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[quote=Anonymous]Gymnastics parent here. It is very parent-driven in gymnastics. My DD is considered very good in our state but average to below-average at her gym.

The "best" girls in her workout group are legit prodigies. But they also happen to have insanely pushy parents. You wouldn't know it from a brief encounter, because they are careful to follow the script that it's all led by their child and their child wasn't happy doing anything else. As you get to know the girls, you realize that there are a lot of layers of truth beyond what's said out loud. Of the 20 in my daughter's current level, 4-5 of them are self-driven and dragging the parents along for the ride.

The rest are either begging to quit, going along with workouts halfheartedly and milking injuries, or working very hard because their parents berate them in the parking lot or the back hallways of the convention center where the meet is held (I'm middle-aged and graying and invisible to all, so I hear a lot). The girls don't feel like they can try anything else but gymnastics. Their parents have taken front desk jobs at the gym, moved from 45 minutes away, pulled them from regular school to homeschool, rearranged siblings schedules, etc.

My DH did a very different sport growing up and went on to do it in college and at an elite level. It used to be the kind of thing that parents weren't even remotely involved in because it started to get serious only in HS and frankly it's quite boring. Now even his sport has been infiltrated by pushy parents. I don't think any activity is safe.[/quote]

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