WAG Elite Gym Contracts

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I think jimbound would have every worker at every business and every consumer in America signing contracts. Next thing you know my teenage kid has to pay a penalty for wanting to change from flipping burgers at McDonald's to flipping them at Wendy's!!! Free Enterprise! Chant it with me
 
I think jimbound would have everyone at every worker at every business and every consumer in America signing contracts. Next thing you know my teenage kid has to pay a penalty for wanting to change from flipping burgers at McDonald's to flipping them at Wendy's!!! Free Enterprise! Chant it with me

I don't even want to know what kind of penalty I'd pay for trading in my Honda for a Toyota. I guess it's just the price we pay for having (regulated) choices.
 
Let's say 10 or 15 students decide to go across town to a competing gym for no good reason. Perhaps it's because an instructor gym hopped and these 10 or 15 students are following the bandwagon. If the receiving gym had to pay a fee to receive the new instructor plus a fee for every student then perhaps this wouldn't hurt the victimized gym so bad. Perhaps the losing gym wouldn't suffer such a devastating loss. Perhaps the receiving gym would not actually be the cause of this recruiting fiasco due to the fact that they would have to pay money up front to take business away from an innocent competitor. Or at worst by having to pay compensation then the receiving gym would act in good faith rather than with dubious motives. The fees would help to control gym hopping and create a sense of fair play among private gymnastics schools. The laws could be laid out so that distance mitigates the fees. In other words the farther the party travels to join a new gym then the fees are based on a sliding scale. Perhaps a sliding scale would not apply to coaches, and instructors. Just saying that once the decision is made to implement regulation then the laws can be negotiated to accommodate various contingencies. Again, we can work this out. Recreation class students would not have to pay the fees because we could set this up so that the gym receiving the hoppers pays the fees. Let's acknowledge this issue and create a system where money talks when clientele walks.
 
I in no way think that my don's old gym is a victim because he changed gyms. If anything, HE, was a victim of them not fixing the poor team environment that he put up with for a year. We asked them to fix it a number of times. They didn't. He changed gyms.

I am with the others. My kids would not be doing this sport if it was set up like that. I am a customer buying a service. If I'm not happy with that service I will go somewhere else.
 
Parents make a decision to change gyms for a variety of reasons... Not just because they perceive that another gym is "better". Sometimes they might want "different".

I might love my Honda minivan and think it us the most comfortable mode of transportation ever ... But there might come a day when I decide that I really want to start driving a Volvo XC90 instead. So I traded in my beloved minivan for the crossover.

Do I need to pay a penalty for that?
 
This is indeed one of the strangest ideas ever. When you run a business, you have to accept that customers may choose to go elsewhere. Conversely, people who become your customers may have come from a competitor as well.
 
Let's acknowledge this issue and create a system where money talks when clientele walks.

This is the exact scenario created by a free market. Money does talk when the client walks. And it says your product (coaching, facilities, program, attitude, etc) is inferior in their opinion. Other people might or might not share their opinion. If I owned a gym, I would find out why people left my gym and decide if I needed to make any changes.
 
Interesting conversation. I guess as a professional (MD) I deal with competition for "clients" (patients) all the time. I do my best to be the best physician for each family that I can, but after doing this for many years, I know that some will go elsewhere. Some will prefer the office decor, some will want to have more (or less) time with the doctor, some will want the office close to their new home/school/job, some will not like what I chose to do/say etc at the last visit. Usually it happens early in the relationship, but each year there are (out of a couple 1000 patients) a couple who leave even after a long term relationship, sometimes even kids I've "doctored" through surgeries, hospital stays, chronic illnesses, etc..

Emotionally, it takes some confidence to accept that you can't be the perfect fit for everyone, and sometimes YOU MESS UP. Even if you are good at what you do. Even if what you do works for almost everyone...Note that I say "almost"....If it is true that in a profession you do a good job most of the time (or have an excellent, top of the line product most of the time) there will be those times its NOT....financially, professionally and personally one has to reflect, grow from or politely dismiss those times.

Over 7 years in the local gym scene, and 3 kids competing for 4 years each, I've seen a lot of gym switches even amongst the 3 we have here...

.One team has a year contract they lose (and this is the team that honestly, no one on CB would consider a good product past preschool).

One has a history of a decent to excellent product most of the time, but those who leave are never allowed back, other gyms talked down, etc.

The last one has a history of high standards, accountability for kids, coaches and parents, a polite but businesslike approach - kids are welcome if they work hard, come on time, are polite and parents the same - kids have come and gone, been welcomed back, etc. My dd recently moved there (her brothers have been there as the only competing boys team for 4 years) when her initial gym wasn't working for her (emotionally and for our family due to coordination issues with 2 gyms). She had had a polite relationship with the coaches for 4 years, despite our choosing for her to stay with her old team (it was great for her as a compulsory...) and even with the transition I was repeatedly told that they'd love to have her but knew I would do what I felt best for her and they respected whatever I chose.

Guess which gym is growing? Which gym has the most L9-10s? Which gym has the happiest, healthiest kids? Its not the one with the contract. Its not the one where everyone is a big family until you do something they don't like then you are "OUT". Its the one that is professional, well run, has high expectations, treats parents as part of the team but clearly shows in their behavior that they know what they are doing coaching wise, etc. And they are confident enough to know that it won't work for every kid out there.

Sure, we aren't in an area competing for Elite athletes. And the coach did admit to me that she was sad a few years ago when my DD didn't move over, but she followed it with "I know you are doing whats best for her".....that is a big part of why I trust her coaches - they respect me!

Its a business/product after all. I have to let go of a lot with my patients because I'm not the parent - same with coaches....do a good job and you'll win more than you lose! really....
 
From what I've read in previous posts usually when you give notice to leave its most likely you are told to leave straight away or you or your child are not treated well at all with comments and little coaching why should anyone be expected to put up with that for a year? Almost all advice on chalk bucket is when you decide to leave a gym leave immediately without notice, I'm in the uk so it's its different as our club is basically non profit except for a tiny amount that pays for new equipment, coaches don't get paid owner doesn't get paid everyone is a volunteer we don't have to give any notice to leave either. I can't imagine any gym expecting anyone to sign something like this I mean it's not too much different to a private education if you don't get along with teachers/like the style or content if what your child is being taught you look for better usually only being required to give a terms notice and that is when your child is not picked on or ostracised for giving notice and choosing somewhere else.
Everyone's perception of good/bad fair/unfair is different
 
I can say with all honesty if USAG regulated gymnastics participation in the suggested way, my DD would be playing soccer or chess or taking up the violin. No way would I sign her up for that kind of situation.
 
I have to agree that this is a very odd conversation.

To follow JimBound's reasoning, if a coach is not happy in their coaching environment and seeks employment somewhere else, then the new gym would have to pay the old gym to hire the coach? What?!! Our gym recently hired a coach from another gym about 10 miles away. This coach left because their old gym was run poorly - bad communication, low employee morale, just a really unpleasant place to work. Many employees have left this gym over the last couple years. Some of them haven't even stayed 2 months. They bleed coaches (some of them very good) because it's not a good place to work. If a gym isn't willing to pay this proposed fee to hire the new coach, then the coach would be stuck in the poor working environment or be forced to leave the coaching profession. With the lack of good, qualified coaches in some areas, that doesn't sound like a very good plan.

I feel like I'm in some alternate universe with this discussion.
 
I doubt you can legally create such a system in the US. It wouldn't be enforceable or would be considered collusion. I'm not a lawyer so I don't know the exact right terms but it isn't legal in the US to interfere with market competition.

Edit: to make it clear the part about collusion is in response to the idea that enforcement isn't a problem because everyone would "agree" to join. You can't "agree" or conspire to break the law.
 
http://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/comp...-laws/dealings-competitors/market-division-or

Plain agreements among competitors to divide sales territories or assign customers are almost always illegal. These arrangements are essentially agreements not to compete: "I won't sell in your market if you don't sell in mine." The FTC uncovered such an agreement when two chemical companies agreedthat one would not sell in North America if the other would not sell in Japan. Illegal market sharing may involve allocating a specific percentage of available business to each producer, dividing sales territories on a geographic basis, or assigning certain customers to each seller.

Q: I want to sell my business, and the buyer insists that I sign a non-compete clause? Isn't this illegal?

A: A limited non-compete clause is a common feature of deals in which a business is sold, and courts have generally permitted such agreements when they were ancillary to the main transaction, reasonably necessary to protect the value of the assets being sold, and limited in time and area covered. There are other situations, however, in which non-compete clauses may be anticompetitive. For instance, the FTC stopped the operator of dialysis clinics from buying five clinics and paying its competitor to close three more. The purchase agreement also contained a non-compete clause that prevented the seller from opening a new clinic in the same local area for five years, and required the seller to enforce non-compete clauses in its contracts with the medical directors of the closed facilities. In this situation, the non-compete clause prevented those doctors from serving as medical directors for any new clinic in the area and reduced the chance that a new clinic would open for five years. The FTC said the agreement to close the clinics, reinforced by the agreement not to compete for five years, was an illegal agreement to eliminate competition between rivals.

So an indefinite agreement to eliminate competition by restricting employment and consumer choice whether by having the consumers or the businesses pay (because it would still end up with a shut out effect) doesn't seem to fall with the FTC's strict parameters for no compete clauses.
 
As gym hopping begins to be regulated the laws should also be written to include vested agency rights toward each club member. In the event that a gymnast is presented with a professional windfall then the various gyms where the party was a member should have a monetary claim according to formatted percentages. For example, if xyz gymnast has been a member of five different gyms in her career and suddenly is offered an appearance in a TV commercial then all five gyms would receive a percentage of the money having contributed to the gymnast's notoriety. In a regulated world this is fair and right. In a similar scenario the percentage method is used to figure out liability of various parties when a gymnast sues a gym for grievous injury. The various parties who are at fault are assigned a percentage of culpability and hence must pay their part of the settlement. In a similar way of an agency relationship with a vested club member under the laws of the Governing Body each club would have a right to a percentage of future endowments from any one member throughout his/her career.
 
^^^^^^ Sour grapes much?
I've lost kids, I used to get a little bitter over it. I have since grown up and realize A) sometimes they will just leave B) My coaching at the time wasn't that fantastic - and I have really worked on that side and don't have issues should anyone leave.
Australia has an athlete transfer system. The only reason a club can decline a transfer is for any money owed. It works well as those who try to hop around without paying are quickly caught out while those who do wish to make a change for what they believe will be a better product can. If a gymnast switches during competition season they may be unable to compete if the original club decides to let the transfer wait until the 30 day roll over period meaning the gymnast may miss an entry deadline.
 
As gym hopping begins to be regulated the laws should also be written to include vested agency rights toward each club member. In the event that a gymnast is presented with a professional windfall then the various gyms where the party was a member should have a monetary claim according to formatted percentages. For example, if xyz gymnast has been a member of five different gyms in her career and suddenly is offered an appearance in a TV commercial then all five gyms would receive a percentage of the money having contributed to the gymnast's notoriety. In a regulated world this is fair and right. In a similar scenario the percentage method is used to figure out liability of various parties when a gymnast sues a gym for grievous injury. The various parties who are at fault are assigned a percentage of culpability and hence must pay their part of the settlement. In a similar way of an agency relationship with a vested club member under the laws of the Governing Body each club would have a right to a percentage of future endowments from any one member throughout his/her career.

This would be a surefire way to kill the sport as we know it. Thankfully it will never happen!!
 
United European Socialist Republics welcomes Jimbound.

Here the FFG (French gym federation)will regulate the thickness of the toilet paper used in your gym.

Girls belong to their clubs,they may only leave with the consent of their coaches and the new club has to buy the girls liscence from the old club.If the old club says no,the girl can quit or stay and suffer.

And suffer she will.The old club has a wannabe traitor,they will destroy her physically and mentaly,so that ,when the contract ends and the girl is finaly free, the old club has ensured that she is nothing more then damaged goods.
 
A normal athlete is the clubs property for one year,an elite belongs to the club for 2 years.If an eite is suffering at the hand of abusive coaches her only salvation is leaving her family and go and train at a national training center.

The club accepts this because the girls points are awarded to the club,which contributes to their national ranking,and they can call the girls to come and compete for the cubs team whenever they want.
 

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