Show families their athlete's skill progress

"How is she doing?" is the question every coach gets at pickup. The coach knows the answer. She's close on her back walkover, her cartwheel is solid, and she hasn't started on her round-off yet. But that knowledge lives in the coach's head, or a clipboard, or a notes app on their phone. The parent gets a quick "great!" in the doorway.

A tumbling gym asked us whether caregivers could follow their athlete's progress on specific skills. Presently already let studios set up skills and record each student's level, but only office staff could record them, and families couldn't see any of it. Now coaches can record from their roster, and families can see progress in the portal if the studio turns it on.

Skills, levels, and dates

You set up your skills once: "Back Walkover," "Cartwheel," "Split Leap," whatever your curriculum uses. Each skill can have its own levels, like "Working on, Achieved, Mastered," or none at all if it's just done or not done. Then you attach skills to the classes that teach them.

For each student, Presently keeps the level they've reached on each skill and the date they reached it. That date only changes when the level does. Re-saving a student whose cartwheel hasn't changed doesn't make it look like they got it today.

Coaches record from the roster

The person who sees the skill happen is the coach, so that's who should record it. In the instructor portal, each athlete on a class roster now has a Skills button. It opens the class's skills with a button for each level. Tap "Achieved," save, done. It works on a phone, which matters, because nobody is walking to the office computer between rotations.

Coaches can only record for classes they teach (or are subbing) and for athletes enrolled in them. There's a permission for it, so a studio can limit recording to lead coaches if it wants.

Families see progress, if you want them to

Studios turn this on in Settings under Family Portal, "Show skill progress to families." When it's on, each child's card under Students in the parent portal has a Skills button. It shows every skill in their classes with the level reached, a small progress bar, and the date. Skills they haven't reached yet say "Not yet."

It's off by default. Some studios track skills to plan placement and would rather have that conversation in person. That's a reasonable choice, and the setting respects it.

Why this matters more than it looks

• Retention. Families who can see progress are less likely to wonder what they're paying for.
• Fewer doorway conversations. The quick "how's she doing" becomes a look at the portal.
• Placement decisions with history. When it's time to move an athlete up, the record of when each skill was reached is right there.
• Coach handoffs. A sub or a new coach can see where each athlete is instead of starting from scratch.

What to look for

1. Can coaches record it where they work? If only office staff can enter progress, it won't get entered.
2. Are dates real? "Achieved on" should be when it happened, not when someone last clicked save.
3. Is family visibility your choice?
4. Does it follow the athlete? Progress from last season should still be there this season.