Crazy gym parents

[gymmom]

I was at my daughters level 4 meet last fall. There was an entire support group for one particular gym who was very rude. They would cheer so loudly for their gym that it would cause the girls on the beam, bar, etc to wobble. I am all for supporting your team but this was excessive. They would not only cheer after the skill was done but keep cheering and it went on and on. I was disappointed that an entire gym of parents would feel that this was ok. It was obvious what they were trying to do. Very disappointing.

[gym law mom]

Thats ashame that the girls had a meet like that. Thing is as you go up in levels, the parents get quieter it seems. Not that we didn't cheer for our Level 6 girls(mine doesn't like her parents cheering for her!)---the meets seemed quite controlled as far as parental noise. Of course, by the time the girls get to Level 6 they are a little older and have more experience with meets so the obnoxious parents might be a little annoying, but wouldn't affect their routines much. Some girls on our team(mine included) like some background noise while doing beam---claim they are less nervous than when it is quiet.

[littlegymchampsmom]

This type of behavior should not be allowed for so many reasons. The coach should be approached with the prob - quietly, and they should handle it IMO. In our fball program if this type of behavior occurred the parent (sometimes the child) would be warned and/or asked to leave as the parents sign parental behavior agreements prior to their children participating that clearly state these types of behavior are not allowed and will not be tolerated. This is a growing problem in our country w/sports and is a horrible example for our impressionalble children... I wonder if most gyms have parents sign this type of agreement as well?

[gym law mom]

My older daughter is in high school marching band. In our state if the head judge at a competition feels "fans" from a certain school are too loud while other bands are playing or are being direspectful to other competitors, they will penalize the "offending" band----in other words they take a deduction off the final score. Our band director reminds us frequently of this rule and if any parents/alumni are caught acting up at a competition they will be banned from attending them. A little hard to enforce since these are all day events and people are coming/going at high school football stadiums, but names would be given to band booster officers who would keep an eye out for those that have been told not to come.

As far as gymnastics, the coaches do say you are there and representing our gym. There is a warning that parents acting inappropriately will be discussing their behavior with the gym owner. Thing is what I usually hear at a meet is one of our own parents whining about why her wonderful daugher was put up 1st on bars and won't get the big score like the girls going at the end.

[mesagymmom]

That behavior is over the top even for the looney parents I have seen in the many years of being a gym parent. I think every state has their well known parent nut cases who are way too involved and living vicariously through their child. Certainly we have a few famous ones here in AZ, but thankfully they are few and far between. Nothing like I've heard about in sports like figure skating.

[gym law mom]

MGM---I'm a figure skating parent too and believe me some of those parents go beyond obnoxious and annoying. Right now there are a few partents at our gym who are approaching the nastiness I've seen in skating. They're all full of themselves because their dd moved up. Thing these parents don't get is they ruin the sport for THEIR child and many times are the reason the kid walks away from the sport.

Obviously, we all want the best for our kids and for them to succeed and be happy. Some folks just go about it in a very unhealthy way.