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MrsX

Proud Parent
Hi there!

I am new here, adoptive parent to a wonderful son, who is 6 years old. Glad to be here! As parents, we are completely new to the gymnastics world and neither of us has had any exposure growing up.

We just enrolled our son in a program local to us and the coach was so impressed by our son's talent and abilities - he stated that he is a complete natural at gymnastics and if he still had a team, he'd put him on right now. While we aren't surprised and something we have suspected for a while, is this common and we shouldn't look too much into it?

If we should consider it seriously, we were thinking about seeing if we can enroll him in a school that's a bit farther, located in the city closest to us - Philadelphia. It's an all-boys gym, http://philadelphiaboysgymnastics.org/. We'd have to travel about 45 mins each way.

However, would this be too much training for a 6-year-old, 2x a week? Maybe wait till after the New Year and focus on 1 school at a time?

TIA and looking forward to learning more!

-D
 
Are you right in Philadelphia? There are some other PA gyms with good boys teams outside of Philly - would any of these be closer than PBG?

Roth's Cross Point Gymnastics
Liberty Bell Athletics
KMC Gymnastics
Gravity Forged Gymnastics
Bensalem Gymnastics (used to have a boys team, but I'm not sure if they still do)

There are also a number of boys programs in New Jersey if that is closer to where you are.

A 45 minute gym commute isn't too bad for older boys, a little one might find it more trying. You could always keep him local and see if continues to love it and progress and decide from there.

Our pre-team boys (6 and under) are in the gym 2x a week (each practice 1.5 -2 hrs), our little team boys are in 3x a week for 3 hours each time. Boys (like girls) can start competing at 6 years old. The first level for boys is Level 4 (you can google some routines, they are super super cute!!!). Feel free to send me a message, it's tough having a kid in a sport you know nothing about!
 
Hi @Pigeon! Thanks so much for your help and reply!

ah, ok! The current program we are in is 60 mins 1x a week so I imagine adding another would be ok then, especially given his interest and need for activity. It would just be with a different gym, that’s all.

We are in southern NJ, Gloucester county, so we are able to go in many directions for the right gym - PA, Central NJ, Delaware.

He has a very strong proclivity for male figures and coaches in particular, which I imagine is part of the reason why I mentioned PBG. I’m looking specifically for a weekend spot, too, since traveling further during the week and after school could be more difficult.

I reached out to Champions United Gymnastics Academy (located in Mt Laurel NJ) but given the pandemic, I’m sure their availability is even more limited than normal! It looks like they do have Saturdays (whether it’s full is the real question).

I also looked at Star Bound in Bridgeton NJ but it doesn’t appear that they have weekend classes.

I’m very excited for him since he struggles a bit with things, he’s such a little dude for his age on top of it, and I think something that he is good at would be helpful for his self esteem. He seems to really enjoy it. I don’t know if he wants to do it competitively, but even so, gymnastics appears to be a wonderful foundation for everything, regardless! I support him either way!

Thanks again!
 
Ok, I don't know as much about NJ teams (I think we've competed with Champions United though). It looks like you aren't too far from Roth's Cross Point (they are in Boothwyn, PA). We're not from there, but our gym competes fairly regularly against both their boys and girls teams in PA and they are really good. They have a very strong boys program and great boys coaches. The owner/head coach is a former US national team member (he was actually coached by the guy who started PBG).

If that's not too far, it would definitely be worth a look (if we ever had to move to Philly-area, that's where we would go for sure!). But if my son was just young and starting out, I would likely keep close to home to see if he continues to like it and I would make decisions about driving after that. There are a lot of things to factor in with the drive - work schedules, other kids, etc. I will warn you, the better they get the more time they spend in the gym and the more days you are driving there!

Welcome to the world of boys gymnastics; you are right it's a great foundation for everything!
 
Oh, and if you are asking if it would be a good idea to drive 45 minutes to try out a boys-only class on Saturday mornings I think it would be worth a shot. Many gyms will let you try a recreational class for free, you could give a try and see! Or try one session (usually 8 weeks) and decide from there. I don't think 2x a week for an hour is too much at all.
 
As long as the kid wants to do it, taking a rec class 2 X a week is fine, both my boys did that, and one was younger than 6.
(Also these were 90 minute rec classes back then.) Their gym was close by so there was no commute, so that part you will just have to figure out of it works for your family or not. Maybe there is something else you can do with your son after class to make the trip more worth it.

He has a very strong proclivity for male figures and coaches in particular, which I imagine is part of the reason why I mentioned PBG.

Don't most gyms provide sex-segregated rec classes for artistic gymnastics? My kids have only been at one gym, and once they graduated from kiddie gym to the 6 and over rec classes, they were always in boys classes taught by male coaches.
 

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