Normal Gym Management???

[mtbmom]

Not sure if this is an appropriate question for this forum... but here goes anyway...

1. My daughter's gym has a policy for team members (or pre-team members which she is), that you may not take a class or try out for another gym's team. If you do, you will be kicked off the team. Is this a common and or reasonable policy?

2. Recently, fired the world glass gymnast and head coach. There was no explanation or mentioning of why (many rumors). In fact, it is as if she were never there. She is now the coach who shall not be named. Is this a normal practice for staffing changes?

3. There are two coaches for Developmental through Level 5 and two coaches for level 7 through 10. The team has approximately 80 girls. Does this seem like an appropriate coach/athlete ratio?

TIA for your help!

[bogwoppit]

Here are my though6ts,

to number 1

No that is not normal. you are the parent and should be able to take your child to another gym to try out. However if I were going to do that I certainly would not be telling any one about it, none of their business frankly. Though if a girl actually leaves for another gym, and the grass isn't greener after all, the gym should not have to take her back.

To number 2

Sounds a bit childish to act as though a coach never existed. A bit Harry Potterish for me! Nothing you can do about this though! Coach's certainly be let go without any explanation , but usually we do not cease to use their names!

To number 3

4 coach's for 80 kids sounds low, but it depends on when the girls all train. Are they all in the gym at the same time or are the girls broken down into age/level groups and they train at different times/days. For me a ration of 6:1 in the preschool level or less, and no more than 8:1 in the team level would be normal-ish!

[gymmomntc2e6]

Ditto on Bogwoppit.

I am fairly new to the comp gymnsatics, but seems odd that you cannot try out another gym.

80 seems like a TON of girls to me, BUT, our gym is very small. We have 16 girls L3 - L8. Largest group w/ one coach is 6.

[jasmine196]

I've never heard of any gyms in Illinois doing this, but it really wouldn't surprise me. I'm assuming that your gym is from Penn (regarding the 2nd question), and that coach that was fired was complete BS. If your gym is not the one I'm thinking, then sorry. As for the coaches ratio, that does seem to be a little high. But it really depends on how many they have in any one practice. Our ratio for team girls is about 10 to 1. Though we really try hard to have it closer to 8-1. It really depends on the level and age of the girls. The higher level and older the girls the more they are able to work a bit more on their own. As for the little ones, we like to be more towards 5-1.

[nettyinpa]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mtbmom 2. Recently, fired the world glass gymnast and head coach. There was no explanation or mentioning of why (many rumors). In fact, it is as if she were never there. She is now the coach who shall not be named. Is this a normal practice for staffing changes?

Not to pry but I also think I know which gym you're in. I heard she was fired, too (if it's the same person we're talking about). Several gymnasts followed her as well. Does seem kind of childish not to even mention the person, especially with her experience. Hope it all works out for you.

[gym law mom]

I'll take a stab at this. No gym can stop you from trying out for team with another gym, but as Bog said I wouldn't make it public knowledge. I can understand the reasoning on going to another gym for a class. Different gyms=different coaching styles and philosophies and a child may come in doing a skill the way its taught somewhere else and be confused regarding what your coaches want/expect.

As to the disappearing coach. Ok, its obvious she's gone. Legally talking about the whys and all that can land the gym in court. A simple statement that Coach X is no longer here and we wish her the best(whether they do or not) would be appropriate.

The 4 coaches to 80 girls does sound like alot, but again as the others have said, it depends how they're grouped for practice. If they're trying to have 3-4 teams practice at the same time, then I would say its out of line as far as coaches to gymnasts, but some depends on what the levels are and the experience of the coaches.

[mtbmom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasmine196 I've never heard of any gyms in Illinois doing this, but it really wouldn't surprise me. I'm assuming that your gym is from Penn (regarding the 2nd question), and that coach that was fired was complete BS. If your gym is not the one I'm thinking, then sorry. As for the coaches ratio, that does seem to be a little high. But it really depends on how many they have in any one practice. Our ratio for team girls is about 10 to 1. Though we really try hard to have it closer to 8-1. It really depends on the level and age of the girls. The higher level and older the girls the more they are able to work a bit more on their own. As for the little ones, we like to be more towards 5-1.

I tried to PM you, but I don't have enough posts. You're right I'm in PA in the Lehigh Valley. Subject coach did land on her feet and I hope she does well. About half the upper level girls went with her.

I appreciate everyone's input. Not happy at all with the management at this gym.
Biggest problem with this gym is that coaches leave and don't seem to be replaced. Of course the latest debacle only makes things worse. Also, not thrilled with the coaching my daughter's received. Hopefully, by summer, we'll have a new plan.

Thanks Clara...

[mtbmom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by nettyinpa Not to pry but I also think I know which gym you're in. I heard she was fired, too (if it's the same person we're talking about). Several gymnasts followed her as well. Does seem kind of childish not to even mention the person, especially with her experience. Hope it all works out for you.

Sounds like y'all are right! Yeah, its a real bummer. Looking into other gyms in the area, but just not sure what to do at this point.

[bogwoppit]

I have to say the dish on your gym is all over the internet concerning the firing of the coach. I am in Quebec and I guessed right away that you are in the PA area. I would be unhappy too. Any club that loses coach's that often must have a problem somewhere.

I hope it works out for you Clara, it is hard to leave a child in a place that seems so badly managed.

[Aussie_coach]

1. It is understandable for a gym to ask that gymnasts on their team do not take classes at another gym. The coaches will want to monitor all aspects of their gymnasts coaching and they can't be sure that classes at another gym are teaching skills safely, warming up gymnasts correctly and teaching skills with the correct technique. It can take a long, long time to undo something that was taught incorrectly and an injury due to unsafe practises can put a child out of training and competition for a long time, sometimes even permenantly.

It is possible, though, that the policy is there to scare girls and parents away from trialling at another gym and seeing that the grass is greener on the other side. This is a very bad way to hag on to gymnasts and if the coaches are so insecure that they need to do this then maybe it is time to search for a new gym.

2. It isnt normal to have a coach leave and then not mention her, but you would not know the full circumstances of her departure. Why was she fired? Perhaps she did something very unethical or even dangerous. This is probably not the normal treatment of a coach upon leaving but there could be special circumstances involved.

3. The coach gymnast ratio's are only high if there are too many kids per coach at anygiven time. In recreational level gymnastics there is often 2 coaches to several hundred kids. But each kid trains 1-2 hours a week so each class still has a safe number of participants and veryone still gets the individual attention they need.

Remeber that a gym does need to make money, there are a lot of costs associated with running a gym from paying coaches, administration staff, cleaners and so on. Paying for the venue, equipment costs, insurance and so on. Team girls generally train many, many hours a week and in order for their paremts to be able to afford the costs the hourly fee needs to be fairly low. Team classes can't be as small as we would all like them to be or the classes will run at a loss.

For the lower level classes it is fairly normal to have 10-14 gymnasts to a coach. This would include level 1 and pre levels classes. Any more than about 15 to a coach and it becomes poorly supervised, but 12-14 is not abnormal and these classes do need to have a high gymnast/coach ratio in order to cover the costs of the higher level team classes.

For lower level classes (ie level 2-3 or pre team) up to 12 gymnasts to a coach would be ideal. If you have smaller classes at this level, you are either very lucky or paying a lot. For the compulsary levels (level 4 and 5) up to 10 gymnasts to a coach is quite safe and successful with a god coach. And for optional levels (7-10) you would want 8 gymnasts to a coach as the maximum.