Red Flags in Gymnastics Programs: What to Watch For

Summary :: 

In this episode, Paige Williamson shares her extensive experience in gymnastics coaching, providing valuable insights for parents considering gymnastics for their children. She discusses key red flags to look for in gymnastics programs, including safety concerns, coaching philosophy, gym culture, and the importance of transparency and communication. Paige emphasizes the need for a supportive environment and clear pathways for athlete progression, urging parents to be proactive in assessing their child's gymnastics experience.

Takeaways :: 

• Safety is paramount when choosing a gymnastics gym.
• Look for proper matting and equipment maintenance.
• Coaches should prioritize technique over flashy skills.
• High turnover rates may indicate a toxic gym culture.
• Yelling at athletes is a form of emotional misconduct.
• Frequent injuries may signal inadequate strength and conditioning.
• A positive coaching environment fosters athlete development.
• Transparency in communication is crucial for trust.
• Understand the different pathways in gymnastics training.
• Gymnastics should be a long-term commitment, not rushed.

Sound Bites ::

• "High turnover can signal toxic culture."
• "Listen to your child's body language."
• "Gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint."

Chapters ::

00:00
Introduction to Gymnastics Coaching Insights

03:13
Identifying Red Flags in Gymnastics Programs

10:35
Coaching Philosophy and Environment

13:13
Turnover and Culture in Gymnastics

20:44
Transparency and Communication in Coaching

23:53
Progression and Pathways in Gymnastics

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Email :: coachpaige.usag@gmail.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome to episode four of Pivot, a podcast for parents, athletes, and coaches competing in the sport of gymnastics. I'm your host, Paige Williamson, and on today's podcast, I thought I'd share with you some red flags I've noticed while working in gymnastics gyms as a coach and kind of provide some parents out there with advice on what to kind of look out for. If you're thinking of signing your daughter up for gymnastics, or even if you're already with a gym, kind of provide you with those things I've noticed that really can define a program's success so that you can take a look and make sure you're in a good place for you and your family. So, first I did mention at the end of episode three that I had a surprise for you. That surprise is now out and it has been published and available on my Instagram at the Gymnastics Allarounder. If you click the link in bio, you'll see a free download called Identifying Your Gymnastics Block. It's a free, downloadable, and printable PDF workbook that kind of goes over the blocks I talked about and questions you can ask, action steps you can take. There's no catch. I'm not gonna blow up your email because that's not what I'd want to happen to me. So you don't have to worry about marketing emails or anything of the sort. It's just a one and done deal. But yeah, if you want to go check it out, I hope you find it super helpful. Uh so for review, uh pivoting into the episode for today, um, I did kind of touch on this some in my pilot episode, but I just kind of wanted to speak into some credentials here. Like I am an ex-gymnist and I was in the sport of gymnastics for a long time, probably about 15 years. And then um I was coaching at gyms when I was in college before making it more of a solid career choice. Uh, but overall, I'd say I've had about three decades experience in the store. I've coached at several gyms, and after working for about a half a dozen different programs, uh, going to camps, clinics, um, these are just kind of the things I've picked up on some as a coach, uh, that I'd notice were patterns of behavior or patterns of kinds of things that you know I'd see come up or that would happen out on the floor. And because of my knowledge and experience, this became very obvious and apparent to me over time was a red flag, uh kind of like a warning sign per se. Um, like, and if you are a parent who doesn't really know gymnastics or you don't know what to look out for, um, you know, more or less like are those things that you're looking out for concerning? I would like to speak into that today and hopefully provide you with some clarity and give you a little bit of a checklist to go off of. Okay, so I'm going to do um, I'm gonna kind of categorize this episode, um, five overall red flags to kind of look out for when looking for a gym, or again, if you're already in a program, just be mindful of these. So uh that way you can be looking out for your gymnast in the best way possible. Uh so let's dive in. Number one on my list when choosing the right gym is safety practices. So things like does the gym have proper matting, spotting, and equipment maintenance? You want to look for things like cleanliness, organization, how mats are placed in a gym. Uh, do they look kind of clear cut? Meaning, do they look like they're in a good condition? Or are things kind of falling apart? Do you see foam pieces, tears, holes, that sort of thing? Uh, this does include if the gym has a pit, does it look like there's a lot of like broken pieces and the foam is kind of deteriorating? Uh, does the pit look clean and comfortable? If your gymnast has been there a while, check in with her. Ask her, like, are you feeling safe and supported? It may not sound like a big deal, but if you have dead mats or dead spots on the floor, and when I say dead spots, uh, for those who don't know the technicalities of it, it's it's kind of like where the mat doesn't have support or cushion anymore, or the floor has a broken spring or a board that has broken. It's like when you are jumping on a trampoline and all of a sudden that the springs are just gone and you're jumping or landing on solid ground. It's not comfortable. It does kind of shock and maybe um hurt your feet a bit. So again, uh the gymnast could be holding back like in her skills for fear of getting hurt. So just kind of check in with her and and see see how things are going. And then just kind of, you know, if you're sitting there overseeing practice, just take a look around. What are the things you're noticing? Along with safety practices, another kind of big spot I put in here was do coaches emphasize technique over big skills too soon? Are they hands-on coaches? You know, what's their body language like? This can be hard to pick up like in a day, but it is possible for your gymnast to pick up if they do like a free trial class or something. So looking at the competitive program or programs, do you notice good technique throughout the classes? Um, are legs kind of together, arms straight, feet pointed, does the gymnastics look easier, cleaner? This tends to speak on the technique side of things. And if the gymnasts are encouraged to ingrain these habits and their skills early on, if you see girls doing backhand springs on a beam but their legs are really bent, or if they're doing bars and their feet are apart and the rhythm is choppy, this can speak into like rush skills or even a lack of emphasis on technique. You may also notice a larger margin between the kids, like if there's a group of eight. Um, do you see some girls, like one to three of them, as seem really good or performing better than the other like five to seven of them? You want to see as close to consistency as possible. And that's not to say every gymnast is the same because they're definitely not, but the discrepancy in skill ability and technique shouldn't be super obvious. You'll also want to be looking for hands-on training, especially at the younger levels, like levels one through five or um excel uh bronze through the gold levels. And sometimes as the kids get to the higher levels, there's less like hands-on spotting. Um, but you'll see coaches in really good programs still be at like fundamental spotting points just in case of a fall or to re-emphasize certain technique at certain key moments. So, like, for example, when kids are doing bars, if they're doing routines where they jump from like low bar to high bar, is the coach in the middle of the bars and maybe up on a mat? What you don't want to see is standing around, leaning on equipment or holding equipment. That's a red flag. I mean, what are they gonna do if, you know, a kid slips off the bar or something, which which does tend to happen. If you're just kind of like on the outside of the bar or you're kind of just holding on to a mat, um, then what I mean, how effective are you gonna be at protecting that kid the best you can uh from a nasty fall? So if you go into a gym or you're seeing coaches just kind of standing off to the side, leaning against walls, talking to their coaches, not really paying attention, or they're holding a mat and doing more like verbal coaching uh versus making corrections by physically adjusting and helping the gymnast make those mind-body connections, this is just kind of lazy and it's not really good coaching. And if coaches, you're listening, we all have our days, I get it. You know, there'd be days where I felt like I kind of needed a break, but definitely be mindful as to how often you're doing this and understand that you're there to do a job. So if needed, for instance, I'd always kind of adjust my lesson plan so that if I was really tired or maybe something was hurting me or, you know, whatever the reason, I would kind of back off on like a heavy spotting day where I knew I'd be doing a lot more like lifting of the gymnast. So maybe I would do like a dance day or something. So it's still productive. I want to make that clear. Make sure it's productive and it's still applicable to your training plan. But maybe just kind of back off so that the spotting you're doing is more like you're just kind of tapping and making those minor adjustments where it doesn't take a lot of physical effort. Another safety concern I've seen is lots of taped ankles, wrists, and braces like knee braces on kids. If you've got young kids and you're seeing a lot of this on the floor, and when I say a lot, I mean you've got eight kids on vault lined up and four of them or more have tape or a brace on. Not good, y'all. Yes, injuries happen, but I will say that I've seen the better programs out there take injury mitigation into account. And they really have a strong strength and conditioning program. They focus on things like dynamic stretching at the beginning and conditioning before events, and then you'll see specific event training or complexes and active flexibility work, uh, maybe a static stretch or cooldown towards the end of their practice. But those taped ankles, wrists, braces, you'll see more of that when the program is not doing what it needs to be doing to better support their athletes. And that is generally in the strength and conditioning department, or how they even address nutrition and how they lesson plan between the levels to make sure that gymnasts are not doing too much and they're not overloading their athletes too soon. So definitely pay attention to that. If you've seen gymnasts just constantly getting taped up or braces on, red flag, y'all. We probably need to look at what we're doing a little bit better. So now I'm gonna kind of transition into number two on my list of red flags when choosing the right gym. Coaching philosophy. So is the atmosphere supportive, encouraging, and positive? Are there smiles and high fives and laughter? Do you see a lot of it's okay, we can fix it, mindsets being verbalized on the floor versus giving corrections or telling kids they're doing something wrong, but not really showing them what they're doing wrong? Or providing clear guidance on how to make the correction. For example, say you have a kid doing a front hip circle on bars, but when she comes up to front support, her arms are still bent. Is the coach just stating the obvious, like your arms are bent? Or hey, you need to straighten your arms? Feedback like that. Or are they saying, it's okay, we're working on it. Go try XYZ drills to see if it helps. But you really want to see the coach working different approaches, maybe using visual aids, resorting to different ways of explaining, making sure that they are getting the hands on that kid again to physically make corrections if needed. Uh, because anyone can point out what someone is doing may be incorrect. That's that's kind of what judges are for. Uh, but a coach is supposed to help them make the correction. So if you have a coach just repeating what's wrong but not explaining how to fix it, you don't have a coach. You have, I don't know, a supervisor. Big red flag if the coaches are yelling or ignoring the kids. Hate to say it, but I've seen it firsthand. I've left gyms for this reason. Coaches that yell at kids, and you know, if you're a parent, you're not sure if they're just being tough. Trust me, it's not being tough. It's emotional misconduct, it's a violation of safe sport, it's abusive, it's unnecessary. And we are going to start going into this red flag a bit more into following episodes, but for now, not okay. Coaches, we don't yell at the kids when they're not doing what we need them to be doing. We're instructors and we have to show that there are other ways of getting our point across and communicating rather than just resorting to raising our voices. Trust me, parents, and coaches, if you're listening, there's a way to show tough love and to be tough and instill mental toughness without yelling. Parents, if you see this, say goodbye. It's not worth it. Moving on to number three on my red flags list when choosing the right gym. This is a biggie. Gym turnover and culture. Specifically, do coaches and athletes stick around season after season? High turnover can signal toxic culture or poor leadership or both. And this can be a bit hard to notice because as a parent, you usually don't get an inside look at coach athlete turnover until you're already in the program. Uh, but there are ways to spot it early. Um, so I wanted to give y'all some strategies you can use. Number one, observe the walls and social media. Check team banners, photos, or social media posts from past seasons. Your high-performing gyms tend to have banners on the walls or even posters of like collegiate commitments or maybe of well-known athletes that have either trained at that gym or that gymnasts look up to. If you see just rows or a line of like placement banners or like individual names being recognized one year but not another, uh, this could be a sign that the gym doesn't have that professionalism or success behind it. Not always, but seeing my fair share of gyms and going to camps, there's there definitely seems to be a direct correlation here. That being said, it goes to show that if older levels look empty or inconsistent, this may also signal a high athlete dropout. Uh, so if you're considering going into a gym and you notice, you know, they only have like one level nine or, you know, no level tens or anything like that, you you gotta wanna pay attention to that. Number two is ask about longevity, like directly and casually. Uh so you can inquire about how long coaches have been with the gym. A healthy gym, you know, should be proud to say most of our staff has been here for like five to ten years. But that can also go to show that if you see the high turnover in athletes or um if they're just kind of pointing out staff that are in like leadership roles, like your head coaches or directors, um, and they're the ones that are staying for that long, that can kind of signal that maybe the wrong people are in charge. And thus, you know, gymnasts and other staff coaches, they'll leave because they're unhappy. Feel free to ask other parents. I mean, I'm serious, like uh, hey, I was just looking for a gym for my daughter, and I was wondering, um, you know, how long has your daughter been here? You know, what's her experience been like? Parents talk, y'all, and they talk amongst each other a lot because just like there's a bond between gymnasts and other gymnasts doing gymnastics, there is a bond between parents of those gymnasts because they can relate a lot to like what they're going through. So don't be afraid to introduce yourself and ask. Gymnastics is a demanding and expensive commitment. So do yourself a favor and make sure you're making the best investment possible. Number three on things you can do is look at coaching staff bios. Um, many gyms list their staff online on their website, frequent changes, missing bios. Um, this can all hint at a turnover. Vague titles like assistant coach without any history or credentials, that that that's a red flag. Um, definitely been to a few programs where um that's kind of been an issue where they just kind of put someone in a coaching role, uh, but they don't really have a lot of training or background or experience behind them. And so it it can definitely end up hurting gymnasts in the long run. Um, not always. Like I said, not always. There's those special few that come in and they're just like awesome at coaching and they hit the ground running and learn what they need to learn to be the best they can be. This is one of those things where you just kind of have to keep perspective and just kind of keep it on your radar. Um, number four is pay attention at practice. Uh, do you notice new or rotating coaches each week? Like that's often a sign of some instability. A coach is absent a lot, or maybe a coach was coaching this group, now they're not, or sometimes a coach is there, sometimes they're not. Uh, just like a lot of different hands and eyes. And again, it can suggest a problem behind the scenes. Uh, you can also see like coach to athlete ratios. If you see like one coach every eight kids or or more without a second coach there, uh, this can be a sign that the gym may not be able to get coaches to like want to work there and they can't meet the coaching demands that the gymnasts really need in order to be as successful as possible in the store. Um, competition season clues to look out for that you can do. If you attend a local meet, observe the team rosters. Do their team shrink drastically after one season? Um, this can suggest burnout or frustration with the program. You can look at meet scores online for this one and how many kids competed last year and at what level compared to the next season. I've actually done this before when looking at potentially working for a gym, and that's why I'm comfortable telling you that this is a pattern to pay attention to. If I go online to meet scores and see the past year, back a couple of years, and see that gym's competitions, maybe names that were at level two, now they're level three. Oh, look, now they're at level four. Okay. Um, but if I see, you know, half or more of their teammates like just gone, um, no thank you. Uh, something's up. Uh, like some turnover is normal. Like gymnasts do decide sometimes, like, I'm good, I'm done, uh, and they're ready to kind of retire and move on from the sport, try other things. But this doesn't typically happen to a bunch of gymnasts at the same time. This is far more like sporadic than you think. So if you see huge drop-offs, or maybe now gymnasts are still in the sport, but they've gone to another club, pay attention um to that. And, you know, the the last thing you can do in the easiest is just gut check the vibe. A program where athletes and staff love being there, they'll have an energy you can feel. The kids are laughing, they're engaged, they're connected to the coaches. Um, but if it's not a good environment, you'll feel it. It feels kind of tense or quiet, or like kids are just kind of like surviving practice. There's often an underlying culture problem. If you see crying or gymnasts kind of pitching bits out on the floor, you know, this can be in the forms of like eye rolling or crossed arms. Um, you know, you guys, if you're parents, you know, you get it at home. Uh, but trust me, they're telling you something's wrong. Uh, listen to what their body language is saying. It does speak volumes. Another simple way of figuring out turnover is just by being direct. If you're a parent and you're a gymnast, um, you're doing a trial class, you get to meet with the coach afterwards, ask them, hey, what percentage of your athletes stay year after year? A good program is not going to hesitate to let you know about their retention or be afraid to get back to you with that information if they don't have the logistics in front of them. But if you get a hesitant or vague answer or like they're avoiding it, red flag. And that kind of goes into my fourth red flag, which is like transparency with parents. It's literally transparent. I know it's not spelt the same, but like, come on. Um, so do coaches openly communicate about progression, safety, expectations? Do they have meetings with the parents, you know, maybe seasonally um or you know, twice a year, once a year before season, just to kind of, you know, go over things? Or do they seem kind of secretive, dismissive, or too busy for questions? Like, do they make themselves available to you for questions and concerns you have? If they mention a problem they're having, are they letting you know the solution? If they're saying things like, oh, this gymnast is struggling here or just can't seem to get this, and they're not working the problem, or if their go-to is just suggesting a private lesson, red flag. Some parents believe that every problem can be solved with a one-to-one lesson, but this is not always the case. In fact, more times than not, it's not the case at all. Every now and then, if there's like an intricate problem, like your gymnast has a block, or maybe there's some technical errors that have developed that kind of need an adjustment or some extra attention, and they can't really get it in practice because the coach is juggling, you know, kids. It just the coach might say, Hey, look, I just need to work one-to-one with her to get it straight, but then we should be good to go. And they're telling you the problem, providing a solution. You know, that's one thing. Go ahead, do that lesson. It's probably very much for the benefit of that athlete. But if you're paying for private lessons and you're not seeing like changes or progress, this is not helping. It's actually doing far more harm. So I'll take you behind the scenes here for a minute and let you know that there are coaches who brag about private lessons, and it's a competition or good thing to get a lot of them. Um, they just see it as an extra income source. And I straight up disagree with this. You know, while I do offer my own version of like one-to-one sessions, um, my goal is to get you in and out as quick as possible. And I've turned away parents asking about private lessons or wanting to do a lesson with a kid because, you know, I've thought it not necessary. And I've told them this is just something we can knock out in practice. You know, for me, the less private lessons, the better. It means I'm doing my job during practice, which, you know, parents, you're already paying a lot for coaches to do anyway. So if You're having to come out of pocket extra if they're like, Oh, well, we're gonna do this clinic and we need you to pay for it, or oh, we're gonna be doing this camp and we need you to pay for it. And oh, private lessons, you need to pay for it. I mean, you're just paying for extra stuff that a really good gym program, you're not gonna see that. So that'll lead me into my fifth and final red flag, which is progression and pathways. So is there a clear plan for moving from recreational to competitive or from one level to another, or even one competitive program, like Excel, over to the developmental program? I know that a lot of times parents often don't understand the different tracks in gymnastics, and each path looks very different in terms of time, cost, goals. But that's why it's important to sit down with the coaches and get a clear answer on their vision, standards, and expectations right from the get-go. So the main pathways are one, recreational, focused on fun, fitness, basic skill building. Usually it's one or two times a week. Um, and it's great for kids exploring if they even like gymnastics. Two, the Excel program. It's USAG's alternative competitive program. Uh, flexible skill requirements, um, less intense time commitments generally, and ideal for kids who want, you know, competition without the all or nothing, which tends to be associated with developmental program, or as it used to be called the JO program, which is Junior Olympic. And number three is of course the developmental program. Call it DP for short, formally JO. Um, that's your more traditional structured competitive pathway. So like levels one through 10. Uh you'll hear compulsory, which is referring to levels one through five, and then optionals is six through 10, um, leading into college, elite opportunities. Um, but this generally requires a bit more of a high like time commitment. Um, you can see north of 12 and even 20 hours a week at the higher levels. So here's kind of what you need to know about those pathways. Like there is no one right path. It depends on the child's goals, personality, and love for the sport. That being said, you and your child definitely need to feel like you have a say in your path and progress. If you feel like the gym is forcing your child into one program without options, red flag. Coaches may be able to suggest levels and programs that may be best for your child, but it should be about their ability and goals, not how well they're going to score. I've also seen gyms that regarding this, uh, if they just dismiss a kid um from being able to join a competitive program because of their age. You guys, we really need to get over this uh age stereotype. Uh, it definitely still exists in um your fixed mindset, and I would say more toxic gym cultures out there that are still training like old school ways. Yeah, we have upper 20s and Ellie Black in her 30s, you know, like doing Olympics and still doing high-level awesome gymnastics. Like when you're trying to push a bunch of 10 and 12 and 14-year-olds and thinking, like, oh, you know, they need to be this age, you know, uh at this time and this level, or they're they're not gonna make it all the way. That's not true. All right. That that's not true. So quit dismissing kids out of your program just because they're age or you know, pushing them if you want to, you know, get someone really young into your program. Oh, I can't stand that. So talking about Excel, um, Excel can still lead to college opportunities, you know, especially at a division three or you know, club level. Um, but some gyms, unfortunately, they'll treat Excel as a lesser program rather than an other program. I've seen many Excel programs with lesser technique, sloppier coaching, and this is not what Excel was originally intended for. As I stated above, Excel is an alternative option. And if done right, it can give a kid who might not know what she wants to do. Like it has a space for her to compete, but you know, maybe it's more fun and flexible. So it's more at her speed rather than an all or nothing thing. So for example, in Excel, uh, you can decide kind of what skills you want to do. Um, and there's a lot more to that, but for simplistic reasons, um, there's a lot more flexibility of skill options. Uh, where in the developmental program, specifically compulsory, you know, unless you're in optionals, routines and skills are mandated and pre-choreographed for you. Um, so you'll see that right away when you go to a meet and you have like your Excel bronze, uh, silver, gold. Maybe their music changes and there's different songs and different skills, and maybe this team is doing this and another team is doing that. If you go to a compulsory meet, we're all doing the same thing. So um, you know, what you don't want to see when at a gym is two distinct programs based on how they look. So, too many times I've seen the Excel program, clearly, because they may be doing, you know, different skills, bigger skills, whatever, but it's not as aesthetic as in the, you know, DP program. Like the two programs should have the same execution styles and the same basics. You shouldn't just see bigger, I would say, I want to use the word lazy, but it's not speaking into the gymnast being lazy. It's just kind of for coaching. But you don't want to look there and definitely see the two distinctions. Okay, well, if we go over to Excel, our kid isn't gonna look that great out there on the floor. Um, you know, you definitely want to see clean-cut gymnastics, just the ability or option for trading out skills if needed. Um, a great example of a high-performing um Excel and DP program is if a gymnast goes over to Excel because maybe one or two of their events, they're a bit behind, like if in there in the DP levels, um, maybe there's some skills in there that are being mandated that they can't quite get on a couple apparatus or events. So what they do is if they pop over to Excel, they can still do the events they can do very strongly and very well, while also kind of just meeting the gymnast where they're at until that gymnast can kind of catch up on those events as well. So again, more flexible. Whereas in DP, it's like you gotta be kind of at this level all across the board, all around competitor. Um, or you know, you might not qualify to be in that level. So some athletes even switch between the programs like based on their goals and circumstances. And this can help a gymnast have better, you know, longevity in the sport. They can get into middle or high school and maybe start wondering if they want to take a break or do something else. Um, that'd be an example of when switching from like a JO commitment um or DP commitment into an Excel commitment. You know, this might be better. But the option to go back to the DP program should always be readily available and possible for the athlete down the road if they want to do that. So unfortunately, I've seen situations where the gymnast went from like uh a DP program into Excel. And, you know, down the road they want to go back to DP again. Um, but they were told no uh because the gym either one was focused on easy, young, and natural talent to make their program appear more successful, or two, because they did go into Excel and the coaching and technique wasn't as disciplined, the gymnasts suffered and kind of fell behind. And now the coaches and maybe even the gymnasts don't feel capable of going back to DP. I've seen situations where gyms have moved gymnasts up too fast to skipping levels and rushing gymnasts due to unfortunate circumstances, like having a bunch of kids leave the program so they're trying to fill it back up, or even noticing they may score well, so they focus on pushing that kid for her scores instead of like long-term growth. I've witnessed gyms holding a gymnast back or making her repeat a level because she wasn't a quote unquote high scorer, or she struggled or had to work harder than someone else who leveled up, despite the gymnast having, you know, next level skills already. So these are all red flags. Gymnastics is a marathon, it's not a sprint. Burnout happens more from toxic gym culture than simply a loss of passion or interest in the sport. Coaches have to do their part and quit basing success off of outdated stats, like team scores and earning top three team finishes. Like a program that bases its goals or defines a success from scores and placement is already doomed from the start to achieve them. If you focus on your culture, you focus on the gymnast's happiness, longevity, and your future focus, growth-oriented focus, scores and achievements are gonna follow. Small-minded gyms focus on short-term wins and growth mindset gyms, focus on getting gymnasts into college and achieving elite goals and their visions and their dreams. You know, whether it is even, you know, doing upper level gymnastics. There's a lot of success to be had in developing a gymnast who is going to have characteristics from that sport that help her succeed outside of the gym, too, if she decides to, you know, quit or retire. Um, so be careful like which gym you're paying for. Uh and coaches, I'll be coming at you in episode six where I touch on toxic workplace culture and leadership. So hopefully you'll find that helpful. And maybe even if you're in a hard place right now, it'll help you feel less alone. I'm doing that episode because I've been there too, and I don't want any other coaches experiencing or to go through what I have in a lot of situations. So please feel free to listen in. And if you feel the need, reach out. I'm here for you guys. You're not alone. So um, wrapping up this episode. If you're a parent listening and you're unsure kind of what red flags to look for, or you're in need of a listening ear and with some guidance, I'd love to help. I'm offering free consultations where um we can talk through kind of your specific situation. I'll answer your questions, um, give you clarity on maybe what to look for in a gym, a program. Um, just send me a message or email me directly to get started. You can find um my information in the show notes, or you can go to my Instagram page at the gymnastics allarounder. So as always, if you haven't already, please feel free to like and subscribe. It really helps promote the show, it gets my voice out there. I appreciate you all so much for the support um that I've already gotten on this podcast. It is, I can't even believe it. Um, it's so encouraging, it's so motivating. Um, and I just want to continue to do my best for those of you that are supporting me. I want to support you right back. So again, thank you, thank you uh for liking, for subscribing, all those new followers, episode downloads. Just can't thank y'all enough. Later this week, I'm doing my first interview. If you're a parent, you're definitely gonna want to tune into this one. I'll give a sneak preview on my Instagram page if you want to know a bit more about like who I'm interviewing and what we'll be discussing, just in case you don't want to miss out. But for now, y'all have a great week and I'll talk to y'all soon. Bye.