Parents Who coaches your kids at meets?

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momto2js

Proud Parent
We have a pretty large team and they are often split in to two groups within the same session. However, at this point we only have one coach and she often judges the sessions we compete in. The plan for the next meet is that her children will coach the boys. Both are fine coaches, however neither one has worked with them in the past year. There are several members of our level 5 team that have never worked with them. Often, we get other coaches from the gym (like the girls coaches) to help out but this seems like we are getting the short end of the stick.

For those of you who have been at this a while, is it as hard on kids as it seems it would be, to have a coach you don't know for a meet. I understand there isn't much coaching but for emotional support it seems like a lot to ask. I don't know what the answer is, but the situation seems far from ideal. Is this "normal", am I overreacting wanting my kid to be coached at meets by someone that knows his name?
 
It's inevitable because of the way the sessions are split. If you coach multiple groups at a level (for example I have had two practice groups at the same level where half went one set of three days and the other half went the other set of three) then there is nothing you can do. Not ideal, but what else can the coach do? Just focus on preparing the kids for the possibility.
 
sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do. i keep telling everyone that our industry now has more kids and gyms than there are coaches to go around. it's a problem. :)
 
It is what it is. Not ideal but not detrimental either. Practice should fully prepare the kids to compete. By the time they get to the meet, they know exactly what needs to be done. Although having the coach there is optimal, under normal circumstances it shouldn't make a big difference.
 
sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do. i keep telling everyone that our industry now has more kids and gyms than there are coaches to go around. it's a problem. :)

Also when it comes to boys gymnastics in some states, unfortunately if your coach was not judging the meet, there may be NO meet because there are very few boys judges. My guess is it's not her first choice but unfortunately they can't fill the judges without her.
 
That has to be difficult for the boys though. It is hard to have a person that is unfamiliar. Can her kids come and help at a couple of practices to get to know the kids? Tht would help a little.
 
If it's any consolation, we have had to have another TEAM's HC coach 1/2 of our L3 girls during beam warm up at one meet. HC and I were in one room and the other coaches were stuck in a major traffic jam (took 6 hours to make a 1.75 hour drive). Our coaches have also filled in for another team's coaches when they were late for a meet - coaching the other team's L4s in vault warm up ... luckily the girls knew what they vaulted on and how far the springboard should be away.
And, we took 2 girls from another team to Y-Nationals with us when their coaches couldn't go but they really still wanted to compete. Our coaches had NEVER coached them before, but they did a great job (gymnasts AND coaches).
 
We have had coach run back in forth between two gyms before. The coach talked to a coaches that our team was traveling with and they helped out. I found sorry for our coach though. She was exhausted by the end of the session.
 
We have had coach run back in forth between two gyms before. The coach talked to a coaches that our team was traveling with and they helped out. I found sorry for our coach though. She was exhausted by the end of the session.
Normally, our HC would have tried that (and she does if the gyms are connected), but we weren't rotating with anyone else and the second gym was clear down a long, busy hallway.
 
Our gyms issue is we only have about 40 girls but 8 levels. So a lot of sessions but not a lot of girls in the sessions. We dont have need for a lot of coaches.
 
Our gyms issue is we only have about 40 girls but 8 levels. So a lot of sessions but not a lot of girls in the sessions. We dont have need for a lot of coaches.
We have 15 L3, 10 L4, 5 L5, 2 L6, 2 L7, 9 XLG and 1 XLP. Our meets are all on the small side (3-4 sessions same day but different times, early morning to late evening). L3 is always alone, then either L4/L5 or just L4, then L5/L6 or L5/XLG/XLP or L6/L7/XLG/XLP, then L6/L7 or L7/XLG/XLP.
 
I know I am still relatively new to all of this stuff. However, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for a teams coach to be a judge on an event at the same session? I realize they are not allowed to show favoritism, but isn't it human nature?
 
I know I am still relatively new to all of this stuff. However, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for a teams coach to be a judge on an event at the same session? I realize they are not allowed to show favoritism, but isn't it human nature?
Many many judges coach also. We had a judge/coach last year and I think he was harder on our girls than other teams lol. The girls always hated when he was judging floor because they knew he was going to be a tough judge. In a perfect world you wouldn't judge your own team, but there just aren't enough judges to go around.
 
I agree with the above statement. Our coach is harder on our kids. Non of the parents from other seem to have an issue with it. In fact, at our last meet I heard a parent tell her they missed her as a judge.
 

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