Tramp “catcher”
A safety issue in many gyms are the mats used at the END of your tumbling trampoline. Here’s a new alternative that costs less than $2000. What would the equivalent mats cost?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Updates from June, 2014 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Rick Mc
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Rick Mc
drop off your kid at the Gym
Enjoy and evening out while we watch the kids!!! Kids Night Out this Saturday, Sept. 7th from 6 to 10 pm—includes dinner! Only $25, $20 for siblings!
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Rick Mc
Gymnastics bring a friend week
The most effective way to increase membership, in my experience.
Insurance coverage is the only issue.
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Rick Mc
gymnastics parents night out
These programs are super popular with kids and parents.
… Drop off the kids for a great night of supervised open gym, games, fun and pizza.
Consider the insurance / liability risk before offering it at your gym.
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Rick Mc
who SUPERVISES your gym?
Coach Howard has the best write-up I’ve yet seen on this important topic:
While the ideal solution would be to have at least one staff member who did nothing but general gym supervision, in much the manner that a pool lifeguard functions, most gyms cannot afford or afford to waste a full-time general gym supervisor.
Gym owners and managers will have to make the decision for themselves if they want to pay for a staff member just to do general supervision, but there should always be at least one senior coach who is assigned general supervision responsibility and all coaches and all staff members, including front desk staff, should be taught to scan the gym regularly for unsafe situations. …
So true.
In emergencies, especially, someone needs to be the final authority on when to call the ambulance. What to do in case of the unforeseen plumbing crisis (… that’s happened to me), etc.
WHO is in charge here?
Does your facility have a Gym Supervision Plan?
If not, best email this article to the folks running your club.
Gymnastics Zone – General Gymnastics Gym Supervision
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Rick Mc
gymnastics INSURANCE
Are you confident that your gym is covered in worst case scenarios?
What would happen if one of your kids has a catastrophic injury in your gym?
What about earthquake? … Flood? … Tornado?
For each region, the requirements of gymnastics insurance are different.
SOMEBODY in your gym needs to be up-to-speed on what’s needed.
A great started on this topic was posted by Coach Howard on Gymnastics Zone:
Gymnastics insurance is a fact of life for any gymnastics club owner. The possibility of a major accident and/or the possibility of lawsuits cannot be ignored. Your first line of defense is an accident/medical and liability insurance package. The following are some considerations in choosing your insurance:
• Cover Everything You Do
• Get the Maximum in Protection
• How Stable is Your Insurance Company?
• Financing Options
• Don’t Pay Too Much
• Cover Your Costsread more on those headings – Choosing Gymnastics Insurance
be CERTAIN your Adult Rec gymnasts are covered
Here’s a an important point:
• Number of Students
Don’t accept any policy requiring individual student name filing requirements. Although we don’t believe any of the insurers are doing this any more, some companies used to want you to supply the name of every student to be insured. Don’t do this, the paperwork is a nightmare.
This follow-up post is even better – More Info on Gymnastics Liability and Gymnast Insurance
Thanks Howard.
In the USA, Howard suggests we check these 3 companies:
• Sadler Sports
• Snyder Insurance Services
• Markel GymnasticsLeave a comment if you have any other company to recommend.
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Rick Mc
birthday party insurance?
Does your gym have it?
… there are things to consider when inviting visitors into your facility.
Guests, both children and adults, who aren’t familiar with gymnastics facilities can easily be injured during parties held on your premises.
And accidents can leave visitors with more than just a bad impression of your operation; they often result in costly lawsuits …
read more on a 2005 article from USA Technique magazine – Birthday Party Alert (PDF)
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Hannah
Oh definitely an important consideration.
After teaching rec gym 5 days a week for 7 years, it was still a gymnastics birthday party which brought with it the nastiest injury I’d had to deal with in the gym. It wasn’t a particularly dangerous activity – but that doesn’t really matter, kids will manage to hurt themselves on anything!
We had set up a circuit of jumping activities – mini tramps, squashy shapes, boxes etc. The last jump was down onto a crash mat off a box about 45cm high (yep, that’s all!). The kid seemed to trip over as she jumped and landed awkwardly on the mat dislocating her shoulder and breaking her elbow! Very, very painful stuff for a 7-year old at a birthday party!
Always a bad situation when there’s an injury, but more so at a birthday party with a hopefully ‘super fun’ atmosphere…
Anyway, her mother was watching from the sidelines, and while concerned and helping us to arrange an ambulance, she was very level headed about the whole thing (thankfully). She told us that at another birthday the year before her daughter had also managed to break her ankle at a soccer party… Just unlucky!
Accidents can happen anywhere, anytime.LikeLike
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coach Rick
Wow. How unlucky is that?
LikeLike
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Hannah are discussing. 
Recreational Gymnastics 
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