Parents Travel Information

[usuallyconfused]

Hi, First Post, glad to have found this forum. I have an 11 year old who does AAU, and I am just having a heck of a time accepting the way our coach relays information to us regarding meetings, progress, scoring, and competition information, but I don't know what is 'normal' in the world of gymnastics.
In addition to a list of things I find frustrating. Most recently we had a competition cancelled that was 1hr away from home, it was replaced with the option to go to a different competitom 4hrs away. Although I wasn't thrilled we made arrangements to bring our daughter because I didn't feel like she should miss the opportunity.
Some of the parents drove the day before, but some got up at 2AM to get the competition early the next morning.
Our coach emailed us late, after 9:00pm the night before the competiton to inform us we needed to be at the competiton 15mins earlier than we had been previously told, and also to pass on important travel information from the meet director that had an email time stamp of 5:30pm.
Is it normal to get last minute information like this, is this something I should just accept, or am I right to feel that the communication breakdown is unacceptable?

 

[raenndrops]

If the coach was coaching at the time the email arrived, it is reasonable for them not to pass on the information until after practice (or even after they get home).

I don't have access to my email 24/7, so I tend to pass on info later than people might prefer.

IF a competition is cancelled and the coach is able to get you into another meet, that sounds great to me, even at a greater distance.

As for showing up 15 minutes earlier, just know that you should always arrive before the listed report time. This allows for getting into the venue, using the bathroom, last minute hair touch ups, etc.

 

[usuallyconfused]

They only coach our team at our gym, and we did not have practice at that time. Of course I can't account for activities outside the gym. Also the coach requests that we mainly communicate via e-mail, because that is their preferred method of sending and receiving information.
We are usually always instructed and plan to arrive early to our session start time, but these changes added on an additional 30+ minutes to a 4hr drive that included losing an hour due to time change.
I appreciate your response and perspective!

 

[NutterButter]

Meh, the delay in getting that email isn’t a big deal and is within an acceptable time frame for forwarding that information. You really should be arriving at least 15 earlier than the published time anyways so that shouldn’t be a game changer for anyone’s travel plans.

And kudos to your coach for finding a replacement meet for the one that was cancelled. Meets fill up and it can be difficult to find openings during the season. It also sounds like the meet was optional for families so if the travel commitment didn’t work for people it was ok to decline.

 

[twinmomma]

Last minute schedules? Check. Last minute changes? Check. Information relayed through the kids thinking it's actually getting to parents? Check. Not just a gymnastics thing. This is totally a youth sports thing.

 

[GymDadWA]

There are some team communication tools like teamsnap that your gym/coach could use for communication that might help to make things a bit more transparent. Depending on the size of your team it might even be free. There also is good old facebook private groups that work for thousands of sports teams. Email is so unreliable especially with the amount of email the average person gets, messages often just get buried and forgotten, or the coach might just miss a reply from a parent.

 

[Freddy's Fred]

Hi, First Post, glad to have found this forum. I have an 11 year old who does AAU, and I am just having a heck of a time accepting the way our coach relays information to us regarding meetings, progress, scoring, and competition information, but I don't know what is 'normal' in the world of gymnastics.
In addition to a list of things I find frustrating. Most recently we had a competition cancelled that was 1hr away from home, it was replaced with the option to go to a different competitom 4hrs away. Although I wasn't thrilled we made arrangements to bring our daughter because I didn't feel like she should miss the opportunity.
Some of the parents drove the day before, but some got up at 2AM to get the competition early the next morning.
Our coach emailed us late, after 9:00pm the night before the competiton to inform us we needed to be at the competiton 15mins earlier than we had been previously told, and also to pass on important travel information from the meet director that had an email time stamp of 5:30pm.
Is it normal to get last minute information like this, is this something I should just accept, or am I right to feel that the communication breakdown is unacceptable?

Big ups to those parents who got up at 2 am to drive. I am never ever going to do that.

 

[Flyaway]

Big ups to those parents who got up at 2 am to drive. I am never ever going to do that.

Word.

 

[Pixiechikn]

Unacceptable!

 

[gymnastmom05]

Another thought here - isn't it possible the coach was actually driving the 4 hours TO the competition (so she's there and ready to coach that first session the next day)? It seems very unlikely that the coach was purposely keeping this information from the parents and waiting until the last possible minute to get the info out. I don't/nor does my husband check his work email constantly while he's not at work. And he especially doesn't when he's going to be away from his family for work the entire next day (or possibly weekend). I would have felt differently if the email was sent the day before. In my opinion, 15 minutes earlier means nothing when you're talking about getting up at 2 am. That's already insane and not a full nights sleep. I wouldn't have made that choice - it's hotel or no competition in that circumstance.

If you're referring to the the meet director just getting that information out, it could be that something at the competition sight/venue changed and he/she just wanted everyone to be prepared for some extra time it might take.

 

[merritt]

4 hours delay in passing on an email seems reasonable to me, especially given that it was during the evening. I also don’t see the extra 15 minutes as a big deal - ideally one would be allowing an extra 30-60 minutes anyway to allow for traffic, construction, or other delays.