Advice on Gym club

[twindad76]

Hello, first time poster here. I'm looking for advice from others that might have been in the same situation. My kids (twins) both love gymnastics, however we feel very let down by the club they are in. I'm not sure that the girls necessarily feel the same way but they have started to notice that they are being willfully left out of things (they are 7). I guess they are probably because they're too young too notice. I am probably over sensitive to these things but one of my daughters recently won a club competition - she got a trophy and was so proud of herself. However since then girls who she beat in the competition have been "moved up to the better class", part of some opaque process which the coaches do not explain (they are not very approachable). I'm not sure how she'll react to this or how we'll explain it since the coaches presumably wont. To top it off they were at their class yesterday and out of 35 girls - my two girls were the only ones not to get some specialist training with a new coach who came. They played alone on a trampoline for 1hr while everyone else had this coaching. We didn't know about this and didn't get asked if we wanted to participate. Who in the hell would do this to 2 7 year olds ? It seems cruel - why even invite them along when this was happening and they weren't invited. I could go on but this is like the icing on the cake, of course the girls noticed this and were a little upset (I didn't find out what had happened until i was driving home with them) and I'm now furious about it.

The trouble is - i'm not bothered about them competing etc - i just want them to enjoy it. I feel like i do not want them in the club anymore and would rather they did something else, if I speak to the coaches i will end up losing my temper with them and make things worse etc...in short i want to make things better for the girls but feel they will be the ones to suffer if I try to "fix" the situation.

It all sounds so silly when written down.

It doesn't. I left gymnastics when I was little as they tried to get me to do stuff above my size and capability. I'd either talk to the organisers or at least start looking for a more friendly and fun environment for your girls to enjoy sport. Talk to your girls about how going there makes them feel and involve them in your decision a bit.

I was never really in a fun environment for sport growing up and as a result, as an adult, I don't do much, but what I do Is solo, swimming etc. I've really missed out on that team achieving atmosphere that can bring so much.

Did you watch the session or do just have the childrens report of what happened? If you were watching did your children show interest in the visiting coach and their session , did they wait their turn and get turned away? Did your children chose to play on the trampoline and not chose to engage with what ever the "other" activity was?

If you just want them to enjoy it and not compete think carefully about what you want to ask the coaches. Moving up to a competition focused group may not be a good move.

I coach in a totally different sport , which children can compete in , and we move some children up a "class" young who are very regular attendees and are ready to move onto the different training they will get in the next "class" while a less regular attendee will remain in the age group class class. Even tho both children may be capable of winning a competition . The less regular attendee may not be judged ready for the coaching style in the older group or they may have gaps in their skill base that need filling before they move up.

UniS is totally right about how different coaching sessions are arranged.

But I think it is wrong to have sessions within sessions if only two (of 35) are non-participants in the extra activity. They might need to differentiate, so the different chidren work in to a different ways, but it should never be as blatant an omission as what you have described.

The confounder in this however is that you can hurt yourself (including badly) in gymnastics, and though it can happen by bad luck with almost anything, it is far more likely to happen when children are overfaced. So there will always be things which some children are not ready to attempt. But if this is an introductory level class, I think it is poor planning to bring in activities which you know only 2 should not do, even though it's probably inevitable as training moves to a higher level.