For Parents 2 hour drive to gym

[honoragymnast]

Yes, most people were quite right in their responses while a few were quite snarky and rude (Gymdog, for example.) Uncalled for. I do know about college level gymnastics because my sister was a college gymnast. Maybe I don't know first hand since I wasn't the gymnast, but I did live with her until I went to college and she was at that point putting in 25 hours/week at the gym. I also continued to be quite close to her during her college years and know how hard she worked to stay on the team. Perhaps not all kids who are serious about gymnastics have gym equipment or practice at home, but there are A LOT of kids who practice at home every single day. I had hoped CB would be a great resource, but evidently I made quite a mistake asking about a 2 hour drive.

18 months for a mill circle seems like a long time, but I've never known anyone to take that long. I think my kid could do it within a month or so and I think most of the level 3 girls at her gym can do it too. I used that as an example because one of the coaches specifically used that example. I thought it seemed a bit long. My real point was that at our gym the gymnasts progress much less quickly than at other gyms. The coaches don't have time to spend since there are only 2 of them and there are a lot of girls. They've explained

You really didn’t. It’s hard for people with no gyms within driving distance to understand. And I know when your kid loves something, you want to do what you can to make it happen for them. We don’t have good gyms over here. It was and is very frustrating bc I wanted a good program for my girls. But one thing I have learned from decisions and mistakes we have made over time in this sport, is that at 6 years old it doesn’t have to be the best program in the world or even a TOPs program. Get her as far as you can where you are. It is true that for level 9 or even possibly 8, you would need to make a commute. You just don’t have to do it yet.

Exactly. I agree with you.

 

[bookworm]

1. Perhaps not all kids who are serious about gymnastics have gym equipment or practice at home, but there are A LOT of kids who practice at home every single day.

2. I had hoped CB would be a great resource, but evidently I made quite a mistake asking about a 2 hour drive.

Point 1: Maybe there are a lot of kids who practice at home every day but I responded to this by saying that I had 2 successful level 10s ( 1 did elite for a short time) who never had home equipment ...and I meant it as a way of reassuring you that you didn't need to worry about any home gym equipment in order for her to progress.

Point 2: I responded to this question because I'm one of the few on CB who have done a 2+ hour commute each way for many years and what I learned from doing it, that I hoped , again, would reassure you that you don't need to live in the car for a 6 yo's gymnastics. She'll be fine for the next few years at least I would think, and then you could assess her continued level of enjoyment in the sport and if a move to a distant gym is worth it.

I didn't mean to offend you or come off as snarky, but this was my experience being in and around the sport for 18 years.

 

[Annikins]

As a slight aside to this thread about not needing to change gyms until later on - what about if the gym you are at when they are young doesn't teach great technique or progresses them too slowly? I would have no idea whether they do or not, as I don't know what I'm looking for, so all I could do would be to look at competition results I guess? But if they are taught bad technique when young, how easy is it for them to get out of it when they eventually transfer at level 8/9 as some have suggested? Or might it be too late to get to elite because their original gym progressed them too slowly/taught them bad technique? Not asking for myself/my dd by the way, as we are very happy where we are, I'm just curious how that theory works in reality...

 

[ldw4mlo]

I think it’s very easy to think everyone does have home equipment as that’s what you see on Instagram/Facebook

I had hoped CB would be a great resource.

Well clearly you feel Instagram is a much better resource then all the experience here.

I don’t always agree with or like the opinions here but staged Instagram vs here.

JMO I pick here. But good luck to you.

 

[LJL07]

As a slight aside to this thread about not needing to change gyms until later on - what about if the gym you are at when they are young doesn't teach great technique or progresses them too slowly? I would have no idea whether they do or not, as I don't know what I'm looking for, so all I could do would be to look at competition results I guess? But if they are taught bad technique when young, how easy is it for them to get out of it when they eventually transfer at level 8/9 as some have suggested? Or might it be too late to get to elite because their original gym progressed them too slowly/taught them bad technique? Not asking for myself/my dd by the way, as we are very happy where we are, I'm just curious how that theory works in reality...

This sport makes me very, very tired. Basically I have decided that all of the planets, moons, and stars have to be perfectly aligned for anyone to go elite. Raw talent is not enough. You are right that bad technique early on is a problem. I would think though that this might be more of an issue for kids who are truly being tracked to go elite. Even though instagram has fooled us all into thinking all of these 7 year olds are going elite in two years, it is truly a small subset of kids doing gymnastics.

 

[B&M's mom]

I would hope that if a child truly had that type of potential, the coaches would say something. That's what happened to us. When my DD was 6, the coaches approached me and told me to take her somewhere else because they believed that she had elite potential. They were a small low hour gym with only 2 coaches, one for compulsory and the other optionals, and no expertise in high level gymnastics. She stayed until we were both certain that she was willing to make the sacrifices necessary for the elite program. The fact that she stayed encouraged her coaches to become better coaches (and yes, they did that willingly). They kept her at the regular hours but worked with her on harder skills. She did relatively few privates. One year, her coach had her participate in TOPS testing even though there was no TOPS program and we had to figure it out as we went. She didn't transfer to a gym that had a pre-elite program until after L8. Unfortunately, due to continuing injuries, she was only able to get her elite compulsory scores and eventually (thankfully!) decided to leave the sport. I will say that if the coaches hadn't been willing to work with her, then I would have moved her but at that age, there was no real reason.

 

[Taxidriver]

Yes, most people were quite right in their responses while a few were quite snarky and rude (Gymdog, for example.) Uncalled for. I do know about college level gymnastics because my sister was a college gymnast. Maybe I don't know first hand since I wasn't the gymnast, but I did live with her until I went to college and she was at that point putting in 25 hours/week at the gym. I also continued to be quite close to her during her college years and know how hard she worked to stay on the team. Perhaps not all kids who are serious about gymnastics have gym equipment or practice at home, but there are A LOT of kids who practice at home every single day. I had hoped CB would be a great resource, but evidently I made quite a mistake asking about a 2 hour drive.

You asked for people’s opinions, everyone’s opinion will be different. CB can be a great resource but you just have to remember peoples opinions will be different. For some people (like myself) would never consider a 2 hr drive for gym whereas others have done it for several years. Doesn’t make one right and one wrong just different.

Yes there are a lot of kids who practice at home and when young can seem to advance quicker however my dd coaches can always tell as they are the ones who learn bad habits so whilst they might get skills quicker they get lots of deductions at competitions. My dd coaches hate it when kids self teach new skills as they say it’s alot harder to reteach a skill than it is to teach it from scratch.

 

[gymdog]

Yes, most people were quite right in their responses while a few were quite snarky and rude (Gymdog, for example.) Uncalled for. I do know about college level gymnastics because my sister was a college gymnast. Maybe I don't know first hand since I wasn't the gymnast, but I did live with her until I went to college and she was at that point putting in 25 hours/week at the gym. I also continued to be quite close to her during her college years and know how hard she worked to stay on the team. Perhaps not all kids who are serious about gymnastics have gym equipment or practice at home, but there are A LOT of kids who practice at home every single day. I had hoped CB would be a great resource, but evidently I made quite a mistake asking about a 2 hour drive.

I'm just being honest with you. This isn't a gymnastics fan or gossip board so (at least as far as I can tell over a long period of time) most of the people on here are gymnastics coaches or parents of gymnasts. I'm not making things up. It sounds like you have some serious concerns with your gym. I think if you don't trust them, then you shouldn't send your daughter there.

 

[honoragymnast]

I'm just being honest with you. This isn't a gymnastics fan or gossip board so (at least as far as I can tell over a long period of time) most of the people on here are gymnastics coaches or parents of gymnasts. I'm not making things up. It sounds like you have some serious concerns with your gym. I think if you don't trust them, then you shouldn't send your daughter there.

Wasn't under the impression this was a gossip board whatever that is...but thank you for your other input. You obviously know what you're talking about. I have some concerns with the gym...I trust them to keep the kids as safe as possible while doing gymnastics, but I do not trust them to treat their gymnasts fairly and I do think they would take out their dislike of a parent on a kid. As long as they're good about safety, I guess I'll continue to put up with everything else for now.

 

[honoragymnast]

Well clearly you feel Instagram is a much better resource then all the experience here.

I don’t always agree with or like the opinions here but staged Instagram vs here.

JMO I pick here. But good luck to you.

LOL, clearly I think instagram is a better resource?! Clearly you are way off the original topic and way off base.

 

[honoragymnast]

Point 1: Maybe there are a lot of kids who practice at home every day but I responded to this by saying that I had 2 successful level 10s ( 1 did elite for a short time) who never had home equipment ...and I meant it as a way of reassuring you that you didn't need to worry about any home gym equipment in order for her to progress.

Point 2: I responded to this question because I'm one of the few on CB who have done a 2+ hour commute each way for many years and what I learned from doing it, that I hoped , again, would reassure you that you don't need to live in the car for a 6 yo's gymnastics. She'll be fine for the next few years at least I would think, and then you could assess her continued level of enjoyment in the sport and if a move to a distant gym is worth it.

I didn't mean to offend you or come off as snarky, but this was my experience being in and around the sport for 18 years.

Thank you. Your points are great and I think you're right about home gym equipment and the 2 hour commute.

 

[gymdog]

Wasn't under the impression this was a gossip board whatever that is...but thank you for your other input. You obviously know what you're talking about. I have some concerns with the gym...I trust them to keep the kids as safe as possible while doing gymnastics, but I do not trust them to treat their gymnasts fairly and I do think they would take out their dislike of a parent on a kid. As long as they're good about safety, I guess I'll continue to put up with everything else for now.

Okay, well that was what I wanted to clarify. Some of the concerns listed sounded like they could border on safety issues. It is unfortunate that unprofessional coaching tactics are still common in some places (which I suspect is in a lot of sports but I will only speak for what I know). The problem is, joining an elite program at this point is probably likely to be an "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation in this respect. You may be better off just letting it ride out. A few years down the line things could change and there could be a new gym or new coaches at your current gym. As far as them telling you what your kid can do outside of gymnastics (and recommending not learning gymnastics at home) I would take it with a grain of salt. I would recommend not missing and being late to practice all the time or before meets, but if you use common sense it shouldn't be a big issue.

 

[Gymmom0403]

As a slight aside to this thread about not needing to change gyms until later on - what about if the gym you are at when they are young doesn't teach great technique or progresses them too slowly? I would have no idea whether they do or not, as I don't know what I'm looking for, so all I could do would be to look at competition results I guess? But if they are taught bad technique when young, how easy is it for them to get out of it when they eventually transfer at level 8/9 as some have suggested? Or might it be too late to get to elite because their original gym progressed them too slowly/taught them bad technique? Not asking for myself/my dd by the way, as we are very happy where we are, I'm just curious how that theory works in reality...

My daughter was at a small gym that taught them to chuck skills and work on technique later. She was able to progress quickly but definitely struggled with technique on some skills. She would take deductions because her coach was ok with this. We were at that gym until she finished level 8 (state champ and floor regional champ). She figured stuff out on her own and was at a point where she got it. We switched after level 8 and she immediately went to level 9. Way more emphasis at new gym on technique and she did struggle in the beginning. It was a big learning curve for both her and her new coach. He just needed to understand why she did things the way she did. She was never interested in elite. But she has potential for college level gym. Anyway I think you can get out later. Your kid just needs to be ready to work hard!