know what to expect and to compare it to.

Sorry I'm just responding, it's been a crazy couple days...but a lot of great points here. And I admit, I may have been a little quick to jump to "listen to you gut, switch now" because of my own situation. But I definitely agree that it's hard as a new gym parent to know what to look for and it's easy to think the grass may be greener. I just know in my case, the switch was something I agonized over for a good year, and I think I was a bit in denial that things would get better. That's why CB is such an amazing place. When a dozen people who know more about gymnastics than you do privately and without any benefit to themselves tell you the same thing, it's wise to at least consider they may be right. And I should have listened before I did. But that's just me! @suebee I'm really glad your situation worked out! That was what I was holding out for, but it my case the story ended differently. It really is hard to know. Everyone says trust your coaches, but you have to trust the right coaches. And that's the hard part. It's kind of like the 'ol serenity prayer, right?! Lol To OP, you are doing the right thing by asking questions and you've gotten some great advice and perspective here. Good luck!!

 

[Sasha]

Everyone says trust your coaches, but you have to trust the right coaches.

Amen to this!! Well said, Ms. Puma.

Like anything in life, figuring out whom to trust, especially when our children are at the center, is a journey.

 

[gymmama999]

I would be concerned with a coach who cannot lift a 7 year old, especially if that is the coach going forward. We left old gym for a variety of reasons, abusive HC who could not spot/lift older athletes, favourtism, the list of issues is about 10 pages long lol. We left for a different gym 30 minutes away and we have not looked back. DD has done really well at the new gym, great coaches who can spot, no favourtism, higher level athletes. I wish we had moved earlier, go with your gut, The handbook seems a little nutty too. Good luck!