I have a child who has recently started cheer, who was recently hurt at practice and I was never made aware of this by the staff. My child was injured doing something she has never done before and told the instructor she was unfimilar with the move being attemptedand the child was told to do it anyway because the have to learn it and just to shake it off and be tough about it. Now my child does not want to do cheer any longer and crys when going to practice is mentioned because of the fear and the attitude of the staff. New students should not be expected to to things the kids that have already been cheering for several years are doing. My concerns are 1. should I force my child to continue? 2. How do I know my child is being properly supervised by a sufficiantly trained instructor? 3. Should I have a talk to the coaches and staaff who were present and didnt bother to tell me my child was injured enough so the cried and needed ice? I almost feel like Im being given the run around about my childs injury because they were not supervised properly during training and do not want to own up to there mistake. Im starting to take this whole event very personal. I pay these people good my to work with my most valued possesion (my child). when something happens I should be told up front with honesty, that there was an accident. I due not feel this is very professional. I have owned and managed busineses for years and just am in shock by this whole event I feel like its being blown off as no big deal. Basically I just need some advice on how to approach my issues and concerns without causing future problems between my child and the staff in the future.
If you feel that strongly about the situation than you should talk to the program director of the gym it happened at. It is hard to give advice not knowing the injury, situation or age of child. Kids get hurt doing skills at all levels in cheer and any sport. Most kids bounce back. Talk to some one at the Gym.
The best advice I got recently is when we are frustrated, it is usually because we are not communicating to someone. Talk to the program director and open that line of communication. You will either have a great conversation and feel good that your child is in a safe atmosphere, or you will know you need to part ways. Next step is to have the conversation and than trust your gut!
Well i know at most gyms their are requirements to be on a certain team. SO what happens is the coaches push their kids to get this skill. A child is always going to have to try somehtign that is unfamiliar to them. Learning a backhandspring is just like learning a double full for the first time. You don't know what you are doing and have to learn through trial and error. A lot of kids who get hurt fit into this category, they were trying to do a new skill which they have never tried before. But normally the coach will inform the parent abotu a childs injury and settle it out. I think the best idea would be to talk to the coaches that were there about what happened and judge your opinion on whether to take further actions to talk to the owner or if everything is just fine. Hope this helped
My daughter has been in the sport for many years and has been injured at practice a couple of times and I have always been notifed by the coach. We have a great gym owner as well who always follows up on more serious injuries. I would say that you definately need to have a meeting with the owner and the coaches about the incident and your daugther's fear of returning. My guess would be that the coach did not think the injury was that serious and that your child would be okay. I am sure if they were told about her fear due to the injury they would feel badly. (at least I would hope that to be the case) It might not hurt to ask if the gym owner if there is a procedure in place for when accidents happen at practice. Most gyms have accident reports coaches are required to fill out. I hope that your daugther will overcome this hurdle because cheerleading is such a great sport/activity for kids and they learn so many life skills from it. (dedication, work ethic, time management, team work and friendship to name a few)
i dont know where you cheer at "ya" but in my gym, you don't just TRY something new without knowing what it feels like. if you are learning backhandsprings, use a wedge roller, or sit and reach over a coaches arm, its not trial and error, if you are learning a double full, then you probably already have a full meaning you know how to rotate at least once, the only difference is getting your body to twist twice and feel the difference then just once. yes i have both so i would know.
but to make a long story short, it does not have to be a trial and error thing because that DOES lead to injury
No. We do have the same thing at our gym. When you are learning any tumbling pass you get a spot. The point i was trying to make was that when you are learning a new skill spot or not (I tend not to get spots because they end up getting in my way) that it's going to be new to you and you are not going to know what to do the first few times you do it, but you learn how to do it through the mistakes you do. You still make mistakes with a spot or not. Tumbling is all trial and error when you are learning it. You try something, you find out you did something wrong you fix it untill everything is right. Going from a full to a double is entirely different also. You can spin fulls many ways like with your shoulders, arms, head but a double if you dont pull with your arms then you are not going all the way around and trust me i know because i have both also.
Make sure your childs injury is truly an injury and not just a fear feeding the injury. Being afraid is truly enough to make the injury worse. Look at kids who lose their tumbling. It's just as crippling as an injury.
Also, They are not doctors. As good as a coach is, they can't always tell that a kid is truly hurt barring a bone sticking out... but either way, getting hurt is part of sports. I am NOT downplaying your childs injury. You didn't say what it was. If it's a strain or bruise, well then they are basically fine. Mostly scared. But more than that, even if it's hard to tell, you can't expect a coach to truly know.
Trying new things is part of cheer. You have to push the envelope. Maybe the coaches thought your daughter was good enough to do what she was asked? But how would you know this if you haven't spoken to them? I can't tell you HOW MANY TIMES I have heard stories from my kid only to hear the "other half of it" from the coach or teacher. Asking us won't help you here. You must talk to the coach.
Your child MUST go back into that gym. Being afraid from time to time is normal. These things are all new and this isn't soccer or baseball. I have yet to see ball players being thrown into the air and caught by the other teammates. I would be scared too!!!!!
Also, YES YOU DO SPEND ALOT OF MONEY. If you don't trust your coaches, your money isn't well spent. See how they handle it. If it isn't satisfactory to you, then go somewhere else. You should still have time to get out of your contract with them. Check into everything before you make a decision. An informed decision is a smart decision.
Yes I have to agree you because I am a teacher I know that kids do alot crazy things onorder to got of things and they dont like to tell the whole story on why. I would talk to your child and try to get as much information as possible about really happen because I also used to coach and I have seen kids standing in line waiting to throw their pass and while waiting they chose to mess around and do other and about 99% of the time I have seen someone if not more than one person get hurt. Then if that is no the case go tot the coach and find out what happened because more of time or my gym even if you dont ask for a spot someone will watching and waiting at the end of the pass just in case something didint go through all the way or to catch if you fall. There are girls in this sport every year that have double fulls and for some reason get blocked and can't do it to save their lives but after they try adn try try and face that fear it come back just like they have been doing all their lives. If your not happy with what the oach told and you want something done then its time to go the prigram director. You might even want to have meeting with both of at the same time. Then I would explain to the chidl that everything is going to be okay that he/she shoudl try it again and after a while see how much he/she feels about it then. Dont just give up this sport is a fun, enjoyable and so much more when you give it a chance.
