well that was pretty much uneventful!

Well my visit with the gym was mostly uneventful. They apologized that I was made to feel that I couldn’t just talk to them and said if I have any other questions to feel free to ask…so that’s good.
Here is a copy of the email that I sent to the gymnastics gym and then in italics will be their answer.


I would really like this email to go to the gym’s owner too, but seeing as that info is “hush-hush” I guess this will have to do.
It turns out that the new owners are really hands off (except for the hiring of Mr Coach as manager when we liked the former manager!) and they own multiple gyms. Its 3 guys who own gyms all over the area. side note: I believe that the reason for hiring Mr Coach as the manager instead of keeping the other guy(OG) on as manager is that OG was interested in buying the gym.

That’s the first issue I would like to address. Why is everything so hush-hush with the gym? Why is it that we do not know who the current owner is officially? Shouldn’t this info be published in the newsletter? I know that I am not the only parent who wants to know who we are dealing with. All we have heard is rumors. The real newsletter in your gym is the rumor mill.
well I was told that they would be happy to tell me anything I want to know, I just have to ask…the same for the other parents. I guess then that no one feels comfortable enough to talk to them. I was also told that there was a small blurb about the new owner in the April 08 newsletter. (it didn’t mention who the owner was though) And that they don’t put the owner’s name in the newsletter because they’re hands off. Really anything we need to deal with should go through Mr Coach & the office manager.

I would like to learn what my daughter’s current level means. I’ve been told that she is in the Pre-Team 1 class. But I have heard from others that this level class will never move up to compete...if this is true, then why is the class called “team?” And if it isn’t true you should really make this clear. See it’s more of this rumor business. We are paying for you to teach our children, I feel that we are entitled to know what each level means. There were mixed messages here. Some of the girls in the Pre-Team 1 class were moved up due to enrollment issues (not enough girls for either class so they were combined) and the majority of those girls do not have what it takes to be on the team. However the rest of the girls that were moved into the Pre-Team 1 class (Darly included) will have the opportunity to move up to the next levels and compete if they wish.

And speaking of teaching. I know that finding a good coach is difficult but why have you been hanging onto Darly’s current coach when she is working so many other jobs that she cannot fulfill her position at the gym? I am getting really sick of my daughter’s class being substituted by lower level coaches. To me having a lower level coach sub this class is a HUGE waste of my money...she can practice the stuff she already knows at home. We should not have to pay for private lessons for our kids to learn what we are already paying you to teach them in the regular classes. They are very frustrated with this situation as well and have been trying very hard to find another coach to fill this spot. Unfortunately they haven’t had much luck. They have been running an ad for a new coach since December (note: this coach has had the job that keeps her away since October!) but have had very few folks answer the ad and then to be even more frustrating they’ve had 3 people set up interviews and then just NOT show up! One of the main issues is trying to find someone who can teach the skills who actually LIKES kids. And I totally understand this.

Why was the Pre-Team 1 class subbed by Mr Coach on the 19th making the class go over ratio and the girls stand around waiting instead of by Darly’s former coach who only had two students in his class that night? Mr Coach felt that it would be in the girls’ best interest for him to sub so they could try some new skills. (former coach knows these skills too) the other coach however, is a recreational coach and not a competition coach.

Speaking of a huge waste of money...why was a TV set installed in the lobby? No one is watching the set and the only thing having it in there does is create more noise in an already noisy space. The continual loop of the US Women’s Gymnastics team getting ROBBED of their medals is not inspiring to anyone. Seeing as you have already wasted the money on this thing could you at least turn the volume down on it so that our eardrums are not bombarded with sound decibels over 85 (If a sound reaches 85 dB or stronger, it can cause permanent damage to your hearing.) others who are in the gym at earlier times often have the younger siblings in with them and the TV is a “good” distraction for the younger kids. They have received feedback from many who are happy with the new TV. However they do realize that by the time I get there it is BLASTING and will try to turn it down at that hour…but I can remind them too.



All in all I think it went pretty well. I’m glad to have the pre-team class thing straightened out. This week there are a lot of kids who won’t be in the gym for Spring Break (even though the gym is breaking next week!) so Darly will have a really small class. I hope she gets lots of time to work on her skills. And I will be telling the other parents about everything that happened.