Parents Question about turnover

[MILgymFAM]

I was just wondering if a lot of coach turnover is common in this sport? How long have you been at your gym, and how many coaches have quit? We have only been at this gym about eighteen months, the first year rec only, and have seen five coaches leave. This is in a tiny gym. There are now four coaches for all the team and rec girls combined- I can't even imagine at this point how they will make it work. The newest coach to leave was DDs xcel coach, and it's a week before regionals. I am just wondering if this much turnover is the norm.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Was at our gym for 17 yrs (my 20 yr old DD starts there at 3 yrs old) and while rec coach turnover is high (lots of parents coach to help pay gym bill), team coach turnover is no where near that high. If you have that many team coaches leaving, I'd wonder what was going on.

 

[MILgymFAM]

There are no parents or teens coaching at our gym, and all the coaches, save one, teach both rec and team. The only that doesn't cross over only teaches team, and only specific levels.

 

[profmom]

Agreed. Our choreographer/floor coach got picked off by another (and high powered!) gym, but that's it in the last seven years if I am remembering right.

 

[MaryA]

In the 3 years we've been at our current gym, we've added coaches but have never lost any (possibly rec coaches that I didn't know, but no team coaches, at least). We are going to be losing one this year, but that is due to a family move. I would also be wondering about what is going on if turnover is as high as you say.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It seems the norm is for rec and team coaches not to overlap. That is something new to me also. Since this is the only place my kids have ever done gym, I just thought it was normal for the same people to teach everyone. Interesting!

 

[Clover]

Yep. We are like the others. We definitely experience turn-over on our Rec side, but it is pretty rare for us to lose Team Coaches.

 

[raenndrops]

Not counting the teenagers, we don't have a LOT of coach turnover. Our HC has been at the gym since before we started at the gym (8 years ago this month). OG's first rec coach was a teenager, but she still comes in occasionally, if needed to help out. Her 2nd rec coach was also a team coach and she is still there. We have only had 2 team coaches leave since we started (and both devastated OG)... One left to move across the country because her husband got a promotion and the other one moved 6 hours away (to another state) because her husband got a better job.

Even our teenagers are pretty consistent until they go away for college (and they come back on breaks). We do have overlap between rec and team coaches, but only with the highest rec level (unless there is a day with a lot of coaches out for one reason or another).

 

[juststartingout]

We lose assistant coaches all the time when they go off to college but as far as team coaches we have not lost any since I've been here. I have only been at this gym for 1 1/2 years but my older daughter used to cheer at this gym and the coaches were the same back then which was at least 5 years ago.

 

[OHGymMom]

At dd's old gym, which she left about a year ago, the HC and most assistant coaches had been there for quite a few years. Then one day my phone started going crazy with text messages from the HC and team parents with the message that HC and all but one assistant coach had walked out the door after practice the night before. It was quite the mess. Within a week 3/4 of team girls had switched gyms including dd. At the new gym, HC and assistant HC plus a couple other coaches have been there for at least 10 years. At both gyms, HS rec coaches tend to come and go regularly.

 

[IreneKa]

We've been at our gym for almost a year now, and only lost one coach. She's been with the club for a while, and then left about a month after DD started. I didn't know the reason at that time, but now that I'm getting closer to the parents who've been here longer, it appears that that coach and the owner didn't get along very well. We have 6 team coaches now (plus a few who only teach rec), and always looking for more.

 

[Aussie_coach]

It is reflectively common in the gymnastics world just due to the nature of the sport.

There are not a great deal of full time coaches out there, you need to have quite diverse coaching ability to make it as a full time coach. The vast majority of coaching work happens between 3:30PM and 8:00PM, which makes it a perfect job for young people while they are studying. But once they go into full time work it becomes very difficult to make those hours.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It is reflectively common in the gymnastics world just due to the nature of the sport.

There are not a great deal of full time coaches out there, you need to have quite diverse coaching ability to make it as a full time coach. The vast majority of coaching work happens between 3:30PM and 8:00PM, which makes it a perfect job for young people while they are studying. But once they go into full time work it becomes very difficult to make those hours.

I agree- that type of turnover would make sense, and it makes sense that many clubs do have high school and college aged coaches. Our gym has no coaches either high school or traditional college aged. The coaches who left were all older than I am (34), and the only two younger than early thirties are in their late twenties. I am starting to wonder if it is just a pay issue. Maybe our small, non-profit, gym simply doesn't pay well enough.