WAG How to approach evaluations

[jen0423]

Good afternoon! My daughter is new to competition and this past year she competed at the Excel Bronze level with much success. Our gym is now in the process of doing evaluations for moving up. Our coach told us it could be one of three decisions, remain on BR, move to the next Excel or Move to JO5. All of the parents are confused and don't have a clue what the expectations are and how moving up is determined. The coach offered to have a meeting. The parents elected to have me email the coach and say that we did want a meeting so that we could get a better understanding of what is going on. It took several days for her to return my email and only after the I did a follow up email making sure she received the first email.

Basically, the bottom line is she told me she is really busy right now and will get back to us. Part of our concern as parents is that all three teams meet at different times and days. With summer coming up, we needed to secure camps/child care etc. I ended up hiring a sitter for the summer so that practices can be attended (my husband and I both work outside of the home).

I guess I am just venting here and wanting to know if other gyms feel this mysterious? We are all new at this on our team and really want to know and understand what our daughters are being tested for, what they need to work on, what expectations are. We have never been told. Thanks for your time!

 

[bogwoppit]

Oh yup, this is a common thing. I went through the same thing every year for many years. Sometimes I empathised with the coaches, other times I felt that it was unecessary as they saw my kid in the gym all year long and knew e4xaclty what she could do.

 

[LizzieLac]

Oh yup, this is a common thing. I went through the same thing every year for many years. Sometimes I empathised with the coaches, other times I felt that it was unecessary as they saw my kid in the gym all year long and knew e4xaclty what she could do.

Yes, that ^^^^^

 

[jen0423]

Thanks guys, at least I am not alone and this is common! Jeez!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Oh yes, every single spring we have one or more threads on this subject! i don't think coaches fully realize what a pain it is schedule-wise not to know in advance!

 

[Jabba]

Some of us do. I don't understand formal evaluations like this after a kid has made team. We work with the kids everyday, we know their abilities. I try to have schedules out way ahead of time, so my parents can plan. That being said, sometimes there are things that come up or other reasons they may be holding off. When in doubt, ask. The willingness to talk to you (or lack thereof) should be more of a concern.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using ChalkBucket mobile app

 

[EastCoastGymMom]

YES. Our gym is just as mysterious. No one knows which level, workout group, or schedule their child will have until a few weeks before the summer schedule begins (this goes for pre-team all the way up to Elite). It's a constant source of drama and speculation.

 

[KimmeeA13]

My DD is in a similar situation to the OP's DD. Our gym holds team tryouts in May and does evaluations of the current team members around the same time. Then once they know who is going to be on the team, they figure out who is going to be on what level and which practice group they will be in, because occasionally there is more than one practice group for some levels depending on how many kids are on that level. I believe I was told by some more experienced parents that the coaches will also schedule parent conferences afterward to discuss each individual child's progress and what they have in mind for her (or him).

But I totally agree that by this time they should have a very good idea of what my child can do and where they want to place her for the next year. It's hard to make any kind of plans until you have that schedule. Based on how my DD did this year vs. the rest of her teammates on the same level, I anticipate they will all be moved up to new level 3, but I won't know for sure until late May/early June.

 

[cbifoja]

Agree about the frustration with scheduling. I have to juggle an exhusband, a second sport, and gymnastics. I even ask for the schedule before sport 2 starts but it is never ready in the spring or fall. And of course, then it never fails that when we do get the schedule, sport 2 conflicts with gym. Very frustrating!

But I know that owners have to deal with coach schedules too so I try to be understanding.

 

[gymdog]

Honestly, not much the coach can say. For many kids, whether they stay in Excel or go to level 5 likely depends on their overall strength/flex/potential and not something they can work on in a few weeks. Scheduling is super frustrating though, for the coaches sometimes too!

 

[iwannacoach]

I think the reason you have to wait so long is that during the comp season many coaches focus on training skills for next weeks meet. Once the season is over they begin training new skills to get the kids ready for next year, and won't really know a lot about how each child is coming along until late July, and that's just going to allow them a refined supposition.

Given that the interval between one season's end and the next season's start is about 8 month's (L4-L8) and, although some of us are pretty good at sizing kids up, we don't have a crystal ball. Sure it's hard to wait, but give us a little time so we have to look only 3-4 months down the road before deciding where each child will end up.

 

[Mom2Brats]

I think it's kind of strange for gyms to decide what the kids will compete the next year in the spring, although now that I think about it, it does kind of make sense if they're compulsories competing fall. But still, summer is a long productive time and a lot can change. I know out L8s are all training together as if they were going 9 but the ones who aren't ready in the fall will stay L8 (but probably do all the new allowable Cs that they can) Makes sense to me.

 

[chalkbowl]

Once season is over our parents receive evaluations once a month until August. In August we hold a parent/athlete/coach meeting letting the family know what level the athlete will be competing once season begins. This allows us to get our summer schedule out with plenty of time (usually in April & schedule starts in July). However, it means the parents don't know what Fall/Spring training group their athlete is in until the last minute. They CAN make an educated guess based on the evaluations leading up to that point though...

 

[Flossyduck]

Yep. We've been told the groups are being re-organised at our gym. They're going to let us know before the summer holidays what the new structure will be and the hours etc. Something similar happened last year and our hours changed completely that time, as well as increasing. It's frustrating because we know they have already got the groups in mind. They know how many places it frees up because they've started offering trials and places to kids from other clubs and from rec. But we wont be given any hints for months

 

[Natasha]

Our teams generally get reorganized for summer training. Everyone is put in a "training level __" group. Sometimes it is a mixed level group also. The coaches cannot determine this schedule until tryouts are done for the new team members as some of those may be placed on existing teams and until they know who may be "retiring." There have been times where the coaches put out the schedule and then have 3 girls quit in the same training group and then you have a group only 1/2 full. Then, in the fall, the schedule is adjusted again and some girls will shift groups depending upon how the summer training went as well as the dynamics of the group. All gymnasts have the opportunity to train for the next level during the summer, and then are notified in the fall which level they will compete.

 

[homer]

Definitely not unusual. It's almost like the coaches want to keep it a secret....!