Coaches Do you have a wait list for classes?

[coachinkal]

I was wondering whether other gyms have a wait list for classes and how they manage the waitlist.

Do you test kids and then put them on the waitlist, or do you wait for their name to come up and then put them in a class and assess.

Our gym always seems to have problems at the beginning of every year with a huge influx of kids wanting to start gym and not enough places. If the class is full the extra names get added to the waitlist.

Every year I have had parents doing and saying all sorts of things to try to get their child to skip the queue and it really annoys me bigtime. We are not talking about competition kids, only new gymnasts.

I had one parent who was told by both myself and the office that the class was full and that their child must be placed on the waitlist. They have then gone direct to another coach, to try to get a different answer. The parent of course did not mention to the other coach, what they had already been told by myself. They got the same answer from the other coach, so they were not impressed. I had a phone call from the head coach querying whether it was the same parent I had been talking to her about, I confirmed it was!

We had one parent who wanted both sons in the one class (sons are different levels) because it suited family better time wise. When she didnt get the answer she wanted from the head coach she spoke to the office and demanded my home phone number so she could discuss it with me. She even tried to look my phone number up in the phone book to try to phone me direct (luckily I have a private number). The head coach had previously discussed the situation with me, so I already knew what the parent had been advised.

I have had parents tell me that the office told them their child was in the class and just to come along to the first class. No such advice was given.

I have had parents say someone phoned them and told them to come in for the class. No such phone call was made to the parent.

I am just amazed at the low morals of some parents. Sorry for venting!

Have other coaches had situations like this. How have you handled these situations.

 

[gymcoach26]

We have had a few instances where we had a wait list and we tell the parents the same thing you do. When space is available in the class then we will notify them. In the meantime however, we try to encourage them to come on a different day or time to an eqivelant class. If they cannot make it due to their busy schedule or aren't willing to bring siblings to 2 seperate classes than sorry there is nothing else we can do until space opens up. It is not that common though, so maybe your gym needs to open up more classes or get more coaches to accomodate the growing demand.

 

[Linsul]

Our gym is first come, first serve for rec classes. There are wait lists when it applies with every interested parents info (in order). The front office handles all of it. For team we just say 'invite only' and do not make wait lists.

As far as rec testing goes, we test the kids at their first class. It's free, and referred to as a 'trial' class. All of them start in the beginner group, and at the end of the class the coach meets with the parent to advise a level. Then they go to the front office for scheduling a permanent class at the appropriate level.

 

[coachinkal]

We have tried a variety of things to encourage new coaches. We have even phoned parents with children on the waitlist and advised them that their child can come straight into the class if the parent is willing to commit to becoming a coach for one hour a week. I was successful in getting two mums to commit to being trained as coaches by doing this. We are loosing a couple of coaches so these mums will be replacing coaches we have lost.