Ooof...grouping by age is an interesting challenge, considering that abilities can vary widely within a group. For a 15 minute class per event, I would probably structure the curriculum like so (assuming a 12 week session):
- [Week 1,2,3] Introduce all skills that will eventually go into a routine. Practice skills in a circuit.
- [Week 4,5] Introduce harder skill variants that students can try if they want to. Continue to practice skills in a circuit.
- [Week 6,7] Start piecing together basic routines: First half.
- [Week 8,9] Start piecing together basic routines: Second half.
- [Week 10,11,12] Practice full routines. Allow more advanced students to include harder skill variants if they have mastered the full basic routine.
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> the kids just wanna have fun. I feel pressured to teach them skills/routines because it’ll reflect in a meet if I don’t but there rec kids…
I'm sensing that you might need to adjust your expectations in order to survive at this new gym. The way your new gym structures their recreation program (group by age, hour-long classes, final exhibition), I'm assuming that they care more about fostering a positive social experience for gymnasts and care less about teaching high-quality, technically-accurate gymnastics. In other words, it's totally fine if the routines look like crap at the in-house meet. As long as the kids are having fun, that's all the matters. If for some reason your gym gives you a hard time about students performing poorly at the in-house meet, I would see this as a red flag and not a sign that you are a bad coach.