WAG Evaluating a gym

[Scout1031]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading the forums for a while but (finally) signed up.

I am in the process of looking for a new gym for my two daughters. One just finished level 3, the other is on pre team. I’ve read many recent threads about evaluating gyms. It seems one common recommendation is to make sure a gym has homegrown high level gymnasts.

I was wondering if I could describe a gym that we are leaning towards, and see what people think.

The gym is known in our state as being strong. They consistently (over decades) have sent girls to division 1 teams. The optionals program as a whole seems very strong. However, out of the current level 9 & 10 team, there is not a single homegrown gymnast. In fact, going back several years I can only find a couple (and not the most successful ones). So this seems like a big red flag.

On the other hand, the current level 6 & 7 team was successful this year and almost all have only been at this gym. Most of them did not score very well in levels 3&4 (33-35), but then were at 36/37 starting in 6. Very little repeating. The level 4 team this year did well. The level 3s not quite as well but many were really young. Does any of this mitigate the current lack of homegrown level 9/10s?

I am trying to think of a way to ask the gym about this but I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t come across as rude.

 

[sce]

Sounds like there is potential there. How long has the gym been around? Has there been a major coaching change?

 

[momnipotent]

I think the concern with home-grown upper levels is a concern that if the gym doesn’t have many, the compulsory program may not be strong enough to produce them. With that said, it sounds like there may have been a coaching change within the last few years, and the current strong 6/7 homegrown team and this year’s 4s who did well, I would think something changed. Personally, I feel like I can learn a lot by watching, so I would not necessarily mention it to the gym, but ask for a trial class or 2 and observe. How much conditioning do they do? Is there a focus on technique? What is the coach/athlete ratio? etc. If I was happy with everything I saw, the question I might ask is “what is the philosophy of the gym regarding compulsory gymnastics and does that philosophy change when the athletes get to optionals?” Based on the answer to that question, you might be able to determine how you feel the gym approaches training each group of girls.

 

[Scout1031]

Yes we did a trial already. I liked what I saw and my girls liked it...I’m just still so new to all this that I don’t necessarily trust myself to know what to look for.

I did hear that the main compulsory coaches came on 3-4 years ago so that may have caused a change. My feeling just being in the gym and watching practice was that the program is strong, I just got a little worried reading all the posts about the importance of homegrown gymnasts.

 

[momnipotent]

With your updated information I would feel very comfortable giving it a shot. The current homegrown 6/7 team would have been the first groups of compulsories under the current coaches 3 years ago, so it looks like they brought a good change with them.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading the forums for a while but (finally) signed up.

I am in the process of looking for a new gym for my two daughters. One just finished level 3, the other is on pre team. I’ve read many recent threads about evaluating gyms. It seems one common recommendation is to make sure a gym has homegrown high level gymnasts.

I was wondering if I could describe a gym that we are leaning towards, and see what people think.

The gym is known in our state as being strong. They consistently (over decades) have sent girls to division 1 teams. The optionals program as a whole seems very strong. However, out of the current level 9 & 10 team, there is not a single homegrown gymnast. In fact, going back several years I can only find a couple (and not the most successful ones). So this seems like a big red flag.

On the other hand, the current level 6 & 7 team was successful this year and almost all have only been at this gym. Most of them did not score very well in levels 3&4 (33-35), but then were at 36/37 starting in 6. Very little repeating. The level 4 team this year did well. The level 3s not quite as well but many were really young. Does any of this mitigate the current lack of homegrown level 9/10s?

I am trying to think of a way to ask the gym about this but I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t come across as rude.

well..... I always say a red flag is a red flag. Bringing kids to level 7 is one thing, bringing them to 10 is another universe.

 

[3rd_time_around]

My personal opinion: I don't think the numbers or percentages of "homegrown" gymnasts really matters in assessing a gym. What should be looked at? Is the training consistent? Are the coaches competent, kind, and engaged? Do they seem to care about their gymnasts and don't treat it like its just a paycheck? Do they have a track record of success? There are a lot of factors that come into play when girls quit, such as fear, growth spurts, academics, time constraints, other interests, age they started, family moves, etc. You can't really assess a gym based on how many made it from level 4 to level 10 at the same place. Also, maybe the original teams were small. Such as, when my daughter started, her level 4 team had 6 gymnasts; the level 5 team had 11; the level 6 team had 4, the entire optional team had 17 levels 7 - 10. When the new owners her 2nd year took over, they added lower levels with up to 24 gymnasts. Of the 6 on my dd's team, only she made it to level 10 as a senior in high school, and she could not compete her last 2 years due to injuries. Of the 11 in Level 5, 1 gymnast made it to level 10 and then to a DI school. The lower levels with lots more members had a better record of retaining gymnasts through levels 9 and 10, but even then it was just a couple. It's a tough sport, and very few actually make it to Level 10.