WAG Gym/meets on Sundays?

[happychaos]

Thanks all. So there's generally like six meets per season? So even if ALL the meets required Sunday attendance, one would only be taken from their regular Sunday activities six times per year, yes?

This is one thing I love about gymnastics. WAY less Sunday attendance than almost every other youth sport and activity in my area. Even some public school functions (like plays and concerts) happen on Sunday here. We have extensive responsibilities at our church, and frequently missing is not an option.

We have found that about 1/2 of DD's meets end up on Sunday, but often we are still able to attend church, depending on the time of the meet. So really, we only have to miss church once or twice per year for gymnastics, which is really fine.

 

[profmom]

If you all think Sundays are rough, try getting your kids to fulfill their Torah service obligations for bar/bat mitzvah in between practice and meets if you're Jewish . . .

 

[Pea'sMom]

Our gym actually prefers Sunday meets as Saturdays require coach juggling with rec classes and team practice. I would suggest you talk with the head coach and find out what their meet 'philosophy' is. We only do about 6 meets max a year, but some gyms around us do 10 or more. We don't travel much for meets, but some do big travel meets. All things to ask them as that can help you make your decision. For meets you will have to pay to enter but won't find out what day or time until a week or two out, so you will have to be OK with spending that money.

 

[Pea'sMom]

@profmom Ha! I was going to add to my comment that around my neck of the woods you can't win with either day...Saturday or Sundays!

 

[z2akids]

Wow, $695 for 5 meets? That sounds steep! Did that include coaches fees?

Yes, that would include ask the fees associated with the meet that the girls have to pay coach fees, meet fees, anything else. While it is sometimes possible to get some meet fees back I'd you scratch, you wouldn't get back your prob of the coach fees, etc.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Our gym has a heavy lds membership. Im the registrar. I highlight kids in yellow that do not compete Sundays, and request if their session is on Sunday, just not to register them. We have had some exceptions that you may want to consider...like state meets or regionals. I have families that will agree to do those, just not regular meets. I also have a couple of high school girls at the lower compulsory levels that do not want to miss school for a bunch of Friday meets, so I highlight them, too, and ask not to register them if it falls on Friday. Saves them the money. Maybe that is an option? If you tell them ahead of time? it's pretty common here, and most of the gyms understand.

 

[skschlag]

How do you do that? we have to register well in advance to the meet schedule...even sending in meet fees before the full schedule is out. Do the meet directors do that for you?

 

[Azgymmiemom]

How do you do that? we have to register well in advance to the meet schedule...even sending in meet fees before the full schedule is out. Do the meet directors do that for you?

In our case, I request it ahead of time. Then I wait to see where the sessions fall.I send in full payment, but request the refund if sessions can't be accommodated.

 

[Anna's_Mom]

I worried about this too last year, which was our first competitive season. We are in San Diego also and have six meets scheduled for this fall. Like the others said, its a 50/50 shot. Last year though, we only had 1 of the 6 that conflicted with church. Given that it was only the 1, we decided that we would allow a miss from church. I think if there were more meets in the season or if the odds of Sunday mornings were higher I would be more concerned, but an occasional miss isn't too bad for our family. I've been known to skip church for other things too, at least every now and then.

I know that last year a few girls missed a meet (no one missed more than 1) and the coach at least tolerated it. But I think that its important for the team that everyone is there and competes unless unavoidable emergency. And I expect that, even if allowed now, going forward the coach might not be so understanding. So if church really is completely non-negotiable for you, this may not be the right sport.

Are there alternative times for services - maybe an early morning option? Would you be comfortable attending a different church for that one conflicting time -- maybe a neighboring church of the same denomination has a Saturday or Sunday evening service? Those might be some options.

 

[coach.e]

As a gymnast I did not compete on Sundays and my little sister, who is still competing, doesn't either. We told the gym/HC from the beginning and they respected our choice.
When our registrar signed us up for meets, she put a note at the bottom explaining that we would not compete on Sunday and asked if possible our level could be Saturday or if we could compete with another level on Saturday. They either said yes to letting us compete in a Saturday session with another level or it wasn't on Sunday almost every time. When it was and they wouldn't change it, we just didn't compete that meet. A few meet fees wasted but that's how we did it.
Y'all's decision of course but it is definitely workable.

 

[raenndrops]

HOWEVER, personally opinion here - it is unfair to the team to only be a part-time competitor. Particularly at the compulsory level, this IS a team sport.

As long as the team knows going in that the gymnast will not compete on Sundays, then it is not unfair to the team. As long as the gymnast's absence does not cause them to have enough gymnasts to compete as a TEAM, then there isn't a problem.

Since the coach would be made aware in advance, the coach would know whether or not a TEAM would be competing (enough girls to make an official team).

2 seasons ago, we had a family that would not compete at Sunday meets - including Championships. Most of our meets are an hour and a half to 3 hours away and it did not fit into their family schedule.

The team did just fine without them... the other 18 girls had it covered.

 

[twinmomma]

I guess I take a pretty hardlined approach to this. I spent 6 years coaching high school colorguard and all our routines were built around the number of kids on the squad that year. There was an absolute need to have every kid there at every performance. We told the kids when they tried out what the time committment would be and that it often included days that may or may not conflict with religious committments. If they could not agree to be at the required events, it not only affected their grade in the class, but it let down the rest of the team. I fully believe if you sign up for an activity that you cannot fully commit to, then don't sign up. And it would go both ways. I wouldn't sign my gymnast daughter up for confirmation classes at church let's say, if they conflicted with her competition schedule that we had already committed to.

To me, it's about teaching the kids to follow through with their committments, much the same as when my daughter was in soccer and realized it wasn't entirely her thing. We still had her finish out the season, even though from a skills perspective she wasn't necessarily making a huge difference on the field - they could have done without her. She (and we) agreed to the committment and she was going to see it through. I do understand wanting to be flexible, and if avoiding Sundays were important enough to the gym to provide the opportunity for girls who can't compete on Sundays, then I say the gym signs up for meets that will only be on Saturdays. Otherwise, the schedule is what it is, and you either commit or you don't.

 

[billise]

Well, I couldn't disagree more. If Orangesoda is up front with the gym about her priorities and the gym doesn't have a problem with it I don't think there's a problem.

As for the "issue" of commitment, I can only speak to our personal situation. In our family Christ is our #1 commitment. Comes before school, sports, friends and anything else you might think of. Now don't get me wrong, we make sure our kids are at school (all 3 had perfect attendance last school year and were straight "A" students) and we make sure they have time for friends and sports, but the top commitment is their relationship with Christ and the activities that surround that. From the day they were born our dedication to our faith HAS taught them about the importance of honoring commitments, better, I believe, then anything else could have. I fully believe my children's understanding of the importance of honoring commitment is what has endeared them to their coaches. My children don't miss practice to attend a friends birthday party, go on extended vacations or because they are tired. They are ALWAYS at practice, ALWAYS on time and ALWAYS give 100% with no attitude and a "thank you sir or ma'am" at the end of practice or competition. This is not my assessment because I rarely stay at their practices, instead, I hear this over and over again from their coaches. Our coaches know, without a shadow of a doubt that the ONLY time my children aren't there is when it conflicts with church, and thus far, every coach we have ever had has said that having my children as role models and examples on their respective teams is worth the it. All that being said, depending on what Orangesodas priorities are, I don't necessarily think she sending the wrong message to her kids.

 

[billise]

Correction, my older DD (age 11) has missed practice a couple of times over the last few months because she started getting her monthly cycle and was trying to work through how to deal with that, so I cut her some slack. Although, if she hadn't worked it out in the next couple month I was planning on telling her she was going to need to consider changing sports because she CANNOT miss practice ever month because she's got her cycle. Thankful she worked it out

 

[billise]

Older DD is a competitive swimmer.

 

[happychaos]

If a gymnast has stated that they can fully participate in gymnastics, except Sunday meets, then THAT is their commitment. They never committed to Sunday meets, and are not being negligent when they do not attend Sunday meets. Saying you'll be there, and then not showing up......no good. Quitting soccer halfway through the season is NOT the same as having a religious objection to Sunday competition.

It sounds like colorguard in different from gymnastics, in that there is a need for every team member to be there 100% of the time. Gymnastics is not like this. Most of the teams DD's gym competes with have large enough teams that several gymnasts missing is not an issue from a team standpoint. And even if an absence does effect a team score....I think most coaches would rather have the gymnast in the program, contributing when they can, than not have them at all.

It has been said many times on CB that gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint. As such, there is often a need for balance (no pun intended). While teaching children to honor commitments is noble and good, reality is often not so black and white. Gymnasts NEED a little flexibility in order to make it through.

 

[happychaos]

I wouldn't sign my gymnast daughter up for confirmation classes at church let's say, if they conflicted with her competition schedule that we had already committed to.

Well, what if you had to sign up for the confirmation class before you got the meet schedule? Then what? And gymnasts usually don't find out exactly what day/time they will be competing until a week or two ahead anyway. It would be a shame to opt out of confirmation class (or kids book club, clarinet, or whatever) because you might, at some future point have a conflict. IMO, the best thing to do is handle conflicts if/when they arise, and try to help your kids become well-rounded, reasonable people.

Edited- my reply ended up in the quote box :/

 

[twinmomma]

So here's my question. Let's say this was more of a "team" sport like softball, where your kid plays a position, and let's say the team has just enough kids to field a team. You sign up, not knowing *exactly* when all the games will be. Your kid's attendance means the difference between playing in a tournament that has Sunday games or forfeiting (this isn't a hypothetical, it literally is the situation with my son's baseball team this weekend) - what would you do? Force your kid to go to church on Sunday meaning the whole rest of the team forfeits the tournament? I would hope that wouldn't be the case.

I think it's commendable that those who have objections to participating on Sundays have worked this out with their gyms. I respectfully disagree with some of the ways people have handled it but I'm incredibly happy that girls have gotten to compete in spite of these conflicts. I'm not going to get into a huge debate over it, but I will say this - if ever I've seen the hand of God in my child, it's been in the bravery and perseverence and grace and joy I've seen in her competing in the sport she loves. I'd go see that on Sunday morning over sitting in church without question.

Edited to answer the question about what would I do if I didn't know the schedule and had to sign my kid up for confirmation classes - I would probably find an alternative source for classes knowing that meets often end up on Sundays and will very likely conflict.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

All our meets are on Sundays so moot point here

 

[ginnymac]

Some of this has to do with where you live. Where we are, exceptions are made for this all the time.

Another example:
A town near by has a large population of LDS. When my son played against the town in youth football, one of the teams (which had many LDS) members would not play on Sundays. Even playoff games were rescheduled for this.

Other towns, including mine, do not schedule intramural sports before 12pm on Sundays.

It is really no big deal. And I live in the liberal North East--not the"Bible belt".