Sunday, August 3, 2008

Gymnastics dilemma

Saturday night Katherine was supposed to have a gymnastics party for all the competitive girls at the gym. The the team coaches had organized an open gym and pizza party, and then for all girls level 5 and above, a slumber party. Katherine was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I got a call around noon stating that due to an emergency it had to be cancelled. Strange, huh???

Anyway, tonight I got a call from Mr. Tarry. When we talk on the phone, it's to discuss gymnastics, set up her next private lesson, etc... and never is it on a Sunday. When I listened to his message, it was very cryptic to say the least -- he needed to talk to me, and it sounded relatively urgent. Again, strange.... Right before I called him back I was talking to Matt and told him that I just had a gut feeling that he was "the emergency" from the day before, and was no longer working there. UUUUUUGH, it was even worse than that...

We talked for about 30 minutes -- Katherine's team coach (who we also love) is Miss Rachel, and she and Tarry were the ones who organized the party on Saturday night. Anyway, Rachel sent an email to the owner giving suggestions for improvements to the gym etc... and they fired her. Apparently she's no longer welcome at the gym. On top of that, they cancelled the kids' gymnastics party. Pretty classy, huh???

So, Tarry and I discussed Katherine's options, and to be honest, he's the main reason we've been at this gym for as long as we have. He used to coach at Gage Gymnastics and while he worked there (last Olympic cycle) they sent two girls to the Olympics. He's a fabulous coach and beyond wonderful with the kids. He's done more for Katherine's confidence and increased skill level than anyone else... For sure, he'll be missed in her young life, and I feel incredibly blessed to have had him coach Katherine for as long as he did.

Since he's leaving along with Miss Rachel (they carpool from Ames together), we'll be looking for a new gym. There is NO WAY I am going to let the owner coach her.... He's incredibly negative, not very approachable, doesn't relate to the kids, and oh... most importantly, he doesn't have a gymnastics background. This gym just isn't a good fit for us anymore, so I'll be looking at Chow's this week and making the move as soon as possible. I was really hoping to keep her with Tarry for the next year, but sometimes things just don't work out the way you want.

UUUUUGH! Why did the status quo have to seem so comfortable? Why is making the change to Chow's so daunting? All I want is what's best for my baby girl, and right now, I have no idea what that is....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ann... I was just google-ing and this page of your blog came up. Anyway we just moved our daughters to Chow's last winter from another gym they had been going to for almost 4 years. The only regret we have is that we didn't start there 4 years ago. It is awesome. One thing they had to get used to (especially our 8 year old who was on team) is that there are SO many really talented gymnasts there and my girls don't stand out so much anymore. Also the conditioning was more difficult but both have become super strong in just six months, I have asked them and they would never go back to the old gym. Good luck. J.

anonymous said...

Maybe Terry will start his own gym? I'd definitely keep in touch with him. Maybe he would even do private lessons for Katherine.