I know there are a jillion posts about how many hours at what level, etc. This is a slightly different question. My daughter is on a Y team that competes USAG (not on a Y league) and my biggest complaint has always been that she is practicing about half the number of hours as the girls she competes against at meets. There is a new private team starting in town that I am considering and now I am trying to get my brain around what most of you have probably accepted as "normal" by now... the fact that, if my DD were to switch (no decisions have been made, and the new gym isn't even open yet) she would be going to the gym straight from school (one of the appealing things about the new gym is that it's only about a mile from her school) and then, four days a week, would be getting home pretty close to bed time (coach is saying 3 hours/day 3 days a week and 4 hours/day 1 day a week, which is probably pretty average, maybe even on the low end of average, for level 6, I'm thinking). So she'd leave for school around 7am and then not get home until 7:30-8:30pm 4 days out of 5. She LOVES gym and WANTS more hours (though she's not so sure about wanting to switch teams) but, after wishing for it for so long, the potential reality of it seems a bit daunting.
One positive is that the HC/owner of the new gym seems pretty flexible. She is saying that she knows that some kids want to do gym only and some want to be involved in other activities, so her requirement is that they come to enough practices to be able to do the skills at their level safely (other than the week before a meet, when everyone must come to all practices) so we could conceivably start off with 3 days and work into it. But I guess I'm interested in hearing from those of you for whom this kind of schedule is already normal. Do you try to do a late family dinner when your gymnast gets home? Do you miss her? (Is that a strange question?) What about those of you who went from a less-intensive gym to a more-intensive gym. How did your gymnast, and the family as a whole, adjust to that kind of transition?
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your experiences and advice.
One positive is that the HC/owner of the new gym seems pretty flexible. She is saying that she knows that some kids want to do gym only and some want to be involved in other activities, so her requirement is that they come to enough practices to be able to do the skills at their level safely (other than the week before a meet, when everyone must come to all practices) so we could conceivably start off with 3 days and work into it. But I guess I'm interested in hearing from those of you for whom this kind of schedule is already normal. Do you try to do a late family dinner when your gymnast gets home? Do you miss her? (Is that a strange question?) What about those of you who went from a less-intensive gym to a more-intensive gym. How did your gymnast, and the family as a whole, adjust to that kind of transition?
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your experiences and advice.