Parents Frustrated!!!

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AlexsGymmyMom

Proud Parent
Yesterday we went to open gym at my daughters current gym. She loves open gym. She really wanted to work on her front hip circle and kip but everytime she would approach the bars where a coach was helping someone else the coach would turn around and leave or move to a different set of bars! It just seems to me that they want to focus all there attention on a select few and leave the rest to figure it out for themselves! Ughhh! She ended up just following another girl around and watching what she was told and then doing it on her own. My daughter is 9 and just now level 4 so she is one of the older girls at her level and I am too much of a wimp to say anything but she feels left out all the time!

How do I approach the coaches with my observations without sounding like a complainer?
Thanks
Wendy
 
Unfortunately, complaining doesn't usually help anything. You could set up a private with the coach to help build a rapport. It definitely helps to get to know your coach/coaches on a one-on-one basis and it could help her to break in to the 'in' crowd.

Unfortunately, sometimes certain coaches/gyms might have a bias towards 'older' gymnasts. They want them young and fearless. In the end, a gym with a different philosophy towards giving all gymnasts the same attention regardless of age or talent could be a solution, but I'd try and see how a few one-on-one sessions go and take it from there.
 
Hi,
Open gym is not usually a time for instruction, but rather an extra practice to work on current skills (in my experience anyway.) If you want extra instruction, a private lesson is the way to go.
 
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While I can understand how frustrated your DD must have been following around a coach hoping for help and not getting it, it may also be that open gym there isn't really to get help from coaches with skills. The 2 gyms that my DD has been at, open gym was a place to practice skills/play around, but no coaching went on at all. If their open gym is advertised as a place to get help from coaches, then my question would be, did you DD directly ask for help from the coach? If not, coach might have not realized she wanted help.

Hope you can get it figured out. :)
 
If this is happening in your DD's class I would probably mention something to the coach in a way that was not attacking (LOL) but more of "how is my DD's hip circle and kip coming along" or "What are you doing with the girls in practice who are having problems with this skill"?

If this is open gym time then I am not sure about the "instruction" part. Most open gyms are a time for the girls to work on things on their own without instruction time. Now, we've stayed for open gym only twice because it follows a 4 hr practice for us on sat and DD had a great time when one of our L10 girls helped them do fly aways off the bars (WOW!) and put music on for them to do routines...but last week was more like playtime because the 2 girls working it were just older girls in babysitting mode because mostly it is for rec kids. They did help make bar adjustments for them to practice their bars but no instruction. In our gym one on one time is usually a "private" which is scheduled time with a coach to work on things that need attention. Most skills though, like that kip and hip circle will come around with patience and practice.
 
At our gym as well, open gym time is for practicing on your own, or just goofing off for fun!! There are a few coaches walking around, more to just monitor the situation than to help develop skills. There are times, however, that DURING open gym a private lesson is being held.... maybe that's what was going on? I agree w/the other posters that maybe a private lesson or two may help!
 
Thanks for all the replies. I didn't really think of it that way. It is more for fun but my daughter really likes practicing the skills she is struggling with. I am sure that no private lesson was going on because the other girl that was getting all the attention is one of my daughters gym friends who does not do private lessons. I don't watch practices but I do stay at open gym so I will have to stay and watch a couple of practices and see if the same thing happens then. Thanks again!!
 
I don't watch practices but I do stay at open gym so I will have to stay and watch a couple of practices and see if the same thing happens then. Thanks again!!


Don't do it!!!!!!! I made the mistake of watching an entire practice once, never again. There was one coach who got me so frustrated with his nonchalant attitude and obvious boredom that I couldn't sit still. Also, the mom's in the lower levels who were there drove me absolutely nuts. Never, never, never again.
 
Don't do it!!!!!!! I made the mistake of watching an entire practice once, never again. There was one coach who got me so frustrated with his nonchalant attitude and obvious boredom that I couldn't sit still. Also, the mom's in the lower levels who were there drove me absolutely nuts. Never, never, never again.

You're probably right about that too! There are a couple of moms that are always at practice and they like to fill me in on all the details when I get there! Usually about how AWESOME their kid is or what skill their kid got or something! I just say thats great and congratulate their daughter. I really can't imagine 3 whole hours of that! LOL! Good advice!
 
open gym at our gym is more a time for the girls to work independently on specific skills. The coaches are available but usually more for spots if a girl asks for it or for the girls to get some guidance as to what skill they should be working on. not so much of the one on one instruction you seem to have wanted. A private is a great place for that. We usually have one private a week planned during the competition season of if DD is having a specificly hard time with a skill. I think the privates not only help the gymnast get that one on one with a coach but also builds a better relationship between them. With a private the coach starts to get a vested interest in a girl doing that specific skill. What I've noticed too is with the private you get the coachs 100% attention and when they go to the team practice the coach is on the look out for that skill when it's practiced.
 

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