All-Star Drama And Unorganization

[Zinger_bebe]

I'm a little OCD so disorganization drives me insane. The drama is off the charts and on a whole new level. Unfortunately the owner/coach thrives on it.

Some of the disorganization:
1. $350 uniforms ordered last season. Never received uniforms until Mid-Jan and no shorts. (just tops) it is now almost the end of summer..still no shorts. We may not get them and they want to refund us $60. Lol we only wore the tops for 4 or 5 comps I believe. Just had the girls wear purple spankies for bottoms.

2. 2 of our teams had full paid US finals bids and another had a partial. Parents reserved rooms, took vacations etc because they said we we're going no matter what. The other 2 coaches would stay behind for the worlds team. Cancelled us going the week before due to the owner not feeling like going to both VA and FL. Screwed a ton of parents

3. 3 diff comps in the past 2 seasons my daughters team had no coach. Performed and did warm ups on their own and with the help of older teams

...the list goes on....

Hmmm...no question about it. I would be moving on...you have too much skin in the game to put up with all this.

 

[xomckenzieee]

Considering gyms are primarily teenage girls... avoiding drama is hard to do. My old gym wasn't too bad on drama, it more centered around certain individuals who decided to bring drama upon themselves. People have too much time on their hands if all they want to do is sit around and start stupid stuff with other people.

 

[Babs]

Considering gyms are primarily teenage girls... avoiding drama is hard to do. My old gym wasn't too bad on drama, it more centered around certain individuals who decided to bring drama upon themselves. People have too much time on their hands if all they want to do is sit around and start stupid stuff with other people.

Ha! I didn't even think about the teen girls ... I was thinking all the drama was with the moms!

 

[Deleted member 15407]

My gym is just a mess to me because they don't tell anyone whats going on. They don't tell you what team your on. Come to find out i'm on a Junior team? But we still aren't sure? So thats probably the biggest problem with our gym.

 

[CheerBank]

Ha! I didn't even think about the teen girls ... I was thinking all the drama was with the moms!

I assumed that as well...as well as with the coaches! But then again, when there is unchecked drama amongst the athletes I always first blame the coaches and then the parents. It's their responsibility to squash it immediately.

 

[mdmetromom]

It's definitely hard to avoid drama with so many tween and teen girls in one place, plus moms. I have learned to accept and try to avoid as much as possible.
But disorganization or lack of communication I cannot tolerate. This isn't an inexpensive or casual sport, and with all the time, energy, committment, money we put in, I personally need to feel like things like practice schedules, uniform orders, etc. are properly communicated and adhered to. There will of course be exceptions, but those should remain exceptions. The first gym my CP tried out seemed great from the outside. She had a great tryout and we really liked the coaches. But within 2 weeks, I knew it wouldn't work for us. They couldn't tell us what team my CP would make, didn't return my calls about tuition information, the list goes on and on. Luckily we live in an area with many options, so we were able to move on successfully.

 

[XtremeWpg]

It shocks me the troubles you guys have had. We're a teeny tiny program (a massive 2 teams). I understand that the bigger a program them ore there is to keep track of, but we pride ourselves on being organized. We work very hard to have all the information available on our website/facebook as soon as we have it. Including cost, events, practices. I'm insane for sending out as many facebook messages (to the kids) and emails (to the parents). And I work full time too at my 'pay the bills job'.

My heart goes out to you guys dealing with the disorganization.

 

[CheerBank]

It shocks me the troubles you guys have had. We're a teeny tiny program (a massive 2 teams). I understand that the bigger a program them ore there is to keep track of, but we pride ourselves on being organized. We work very hard to have all the information available on our website/facebook as soon as we have it. Including cost, events, practices. I'm insane for sending out as many facebook messages (to the kids) and emails (to the parents). And I work full time too at my 'pay the bills job'.

My heart goes out to you guys dealing with the disorganization.

Can we come to your gym? You are never too insane for sending out "too many" Facebook messages and emails to parents - as a parent, I say the more you send, the better, especially with regards to upcoming competitions and schedules. I've always said, tell me where my cp needs to be and when, tell me how much I owe for what and when is it due by, and I am a very happy cheer mom. I'd much rather have 20 mass emails from a coach than to overhear something in the parent room about where we need to be and when, because I firmly believe all parents should be getting the same information at the same time, not those in the "inner circle" before everyone else.
As for Perkyninjamomma, it really comes down to how much you love your cp's gym and if everything that you love about it outweighs all the issues you're having with the drama and disorganization. If not, as I mentioned earlier, then it's time to look around and possibly move on. Change is always scary but it might be worth it in the long run.

 

[King]

I judge pretty much any new venture I walk into by how organized they are. If something is organized it is more likely to be safe and successful. If something is flying by the seat of their pants it is rare it will be successful and safe. And the less organized the MORE drama that tends to occur.

 

[XtremeWpg]

Can we come to your gym? You are never too insane for sending out "too many" Facebook messages and emails to parents - as a parent, I say the more you send, the better, especially with regards to upcoming competitions and schedules. I've always said, tell me where my cp needs to be and when, tell me how much I owe for what and when is it due by, and I am a very happy cheer mom. I'd much rather have 20 mass emails from a coach than to overhear something in the parent room about where we need to be and when, because I firmly believe all parents should be getting the same information at the same time, not those in the "inner circle" before everyone else.
As for Perkyninjamomma, it really comes down to how much you love your cp's gym and if everything that you love about it outweighs all the issues you're having with the drama and disorganization. If not, as I mentioned earlier, then it's time to look around and possibly move on. Change is always scary but it might be worth it in the long run.

Sure if you want to make the move up to Winnipeg. We have lovely winters...

 

[mommadonna]

Reading through this thread made me realize how truly blessed I am to have my cp in such an awesome program. I'm so sorry to hear the stories here...I hope y'all can come to a place where everyone is happy and growing.

 

[SuzyB]

Our biggest problem is that some of the coaches have favorites. Now with facebook some of the girls can see that the coaches are buying certain girls gifts and going out with them. And I'm not talking about a senior or international team, I talking about a junior team. I've never seen this before, and not only isn't it fair, but it's hurtful to my cp.

 

[Onfire381]

I'm a little OCD so disorganization drives me insane. The drama is off the charts and on a whole new level. Unfortunately the owner/coach thrives on it.

Some of the disorganization:
1. $350 uniforms ordered last season. Never received uniforms until Mid-Jan and no shorts. (just tops) it is now almost the end of summer..still no shorts. We may not get them and they want to refund us $60. Lol we only wore the tops for 4 or 5 comps I believe. Just had the girls wear purple spankies for bottoms.

2. 2 of our teams had full paid US finals bids and another had a partial. Parents reserved rooms, took vacations etc because they said we we're going no matter what. The other 2 coaches would stay behind for the worlds team. Cancelled us going the week before due to the owner not feeling like going to both VA and FL. Screwed a ton of parents

3. 3 diff comps in the past 2 seasons my daughters team had no coach. Performed and did warm ups on their own and with the help of older teams

...the list goes on....

Wow! We left our gym due to drama, disorganization, and lack of morals to say the least. Competitions being changed days before, flat out canceling competitions for no real reason. I made almost all of the travel arrangements for away competitions and let's just say, with competitions being canceled days before and having a contract, caused real problems..........when we first started there it was different it was a true family, but this year at competitions you saw the kids separated into their little clicks, kids flat out hating each other and a coach who didn't even say a word to parents or the kids after a 2 day competition, no good job, etc....nothing!!! We had travelled and spent a ton of money for this competition and we weren't even acknowledged! We had made the decision to leave about middle year, but things that went one during comp. season cemented our choice. We are happy with our move and I know there must be some drama, but I haven't seen it yet. But this gym is organized, the owner/coach has strict policies and they are adhered to and we actually got our practice clothes and camp wear on time. I feel that the best decision was made for my daughter and what matters is her being happy!

 

[cheerforeverever]

I'm a little OCD so disorganization drives me insane. The drama is off the charts and on a whole new level. Unfortunately the owner/coach thrives on it.

Some of the disorganization:
1. $350 uniforms ordered last season. Never received uniforms until Mid-Jan and no shorts. (just tops) it is now almost the end of summer..still no shorts. We may not get them and they want to refund us $60. Lol we only wore the tops for 4 or 5 comps I believe. Just had the girls wear purple spankies for bottoms.

2. 2 of our teams had full paid US finals bids and another had a partial. Parents reserved rooms, took vacations etc because they said we we're going no matter what. The other 2 coaches would stay behind for the worlds team. Cancelled us going the week before due to the owner not feeling like going to both VA and FL. Screwed a ton of parents

3. 3 diff comps in the past 2 seasons my daughters team had no coach. Performed and did warm ups on their own and with the help of older teams

...the list goes on....

It's one thing to have a few drama mammas in the gym, but an entirely different thing when it's the owner/coaches directly causing the issues because of their disorganization. All 3 of those issues listed are concerning, especially the third, as it deals with your child's safety (were those older team members that ran warm-ups safety certified?....probably not). The other two issues are essentially the owner making promises and not fulfilling them, which isn't a good sign either (plus it's not a one time occurrence, so it isn't likely to just miraculously stop happening for upcoming seasons). I can guarantee you that the majority of the well-known successful gyms do not run that way (because if they did, they wouldn't be successful for long). In my opinion, I would seriously consider looking into other gyms. If these business practices are continued, this gym will be on a downward spiral to "out of business".

 

[xomckenzieee]

Ha! I didn't even think about the teen girls ... I was thinking all the drama was with the moms!

Yeah we never really had cheer mom craziness it was always girls. Someone dated someone's brother or ex or someone called someone ugly or someone was better than someone. It was nuts.