All-Star What About Coaches Gym Hopping?

[cheermommaRN]

It's really hard on the kids! They get attached and then *poof* they're gone....
Every gym we have been at it has happened, there seems to be a lot of turnover in this sport.

 

[yojaehs]

Ok, now I know from a parents side I see what yall are saying but if you are a coach out there please please please NEVER sign a non-compete clause, and I do mean NEVER!! When talking about a kid cheering you are talking about their happiness and is Suzie a flier etc etc. Coaches, you are talking about your LIFE, at least for me it is how I make a living. If for some reason (while parents like to assume all coaches and owners get along all day everyday that's not always the case). I do believe there is a right and wrong way for a coach to relocate but ultimately if a coach wants to leave for ANY reason, they should be able to do so.

IF you sign a non-compete and coaching is the way you pay your bills you could royally screw yourself. I like where I live as a matter of fact I have a house here so if I sign a non-compete and can't coach within 60 miles for a yr or 2 what am I supposed to do? No thank you. Again, you don't have to agree with me but my advice to ANY coach out there esp young ones just getting started, DO NOT SIGN A NON-COMPETE!!

 

[CoachPam]

I worked as the Program Director at a smaller gym for three years before moving to Charlotte and we were required to sign a non-compete. We weren't able to work at another program for 6 months in a 100 mile radius. I thought the distance clause was a bit ridiculous, but that's my opinion. I would never quit on the girls and gym in the middle of the season, but I choose to leave at the end of the season and it was for very good reasons. Very happy with the move! Going on my fifth year at the gym I'm at now.

 

[newcheerdad]

I'm with yojaehs on this one.

Keep in mind that being a cheer coach is a job. It might not be the primary job for most people, but it is a way for people to make money and pay bills. So the idea that you would prevent a coach from going someplace else - especially it's obviously a better opportunity - is absurd. I would never, in a million years, think of signing a no-compete at any job that would prevent me from making more money elsewhere or leaving a bad situation.

I understand the concept of non-competes and employment contracts for super high-profile jobs, like CEO's, college football coaches, or major league baseball players. But for a cheer coach making $20 an hour or less? No way. Just like athletes switching gyms - there's a right way and wrong way to handle the situation. But just like with athletes switching gyms, the answer isn't to have draconian restrictions on where coaches can coach.

 

[cheerdaddy]

My youngest CP's team went through a tough year. Their first coach left to coach at another program right before the season started so they brought in another coach who coached half the season and then called in sick one day and never came back! The kids were devestated and it pretty much ruined their season due to not having an experienced coach. Towards the end of the season the gym owner and program director stepped up and coached the team but by than the damage was pretty much done.

 

[Katybugmom]

As a parent we have to sign a contract that says we will pay all year for tumbling classes and comps but if the coach leaves and the new one hired is not up to standards, I think we should get our money back and be able to leave. We picked our gym based on the coach- not the facility or owner.

 

[ztaprincess]

This brings up an excellent point. I feel like there are some coaches that to me seem to be bouncing from gym to gym every other year. One thing that gets me is how they can afford to pick up and move so often, but that is a different story. If they are going to make an athlete follow a rule that holds them to a gym without a release I believe a coach should as well. I don't agree with the poster who said a coach should be able to leave if they choose, if they are trying to teach athletes about committment with this new rule then how does that teach them anything when their coach doesn't have to follow the same rule and bounces around? A coach picking up and moving hurts a team just as much as an athlete leaving. It is one thing if the coach's fulltime job away from cheer is moving or they found a better opportunity for a fulltime job, but to pick up and move just because you want to work at a different gym in the middle of the season is just unfair to the entire gym especially the athletes on the teams you coach one on one.

 

[newcheerdad]

This brings up an excellent point. I feel like there are some coaches that to me seem to be bouncing from gym to gym every other year. One thing that gets me is how they can afford to pick up and move so often, but that is a different story. If they are going to make an athlete follow a rule that holds them to a gym without a release I believe a coach should as well. I don't agree with the poster who said a coach should be able to leave if they choose, if they are trying to teach athletes about committment with this new rule then how does that teach them anything when their coach doesn't have to follow the same rule and bounces around? A coach picking up and moving hurts a team just as much as an athlete leaving. It is one thing if the coach's fulltime job away from cheer is moving or they found a better opportunity for a fulltime job, but to pick up and move just because you want to work at a different gym in the middle of the season is just unfair to the entire gym especially the athletes on the teams you coach one on one.

So you're suggesting that a coach is bound to stay someplace if the working conditions are poor or they have an opportunity to move up and earn a better living?

I would ask anyone who has a job how they'd feel if they were told that they had to stay someplace they hated, or couldn't leave their current job for a better opportunity.

Yes, it sucks for the kids when coaches leave. But I think pinning this all on coaches is unfair. Maybe the coach is leaving the gym in midseason because the work environment isn't up to par. Or because they find out they can make more money somewhere else. That's on the gym owners, quite frankly.

And if the coach flakes out - that's on the gym owner as well. Hire better, more responsible coaches. Our program has very little coach turnover, so I know it can be done.

But just like I hate the idea that you'd force an athlete to stay at a program they didn't want to be at (or not allow them to cheer somewhere else), I equally hate - if not more so - the idea that you'd prevent a coach from being able to pursue other opportunities if they arose.

 

[ACEDAD]

The majority of the states in the US are right to work. But that means they can't be forced to join a union and that they can be fired for any reason. People are free to enter into agreements/contracts if they prefer. However, unless the job is highly skilled, most non-compete's aren't enforceable. A business generally doesn't have the right to prevent someone from earning a living.

However, non-solicitation agreements are very common in business and should be mandatory with all cheer gyms. So that would give a coach to leave, but would prevent him/her from contacting any of the remaining employees or customers (athletes/parents) and asking them to move.

 

[ztaprincess]

So you're suggesting that a coach is bound to stay someplace if the working conditions are poor or they have an opportunity to move up and earn a better living?

If the job at another gym is meant to be it should be avaliable at after may then they should wait until the end of the season to leave. You could say the same thing about the athletes not being able to leave. Should they be bound to stay somewhere that the conditions are not right and they have the opportunity for their money to be spent on a better product at another gym?

Like i said if the coach has a fulltime job outside of the gym and they have the opportunity for a better job or higher pay to move then so be it, my problem are the coaches that just leave because they are ready for something new in the middle of the season. In my opinion they should wait until the season is over. Now I am not positive how many coaches only have a job at the gym and call it a fulltime job, but if it is their "fulltime job" then I guess moving for better money would qualify, but I can't comment on that because I don't know anyone who is just a coach and works fulltime at the gym.

I am just thinking more so that if athletes are bound to a gym per season then coaches should be as well. Releases should be used just like with the athletes and if they are handled correctly they will be released. If it can work for athletes why not with coaches?

 

[Mamarazzi]

IMO, coaching staff is not necessarily a crucial factor for Worlds performance. An athlete competing on a team could be, though. So it's really not the same thing for a coach to have to be released.
In terms of professionalism, gym hopping is job-hopping, and if I was an employer (gym owner,) I wouldn't care if the coach was the most amazing level 5 coach on Earth. If I know you're not going to stay more than 5 months...no dice, because I risk not only losing you (a talented coach) but also talented kids.
Also, if you're offered any job, do you not check the company out, look at the benefits package, determine travel costs/time, before you accept the job? Some coaches need to act more professionally and some gyms need to stop allowing unreliable, unprofessional behavior. Maybe this is another one of those issues that needs to be addressed industry-wide?

 

[INeverStopCheering]

Oh, hahaha! How quickly I forgot--I only left VA 6 months ago so I should have known that. I don't know how many states have that though. VA seems to be its own little country sometimes. I would bet the only other states that have that are the other commonwealths...but I might be wrong?

Hahaha yes it does. I don't know how many other states are RTW, It looks as though there are about 22. (Thank you google) Hmm thats a good point I don't know if it has to do with being a commonwealth. I've never really understood the whole commonwealth thing...

 

[Just-a-Mom]

So you're suggesting that a coach is bound to stay someplace if the working conditions are poor or they have an opportunity to move up and earn a better living?

I would ask anyone who has a job how they'd feel if they were told that they had to stay someplace they hated, or couldn't leave their current job for a better opportunity.

Yes, it sucks for the kids when coaches leave. But I think pinning this all on coaches is unfair. Maybe the coach is leaving the gym in midseason because the work environment isn't up to par. Or because they find out they can make more money somewhere else. That's on the gym owners, quite frankly.

And if the coach flakes out - that's on the gym owner as well. Hire better, more responsible coaches. Our program has very little coach turnover, so I know it can be done.

But just like I hate the idea that you'd force an athlete to stay at a program they didn't want to be at (or not allow them to cheer somewhere else), I equally hate - if not more so - the idea that you'd prevent a coach from being able to pursue other opportunities if they arose.

I'm pretty sure the bolded part is the majority of people's daily lives right now. :(

Since you're against the athlete rule, then I can respect that you'd be against this as well. I just feel like it's unfair to hold athletes who are paying to a rule that you won't hold coaches who are being paid (by those paying athletes) to the same rule. And like @ztaprincess said, I know of very few coaches who this is their actual full-time job. Which brings me to ACEDAD:

The majority of the states in the US are right to work. But that means they can't be forced to join a union and that they can be fired for any reason. People are free to enter into agreements/contracts if they prefer. However, unless the job is highly skilled, most non-compete's aren't enforceable. A business generally doesn't have the right to prevent someone from earning a living.

However, non-solicitation agreements are very common in business and should be mandatory with all cheer gyms. So that would give a coach to leave, but would prevent him/her from contacting any of the remaining employees or customers (athletes/parents) and asking them to move.

One, the coaches I am talking about who i'd want to have sign one ARE highly skilled. The coaches who have this as their primary job would be considered highly skilled.

As for the "unenforceability" of non-compete's, I can only speak for IL since that's where I live, but they are very enforceable here. My sister just spent the better part of $20,000 trying to get out of one; she now lives in Canada since she wasn't successful and can't work in her field in the US for 12 months. So I'm sure it would be a state to state thing, but here in IL coaches going from gym to gym seems to be a big enough problem the gym owners might want to consider non-competes. Since we've only been here a few months and I've already seen it multiple times, I am assuming this is a regular thing here.

As I've said with the athlete rule, it's not like we would be saying you were stuck at your job forever (like most non-competes actually DO say), just for a competition season. So like 6 months.

 

[northeastelitexx]

we had a bunch of coaches that gym hopped in the middle of the season this year :/ they should have at least waited until the end of a season because it was kind of a punch in the face to our team.

 

[createmagic]

I guess I just don't understand how a coach could just up and decide to leave in the middle of a season to go somewhere else. When I was coaching all-stars, I expected to work with my team for the year. And I formed relationships with these kids and their families. Even when I had some outrageously crazy parents (why isn't my Susie in the tumbling section...she has a beautiful front walkover! You are a heartless person who doesn't understand how hard Susie works! True story. And Level 3), it never crossed my mind that I wouldn't finish off the season.

I don't think a "non-compete" for a year is the way to go, but I would support a release-type clause, like the athlete release...you can't work for a competitor that season. We would need a coach-credentialing system, like the athlete one for it to really work though.