Parents Guide

Volunteering

St Bernadette's relies on parents volunteering in order to help us run effectively.  There are many way that you could help the club

Fundraising 

We do fundraise all year please support us with these as they enable us to keep our fees low. 

Term 1&2 we ask for donations of suitable food to sell at our club competition. 

Term 3 - raffle. 

Term 4 - La porchetta end of year dinner

Toilet paper and Paper towels are available for purchase all year round

Competitions 

It is expected that everyone helps out at every competition, parents and senior gymnasts.  For every competition there will be a call for helpers, there are various roles that need to be filled from recording, score holding, office, door sales, canteen, setting up/dismantling.  Please sign up for one of these jobs when asked,there are always helpful people who will show you what to do if you are unsure.  Many hands make light work.

Committee 

The committee meets every 5 weeks or so for an hour, we do have a strong committee but could always use more help! 

If this is something you would be interested in let us know!

Parent Help

Our coaches are all volunteers and we rely on parent help to run classes,  particularily in the recreation class.  Things like taking a small group of children through some badge work would be helpful, see Mrs Broad if you can help in any way.

The Role as a Parent of a Competitive Gymnast

Your role as the parent of a competitive gymnast is to support your child in a positive way. Encourage them to always do their best and make competitive gymnastics a positive experience for them so they feel good about their sport and themselves.

Be their biggest fan regardless of how they perform in competitions. Help them by being their bank, taxi to and from training and make sure you check in and know that they are having fun when they are doing gymnastics.

Make sure your child is doing gymnastics because they want to, not because you want them to. Do not try to be your child’s coach. Leave the coaching to the coaches. Sitting in the viewing gallery and watching every move your child makes and then lecturing them on each mistake they made on the car ride home is the fastest way to get them to dislike the sport and make them want to quit. Ask them how their training went and leave it at that. If they want to tell you about how their gymnastics is going or how a training session went, they will tell you.

Be sure to put the focus on how much they have progressed, not by comparing them to other gymnasts but by comparing them to how far they have come. Help them to focus on what they can control, which is their own performance and their approach to gymnastics training and competitions.  Children grow and progress at different rates so it is unrealistic to expect all gymnasts to always be as good as each other.

Feel free to ask the Lead Coaches questions about how you can be the best possible sports parent for your child.

If you don’t know… Ask

If you have any questions or need clarification about any issue, we encourage you to speak with one of the coaches rather than talking with other parents. Parents are not always privy to all information and may disperse incorrect or inaccurate information. Incorrect information circulating between parents can lead to discontent and may create a negative club culture. Please raise your concerns with the right person and you will get the right answer.