Parents Parents at the meet

[amiandjim]

I went to a meet for the first time and there were some teams cheering loudly for their teammates. Maybe because I didn't know anyone competing at the meet it didn't bother me at all, I actually thought it was kind of nice. Is that what you were referring to? There were some other teams that didn't even watch their teammates and didn't seem to care. That actually bothered me more.

No, I think they were referring to the parents in the stands screaming like it's the Olympics! Teammates cheering for one another is great, and what they should do. Most parents are fine and just cheer in a normal way but there is often one team of parents that just goes over the top.

Funny sort-of related story: DD had a meet a couple weeks ago and it was the first real competition for most of the team. At awards, they were so excited for one another they were screaming so loudly some of the girls from the other teams were covering their ears!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

The parents were so loud at this last meet! They were screaming right in my ear! They were acting like they were in a huge stadium, but it was a small venue..I can understand being enthusiastic for your gymmie, but have some consideration. We were on bleachers and this woman had her knee in my back and her foot where I was sitting, instead of placing it directly below her! I could not believe how rude they were to their own children! When their dd got an award, the parent screamed "watch your round off next time"...she kept saying to her friend "a four year old can do a better round off"...ugh...that's my vent...

pretty common in youth sports.... Boy the stories I could tell here.... The reality is people are not required to take a class on how to raise children, so the cycle goes on...

 

[Deleted member 18037]

My daughter tells us we can yell at awards, not events

 

[LindyHopper]

Off topic, but related (poor behavior at a youth-participant event):

A friend of ours complained last week because of the lack of proper concert etiquette during his daughter's 5th grade orchestra concert. (Kids running around, talking during performance, looking at phones, wandering in and out during performance).

I told him that everyone was behaving as if they were at a rock/pop/country/hip hop concert at an amphitheater or stadium. They don't necessarily know that different concerts require different behavior.

Similarly, the parents who are loud and crazy at meets are probably the same people who are drunk off their butts at the Home Opener for their local MLB team, screaming at the umpires, calling the other teams names, and cussing out their own team for any/all mistakes.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Spectator "rules" should be

1- part of the meet program

2- part of the gym rules

 

[Moxiegrl83]

My daughter would kill me. She's been known to "shush" her dad for anything resembling a cheer. [emoji23]

 

[skschlag]

Boys' meets are so different...rock music, everyone cheering....constantly. I mean, not at the top of their lungs, but definitely loud.

 

[profmom]

By the end of our meets, everyone within about 40 feet of me knows the name of every child on my child's team. I won't apologize for that, though I will apologize for the occasional polluting of other parents' videos with profanities when their children fall.

 

[gymmomx2]

My daughter tells us we can yell at awards, not events

Is this her rule for you or what she/you think every parent should do?

My child only competes a few times a year, this means I only get to see her "do her thing" a few times a year. You bet I'm going to yell "go Susie" and "you got this".....for her and all her teammates. Sorry, not sorry

 

[Sasha]

Boys' meets are so different...rock music, everyone cheering....constantly. I mean, not at the top of their lungs, but definitely loud.

I'm completely fine with cheering, such as clapping, "Woo!" "Go Susie!" and the like... I'm complaining about the literal SCREAMING - like 13 year old girls at a boy band concert - and not just after each girls' performance, but during each WARMUP, each PASS, EVERYTHING. Piercing, erupting, drowning out the floor music for other competitors, jumping up and down out of their seats, blocking other parents... and completely inappropriate for the small venue.

You know who you are (!!!)

 

[Sasha]

By the end of our meets, everyone within about 40 feet of me knows the name of every child on my child's team. I won't apologize for that, though I will apologize for the occasional polluting of other parents' videos with profanities when their children fall.

I have heard you cheering on your son's videos, and that is NOTHING compared to the piercing continual loudness from certain teams that I am complaining about.

I love your cheering!

 

[Gymmommy71]

I am not a fan of gymnasts and parents screaming like it's a college meet at JO meets. I've noticed it starting to become more popular this season and I find it very distracting. I couldn't even hear my daughters floor music at a recent meet cause this gym w/ parents near us in the stands were screaming wildly over every single girl from their team going on bars in front of us - I don't mean cheering at the end of an amazing routine, I mean yelling and cheering "go Susie, you got this, etc." for every single skill like you see in a college meet - regardless of if it's an outstanding performance or not.

Please don't let this become "a thing". There were probably about 3 out of the 10 gyms in the session behaving this way.

 

[gymnastmom05]

I am not a screaming/cheerleader/anything like that! I sit there and hold my breathe until my DD is done with her event. Then I blow a sigh of relief and relax until the next rotation. I clap for her teammates when they finish their routines. The only time I remotely get excited is when a teammate has been struggling with a certain skill and they nail it during the competition. We're close enough as a team that I know each season the few that are struggling on an event. Or what they normally score and every now and then someone will just hit it out of the ballpark. Those things I get excited about, everything else just seems excessive to me. I will admit some people are entertaining though after 4 hours the entertaining part turns annoying. I guess I just think if you've been doing back handsprings since level 3 and you're now an optional, is that really something to cheer about (unless there are different circumstances like coming back from an injury), and the entire team each time? I'm just pretty low key.

 

[Flyaway]

Per dd, we are not "allowed" to cheer loudly for her as she's waiting to go on an event. Not a "Go girl!", "You got this" or anything. She doesn't like to be reminded we're in the room when she goes. After the dismount, we clap and cheer, but not to an extreme. We do this for every girl on the team and most of our gym parents do too. Overall, we're all pretty low key.

I watch my friends' videos of their kids' cheer and dance competitions and I am NOT a fan of the crowd screaming during routines. I hope that doesn't become a thing in gymnastics.

 

[duyetanh]

There can be some real winners. At the last meet we were at, the parents were so obnoxious and loud when their kids were on beam that the poor girl on floor didn't hear her music....so she didn't start. Her coach literally walked across the floor and placed a complaint. And the floor judges walked over to the coach where the beam kids were competing for the Olympics, and told him he needed to get his parents to can it. The parents were so irritated, but they did quiet down enough for the poor girls on floor to actually hear theit music.
Those are the kind of parents that suck.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I kind of wish we had this cheering culture here! Gymnastics meets around here tend to be like funeral - silent, respectful, decorum. Especially in the lower levels where even floor music doesn't exist. I remember attending to several meets where everyone was WHISPERING because if you talked out loud everyone in the competition area could hear it! Parents politely applaud when their kids finish and the competing teams give each other high fives or join the applause but that's it Sometimes the most courage parents may yell "nice, Suzie!" after the performance but definitely not even half of them.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Is this her rule for you or what she/you think every parent should do?

My child only competes a few times a year, this means I only get to see her "do her thing" a few times a year. You bet I'm going to yell "go Susie" and "you got this".....for her and all her teammates. Sorry, not sorry

Her rule. She finds it distracting. She knows we are rooting for her. A clap before or after but no big productions for her.
Overall though our gym are not big yellers.

 

[skschlag]

hee hee. At the big national boys' meet this weekend, they kept coming over the intercom telling us to cheer for our favorite gymnast, get loud, encourage them.. If we were too quiet...they told us to get loud.

 

[profmom]

My daughter's comment upon attending one of her brother's meets earlier this season was "Why can't they play AC/DC at girls' meets?"

 

[mommyof1]

By the end of our meets, everyone within about 40 feet of me knows the name of every child on my child's team. I won't apologize for that, though I will apologize for the occasional polluting of other parents' videos with profanities when their children fall.

Ha ha--this is me too. All of our team parents cheer enthusiastically for all of our girls by name. And I think I accidentally ruined one of Tinker Bell's teammates' beam videos last year when she fell. Not with profanities, but "Oh, no! Get back up!"