Oakville Gymnastics Club — Attraction in Oakville

Our son attended the Oakville Gymnastics Club for three years. Initially it was quite good - nice, attentive instructors and lots of fun. He loved going to class every Sunday morning.

However we decided not to send him back after the third year, as a result of two separate, but related incidents:

The instructors approached my wife at the end of (what became) his last session to express their concern over an innocent comment from our five-year-old son that 'he loved them' and 'couldn't live without them' (both comments probably ascribed to one of the 'Madagascar' movies he was into at the time).

Both instructors expressed their discomfort with the comments (from a five-year-old) and felt that they were inappropriate. We were dumbfounded by their reaction to say the least. Surely an adult in their twenties or thirties should have the ability to put the innocent comments of a five-year-old in perspective without effectively stigmatizing the child?

In the preceding week, the same instructor advised us that our son should try-out for the Gymnastics Team - which is a separate, more structured version of the 'play' classes that he was already attending. When I seemed surprised, the instructor emphasized that our son was definitely a good candidate and possessed the skills that would allow him to join the team.

Upon registering for the try-out, it definitely appeared that almost the entire class had been put forward for the team. Nevertheless, we were happy to have him participate and possibly move ahead to another level of gymnastics.

The day of the try-outs came and our son was very happy and excited to participate. However, upon commencing the try-outs, he was asked to do moves that he had never done in his classes. He was totally unprepared by the instructors and was way over his head. After the try-out he was near to tears and wondered why they made him do things that he'd never done before or had never been taught to do. He was shattered and embarrassed.

By way of disclosure, we never confronted the instructors or the club management on these issues. Frankly, we were far too emotional over these events to address these issues in a calm and steadfast manner.

The day of the try-outs was our last day at the Oakville Gymnastics Club and based on these events, we cannot recommend this club to anyone at the beginner level. We seriously question the instructors qualifications to deal with children - specifically young boys - and further question their emotional state that they should be so triggered by the innocent affection of a five-year-old.

Our son is now in his second semester at Schlegel's Gymnastics and he is very happy there. They offer a much more structured program with what we feel are more qualified instructors for his age and gender.

We're just happy that he didn't lose his enthusiasm for the sport because of his unfortunate experience at Oakville...

The Oakville Gymnastics Club is not a place where anyone should want their children to be in our opinion, especially after the experience we have had with them. Our experience with them has left my husband and I thankful that we pulled our 2yr. old out of their program.

I signed my 2 yr. old up for their Parent & tot program...after the first 2 classes where it was evident that my son was not ready to participate and the staff that is supposed to be there for guidance and help (believe me when I say they were non-existent in their "help") I decided that taking my son out for now and hopefully revisiting the program in the fall when he may be more ready. I called their office to speak with someone. I was directed to "Agnes" who was rude, unsympathetic and couldn't wait to get me off the phone. "Agnes" then informed me that Wayne would be back the next week and I could discuss it with him. After waiting until the end of the week I then decided to call back myself. When the person picked up the phone I asked to speak to Agnes and the woman then informed me that she was Agnes. I found this quite strange as the woman I spoke to the week previous clearly had an accent and this woman did not. When I confronted her about that and after a lot of back and forth the real Agnes that I was now speaking to admitted that the woman I had spoke to the week before for whatever reason pretended to be Agnes as this real Agnes had been on holidays at the time of my first phone call. I was shocked and appalled by this and at that point I then decided that a credit was not appropriate as I did not want my child in any place where staff would so easily lie. I then said that I would be happy to pay for the 2 classes that we attended and any administrative fees but would like the rest of my money refunded. The Gym refuses to give me the balance of our money and has told us too bad that they are going to keep our money as they believe this is fair. We have again pointed out that staff lied, were not helpful and in fact rude and unprofessional.

Clearly these people have no business ethics, morals or practices. Please think twice before entrusting your children to people who lie so easily to gain a mere $200. They should be ashamed of their business practices. Especially in dealing with small children!

Let me also add that Wayne Hussey the Director is unwilling to answer his phone, return any messages and refuses to answer any emails regarding our situation. He is more than...

Firstly, it’s so difficult to get anyone to return your call. After several phone calls and emails I was called back my Chantal and I explained to her that my daughter is interested in competitive gymnastics and this will eventually be her career path.

She asked me to send her an email giving her more information about my daughter and she will put her on a waiting list for try outs in June. So no surprise when I did not hear back from Chantal after sending a couple more emails .

Chantal eventually responded to me after I left a voice message to Diane the Creative Director informing her that I’m not getting any responses to my numerous emails …Not that Diane bothered to call me as well…

Chantal told me try out is June 18th, only 2 available spots- we arrived to find that my daughters name is not even on the try out list. It seems they had their...