WAG Question about team wear?

[Gymnasticsfun5555]

Who should chose to pick their club's team wear?
Parents?
Athletes?
Coaches?
Our gym is having struggles on who has the right to decide.
Thanks for your opinions everyone

 

[Deleted member 17723]

Depending on the type....
Leos - parents club and coaches
Warmups - gymnasts have some say, coaches have final call, parents have little, but some say
Team spirit - mainly parents and gymnasts telling coaches what they want (long sleeve, short sleeve, pants, etc)

 

[MILgymFAM]

My YDDs leotards were voted on by the team girls. Their warm ups and bags were picked by the coaches with parent input. ODDs team everything was chosen by the coaches alone. I like when the kids have some input in the style and the parents are at least considered with prices.

 

[Becauseisaid]

I can't tell you how your gym should run, but I can tell you about ours...

Comp leos - head coach with input from coaches
Warm Ups - head coach with input from coaches
Spirit wear - Parents (we also usually find the supplier and create the designs)

 

[Gymnasticsfun5555]

Great to know!
Our club has some parents that expect most of the say in team wear selection. It has become a huge problem, arguing, refusal to pay etc.
It has been an ongoing battle for months and the coaches are going crazy!


I agree that the head coach and athlete votes are the way to go with who decides. Minimal input by parents.
Anyone have any success with a parent or parents choosing?

 

[NH~GymMom]

Honestly, I think the coaches should be sole decision makers on all competition attire, and it's a nice thing if they give the athletes a vote or let them voice opinions but not required. Parents don't get to pick uniforms for any other sports, and competition attire (including warm ups) is essentially the uniform.

Spirt wear, on the other hand, let the parents go nuts haha..

 

[mom2newgymnast]

At dd's gym, parents have no input. We didn't even know what they looked like until they arrived. I wouldn't expect the parents to really have any say in the process.

 

[skschlag]

coaches. period. They might show the gymnasts, or ask an opinion, but that is it. That's the division of responsibility: Coaches decide, parents pay, kids wear.

 

[Seeker]

The gym and the coaches are in charge. I can't imagine it being any other way, honestly. As you're experiencing -- parent involvement causes all kinds of trouble! At our gym, the Senior gymnasts/upper optionals do have some input in leotards, but the HC has the final say. Coaches pick warmups and bags.

Parents have ZERO vote and quite frankly, I don't want one. It's not my team -- it is theirs. Unless the choices are completely hideous (subjective I know, but I'm thinking something outside the norm of standard wear) or inappropriate in some way, I can't see how there would be any way for parents to refuse. On what grounds? This is not a democracy -- I thought that was clear!! They can choose to leave the team, but the team attire is not their choice.

 

[sce]

Coaches. A parent representative helps with orders and designs, but the coaches have final say.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

Our head coach decided we needed a new competition leotard three years ago and ran a competition for the girls to suggest ideas. Whenever the parents talked to her about it, all they said is "don't care, just not white". The club mucked around working out designs they liked until the sample arrived just weeks before the first competition for the senior girls, meaning orders had to be made regardless.

The competition leotard chosen is 90% white. The older girls hate it, in fact most of the girls hate it, but at least the younger ones look cute in it. The parents all complained, particularly when it cost nearly $300. What really annoyed me is that the white leo isn't lined so the girls have to wear a nude body suit underneath it. That means that the senior girls are wearing two leotards when they start competing in summer, with some competition venues being very hot (over 30 degrees). The fabric choices were really poor and now 2 years on the leo looks horrible, particularly under their arms and around the butt.

So, this year the parents insisted on a new senior leo for 2016, and so have all the girls. It has been a real arm wrestle to get a decision made, and a few parents have stepped in to make sure that the decision is made in good time, that the girls like it and the parents are willing to accept the price.

The same thing happened with new tracksuits at the beginning of this year, but we are all resigned to them fitting really well in about 5 years time when we change design again.

My advice, for what it is worth, is you need to take everyone on the journey. Either tell them they have a say or they don't, but be upfront about what the principles for choosing something is - is there a price limit, design or supplier restrictions, club expectations etc. Then stick to it.

Nothing bugs me more than the flip-flopping decision making process!

 

[Seeker]

^^^^ Agree -- that is frustrating. We haven't experienced that thankfully.

 

[z2akids]

HC makes the decision. I know she has had some of the higher optionals give input on what they like, but ultimately, she gets to decide. She let some of the moms look through catalogs, but there was no suggestion that there would be any stock taken of our opinion. A bunch of the moms did ask for more bling this time and we expressed our understanding that bling is expensive, but we were okay putting a little higher price for the sake of a more sparkly competition leo.

HC also decides on the official practice leo, bags, warm ups, etc. Boosters do spirit weAR for the girls and families, with approval from the HC since the gym name is on the spirit wear.

 

[Alie21]

We have had the same leo for 3 years or so, there was some talk about GK discontinuing it - yeek - but the gym is still using it so it must have been sorted. Coach let us know that we might have to get a new one but we didn't get onto how they decided what it would be!

Now, I'm interested - what is Team Spirit wear?? Don't think we have those in Aust. Anyone willing to post a pic (just incase I feel the need to buy any more gymnastics related stuff after forking out $85AUD for a State Comp jacket on the weekend )

Ta!

 

[z2akids]

Spirit wear is team specific clothing that the girls can wear outside of the meet - tshirts with the team name, grip bags, water bottles, etc. It can also be tshirts, jackets, hats, etc for parents, siblings and other family and friends to wear.

My DH has a shirt in the team colors that says Proud Dad of ----. No one is required to buy or wear the any of it. But, probably 30-40% of the parents wear something at the meets.

 

[juststartingout]

Our coaches sent an email to all team parents with photos of 5 different leotard choices. They were all different price points and different companies and then each family got one vote. So you looked over it with your kid to see which one they liked and then decided if you liked the price. The most expensive leotard ended up winning but it was also the best brand I think so I feel like it will last longer and be worth it. Not sure about warm ups and bags since they had them before we came to the gym.

 

[raenndrops]

The "original" team Leo we had, was coach picked to stand out from all the other teams. When we had to change (darn GK eliminating our color velvet)... HC let all the girls look thru the entire GK catalog and write down their top choices. She took the top 4 and printed out mock ups in our "new" colors - black and the original color in mystique instead of velvet. Then she had the girls each vote for one. The top two vote getters were in a "runoff" vote and, of course, the girls chose the most expensive one of the four. Our GK rep did not tell us that the following season, it would be discontinued special order

 

[veganmami]

I do agree that the coaches should have final say, but it would be nice to have a voice. I mean after all, we do have to pay for them. I can appreciate that it's the owners gym and all, but never forget that the parents are customers

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

At our gym its one of the gym owners, and possibly one of the coaches. They generally do ask the opinion of the older Optional girls, but parents have NOThINg to do with the process.
Well, I do a little bit but that's because I work there, as well as another mom/coworker. We both help out heavily with the uniforms. I don't have a say in my capacity as a mom, lol!
We don't really have a say in spirit wear either, the gym owner loves this sort of thing and is always coming up with new designs and things.

 

[Alie21]

Thanks - team spirit wear sounds like fun! We definitely don't have it here (also no sanctioned competitions with team events/scoring in my DDs gymnastics stream, so probably wouldn't be so popular).

Our GK rep did not tell us that the following season, it would be discontinued special order

This just makes me Mad