Frequently Asked Questions

I’ve heard you’ve moved, where are you located now? We are now at 352 Winnipeg St. We have seven spots at the northeast corner of the building, please park in such a way as to maximize spaces. There are a few drop off/pick up spots located behind the Penticton Herald in the alley to the north of our building. There’s free street parking on Winnipeg, Nanaimo, Martin, and Wade. You will need to buzz up; there is a panel located to the right of our door, you can call 201 or press the up/down arrow to highlight “FLIP’PEN” then press the green call button. Sometimes it doesn’t work on the first try, or we may not be able to make it to the phone to pick up before the answering maching kicks in; please try again.

How do we do Pick-Up & Drop-Off? Our entrance is in the alley, on the west side of our building. We are on the second floor, through the double doors straight ahead of the stairs. Parents are welcome to stay and watch, or to drop off. Children are not allowed out on the floor before their coach invites them to start class, so it is recommended to not arrive more than 5-10 minutes early for your class. Please remind your child to use the washroom before class! Pick up your child promptly after their class; let your child and their coach know if someone other than you will be picking up. If you’d like to drop off at the door, we will have a coach there for 10 minutes before and after the start of class to let them in. For children meeting their parents at the door after class: you can just pull up in front of the doors and a coach will be there supervising to ensure they make it safely to your vehicle. We will ask them to point out your vehicle before leaving, please make sure they know not to leave and go look for you, they must wait til they see you.

What should my child wear to gymnastics? Do they need to bring anything? The short answer is comfortable athletic wear of their choosing. Gymnastics suits, shorts, leggings, sweats, shirts of any kind, are all great choices. Jeans, dresses, and poorly fitting clothing are not. All jewelry must be removed (earring studs are ok), long hair tied back, no hats or accessories, and either bare feet or grippy socks. Please send a water bottle for your child. If your child attends a class that is 2 hours or longer, please send a reasonably healthy and low mess snack.

What is your pay policy? We will do our best to be flexible in taking payment. We offer monthly billing, but require payment for the first and last month as well as the insurance/membership fee, before your child can participate. You can choose to pay by credit or debit through our online registration system Jackrabbit, at the gym on our POS, in cash, or by e-transfer to: info@flippengym.ca

What is your refund policy? By signing up for a class, you are committing to us to finish the full session. We allow for a three week trial period, where if for any reason you are unhappy we will release you from your commitment. Your insurance fee will be reduced to our $10 trial rate. After your 3 week trial, refunds will not be issued except in cases of medical necessity (with doctors note or proof of injury) or moving ( 1 months notice). We do try to be flexible, we understand that life is unpredictable. If you need to drop out for a reason other than medical or moving, please reach out to us, we may be able to help out some. Regardless of your reason for leaving, if we can fill your space, in a full class, those fees will be refunded to you.

Because we offer a monthly payment option, you may not have paid ahead; your committed fees are still owed. We take on a great risk by not charging all our fees up front, it is very important to us that families who can’t afford to pay in full are still able to provide gymnastics classes for their children. Abuse of our payment/refund policy would mean your family would be required to pre pay for any future sessions at Flip’PEN. If this policy is too abused we will have no choice but to revoke it, which would be very unfortunate for a lot of families.

*Please Note - you must contact us promptly by email to cancel your classes. Failure to do so will result in continued charging.

Why do I need to pay the insurance and membership fee? All sports have a degree of danger involved, and gymnastics is certainly no different. In order to protect your family, as well as ourselves, participants are required to have signed waivers and insurance coverage, which we provide to you for a cost. Our insurance is an annual fee of $40, covering the period of September 1st to August 31. This means once you pay, at any point in the year, you are covered until August 31, and then you will be required to renew in order to resume activity past September. We are not a part of Gymnastics BC, so if you have current waivers and insurance through GBC, you will still need to sign and pay for ours. We also have a casual visitor member insurance. This product allows for participant coverage for our drop in programs. The cost is $12, and this can be upgraded to an annual plan should you decide to attend classes instead. *We do not charge an insurance fee on your first drop in visit. Come on by, check us out and see what you think. If you enjoyed it and are planning to come back, that’s when you’ll pay it.

I’m having a hard time affording sports for my kid(s), what are my options? In cases of financial duress, we do accept funding from providers such as Jumpstart. Please contact us if you require assistance in applying for funding. If you are planning to apply for funding, please start your application process early to have enough time to receive funding before the start of your child’s session. We will do our best to work with you in your situation as we believe all kids should have access to sport, especially gymnastics! We also accept funding from home learning providers, let us know and we can sort that out for you.

Do you offer any discounts? For children wanting to sign up for more than one class, we offer a 10% discount on additional classes. For families with more than one child participating, we offer a 10% discount on each additional sibling. (Rec only). This is for a full session only. If you cancel your classes early, the discount will no longer apply.

What if my kid is sick? Please do not bring your sick child to gymnastics. If your child is struggling with an excessively runny nose, coloured discharge, difficulty breathing, inability to stop coughing, fever, nausea, diarrhea, etc, they will stop activity and you will be called for pickup. Remember that physical activity increases any symptoms your child might have, so what might not seem bad at home can easily become worse in class. This cold and flu season has been brutal, many children have been in some state of sickness the entire winter. If a child has a slightly runny nose (clear) or a bit of a cough, don’t jump to assume their parent brought them despite being sick. It is not reasonable to lock kids up for months on end because they can’t quite shake it. Parents, please just use your best judgement.

Please also check their hands and feet regularly to ensure they are wart-free. Warts spread quickly and easily and nobody wants them. If your child has warts, they will need to wear non-slip socks or be well taped. Most bandages and tapes just fall off or roll up, so socks are your best bet (for example, trampoline park socks are great!)

What if the gym has to cancel one of my classes? If Flip’PEN has to cancel classes for any reason, we will remove that class from the next month’s fee. If you have prepaid, you can choose a refund or credit. Credits can be used towards the next session, camps, private lessons, birthday parties or rentals.

Do you have a discipline policy? We understand that all children are different, with their own strengths, weaknesses and attitudes, and we will do our best to be accommodating with each child’s needs. However, our gym does run on safety, respect and responsibility. Listening is expected at all times, and bullying will not be tolerated. Coaches will be actively encouraging a growth mindset; hard work, perseverance, personal responsibility, and reflection as examples. Reminders and warnings will be given as needed. In more serious cases, children may be asked to sit. If the issue is recurring, the coach, child, and parent shall have a meeting to discuss remedies which may include verbal or written apologies with action plan, code of conduct contracts, missed gym time, or a change in class. If all options have been exhausted with no change in result, expulsion from the session will become necessary. In this event, the participant will still be responsible for payment for all classes up to that point, as well as the last month’s fee held in deposit. The participant will be welcomed back to try again at the start of the next session.

I think my kid would do great in a competitive program, why do they need to be assessed? At Flip’PEN, we believe that gymnastics is for all. However, we have an obligation to keep your child safe and happy, and we can do neither of those things when they are in a program not suited to their skill level. If you are interested in one of our competitive programs, call the office to book an assessment, and your child will receive a one hour private gym time with a competitive coach. The coach will be looking at current skill level, but will equally factor in strength, flexibility and attitude as well. We will do our best to challenge your child in whichever class they are recommended to.

Have we missed anything? If you have questions that you haven’t found an answer for here, please email info@flippengym.ca