- Jul 9, 2011
- 193
- 38
Mommyof1, Sarah'smom and Pickle'smom let me say that i love where you are coming from and when i have kids i am sure I will want them to be given proper consideration for the competitive stream or at least given a "real class".
That said i will now defend the idea of the rec vs competitive pathway. I take an active role in testing and selecting kids who we invite into our competitive program. The reason for this is because i work with a lot of the rec groups as well as working with the competitive groups at our gym. I look for kids who are naturally strong, flexible (less important to me) and above all show good work ethic and ability to pay attention and make corrections. Usually it is blatantly obvious when watching a group for 5 minutes who would thrive in the competitive program and who would not. We also run testing periodically and if your gym doesn't do this than you should request it.
As for why there needs to be two streams: I find that i simply don't have time to teach skills in a rec group and also give them the proper conditioning they need to be successful, especially since they usually only come once a week. With a competitive group i have time to work on conditioning them for skills and because of this they will eventually end up rocketing ahead of a rec group who hasn't been prepared in the same way.
When i am coaching either group i focus on making the class as fun as i can while also teaching as many skills as i can. This doesn't change no matter who i am coaching and i hope most rec coaches are trying to give kids "real gymnastics".
I think the two pathway system is absolutely necessary and very good for coaches and gymnasts but i get that there are also problems with kids being given the same opportunities. If you are very keen for your child to get into the competitive classes see if you can sign them up for more classes a week.
That said i will now defend the idea of the rec vs competitive pathway. I take an active role in testing and selecting kids who we invite into our competitive program. The reason for this is because i work with a lot of the rec groups as well as working with the competitive groups at our gym. I look for kids who are naturally strong, flexible (less important to me) and above all show good work ethic and ability to pay attention and make corrections. Usually it is blatantly obvious when watching a group for 5 minutes who would thrive in the competitive program and who would not. We also run testing periodically and if your gym doesn't do this than you should request it.
As for why there needs to be two streams: I find that i simply don't have time to teach skills in a rec group and also give them the proper conditioning they need to be successful, especially since they usually only come once a week. With a competitive group i have time to work on conditioning them for skills and because of this they will eventually end up rocketing ahead of a rec group who hasn't been prepared in the same way.
When i am coaching either group i focus on making the class as fun as i can while also teaching as many skills as i can. This doesn't change no matter who i am coaching and i hope most rec coaches are trying to give kids "real gymnastics".
I think the two pathway system is absolutely necessary and very good for coaches and gymnasts but i get that there are also problems with kids being given the same opportunities. If you are very keen for your child to get into the competitive classes see if you can sign them up for more classes a week.