13 Helpful Tips for Parents New to Gymnastics

So your son or daughter is new to gymnastics! First, congratulations; gymnastics is an exciting sport that will help your son or daughter grow as a person and athlete. The information here is designed to provide helpful tips for parents new to gymnastics.

There is a great deal of information to learn about the competition. Some of the things you will learn will be unique to your gym, but others are pretty universal for all gymnast’s parents.

1. Be On Time

Gymnasts are expected to be in the gym on time, and also need to arrive at competitions at the appropriate time. If your gymnast continually arrives late to practice, they are missing out on warm-ups or instruction time.

In some situations, school or parent’s work schedules make arriving to practice on time difficult. If this happens to you, talk to your gymnast’s coach about what your child can do to make-up missed time.

2. Be Supportive

Every gymnast has a bad day once and awhile. If your gymnast comes home complaining about practice, you shouldn’t immediately worry.

When your kid comes home and has had a bad day at the gym encourage them to work through the difficult times. Perseverance is a life lesson that every kid should learn early in their life.

3. Don’t Bother Other Gyms

Meets are exciting for gymnasts and their parents. When you get your first gymnastics schedule, you may be surprised to see there isn’t an exact time or date on the schedule. Instead, it probably says something like Saturday/Sunday with no time.

Meet schedules often aren’t available until about a week before the meet. No matter what you have going on in your life, it’s not okay to call the hosting gym for times. Instead, you just need to be patient and trust that your gym will deliver the meet schedule as soon as possible.