Parents gym with very few optionals

[SHELOVESGYM]

It seems there are only a small handful of optionals at DD's gym. I know we loose a lot of kids to a "better" gym. I am wondering if it's realistic to think that I can keep DD at her current gym until optionals, or is it necessary to move earlier? I worry that the training at her current gym might not be good enough to give her a shot of making it to the higher levels. I'm not concerned with scores, or how quickly she goes though the levels or anything like that but I want to know that she is at least receiving the kind of training that will make it possible for her to get to higher levels IF that's what she wants. Should I be concerned with her staying at her current gym for the next few years? At this time it works well for our family as it's close to home and on the lower side of hours. DD is 8 years old and level 3.

 

[flowerchild]

Do the optional girls score well? Are they successful at States/ Regionals? Or does your gym have optionals who mostly score 31-32 with some ( or many) girls doing 2,3 or even 4 years at Level 6 and 7? Those would be red flags to me that the coaching might not be adequate for upper levels OR that the gym work ethic is not conducive to successful upper level optional girls.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I could have sworn I replied to this earlier....?

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I will repeat, and it will be a repeat of some other answers as well.
Take a look at a few years, not just a year or two.
Due to some training differences etc we had quite a few of our higher level Optionals walk out a few years back. If you look at just a year or two back, it might appear as though we don't have any successful L10's, when in reality we have a great track record of not only Nationally qualifying L10's but several current successful college gymnasts. Currently we have a handful of L9's/hopeful L10's that are fairly young still and a crop of up-and-coming Optionals chomping at the bit. I'm not worried in the least that if my DD (current L7-hopeful8) wants to make it all the way to L10, our coaches have what it takes.

 

[sce]

There is a long road ahead. If she is happy and learning, I Would stay for now and assess in a few years

 

[refugee]

How well does the compulsory team do?
Over the years, have the optionals been successful at State, Regional and Nationals? With the current coaching staff or other coaches?

When my daughter was L7, her gym had 10 optionals, only 1 L10. IIRC, the entire JO team was maybe 60 kids. Optional HC was new but had a track record of getting L10s to Nationals. Compulsories were consistently winning meets. Today, they have easily 3x that many team kids (L3-L10) and optional has grown too. The same HC and similar results up/down the range.