Parents Collegiate Gymnastics

[sce]

Side note- YouTube us a very small part if the recruiting process. Her coach making contacts and her results, ideally at jo nationals, are very important.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

So long as you keep your school choice open the opportunities are there. The end.

 

[ProudDad1234]

How much of a detriment is it if your gym has never put a gymnast directly into college? Our gym produces good gymnasts, some are now elite. But they always leave after level 8 or 9. It's not because the gym doesn't offer level 10 because they do. But it doesn't seem like anyone wants to risk being the first one to stay until graduation. DD (going into level 9) loves the gym and wants to stay put. If she puts up skills and performances/scores similar to girls at the bigger gyms, will college coaches take her seriously?

 

[John]

I am sorry I do not have the answer, I just wanted to say that at every gym that has made a college gymnast there was the first. Maybe your DD is the first?

 

[ProudDad1234]

I am sorry I do not have the answer, I just wanted to say that at every gym that has made a college gymnast there was the first. Maybe your DD is the first?

Thanks.. I agree with you for sure. Honestly, it's a risk either way in my opinion because if DD is having fun, progressing and having great results, I don't want to mess it up. Just didn't know if anyone with coaching experience may feel differently.

 

[MeetDirector]

Proud -

As John said, there always has to be a first. If your dd is getting good coaching and is making progress, why change. I would make sure that her coaches know of her desires and are capable of coaching the big skills needed for Lvl 10 and beyond. I would encourage her coaches to improve thier own coaching skills maybe by visiting some college programs themselves and seeing what a college program really is looking for.

From my experience with the process, bars and beam always seem to be the needed areas and the more solid she can be with 10.0 start value routines on those events, the better off she will be for college. Exposure of the club gymnast to college coaches is going to be key. Her coaches need to be partners with her and you in this journey.

Good Luck.

 

[Natasha]

How much of a detriment is it if your gym has never put a gymnast directly into college? Our gym produces good gymnasts, some are now elite. But they always leave after level 8 or 9. It's not because the gym doesn't offer level 10 because they do. But it doesn't seem like anyone wants to risk being the first one to stay until graduation. DD (going into level 9) loves the gym and wants to stay put. If she puts up skills and performances/scores similar to girls at the bigger gyms, will college coaches take her seriously?

College camps are great exposure. One of the hard things about not having any other L10s or college gymnasts is that it will be hard to get recruiters to come to the gym to see gymnasts and coaches aren't as connected, so you will have to do a little more of the legwork of researching, sending dd to camps, getting her to e-mail college coaches, etc. My dd was 1st L10 at her gym and is 1st gymnast headed off to college gymnastics. Coach did have some previous experience with 2 girls who went on to college gymnastics about 15 years ago, but the recruiting world has completely changed since then, so we did a lot of the research and outreach. Also, currently bars and vault are the big events colleges are looking for right now due to the changes in college requirements the last couple of years.

 

[Aussie_coach]

How much of a detriment is it if your gym has never put a gymnast directly into college? Our gym produces good gymnasts, some are now elite. But they always leave after level 8 or 9. It's not because the gym doesn't offer level 10 because they do. But it doesn't seem like anyone wants to risk being the first one to stay until graduation. DD (going into level 9) loves the gym and wants to stay put. If she puts up skills and performances/scores similar to girls at the bigger gyms, will college coaches take her seriously?

Someone always has to be the first!

If they produce elites then they certainly have the ability to produce D1 college scholarship gymnasts. But they may not be schooled on the recruiting process, and may not be actively seeking it out for their gymnasts. But if this is your DD's goal, open the lines of communication and make sure they know you want it, and ask what their process is in such circumstances.

It's very strange that gymnasts don't seem to continue with their training as they get older. I wonder if something is causing that? Around here, kids often stick with their club gyms well after graduation, often through university.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It's very strange that gymnasts don't seem to continue with their training as they get older. I wonder if something is causing that? Around here, kids often stick with their club gyms well after graduation, often through university.

My guess is that it is because most kids go away from college, sometimes really far away. Plus, as expensive as club gymnastics is in the US, there wouldn’t be many college students that could afford it. I also don’t think most gyms would prefer it- it’s a very up and out mentality. Girls already in college who are still competing levels “aren’t going anywhere”. We’ve seen one college student who was a L6 and she was super sweet.

 

[ProudDad1234]

Thanks again for the responses. DD definitely likes the idea of being the one of the first to make college out of the gym. We have her signed up for one of the Big 10 college camps this summer. We are going to request a meeting with the owner and head coach to discuss her goals and ensure that they are on board with helping her achieve her goal!

 

[Aussie_coach]

My guess is that it is because most kids go away from college, sometimes really far away. Plus, as expensive as club gymnastics is in the US, there wouldn’t be many college students that could afford it. I also don’t think most gyms would prefer it- it’s a very up and out mentality. Girls already in college who are still competing levels “aren’t going anywhere”. We’ve seen one college student who was a L6 and she was super sweet.

Interesting cultural differences. Most kids here do not go away to college, but continue to live at home while studying at a local University.

We have quite a few college age gymnasts and either their parents tend to still pay their fees for gymnastics classes or the gymnasts also work part time as coaches themselves to cover fees.

Parents don’t usually give up paying for things fully until their student moves out of home, which is often well after finishing University. The student may pay for certain things like their car, clothes, outings etc. They may or may not pay a family contribution to parents to help with household expenses if they have a part time job, or from their government student allowance. But parents often continue to pay for many things.

Gymnastics is also far less competitive in Australia, there isn’t nessesarily the idea that a kid is supposed to “get somewhere” with it. The value is seen in the life skills that gymnastics training provides as well as the strength and fitness.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Interesting cultural differences. Most kids here do not go away to college, but continue to live at home while studying at a local University.

We have quite a few college age gymnasts and either their parents tend to still pay their fees for gymnastics classes or the gymnasts also work part time as coaches themselves to cover fees.

Parents don’t usually give up paying for things fully until their student moves out of home, which is often well after finishing University. The student may pay for certain things like their car, clothes, outings etc. They may or may not pay a family contribution to parents to help with household expenses if they have a part time job, or from their government student allowance. But parents often continue to pay for many things.

Gymnastics is also far less competitive in Australia, there isn’t nessesarily the idea that a kid is supposed to “get somewhere” with it. The value is seen in the life skills that gymnastics training provides as well as the strength and fitness.

Definitely a huge cultural difference. Most people here on the normal college track live in dorms at their college. Some people’s parents help with college expenses, many parents cannot. I know of no one whose parents continue to fund extra curricular activities while in college. In fact, I suggested we may possibly do this for one of our kids and people looked at me like I had two heads.

I do kinda get it from both parent and gym perspective. For parents, we pour a TON of money into our kids and most of us do it happily, but also happy to have a definitive end date in sight. We couldn’t pay for all of the things we do now if it weren’t ending in 2019, when ODD goes to college. My younger DD intends to live home her first two years of college, but that’s different because after those two years she will stil he 17. Going away earlier would be far outside the norm.

For gyms, since they do operate at a loss, and gym IS so competitive, they need to dump their resources into young kids vs college kids. They feel they need results to shout from the rooftops and edge out competition for new gymnasts.

A possible exception to this seems to be T&T, where we regularly see college aged athletes because the age range for elite/international competition seems to be much more forgiving. For now. We’ve noticed ages in T&T are trending down too, which is kinda sad imo.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I can certainly understand why parents in the US are less inclined to pay for extra curricular activities in their college age students, than our parents here in Australia, due to the very high cost of a college education in the US.

Also very interesting is your point about the gym needing to use the younger gymnasts to shout their successes from the roof tops, I am assuming there are a lot more gymnastics clubs in the US too. Our culture is very different as we don’t have the same level of competition. Real estate in Australia is VeRY expensive. Hiring a large venue to open a gymnastics club is not easy, gyms don’t nessesarily make enough money per square metre to justify it. Equipment is also very expensive, there are less than a handful of gymnastics equipment businesses in the entire country, so equipment is not competitively priced. You also can’t buy much from overseas, because the cost to ship large equipment here is phenomenal.

So as a result more than half the gymnastics clubs in the country are not for profit organisations. Just a whole different world.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I can certainly understand why parents in the US are less inclined to pay for extra curricular activities in their college age students, than our parents here in Australia, due to the very high cost of a college education in the US.

Also very interesting is your point about the gym needing to use the younger gymnasts to shout their successes from the roof tops, I am assuming there are a lot more gymnastics clubs in the US too. Our culture is very different as we don’t have the same level of competition. Real estate in Australia is VeRY expensive. Hiring a large venue to open a gymnastics club is not easy, gyms don’t nessesarily make enough money per square metre to justify it. Equipment is also very expensive, there are less than a handful of gymnastics equipment businesses in the entire country, so equipment is not competitively priced. You also can’t buy much from overseas, because the cost to ship large equipment here is phenomenal.

So as a result more than half the gymnastics clubs in the country are not for profit organisations. Just a whole different world.

The funny thing to me is that the more expensive a metro area has been (where we’ve lived), the more gyms there are. We’ve lived in two of the most expensive areas of the US (San Francisco metro and DC metro) and both are positively overflowing with gym options. Both have real estate prices that boggle my mind- median home price in San Fran is 1.6 million, for example- but there are dozens of gym choices. Really expensive gym choices. America is a weird place, huh?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Out of curiosity what sorts of fees would kids be paying for lessons in SAN Fran?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Out of curiosity what sorts of fees would kids be paying for lessons in SAN Fran?

We paid about $400 per month for Xcel (6 hours) and about $450 per month for JO (16-20 hours), plus about $5,000 in assessments (and of course travel and what not). This was lower level stuff, Xcel gold and L5/6.

ETA: the Xcel gym was HUGE- large JO team, completely separate large Xcel team, boys team, T&T team, massive rec program, and rented space for lots of other programs too. They were also a nonprofit, but their fees weren’t any less than other local gyms, and there are tons of rumors that they abuse that status. Those are just rumors though.

 

[Deedee]

The reason why gymnasts are selected from a young age is because it takes years for them to create the strength and flexibility to then keep it as they grow. You have to also calculate a minimum of 2 years into their training to then re train their body, 1 year for puberty and growth and 1 year minimum for injury. To start competitive gymnastics at the age of 10 is a big big challenge and clubs may put you off as they are aware of the challenge and hard work that your child must go through to catch their body up to the necessary strength and flexibility needed. It is ten times harder to train flexibility of a 10 year old then it is for a younger child who then can continue to work on it. It is not also just about being able to acomplish a certain skill but it is also about having the ability to do this skill correctly without just chucking it. As the skill then turns into another skill or combining this with another skill. It is also about learning how to minimise fatigue. With a gymnast who has been training since they were young it has been easier to train them to get through a whole routine with minimum fatigue and teach them how to control this from a young age. It is a lot harder for older gymnasts with the larger skills and routines they need to complete. Even gymnasts who have been training for many years fatigue with higher levels so for a 10 year old who is not certain on how to control this may be an issue also. Don’t get me wrong anything is possible if they are willing to work hard. I just think that the clubs are giving you the truth and that your child may be willing to work hard. But not actually understand how hard they will actually need to work.

 

[Mish]

The funny thing to me is that the more expensive a metro area has been (where we’ve lived), the more gyms there are. We’ve lived in two of the most expensive areas of the US (San Francisco metro and DC metro) and both are positively overflowing with gym options. Both have real estate prices that boggle my mind- median home price in San Fran is 1.6 million, for example- but there are dozens of gym choices. Really expensive gym choices. America is a weird place, huh?

Long Island here; another ridiculously expensive place to live. Can think of at least 10 decent gyms within a half hour. Add another half hour and add 5 more really good ones. It's so funny how here downstate is generally considered less competitive than upstate, and certainly less than other parts of the country, but man, do we have a lot of gyms to choose from!