Forgotten comp entry..

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Faith

Coach
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So if your club forgets to enter your child in an upcoming comp, and only realises the day before when the parent asks what time they need to be there, what do you expect to happen? Parent has paid for comp and has confirmed by email.

Comp organisers say no late entries. Child has spent 3 weeks practicing routines and is really upset. Club have apologised but it's not the first occasion where you suspect the child has been lacking attention generally.

No other club to move to, wouldn't want to leave as I do think it's a good club, just a combination of coaches leaving, lack of resources and general loss of focus on lower levels in favour of higher ones recently.
 
Why didn’t they enter the whole team? I’d insist they call the host gym and ask to squeeze her in and explain it was their fault. Also, if they can’t do it, a refund. The host won’t, but your gym should as it was their fault.
 
Unfortunately, if the host gym says there is no room there isn't anything to do to get her in. The parents should be refunded for the meet entry plus any share they were covering of coach and team expenses and should be given a huge apology. I don't understand why the gym would have left one kid out of the registration though.
 
Do whatever is necessary, eating as much crow as needed, to let child compete. Confused, though, by your explanation that the child is lacking attention?? We wouldn't expect a child to be on top of paying meet fees.
 
If it was me, I would contact the host club and explain the situation and ask if they could make an exception. They are usually club owners themselves so they usually understand about these things. If they refused I would refund the money of course.
 
Thanks for the replies.

yes a refund was offered immediately, and they did call the organisers and ask.

it was simply a name missed off the entry sheet. It’s an optional comp so only those who confirmed were entered.

there wasn’t much to be done. Just a shame for the gymnast who is left quite upset.

how would you deal with it and restore trust in the parent/athlete/coach/club relationship.

“lacking attention” as in there’s been some coach turnover and loss so this training group seems to have been affected most and left to get on with it a bit. Which is why I’m not particularly suprised it was a kid from this group that got missed.
 
It is a huge shame. Being left out is an awful feeling for anyone, it can’t be a nice feeling for the gymnast to think that they were forgotten. Would a gym notice that they left their top gymnast off the list? Probably not.
 
Was the competition for one where everyone in that level was competing or was it an optional competition where only a number of gymnasts in that level were competing. It’s deffinatly a negative insight but I can understand if it was not the whole team level who was competing on the staffs account especially with lack of communication. Usually with our comps the whole team/level is entered and then those who qualified entered into
The next competition. But if it’s a Comp which is optional and who’s names are put in with those who only wish to compete that there can be a mistake if not focused on and double checked.
 
If it was me, I would contact the host club and explain the situation and ask if they could make an exception. They are usually club owners themselves so they usually understand about these things. If they refused I would refund the money of course.
No, you never contact the host club yourself. That can get you kicked out. If the gym forgot to enter her, but took the money, then they should refund the money.
 
No, you never contact the host club yourself. That can get you kicked out. If the gym forgot to enter her, but took the money, then they should refund the money.
I'm pretty sure that AussieCoach meant that as a coach/employee if the gym (or owner, I don't know) she would contact the host gym and try to get the kid in, not as a mom.
 
Thanks for the replies.

yes a refund was offered immediately, and they did call the organisers and ask.

it was simply a name missed off the entry sheet. It’s an optional comp so only those who confirmed were entered.

there wasn’t much to be done. Just a shame for the gymnast who is left quite upset.

how would you deal with it and restore trust in the parent/athlete/coach/club relationship.

“lacking attention” as in there’s been some coach turnover and loss so this training group seems to have been affected most and left to get on with it a bit. Which is why I’m not particularly suprised it was a kid from this group that got missed.

I think in general with apologies, the ones that work best involve multiple steps.

1. Sincere apologies that acknowledge and take responsibility for the wrong (no "I'm sorry that you were offended" and the like).
2. Genuine effort to make amends, i.e., refund entry fees or perhaps offer to comp the next entry.
3. Transparent explanation for what steps are being taken to prevent the wrong from happening again. ("We have established a system where for optional meets, we email out the roster a week before the deadline so parents can check it.")
 
A genuine apology goes a long way. But it's hard to know how to make it up to the child. In a very superficial way I'd be making sure they weren't pushed to the back of the Christmas display. But if they would meet with you to apologise and you are able to ask what the plans are for that group going forward, then I think you can judge going forward from that. I'm in the camp that anyone can make a genuine mistake, apologise and move on. But if it is part of a pattern, then it is more worrying.
 

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