USAIGC Parents PAGE
EVERY USAIGC/IAIGC Club must complete a 100% Employee (18yrs. and older) & Club
Owners Background Check within 45 days of their enrollment date or their membership is
terminated. Our Competition Directors MAY NOT accept a Club Entry Form from any Club
Member who does not have the 100% next to their Club name posted on our Club Directory
Page. This is required every two years.
Child Safety begins with ALL Employees not a small segment of the employee population!
USAIGC/IAIGC Club Owners have set the bar on Employee Background checks.
I salute our USAIGC/IAIGC Club Owners!
The USAIGC Competitive Program
Established 1973 Reorganized 2001.
A New Administration and a New Competitive Direction!
The USAIGC has created a different competitive Program. We are an Optional Only,
College Bound International Competitive Program using the NCAA Rules as our guide. Our
Competitive Program provides our Gymnasts and Coaches with a large variety of progressive
optional gymnastic skills to master instead of restrictive mandatory compulsory skills. Our
Competitive Rules are created with our Voting Club Members allowing us to build an intelligent
Competitive Program.
The International Association of Independent Gymnastic Clubs (IAIGC) was created for
interested International Gymnastic Clubs. We currently have 5 International Countries
represented in the IAIGC Bermuda, Canada, Romania, South Africa & the United Kingdom
following the same rules and policies. June 2014, Orlando, Florida the USAIGC/IAIGC hosted its
largest World Championship: 1350 Gymnasts, FIVE Countries using one set of Competitive
Rules!
Our Competitive Program provides an environment that fosters and nurtures the attributes
of a sound mind, sound body leading to successful healthy and well-rounded athletes. Our
Competitive Program is built on long-term skill development with the intentional slowing
down of our gymnasts’ learning curve providing the necessary time to develop and perfect
gymnastic skills in a logical, progressive and safe manner with recommended training hours
per level. We do not believe in the 20-hour workweek. Over-training is the reason gymnasts
leave our sport. Our Competitive Program provides our gymnasts with ample time for school
responsibilities, family activities and an outside life with friends. Life is about
experiences and the USAIGC/IAIGC provide positive well-balanced competitive experiences
for ALL of its gymnasts.
Our Competitive Options help prevent gymnasts’ “frustration” of being stuck in a competitive
level.
-The Gymnasts’ Skill level determines their competitive entry level.
-Mobility between our competitive levels is decided by the Coach not a score.
-Mobility between levels does not have to be in progressive order.
-Gymnasts may compete on two consecutive competitive levels (All-Around Gymnast and/or
Individual Event Specialist).
-We provide Four Competitive Platforms for our gymnasts to compete in: (1) All Around, (2)
Individual Event, (3) Team and (4) Club High School.
-International Competition is open to all Competitive Levels.
The USAIGC/IAIGC believes that our gymnasts are a head above their peers and develop
into strong, intelligent young ladies who are goal oriented, success driven, disciplined, with
excellent time management skills and while learning life’s most important skills of success and
failure.
It is the process of becoming a gymnast in a healthy competitive environment that develops
these outstanding qualities, not scores, not placements nor competitive levels. Our
USAIGC/IAIGC gymnasts will be prepared for tomorrow’s world, making them tomorrows’
leaders!
THE USAIGC/IAIGC IS A CHOICE! Paul Spadaro – President USAIGC/IAIGC
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Newsletter Highlights
September 2014 Club Membership Newsletter
I have received two proposals:
1. Pertains to USAG Excel and Compulsory Level Gymnasts Program competing in both the USAIGC
and USAG during the same season.
2. Allow Level 9 & 10 USAG gymnasts who do not qualify to their Regional Championship to compete
USAIGC providing they can compete in 2or 3 competitions prior to our World Championship.
I have given both recommendations a lot of thought but I cannot rationalize the reasoning of why a
USAG Excel or Compulsory Gymnast would want to compete in two competitive programs at the
same time. No one, including parents were able to give me an intelligent answer on why. I believe I
know the answer. Simply put, the USAIGC provides an excellent competitive atmosphere for our
membership and change is difficult.
Life is about choices. Parents like Club Owners and Coaches must make a choice. The USAIGC wants
to maintain the healthy environment the USAIGC has created. The USAIGC does not believe in overtraining and over-competing.
The USAG Level 9 & 10 question was interesting. The rationale was that the rules and skills between
the two programs are similar but it was again, why does a gymnast want to compete in both
programs? If a Level 9 or 10 gymnast’ is unhappy in their competitive program and looks to another
program for personal satisfaction they are in the wrong program.
I said No because it is about the principles WE created. It’s about the belief we have in our
Association. It’s not gymnasts from USAG I worry about. It is the culture that has been created inside
the NGB.
Sometimes you have to stop chasing your tail and honestly evaluate your choices.
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Do’s and Don’ts of Parent Participation.
By Chellsie Memmel
I first want to thank the parents who put their kids in our great sport! Without parents, we wouldn’t
be here or have any of the amazing opportunities that we do. With that said, I believe there should be
boundaries in parental involvement in sports.
Do watch practices but only once and a while. If you just can’t stay away, don’t bring up things that
happened or any trouble they may have had in practice that day. Let your child talk to you. If they
want to vent, listen. If they would rather leave their bad day behind, let them. If they had a great day
and are super pumped to tell you about it, be excited and happy about it.
Don’t set your own goals for them it will make it harder on you and them.
Your kids are in this sport because they want to be and because hopefully they love doing it. They
will have their own goals and expectations of what they want to get out of it. It is great to help guide
them with their goals but anything more than that can create problems. More often than not,
especially as they start getting older and more advanced, kids know what is going to be realistic in
terms of goals. They will know what is going to be physically possible for them to learn and
accomplish, and what might not be. Don’t set unrealistic goals for them and let them know what they
are.
“The Olympics” goal is my least favorite coming from parents. Step back and think about the
numbers. Five girls (4 in the next Olympic Games) make the team every four years. Five (four) every
four years. They’re the best five in the country, out of millions of gymnasts, and a big group of the top
athletes. It obviously can be done, but realistically the odds are not in anyone’s favor. So please
remember to always be realistic about what you want them to get out of the sport and support them
no matter what happens. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t reach for the stars! But this should be
their dream, not yours.
This was years ago, but still a story I remember well…our team was at a compulsory meet and one of
the girls did not have a good meet at all. She was so scared at what her mom’s reaction was going to
be, she went into the bathroom right away and called her grandmother and asked her to come pick
her up. That stuck with me and I’m really lucky to not have had that kind of experience.
Think about it this way. You may have been a gymnast yourself but are you also a (real) coach? You
took a few math classes in school years ago, but does that qualify you to teach math now? You
obviously will have more knowledge than parents who did not do gymnastics, but have you ever
coached, and how long has it been since you were in the gym yourself? Please don’t lose sight of
that. Let the coaches be the coaches.
First and foremost, you chose to go to a club and let the professionals there coach your child. It is
their job and what they have been trained to do. They have most likely started out as helpers and
trained under more experienced coaches, been to clinics, are certified appropriately, and have done
high-level gymnastics themselves. Most of the coaches I know have a training plan, especially when
you get into the competitive levels. They know what is in the routines and where the kids should be
in their training at each point in the year. Let them do their job.
Be careful about pushing your kids to train skills at home, especially their big skills. Practice at home
should only be done with proper equipment and matting and safety should be a number one
concern. Also, be sure to check with your child’s coach regarding an “at home” training schedule.
I am very lucky to have awesome parents. They supported me through every up and down that I
went through in my gymnastics career. The best thing they did was let it be MY career. MY
gymnastics. They were always there when I needed help or advice but never overstepped their
parental boundaries, even when they were both coaching me. They were my coaches at gym and my
parents at home…and I truly thank them for that!