All-Star Closed Practices

[armycheermom]

I understand closed practices, but I don't like them and neither does cp. For us, closed or open practices ,were a deal breaker on the gym. My cp and I are extremely close, ( her dad been deployed since July and she's been sleeping with me since September), she wants me to be there, to see new skills, to take videos for dad, to talk to her about everything in the car ride home and sometimes for a reassuring thumbs-ups. She gets mad when I'm not there and personally, I don't not like being there either. I run errands before, after, or to her practices, I bring my phone, crossword puzzles and costumes to sew/stone, to keep myself busy and NACP. Now, closed practices, 3-4 times a month,are fine, but anymore than that and I would be looking for a new gym. People tend to put down parents, but honestly, without us, there would be no allstar cheerleading. Either you want us there to support (and sometimes control/discipline our kids), you and the team, or ,you want me to be uninvolved, not caring about anything or anyone and just hand over my kid and my money and expect you to do all the fundrasing and discipline, but you can't have it both ways....As a parent, if I am involved and know what my cp is doing, I am more likely to keep her there and recruit others to the sport, but if I have no idea why I'm spending thousands of dollars a year, I am going to pull my kid and encourage others not to join this sport...JMO

 

[CoachKelly]

We practice in our school's wrestling room so there is not alot of space so we close practice till the last 10 minutes. Then if parents are outside in the hallway they are invited in to watch whatever we were working on that night. We have too many parents that try to be Coaches and a Mom that is way to hard on her child, so we use the excuse there's not enough room, which is true, to close off practice. Have we run into the occasional girl that went home and said we were being mean, yep you betcha. We just tell the parent if they want to watch practice to let us know in advance and we will accomodate it. They never seem to pursue the matter though.

 

[AllstarObsession]

Our previous gym had closed practices, but there really was no place the parents could observe from anyway. Our current gym has open practices, and I do like that I can watch if I choose to. However, my daughter has told me a few times that she doesn't really like it when I'm there because I make her nervous. I have to admit that I recognized myself in the above posts about the well-meaning moms who try to offer tips. I am guilty of that. I only go into watch now if she speficically asks me to. But I do like that I am allowed to if I want.

awh ): dont be sad! im sure your cp absolutely knows that you're trying to help and want her to succeed.
I would rather have my mom do this than what she does now.


My mom has set foot in the gym exactly once. and my jaw was on the floor like, you know where the gym is???

 

[FamUsM0m]

Choreography is closed with exception of the team mom for planning and emergency purposes. 1 practice a week (usually Sunday) is closed to parents after choreography (again with exception of team mom)

 

[Flipflopper123]

Our gym closes practices when the parents misbehave (too loud, too distracting, etc in the parent room).

 

[12stepCheermom]

I understand closed practices, but I don't like them and neither does cp. For us, closed or open practices ,were a deal breaker on the gym. My cp and I are extremely close, ( her dad been deployed since July and she's been sleeping with me since September), she wants me to be there, to see new skills, to take videos for dad, to talk to her about everything in the car ride home and sometimes for a reassuring thumbs-ups. She gets mad when I'm not there and personally, I don't not like being there either. I run errands before, after, or to her practices, I bring my phone, crossword puzzles and costumes to sew/stone, to keep myself busy and NACP. Now, closed practices, 3-4 times a month,are fine, but anymore than that and I would be looking for a new gym. People tend to put down parents, but honestly, without us, there would be no allstar cheerleading. Either you want us there to support (and sometimes control/discipline our kids), you and the team, or ,you want me to be uninvolved, not caring about anything or anyone and just hand over my kid and my money and expect you to do all the fundrasing and discipline, but you can't have it both ways....As a parent, if I am involved and know what my cp is doing, I am more likely to keep her there and recruit others to the sport, but if I have no idea why I'm spending thousands of dollars a year, I am going to pull my kid and encourage others not to join this sport...JMO

My kids like me being there too which is odd because open practice for me gets me to hear what direction they're getting and reinforce it with them later so it's definitely not mom v coach...it's mom AND sthe coach. I'm the first one to tell her to suck it up, lose the drama and get back on the mat. I'm also the one at water break to tell her that she's not working hard enough and she needs to get back out there with the right attitude. I'm also the one at water break that will encourage her, calm her down if she s getting down on herself and pump her back up.

I have about 12 personalities with my daughter and only I know exactly which one she needs and when to pull it out. Sometimes I just have to cuddle and encourage, sometimes I rip her a new --- right at water break. But I know what she needs and when she needs it. And so far, it's been pretty successful. They awarded her the aviator program athlete of the year for 2011-2012 so she must be doing something right and everything I say to her (which outside of a random cheer or you go girl!) doesn't get said when she's on mat, I don't shout anything to her over the wall and what she hears for me later is exactly the same things her coaches have been telling her.

But I also understand I'm not the typical parent. I love my son...he BELONGS in the back for dance. If their jumps aren't high enough, send them back and replace them with someone that's going to score, if they're not hitting tumbling, take them out. This is a team sport and when my kid is out there they are nothing more than a part of the entire team and what's best for the team comes first. Period. Neither the coaches or my kids will ever hear me complain if they got moved out because they weren't producing. You want to be up front....werk!

And for the record...thank you to your family for their sacrifice to our nation. I send care packages once a month to deployed soldiers....pm me his address and the next one can go to him!

 

[Trolldance]

Our previous gym had open practices. I was a parent for 2 seasons and a coach for 2 so I can see it from both sides. When I was just a parent I was always a very positive parent and keeping the environment in that viewing area sane was important to me. I loved watching my girls, but often would go watch from a corner where they couldn't see me since they were very young and I did not want to be a distraction. I just loved seeing the progress.

When I began coaching I realized just how distracting it was for those kids to have their parents out there. I had a Tiny who could not pull herself away from the viewing window and would keep calling for Mommy...you'd think Mommy would take the cue and clear out so her kid could focus, but no such luck. I also realized things I had been blind to before like parents picking apart every detail of the routine and talking badly about kids on the team. I can't tolerate parents talking badly about 3-9 yr old little kids! It got ugly and I asked our owner to please close practices to shut it all down. Unfortunately, I realized just how nuts cheer parents can be and almost considered leaving the sport entirely because of all the negativity. I don't want that happening to other parents! Cheer is an amazing sport and if closed practices help control one of its negative aspects (crazy parents) then I have to say I'm all for it...despite the fact that now that we've switched gyms I would love to see this gyms practice dynamic, sane environment is what it needs to be about.

 

[TheRealAlishaD]

I never have a problem with any parent watching practices....IF WATCHING is all they are doing. Things tend to get a little "messy" in the Fish Bowl sometimes. Parents get to talking and like previous posters have said, basically trying to coach their child through the glass. As a coach that is very frustrating to have a distracted athlete on the mat but the frustration grows when a parent is the blame. I consider myself to be a fairly open coach, so if I think there's a problem or I feel the child will benefit from some "parental guidance" on the practice floor, I won't hesitate to bring that particular parent out. Sometimes, the kids (especially the Tiny kids) need a little parental motivation.

I feel that closing practices is a quick and simple approach to control what could become an outrageous problem. It's not that we want secretive practices, or trying to isolate you from your child, but as coaches, we want PRODUCTIVE practices in the small amount of time we are given. And in order to have productive practices, you have to minimize distractions.........and SOME parents are nothing but distractions.

 

[dawgshow]

Forgive me for sounding dumb, but are some of you saying that your "open" practices allow parents to actually be right next to the floor? With nothing separating you physically from the teams? How would that work?

 

[AllstarObsession]

Forgive me for sounding dumb, but are some of you saying that your "open" practices allow parents to actually be right next to the floor? With nothing separating you physically from the teams? How would that work?

usually its with smaller gyms that are one small room. in my old gym, there was a little bit of room between the floor and the wall, and there were chairs set up for parents.

 

[Trolldance]

Our "open" practices just meant that parents were present and watching from 2 viewing areas that were behind glass and a loft that
looked down on the floors (and that we could somehow hear every word that was being said up there). Parents were not allowed in the gym.

There was a gym up the street from us that was one big open space and parents did sit right next to the floor. I never understood how that could work out well for anyone.

 

[TheVipersMom]

Forgive me for sounding dumb, but are some of you saying that your "open" practices allow parents to actually be right next to the floor? With nothing separating you physically from the teams? How would that work?

Yes it's on the floor I will try to post pics

Idk If u can see to the left of the kids there is a woman leaning on a short wall with lockers behind it. Thats where most people sit on the edge of the floor with a short wall in the way.

You can also sit up front on the couch but i don't have a pic of the couch but here is how close you are

This pic was taken from the couch you are generally sitting right behind the coaches.

We have a second gym you can walk to In the back and there is chairs sitting right in front of the floor. Like you could stick your feet out and they could be on the floor. I don't know if anyone seen my infamous punch front video but that video was taken in the back gym from the chairs.

So yes all 3 options to sit were at the floor!

Sorry my pics suck

 

[Born2Tumble]

Our gym is enclosed by glass, there is a waiting room that parents sit in. Parents arent allowed in the gym except to use the restroom. The only area of our gym you cannot see is our recent addition which is a foam pit area accompanied by a rod floor, tumble track, vault, balance beam, and high bars all going into a giant pit. Many times gymnast and tumble practices are held back there.

 

[armycheermom]

My kids like me being there too which is odd because open practice for me gets me to hear what direction they're getting and reinforce it with them later so it's definitely not mom v coach...it's mom AND sthe coach. I'm the first one to tell her to suck it up, lose the drama and get back on the mat. I'm also the one at water break to tell her that she's not working hard enough and she needs to get back out there with the right attitude. I'm also the one at water break that will encourage her, calm her down if she s getting down on herself and pump her back up.

I have about 12 personalities with my daughter and only I know exactly which one she needs and when to pull it out. Sometimes I just have to cuddle and encourage, sometimes I rip her a new --- right at water break. But I know what she needs and when she needs it. And so far, it's been pretty successful. They awarded her the aviator program athlete of the year for 2011-2012 so she must be doing something right and everything I say to her (which outside of a random cheer or you go girl!) doesn't get said when she's on mat, I don't shout anything to her over the wall and what she hears for me later is exactly the same things her coaches have been telling her.

But I also understand I'm not the typical parent. I love my son...he BELONGS in the back for dance. If their jumps aren't high enough, send them back and replace them with someone that's going to score, if they're not hitting tumbling, take them out. This is a team sport and when my kid is out there they are nothing more than a part of the entire team and what's best for the team comes first. Period. Neither the coaches or my kids will ever hear me complain if they got moved out because they weren't producing. You want to be up front....werk!

And for the record...thank you to your family for their sacrifice to our nation. I send care packages once a month to deployed soldiers....pm me his address and the next one can go to him!

I am the same with my daughter. It has never been mom vs. coach/teacher it has always been, mom & coach/teacher.I love my daughter to death,I would lay down my life for that little girl, but she knows I stay involve and mom/coach/teacher are ALWAYS going to be on the same page! I would never let her be walked over or taken advantaged of, but I'm not going to let her to it to anyone else.
Thank you so much for your kind words, we aren't home now right now, but I'll make sure I send it before the week is up!

 

[dawgshow]

Yes it's on the floor I will try to post pics

Idk If u can see to the left of the kids there is a woman leaning on a short wall with lockers behind it. Thats where most people sit on the edge of the floor with a short wall in the way.

You can also sit up front on the couch but i don't have a pic of the couch but here is how close you are

This pic was taken from the couch you are generally sitting right behind the coaches.

We have a second gym you can walk to In the back and there is chairs sitting right in front of the floor. Like you could stick your feet out and they could be on the floor. I don't know if anyone seen my infamous punch front video but that video was taken in the back gym from the chairs.

So yes all 3 options to sit were at the floor!

Sorry my pics suck

Wow! That would be very distracting.