WAG Gym Policy on Canceling Practice

[lovegymnastics22]

I am curious your gym's policy on canceling team practice. We have practice cancelled multiple times a month during both fall and spring seasons, for reasons such as because the coaches have to be at another meet on a Friday, our gym is hosting a meet and they need to set up, the coaches are working all weekend at meets so they need a day off, etc. To be clear, I think these are all legitimate reasons to give the coaches time off and my daughter is certainly fine with the days off.

I'm just curious if this is standard practice for being part of gymnastics or if it is unusual. Does your gym cancel practice for these reasons? Do they use "substitute" coaches? Do they refund you when they cancel practice? For every other activity my children participate in, if the organizer cancels the event, we get a refund and this is not the practice with regard to the monthly fees at our gym. Thanks!

 

[gymmomtotwo]

Yes, practice is cancelled for various reasons. We also have some longer Saturdays during meet season where they do extra work that we are not charged for, or even an extra practice here or there. Our gym makes it pretty clear that while our tuition is paid monthly, it is tuition for a whole year that is divided by 12 for convenience. Sometimes they cancel or sometimes they use other coaches to fill in. It is what it is, and my kid is often the beneficiary of the coaches being at her meet, or of a well needed day off. They all get what they need.

 

[skschlag]

Happens during meet season especially. It tends to all work out in the end.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Pretty standard, particularly if you are hosting a meet. Hosting generates revenue for the gym but does hamper training a bit. In the scheme of things not a huge deal. A little time off is scheduled at our gym, particularly if the kids have a Sunday meet or a travel meet.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Yes. We pay a separate tuition fee for Saturday practices and have occasionally had months where there was only one week that actually had practice. That tuition is not discounted and the hours are not made up elsewhere. Same for regular Friday practices during meet season. It does bother me, but I know there is nothing to be done about it. My other daughter's gym will close for days/weeks when the L8+s are at travel meets, as the only two coaches for team are at all meets. Again, tuition isn't discounted unless it's a full week off. They also charge us more when there are extra weeks in a session. Seems a bit one sided, but I try and roll with it.

 

[GymDad9.9]

On a rare occasion practice will be cancelled and usually as a result of a large meet that is pulling a number of coaches away. We are a large gym and they can usually rotate other coaches to accommodate a level that might be missing a coach at any given time.

Refunds are unheard of and during the weeks leading up to major competitions like States, there are extra practices that are not charged extra for.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

When practice is cancelled due to weather, not enough coaches, etc. we usually dont' get make ups or refunds. Our coaches say that for those months that are long with 5 weeks not 4, they don't charge us extra. As if that really does much, but it's okay.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

On the flip side, if my kid was only training 12 hours a week, I would want a makeup day. Anything more than that is a welcome break.

 

[kayjaybe]

We only close/cancel for a couple of reasons:

• Really severe weather
• We are hosting a meet, so the coaches and/or space are fully occupied
• 1 week in the summer for vacation, but there is an optional team sleepover camp that week
• Holidays (the big holidays + Mother's Day & Father's Day)

If some levels are traveling to a meet, the other levels still have practice. Depending on what levels are traveling, they might group the remaining kids differently and switch up practice times to even out the practice groups a bit.

 

[Musicmama]

We don't get any refunds if our kids miss practice, but I don't think we've had any gym-cancelled practices yet. Sometimes the regular coaches aren't there if they need to be at a Friday meet session and when my dd and her teammates had to be at an early out-of-town Friday session, they let all the girls who were attending those meets come to practice on Wednesday instead of Thursday, which is their usual day.

But my dd is in Xcel right now and is only at the gym between 4 and 6 hours a week so that could be why they try not to cancel. During school breaks there will sometimes be extra daytime practices also.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Rarely happens, usually some coaches go to meet some stay for practices. If it does happen, most often a makeup time will be offered, but occasionally not. Weather they try to work with school districts release time to do practice earlier.

 

[lovegymnastics22]

Thanks all for the quick responses!! Love this list

 

[Natasha]

Most gyms figure the monthly team tuition based on the full year (or school year if summer is different) and I have never heard of team tuition being pro-rated or refunded if practices are cancelled. Our gym actually states in the handbook that it is based off of 48 weeks, so it is a given that the equivalent of 4 weeks may be off for various reasons. However, I think the actual time off is considerably less than that. Generally the hourly rate for team tuition is pretty low. Now, a weekly rec class is a different story, and those are always offered a make up or refund or credit applied, which would probably also be true for rec activities in other sports.

 

[AgingHippie]

Our gym has only cancelled practices the weekend of the meet we host (two practices missed) and for our annual Christmas party and end of year banquet. We also had 1 snow day in the last three years, we probably should have had more.

For the big holidays we are closed but I wouldn't consider those cancelled.

If our regular coaches are away for meets they have subs fill in.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Yes, cancellations do happen, especially during meet season. Sometimes there will be a substitute coach (especially if like half the Optionals group is gone or something and they want the others to be able to come in) but most of the time not. Sometimes they offer a practice on the only day we currently have off as a "make up". No refunds, wouldn't occur to me to ask for one.
Like someone else said, my gymmie practices so many hours/wk that an unexpected day off doesn't matter....
They do truly try to keep the cancellations to a minimum, but it's sometimes inevitable.
We don't ever cancel for smaller holidays. I think Christmas Day is the only holiday we deliberately take off....

 

[z2akids]

Most of the time DD's gym moves practices around. For example, levels that are scheduled on Christmas likely will have a practice a different day that week. The same goes for other holidays. We have level coaches, so if another level is competing, the levels that are not are still able to practice. There is a scheduled week off in the summer and a couple of days with no practice when the gym is hosting meets. But, those are known dates. Otherwise, a snow day or two every year is about the extent of unscheduled missed practices.

Oh, and no refunds, etc. It would never even occur to me to ask.

 

[Musicmama]

Christmas and New Years have been the only holidays my dd's gym have deliberately taken off. The other school holidays (including the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years) have generally ended up being extra practice days or just earlier in the day practice schedules so the coaches have the evenings free (I'm assuming).

 

[suebee]

Occasionally have practices canceled, but not too frequently.

Definitely never have any extra practices added, though.

 

[lovegymnastics22]

As I've said, DD is happy to have a day off and I have no issues with it. I guess it affects our family differently because we both work, so if practice is cancelled, I have to arrange (on short notice!) and pay for some other childcare option.

 

[vbdb]

When practice is cancelled because of a conflicting meet or needs to be moved to set up for a meet we're holding we have make up classes scheduled for another time but it's infrequent.
Sometimes our schedule is moved around if the kids are off during the week, for instance we'll have daytime training and usually the weekend off during March break coming up.