Parents Crazy Gym Parent Alert

[gymmomtoo]

OMG -- they'd be kicked off our team if they did that. And coach would scratch them from the meet.

Yeah, that is way out of line--can't believe the host gym would do that either! Our meet directors won't even talk to the parents when they call--only coaches or gym owners.

 

[raenndrops]

I have to admit to checking MyMeetScores to see if any of OG's potential competition at Nationals is on there (I look up the different registered YMCAs and see if they are listed. Some are (those who also compete USAG) and a lot aren't.
She likes to know "what I have to do to win" ... for example, she left out her back tuck in 2 meets because she knew she could with without them... and she was right. Once it gets closer to Nationals and we know exactly which teams she will be facing in her session, the hunt will get more serious, lol. She WANTS their All Around scores... and it is my job to be clairvoyant and figure out just what the age breakdown will be when all we know is 3 equal age groups ... so I only tell her AA scores from her competitors

 

[gymyahoo]

Signs that you maybe turning into a crazy gym parent if you . . .

What do you think are signs that your crossing the line into crazy? I want to include this in the parent guide ;-)

I have a feeling this could be fun to read LOL

1. You show up to a meet where your daughter is not competing and start video taping girls who your dd will eventually face in meets later that season.
2. You go up to another parent and dd from another gym and start telling them you have been tracking their scores closely on mymeetdscores.com
3. You start asking parents of the top dd in your gym what their dd eats, how many hours of sleep, what music dd likes, etc so you can have your DD do the same.
4. You scold your dd in front of everyone for not winning the all around and that her performance was unacceptable even though she finished in the top 5.
5. You open the door to the gym and start yelling at your dd in practice totally disrupting the gym and coaches.
6. You start telling other parents how much talented your DD is than theirs and how the coaches love coaching her more than other girls in the gym.
7. You pull your dd from current gym to train at a better gym that wins more so you can shove it in the face of parents at your old gym that your dd is on a wining team.

Etc etc etc.......all stories true!!!!

 

[emorymom]

I should clarify that it's just nutty imo in compulsories at least to be overly concerned with placement.
It's LEVEL PLAY for goodness sake. It's not actual competition. How could it be actual competition if, for example, a 10 year old can place 1st while a 9 year old teammate places 6th but the 9 year old has a higher all-around?

 

[Seeker]

I should clarify that it's just nutty imo in compulsories at least to be overly concerned with placement.
It's LEVEL PLAY for goodness sake. It's not actual competition. How could it be actual competition if, for example, a 10 year old can place 1st while a 9 year old teammate places 6th but the 9 year old has a higher all-around?

This is interesting and true to an extent. My DD is the youngest on her team (although she's not in compulsories anymore) and she routinely outscores her older teammates (she is 10, teammates range from 12-15) and they almost always get more medals than she does. She's in the toughest age group, so even if she does better in regards to scoring, she walks out with less (or no) medals.

But it is a competition...they are ranking them by age/score and giving out medals, trophies, etc.. That makes it a competition, no?

 

[skschlag]

1. You show up to a meet where your daughter is not competing and start video taping girls who your dd will eventually face in meets later that season.
2. You go up to another parent and dd from another gym and start telling them you have been tracking their scores closely on mymeetdscores.com
3. You start asking parents of the top dd in your gym what their dd eats, how many hours of sleep, what music dd likes, etc so you can have your DD do the same.

#1 to me is totally unacceptable. you should not be taping other people's kiddos! Really? I would be livid if I knew someone else was taping my kid. We had a dad from our gym do that once to "show his son what high bar should look like." I was appalled!

And the rest...can we all say Stalker????

 

[emorymom]

This is interesting and true to an extent. My DD is the youngest on her team (although she's not in compulsories anymore) and she routinely outscores her older teammates (she is 10, teammates range from 12-15) and they almost always get more medals than she does. She's in the toughest age group, so even if she does better in regards to scoring, she walks out with less (or no) medals.

But it is a competition...they are ranking them by age/score and giving out medals, trophies, etc.. That makes it a competition, no?

Uh, kind of, but not one to be taken so seriously as parents giving such attention to placement. The gymnast is competing against themselves, against human imperfection. That is all.

 

[krisnkids]

How about the child of a cgm telling your child, "my mom says you shouldn't be on team bc you don't have your robhs".

 

[gymstaryaya]

Prior to each meet you analyze past scores of all kids in your kid's awards group. After each meet you break down placement by whether the kids are repeaters or not.

Sadly, I am guilty of this...LOL!

 

[Mom2Brats]

Walking up to your gymnast after a fall on bars and telling her that she can "forget about" the out-of-state meet that's coming up.

Speaking to the gym owner about an "incident" the previous day where her daughter had been awarded the wrong medal in a tie even though the other girl had willingly traded medals with her (after podium pictures had been taken, admittedly, but still... )

 

[mommyof1]

You are a crazy gym parent if you try to make your child fulfill your expectations, not her own.

You are a crazy gym parent if you have unrealistic expectations about what your child can or should be able to do.

You are a crazy gym parent if you think your child is more important than the other children in the gym.

You are a crazy gym parent if you put down other people's children or believe that they are getting in your child's way.

You are a crazy gym parent if your goal is anything other than a happy, healthy child who is learning and achieving to the best of her ability.

You are a crazy gym parent if you think you can do much to affect your child's performance beyond finding her a good gym, getting her to practice on time, making sure she is well fed and well rested, and watching out for her physical and emotional well-being.

 

[kandkfunk]

These are hilarious and I can see a lot of old acquaintances in these examples.

Instead of just giving red flags about being a CGM, maybe an additional tactic is to provide some perspective about the sport. This sport is so different than many of the others that young kids will participate in during their childhood. If your kid plays baseball, soccer, football or basketball, parents are encouraged to practice with them at home. Gymnastics, and maybe a couple other challenging sports like ice-skating, are really the only sports where kids aren't encouraged to work on their skills at home. This can be a really foreign concept to parents who are former athletes. Spelling out guidelines and behavioral expectations and the rationale for them can sometimes help to avert a little bit of the CGM that seems to come out in some parents.

 

[wnl256]

You are a crazy gym parent if you try to make your child fulfill your expectations, not her own.

You are a crazy gym parent if you have unrealistic expectations about what your child can or should be able to do.

You are a crazy gym parent if you think your child is more important than the other children in the gym.

You are a crazy gym parent if you put down other people's children or believe that they are getting in your child's way.

You are a crazy gym parent if your goal is anything other than a happy, healthy child who is learning and achieving to the best of her ability.

You are a crazy gym parent if you think you can do much to affect your child's performance beyond finding her a good gym, getting her to practice on time, making sure she is well fed and well rested, and watching out for her physical and emotional well-being.

Can I "like" this twice? 10 times? 100 times? Thank you! This should be printed and handed to every new gym parent on the first day their child makes pre-team.

 

[5280Boosters]

I registered for this site just so I could reply to some of these CGM posts and thank the owner of this site for a great gymnastics resource and area of fellowship.

I had written a page for our Booster Club website before I found all the posts on this site about CGMs. 5280Boosters.org In the same vein as Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a Redneck if..." only this is "You might be a psycho gymnastic parent if..."

All of mine were personal observations of other parents at our facility.

The one that I was guilty of: "If you’ve caught yourself hoping your child’s *teammate* would fall in competition..."

Obviously embarrassed to admit that but I'm glad I recognized it so I could do some introspection.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Getting upset with your child at a meet...

 

[raenndrops]

We had a mother TELL coach that she was bringing her daughter to the NEW L4 team camp when coach had suggested she repeat (compete NEW L3) because her season high at Old L4 had been 33.5 (at a meet where EVERYONE got at least 1 personal best... but several had 3 personal bests, her daughter being one of them). Her 2nd best was a 32.6. We also look at individual event scores and her best beam score was 8.1. It was her vault that helped her score so high.

Forgot to mention... this CGM also booked her hotel for this year's YMCA Nationals last July. They need a 32.0 to qualify for Nationals. We have one meet left and her daughter's high score to date is 29.950 ... so she has started telling people that they go on vacation to Florida EVERY year during that week anyways (except for last year and the year before and any other year they didn't go...shhh), just in case her daughter doesn't get the 2.05 improvement needed. And NOW her daughter is saying that she WILL NOT do L4 next year! Either she goes to Xcel Gold or she quits. If she goes to Xcel, the coach will be setting a new precedent that she does not want to set.... one that means my YG could go to Xcel in 2 seasons instead of 3.

 

[MaryA]

Can I "like" this twice? 10 times? 100 times? Thank you! This should be printed and handed to every new gym parent on the first day their child makes pre-team.

I thought the same thing!

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

What about a CGM having an affair with HC so that their dd can get ahead and special "coaching" ?

 

[kandkfunk]

What about a CGM having an affair with HC so that their dd can get ahead and special "coaching" ?

Ya, we lived through that one too. Along with the resulting divorces and baby from said affair. Not really sure if the parent's motivation was to get DD ahead though. May have just been a really messed up situation.

 

[iwannacoach]

When they brag darling daughter is packing a 37.50 aa and training for the olympics, and the kid is a 10 year old level 3..... again. Worse still is when the 37.50aa is two years past as what we now call old level 3/new level 2.