Parents Attendance Policy -- PIOG

[flgymmom]

What kind of attendance policy does your gym have ? And I guess how many hours/days a week do you practice?

Our gym has been trying to implement an attendance policy since the beginning of the summer and it is just unfair IMO at this point. Luckily, they haven't been to strict with it. I was just wondering what the "norm" was.

Thanks folks!

 

[3LittleGymmies]

We practice four days a week and you are expected to attend 90%. That goes up for Levels 7-10, I believe to 95%.

 

[flgymmom]

We practice four days a week and you are expected to attend 90%. That goes up for Levels 7-10, I believe to 95%.

How do they break down the 90% expectation ?

 

[3LittleGymmies]

I'm not sure what you mean. I guess it goes meet by meet. If you have a meet on November 1st and you have missed more than 90% of practices up to that date, then you don't compete - I believe. Then maybe the "clock" starts over? I am not sure because we have never missed any practices. If you have missed any practices in the two weeks before a meet, you aren't supposed to be allowed to compete (at our gym). If attendance is a huge issue, I believe that your position on the team is re-evaluated.

 

[flgymmom]

I'm not sure what you mean. I guess it goes meet by meet. If you have a meet on November 1st and you have missed more than 90% of practices up to that date, then you don't compete - I believe. Then maybe the "clock" starts over? I am not sure because we have never missed any practices. If you have missed any practices in the two weeks before a meet, you aren't supposed to be allowed to compete (at our gym). If attendance is a huge issue, I believe that your position on the team is re-evaluated.

OK... I understand. Do they have a policy for the rest of the year or only during meet season?

What our gym policy is trying to do is you are not allowed to miss more than 3 practices a month. We practice 5 days a week (Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri 6-9 and Sat 10-1). If they miss more than 3 they have to pay for a private as a "makeup". If we don't pay for the private, they are bumped from the team to Xcel. If they miss any practice the 2 weeks before a meet they can't compete and we loss our money. At first, there were exceptions... like school related activities (like band concerts etc) and family events (weddings) but now it seems to be a bit scattered on what is acceptable or not.

 

[bookworm]

Do you miss enough practices that this is an issue? We don't have any policy that I know of but I certainly wouldn't be paying for any privates to make up for missed practices...we have only ever missed practices for illness, school mandated functions or family events such as a wedding or graduation, but never so many that I thought it was an issue.

I would guess from your train of thought that your DD does miss more than the 3 a month, and I guess you have to decide if this is the program ( team) and gym for you and your family....

 

[flgymmom]

Do you miss enough practices that this is an issue? We don't have any policy that I know of but I certainly wouldn't be paying for any privates to make up for missed practices...we have only ever missed practices for illness, school mandated functions or family events such as a wedding or graduation, but never so many that I thought it was an issue.

I would guess from your train of thought that your DD does miss more than the 3 a month, and I guess you have to decide if this is the program ( team) and gym for you and your family....

She does on occasion. Back at the beginning of school, she got the flu and didn't go to school all week. She only attended practice Friday and Saturday. She also has activities she is needs to attend here coming up like band concert and a science fair night. Both are within the 2 weeks of meets.

When they started to discuss the no meet if missed within 2 weeks is when I really started to have an issue.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

I think our policy is always in effect and that you can lose your spot on team.. I will look up the exact verbiage later. My daughters have never missed practice, so it doesn't really effect us. I am assuming that your policy is in place more for kids missing because they are NOT sick. I don't think they would kick you off the team for having an extended illness, especially since they can always just ask for a doctor's note. They are probably referring more to the kids who vacation very frequently or miss for other things (parties, other sports, because they don't feel like going, etc). I think that the no missing 2 weeks before a meet is mostly about safety but also because they may perceive it as a commitment not being up to what they desire for their team.

 

[windydays]

I don't think we have an attendance policy. My daughter has missed due to illness, vacations (after season), and family functions (rare). It has never been an issue for us.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

We don't have a set number, but it is expressed and expected that you are at all practices barring serious illness or serious commitments. Family and school are important, but it's implied that it's going to have to be a fairly big event to justify being absent from practice.
During the week immediately before a meet, you are expected to be there without exception or basically be prepared to not compete that week. Even if they are sick they are told to come in.
Our coaches are by no means militant tyrants, but yes, it's understood that you need to make gymnastics a priority. I don't know of anyone being kicked off team or anything but I would expect a discussion with the parents if attendance becomes an issue.

 

[Quadqueen]

No attendance policy at our gym. Optional kids miss due to illness, vacations, occasional other school/family commitments. I would expect that if it became an issue, head coach would talk to the parents.

 

[thefellowsmom]

We don't have a set number, but it is expressed and expected that you are at all practices barring serious illness or serious commitments. Family and school are important, but it's implied that it's going to have to be a fairly big event to justify being absent from practice.
During the week immediately before a meet, you are expected to be there without exception or basically be prepared to not compete that week. Even if they are sick they are told to come in.
Our coaches are by no means militant tyrants, but yes, it's understood that you need to make gymnastics a priority. I don't know of anyone being kicked off team or anything but I would expect a discussion with the parents if attendance becomes an issue.

This is how it is at our gym too.

With that said there are certain families that take advantage of there not being an official policy and those that just do what they want because even though the expectation is set, it isn't always enforced across the board. I can understand why a gym feels they need to put an official policy in place.

 

[poodlemomma]

I think ours is no more then 25% of practice can be missed in a month. Required school activities, illness and special family events are excused absences. But I am not sure how that fixes in with the 25%. No missed practices are permitted the week before a meet. We just switched gyms and I was given last year's handbook as they hadn't had the new ones printed up yet for this year. So they could have changed the policy. They didn't really outline in the old handbook what the repercussions would be for missing too many practices. I would guess it would be no participation in the meet and perhaps bumped from team if missing continued to be a problem. I did get permission for my DD to leave practice an hour early on Fridays through out football season. Her HC stated they wouldn't be into their meet season until after football was over so she was okay with DD leaving early.

 

[poodlemomma]

I think ours is no more then 25% of practice can be missed in a month. Required school activities, illness and special family events are excused absences. But I am not sure how that fixes in with the 25%. No missed practices are permitted the week before a meet. We just switched gyms and I was given last year's handbook as they hadn't had the new ones printed up yet for this year. So they could have changed the policy. They didn't really outline in the old handbook what the repercussions would be for missing too many practices. I would guess it would be no participation in the meet and perhaps bumped from team if missing continued to be a problem. I did get permission for my DD to leave practice an hour early on Fridays through out football season. Her HC stated they wouldn't be into their meet season until after football was over so she was okay with DD leaving early.

 

[Ex member]

I am not sure if our gym has an Attendance Policy, practice is twice a week and you need to attend both sessions regularly (you can't go just once a week only), my dd has only ever missed practice due to illness. My dd hasn't competed yet and doesn't have her first competition until November so I don't know if they have an Attendance Policy in the lead up to that.

 

[Jenny]

During the week immediately before a meet, you are expected to be there without exception or basically be prepared to not compete that week. Even if they are sick they are told to come in.

Woah I wouldn't like that. You could end up with whole team sick by the meet never mind the safety aspect of a sick kid training or competing.

 

[marie83]

We don't have an attendance policy per sé, but attendance is monitored. Our rising elites train 5 times a week at the moment and they are expected to attend every session. Of course other activities or illness might result in a missed session occasionally but if it started to become a regular thing they would be moved to a less competitive group.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Woah I wouldn't like that. You could end up with whole team sick by the meet never mind the safety aspect of a sick kid training or competing.

I am assuming that they are told to come in so that they can be there to watch corrections being made, watch routines, etc. and soak in what they can without actually practicing themselves...

 

[Jenny]

I suppose that could be true. I personally wouldn't see that as helpful but each to their own.

 

[z2akids]

I believe our policy is 80% of practices. In addition, if you miss any of the last 4 practices prior to a meet, you may not be allowed to compete - at the coach's discretion.

My DD actually missed the last practice before a meet last year. She was ill, and never misses practice. Her coach let her compete because she was getting better.