gym hopping discussion

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This is a repost, because I couldn't find the "edit" key on post #16. I had a critical error occur, and my computer shut down--I didn't even know it had posted. I needed to separate the quotes from my answers. (Quotes now in bold) Sorry, i'd delete #16 post if I could.

Ohhhh, so much I could say, but I won't ......

Somehow they have even gone back to one gym twice. Not sure how that works?
I've seen that at my dd's gym, it's the owner being nice or extenuating circumstances.

Parents. Have you gym hopped? If so how many times and why? Have you ever been told that your child needs to repeat and then left? If you have gym hopped, do you believe it was beneficial to your child and their advancement in the sport?
No, been at the same gym for 8 years. We've have 3 different owners, though, so it was kind of like hopping--new coaching styles, new coaches, trying out new ways of running things. But we stuck it out and it worked out.

To all. DO gym hoppers get talked about in the back rooms, either in the viewing area or in the coaches room? Is this talked about at meets? Do clubs all know who the hoppers are in their region? DO you watch out for them?
OH YEAH!!! Everyone knows who they are and they get talked about by everyone. (Maybe I shouldn't say that, but its true.) And at meets, everyone seem to know that "xx is here! Who's she with now? I thought she was at **? No, she's at $$ now. Why?" etc.

Lastly, and most importantly, what do you think the effect on the child will be?
Inconsistency in training, missed foundational skills, resentment from the other gymnasts in the area, never feeling like she belongs, can she make friends? Why? she'll be gone soon anyway.

THis is just a topic open for discussion, I was totally floored this morning and want to know if this hopping is normal, it just doesn't happen here and I cannot imagine that any child can adapt to so many changes without huge mental issues.
We've had this in our area and our gym. I know one girl (age 9) who is at her 9th gym in 3 years; another (age 12) on her 6th in 1 1/2 years; another (age 12) on her 4th in 3 years--3rd in a year; another (age 10) who jumped to ours--stayed 6 months--jumped to another for 3 months and is now out of the sport. I could go on, but you get it.

We also had an influx of gymnasts for 2 years in a row from another gym in the area, but most of them are still with us or quit altogether. It was good for us! Yes, most of the moves above occurred when the child was going to have to repeat a level. A couple were for a move, and one was because she just thought our gym/coaches didn't know what they were doing. And they all get talked about, a lot. And it is always "poor child." Our gym has done well in compulsories under our latest owner, since everything has stabilized, and our optionals are doing very well. Last year we had 9 state champions, 11 regional qualifiers, and 2 regional champions. We have a small gym (about 75 girls levels 2-10), but we do pretty well. We aren't the dominators at every meet, but we do have a gymnast competing at an NCAA Div 1 school right now. So we must be doing something right. But some parents think they know best and want their child to be the star and are willing to pay whatever or move wherever, or drive however far to get their kid to the top. Some of our best gymnasts repeated a level and now they are the best ones at their current level. So I don't understand it. I enjoy continuity and feeling like I belong, and our gym is like a family, so I will never understand it.
 
Really good question/thread Bog,

here are my thoughts

Parents. Have you gym hopped? No. But have we thought about moving our Daughter to a different gym? Yes. Two things have stopped us 1, the lack of options in our area and 2. Our Daughter didnt want to move and her mental and physical health wasn't at risk, so it wasn't our decision to move her.

Have you ever been told that your child needs to repeat and then left? DD was told she needed to repeat a level for a 3rd year. We did consider moving but it wasnt because of the level. It was because the HC has blinders on skills for each level. For instance as a L9, in his mind all girls do BHS BHS or BHS BLO for a beam series our DD has a mental block on connecting BHS's on beam. She wanted to try other series and he refused. That is when the discussion started. We didnt want her to go to a new level and not have the skills but we wanted her to have the option of trying new/different skills that suit her abilities. Afterall that is what "Optional Gymnastics" is all about right? After a couple months of stuggle, he pulled her aside and started working a new series. Tomorrow she starts her L9 season with a FHS/BHS beam series.

To all. DO gym hoppers get talked about in the back rooms, either in the viewing area or in the coaches room? ABSOLUTELY! When a girl joins a gym at a competitive level it is all the buzz.. who is she? where did she come from? what happened?

Is this talked about at meets? Yes....

DO you watch out for them? I am going to be honest and upfront here. Yes, I hope and pray that they don't come to DD"s gym. They typically have over agressive parents who are used to getting their way and distrupt everythign. IN DD"s gym all the girls are close and the parents too.. We have one crazy mom come along a few years ago and the gym was chaos..

Lastly, and most importantly, what do you think the effect on the child will be? The amount of time our kids spend in the gym is equal to the amount of time kids spend is school or home awake! what if a child moved schools 8 times in 3 years or moved homes that amount of time? Kids NEED routine and stability to grow and mature. It doesnt matter if that is in school, home or gymnastics.

BTW - GT and Dunno. I respect and admire you both. Your posts are always wise and informative. Thank you for sharing them with us.
 
Well here goes:

Parents have you gym hopped? Well I wouldn't say we have gym hopped but we have moved gyms twice because my daughter outgrew them...the first gym was a small gym and they didn't have a USAG program (and in the beginning I didn't even know to ask about that..) so after a few years we moved on to a gym that did have a USAG program and we were there for 7 years until the coaches couldn't really coach her to the level of skills she needed as a 4th year Level 10 ..so we moved on ...

Have you been told she needed to repeat a level and left? No she never repeated levels.

Do gym hoppers get talked about? I know when we moved this last time there was definitely a buzz as to why we left and where we were going...and to this day, her old coaches still talk about her (I know from friends still at the old gym). My decision (yes, it was MY decision and not hers because I write the check) to switch gyms at the point that we did was validated by the fact that she got the skill in question with 2 weeks of the move and has competed it at every meet since (our old gym had maintained that she was "uncoachable" on this particular type of skill and obviously that was not the case ...they just didn't know how to coach it) ...

Is this talked about at meets? It used to be ...and when we are at a meet with her old gym, the coach stalks her at every event...

Effect on the child/gymnast? The switch has been totally beneficial to my daughter...she has total confidence when she competes and feels much better about her gymnastics and it shows in her scores...since the switch, her AA scores have been mostly 37+.


I think the case of the gymnast who had 8 gyms in 3 years is a bit much but sometimes there is a valid reason to switch gyms. A lot of people in our area don't change gyms because of the area we are in and other people happily flip from Gym A to B to C and back to A without missing a beat or thinking that it is an issue...I think some people think of it like "today I shop at Walmart, tomorrow at Stop & Shop and next week at Whole Foods" as more of a consumer type issue..
 
Yes I have gym hopped because I was told my child had to repeat a level. For two years my DD tried out for team at her first gym. The first time she didn't make it I was ok with her staying in a preteam type program. The 2nd time I was angry that she was going to repeat preteam again. She had all but 1 skill need for team. I had a meeting with the coaches to find out why she didn't get selected for team. I got some really vague answers. One of the biggest reasons they said they didn't move to to L4 was because they didn't think she could learn the routines. I was frustrated but stayed. It became more and more frustrating to watch preteam practice. The other girls were working on backbends and kickovers and my DD could do a pretty good roundoff bhs. On bars the coach spent all her time help girls with pullovers and back hip circles while my DD was left to her self because she has had those skills for over 2 years. When preteam in sept when the schedule changed the L4 were working out at the same time I spend some time watching them. My DD had more skills then most of the newbies. It then dawned on my that the gym just didn't believe in my DD. I began to wonder if they don't believe in her now she would probably struggle with them all the time. We switched in Oct a little more then two years ago. My DD desperately wanted to be on team and we needed to find coaches to believe in her. We switch to another team that we knew all along was the better program but was twice as far away. On her first day of tryout at the new gym they said she had a spot with them and she would start competeing in just 2 mos. time. Yes she struggled to learn the routines. I paid for many privates in L4 and the next year in L5. Teh coaches involved me in helping her learn the routines. They asked questions to figure out what worked best for her. They wanted her to be successful. She beat all of the girls from her old gym whenever they competed together. Year 2 when she was competeing L5 all those girls that were chosen over her repeated L4. Just a little over 2 years later she is getting ready for her first L7 meet. Sorry for the ramble. I just wanted to present a different side of the story. Sometimes when kids are made to repeat levels and parents move there may be more to the story then everybody around them realizes.
 
I have been reading this thread with interest. We changed gyms back in July and it was the best decision for us. Had we stayed, I am sure my daughhter would have quit the sport without ever even having a chance to compete. Looking back, there were a lot of politics about who got moved and who didn't at the old gym. I just wasn't willing to play politics with a six year old.

When we switched gym, I selected a much smaller and less intense environment. That said, when we moved, they only had girls at L4 and L5. so, I switched knowing full well that we might end up switching again in two more years. They are growing their team and hope to have a few girls at optionals next year, but it is definitely an unknown. I am okay with that because I think sometimes you have to go with what is good for now and not worry about down the road. She is in a very positive environment in which she is learning and growing and achieving her goals--she just started level four and should be ready to compete by the fall. I am very happy for that.

There definitely is a difference, I think, between gym hoppers who change every few months than parents who move gyms in specific circumstances.

Blue
 
DD is already on her 2nd gym and she's only been in gymnastics right at 2 years, but the first gym was just the closest to our house. I saw pretty quickly that I wouldn't be happy having my child compete for this gym that was getting last place at every meet. I don't expect her to be first, but middle of the pack would be nice. I know alot of parents switch when they don't want their child to repeat a level, but a big factor in switching for us was wanting her to compete L4 and they wanted to push her on through. They moved everyone on her team to L5 and they were not strong L4's. Many struggled with the skills, much less the details it requires to score well. They consistently scored in the 29-31 range and were completely missing skills especially on bars. How will they ever score well in Level 5 on bars?

This question made me think of what a normal number of gym changes is for a kid who competes through high school and let's just say makes it to level 10. Not taking into account factors beyond your control like job changes, gyms closing etc, I think 3 gyms is a normal number over the span of a career. The first gym where a child starts out as a preschooler in my opinion doesn't really count. For most parents it's just the closest thing to your house. You enroll your child for fun, not for competitive gymnastics. Then you wise up when you see what's out there and maybe move to a gym that will allow your child to compete at those first levels. Hopefully you are lucky enough to have a gym that your child will never outgrow, but in our area there are many gyms that have solid L4-7 girls, but nothing competitive after that. Even if the gym is great your child might have move gyms to have access to higher level coaching. I think that's a pretty normal path.
 
I feel like we've gym hopped a bit but have had valid reasons. My daughter has been in gymnastics for almost 2 years. The first gym was GREAT and I really wish we were still there, but we moved across country so that's not possible. I put her in preschool classes at gym #2 when we moved to where we are now and she was there for about 4 months. We became members of our local YMCA and I found out they had a team program and were starting up a new pre-team group for 4-5 year olds so I switched her there. It was much closer to us (10 minutes vs. 35-45 minutes) and a lot, A LOT less expensive. It was great at first because they were able to go during the day since none of the kids were in school yet, and they pretty much had the gym to themselves. When summer hit, the entire team started coming during the day and my daughter's group got pushed in a corner. They even had to go warm-up in a conference room on carpet.. They never worked on the beams and had to do all of their floor stuff in a vaulting lane. We stayed there through the summer but I inquired back at gym #2 and found out that they were about to start up a new pre-team group for 4-6 year olds and that they remembered her and would love to have her...so back we went. And now we're done with the gym hopping.

If she continues to love gymnastics and if money permits I REALLY want to stay where we are because I love the structure of this gym (and boy does my daughter need structure), I love her coaches and they seem to have a really good program. No more gym hopping for us!

And yes, 8 gyms in 3 years just seems crazy! I can't even imagine that...it must be super expensive paying all the join fees, team leo fees and all that other stuff as well. No thanks.
 
Well here goes:

Parents have you gym hopped? Well I wouldn't say we have gym hopped but we have moved gyms twice because my daughter outgrew them...the first gym was a small gym and they didn't have a USAG program (and in the beginning I didn't even know to ask about that..) so after a few years we moved on to a gym that did have a USAG program and we were there for 7 years until the coaches couldn't really coach her to the level of skills she needed as a 4th year Level 10 ..so we moved on ...

Have you been told she needed to repeat a level and left? No she never repeated levels.

Do gym hoppers get talked about? I know when we moved this last time there was definitely a buzz as to why we left and where we were going...and to this day, her old coaches still talk about her (I know from friends still at the old gym). My decision (yes, it was MY decision and not hers because I write the check) to switch gyms at the point that we did was validated by the fact that she got the skill in question with 2 weeks of the move and has competed it at every meet since (our old gym had maintained that she was "uncoachable" on this particular type of skill and obviously that was not the case ...they just didn't know how to coach it) ...

Is this talked about at meets? It used to be ...and when we are at a meet with her old gym, the coach stalks her at every event...

Effect on the child/gymnast? The switch has been totally beneficial to my daughter...she has total confidence when she competes and feels much better about her gymnastics and it shows in her scores...since the switch, her AA scores have been mostly 37+.


I think the case of the gymnast who had 8 gyms in 3 years is a bit much but sometimes there is a valid reason to switch gyms. A lot of people in our area don't change gyms because of the area we are in and other people happily flip from Gym A to B to C and back to A without missing a beat or thinking that it is an issue...I think some people think of it like "today I shop at Walmart, tomorrow at Stop & Shop and next week at Whole Foods" as more of a consumer type issue..

yep^^^^^^^^^^^^all in bold are the very reasons level 10's must move. 7 years is a long time. if they couldn't figure it out in that amount of time...well...you know the rest.
 
Parents. Have you gym hopped? If so how many times and why? Have you ever been told that your child needs to repeat and then left? If you have gym hopped, do you believe it was beneficial to your child and their advancement in the sport? No, we have never gym hopped. Dd has been at the same gym for over 10+ years now. My dd did do a 2nd year of L8. It was hard at the time because she had her L9 skills, but as HC put it, she wasn't mentally ready. I have blind faith in her HC and although I wasn't thrilled that she was repeating, she went with the 2nd yr of 8. In the end it was the best possible thing that she could of done, her confidence just soared and this year she is a very confident L9 about to compete her 1st meet next Saturday!

To all. DO gym hoppers get talked about in the back rooms, either in the viewing area or in the coaches room? Is this talked about at meets? Do clubs all know who the hoppers are in their region? DO you watch out for them? It is definitely talked about by the parents, in the viewing area because everyone wants to know why so & so left or if there has been evident drama due to leaving child it is definitely talked about. I think the main conversation focuses around drama. If there is no drama in the leaving than it really isn't discussed.

Lastly, and most importantly, what do you think the effect on the child will be? Excessive hopping can not be any good, period! There are legitimate reasons to leave a gym, I am not denying that, but the family you described in the OP sounds insane. There is something to be said about having blind faith in your coach, knowing that they know what they are doing and letting them do it. A good coach knows what they are doing and in gymnastics they know better than any parent. If a child is being asked to repeat a level, there are many reasons that could be done. There is more to the sport than just have skills and even skills with good form. Skill-wise my dd was ready for 9, form too, but as coach said she would of been feeding her to the sharks if she sent her out there. I had to let go of my pride and let the coach make the call. It's not about making 10 at the youngest age possible, because they all end up there eventually, it's about making 10 and being able to do the skills, have the form, being mentally stable and being able to sustain doing 10 for the rest of their career! That's the hard part....
 
There was a post or two that discussed the social / trust problems of moving a girl away from her coach / teammates. Well I think that might be valid at the higher levels, but what struck me was that most people have their kids in school 6+ hours a day, 9+ months a year, and nobody blinks if the child is assigned a new teacher every single year, and is continually shuffled around each fall so that their classmates change. So I don't really see what the big deal is. Kids make friends fairly quickly. Sure, it's great to have roots. But in most other areas of life, roots are not prioritized. So I wonder if this is ... to some extent ... an objection searching for a rationale. And if you are schoolers and think it's not, do you all have your kids in Waldorf so they have the same teacher all through their time there?

I think once they are at the really tough levels yeah, that's like ... soldiers in the trenches stuff. But not at L2 or L3. Heck, at preteam - L5 isn't it likely they may have completely different coaches for each level of the same gym. Or ... for that matter ... for people who are concerned that people shouldn't leave when they are asked to repeat a level, well, if the concern is their teammate bonds, they are losing them anyway if they are the only one repeating, so if there's a better fit for the family in terms of distance, schedule, etc. that is probably exactly the time to move because they are losing the companionship of their known teammates anyway -- at the lower levels.

Just my rookie thoughts.
 
There was a post or two that discussed the social / trust problems of moving a girl away from her coach / teammates. Well I think that might be valid at the higher levels, but what struck me was that most people have their kids in school 6+ hours a day, 9+ months a year, and nobody blinks if the child is assigned a new teacher every single year, and is continually shuffled around each fall so that their classmates change. So I don't really see what the big deal is. Kids make friends fairly quickly. Sure, it's great to have roots. But in most other areas of life, roots are not prioritized. So I wonder if this is ... to some extent ... an objection searching for a rationale. And if you are schoolers and think it's not, do you all have your kids in Waldorf so they have the same teacher all through their time there?

I think once they are at the really tough levels yeah, that's like ... soldiers in the trenches stuff. But not at L2 or L3. Heck, at preteam - L5 isn't it likely they may have completely different coaches for each level of the same gym. Or ... for that matter ... for people who are concerned that people shouldn't leave when they are asked to repeat a level, well, if the concern is their teammate bonds, they are losing them anyway if they are the only one repeating, so if there's a better fit for the family in terms of distance, schedule, etc. that is probably exactly the time to move because they are losing the companionship of their known teammates anyway -- at the lower levels.

Just my rookie thoughts.

A school setting is TOTALLY not the same thing! First of all a normal 5-8yr old is changing classes and teachers ONCE at the beginning of the school year, NOT being removed from ALL her classmates and teacher THREE times in the coarse of the school year (which is what it would be to average out 8 switches in 3 years).

On average that parent from the OP is pulling their kid out of a gym 3x a year and then putting her in a new gym, where she has to make ALL new friends and learn the teaching styles of ALL new coaches EACH time. It's not like a school where the teacher is still there in the building (in the same school system which has a standarized style that school sticks to throughout the grade levels) and some if not most of the class moves on to the next grade with her. I really don't see how you could possibly compare those two situations.

Would you pull your dd out of her school system and move her districts 3x a year? How do you think making new friends would go for her if you did? I don't think that sounds like a great way to socialize my dd and would never dream of doing that to her.

BEFORE you reply - keep in mind that I'm talking about the extreme situation the OP stated. Please don't lambast me with "i moved my dd to a different gym last year and she loves it" UNLESS you're saying that you've moved your dd to 3 different gyms (or school systems) in the last year and she loved every one of those moves and has BFFs at every one of them that she still has playdates with teammates from everyone of those gyms b/c she became so close to them during her few short weeks in every one of them.
 
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I think every situation is different but the orginal post about the child switching gyms 8 times those parent are just crazy. My older daughter who only did rec gymnastics went to a couple of different gyms but I think that is a different case than my youngest who does competitive, she has been with her gym for almost 6 years. After her first year competing we contemplated switching ( she was unhappy that she did not make states and alot of her teammates left) she did try out at another gym but after a week was begging to go back to her old gym. She ended up repeating level 4 was totally fine and since then I think we have come to realize that her present gym has the best program in our area, she also got some new coaches who have been awesome. I do not think I would consider switching unless my daughter became very unhappy at her gym and even then it would be difficult. I feel that she is the one doing the sport and she should be making those decisions. I quess I do not look at is I am managing her career but as she is doing a sport she loves and I will support her and cheer her on. I wonder how that poor child feels about all those moves it has to be tough on her. I really think it is more about keeping them happy in the sport not pushing them up the levels if they are in a good program and they like going to practice that will come naturally.
 
There was a post or two that discussed the social / trust problems of moving a girl away from her coach / teammates. Well I think that might be valid at the higher levels, but what struck me was that most people have their kids in school 6+ hours a day, 9+ months a year, and nobody blinks if the child is assigned a new teacher every single year, and is continually shuffled around each fall so that their classmates change. So I don't really see what the big deal is. Kids make friends fairly quickly. Sure, it's great to have roots. But in most other areas of life, roots are not prioritized. So I wonder if this is ... to some extent ... an objection searching for a rationale. And if you are schoolers and think it's not, do you all have your kids in Waldorf so they have the same teacher all through their time there?

I think once they are at the really tough levels yeah, that's like ... soldiers in the trenches stuff. But not at L2 or L3. Heck, at preteam - L5 isn't it likely they may have completely different coaches for each level of the same gym. Or ... for that matter ... for people who are concerned that people shouldn't leave when they are asked to repeat a level, well, if the concern is their teammate bonds, they are losing them anyway if they are the only one repeating, so if there's a better fit for the family in terms of distance, schedule, etc. that is probably exactly the time to move because they are losing the companionship of their known teammates anyway -- at the lower levels.

Just my rookie thoughts.

Well yeah, it is different if they are in preteam, and it hasn't been such a commitment. Moving gyms is like moving to a whole new school or a whole new town...even within a gym you generally move coaches like you would move teachers at school as it is fairly unsual for team programs that go to level 10 to have the same full time coaches from preteam to level 10.

Additionally I had a much stronger relationship with my coaches than any of my teachers in high school. I realize some people do form strong relationships with teachers probably due to interests or activities or whatever but I had that with my gymnastics coaches. I was one that said, for me, and this is true - that moving gyms at the stage I did was devastating. Seriously. It was worse than moving schools would have been. I really believe that. I think I would have adjusted better to changing schools mid-high school than gyms.

That's not to say that sometimes moves aren't an improvement. I have seen many people for whom that is the case. But to move on a whim (which I did not do, and I never saw this happening either) would be a big mistake in my opinion. And in the more extreme cases I have seen, it was just like nothing was good enough. Gyms that I know had excellent programs and it was like if they didn't promise the stars, that was it. That I do think is a mistake. I know one case it worked out in (though she ended up going back to a program she started in...) but in most cases it did not.
 
No, we have yet to gym hop. Yes, the hoppers are talked about a lot. The coaches don't look upon the hoppers kindly. Usually the gym hoppers are the crazy parents who weren't happy at their gym and are not happy at ours either. They really think their daugther is the next olympian and the coaches are not doing enough for their pre-teamer. And to make things worse, they coach their daughters from the sideline and never shut their mouth about blah blah blah. (Can you tell I just can't really stantd this?) I don't know what effect it will have on the child but if the parents don't get a life of their own, gymnastics may be the least of the gymnast's problems.
This will be my daughter's third year at our gym and one of the optional coaches was actually laughing this week because my dd has been in their pre-team program for SO long. She got put in it at 3 and usually the girls are between 5 and 6 when they start our preteam.
We actually have a new 5 year old that is driving from the next state start who was a state champion at level 3 this year. Her mom came in with her daughter and quickly realized that her daughter is way behind our girls as far as form and skills and most likely will not make our level 4 team. She came in saying that her daughter was a level 4 and the coaches quickly realized that wasn't true. The mom looks like a deer in the headlights. I wonder if she will stick it out or find yet another gym. Oh, and I have to listen to her twice a week. I just get up and walk the newborn around.
 
BEFORE you reply - keep in mind that I'm talking about the extreme situation the OP stated. Please don't lambast me with "i moved my dd to a different gym last year and she loves it" UNLESS you're saying that you've moved your dd to 3 different gyms (or school systems) in the last year and she loved every one of those moves and has BFFs at every one of them that she still has playdates with teammates from everyone of those gyms b/c she became so close to them during her few short weeks in every one of them.

Great point.... Changing gyms 8 times in 3 years is a red flag that there is an over-involved parent involved here.
 
Yes, we’re gym hoppers. No, it’s never been about levels. And yes, I know people talk. But, it really doesn’t matter because even if people knew all the reasons behind our moves, it wouldn’t stop the talk because the snarky gossip and speculation is always more entertaining than the truth.

I will add a bit of food for thought, though. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about why someone has changed gyms, consider that there might be extenuating circumstances to which the judgmental masses might not be privy. Also consider that it takes a little while to determine if a gym is going to be the right fit, both for the gymnast and for the family. What looks like hopping might just be the realization that a particular gym situation just isn’t going to work for whatever reason, financial issues, location or transportation issues, scheduling conflicts or time constraints, just to name a few. Now, I can’t imagine what could cause eight moves in three years but you just never know what’s really going on. We shouldn’t assume the worst.
 
bogwoppit invited comments from coaches in her original post, although not precisely on this related topic: How do coaches feel when a gymnast hops?

I suppose that it might depend somewhat on the gymnast’s competitive level insofar as that is related to the length of the coach-gymnast relationship and thus the investment in time, energy, and emotion that the coach has made. dunno noted that in his area level 9 and 10 gymnasts are not welcomed back if they have hopped to another gym, but that seemed related to the difficulty of implementing a coherent long-term training plan in such circumstances. I wonder more about the emotional aspect of gym hopping for a coach who has, in her view, long had the athlete’s best interest at heart, and if that has any impact on the issue of hopping.
 
Yes, we’re gym hoppers. No, it’s never been about levels. And yes, I know people talk. But, it really doesn’t matter because even if people knew all the reasons behind our moves, it wouldn’t stop the talk because the snarky gossip and speculation is always more entertaining than the truth.

Setting aside anything that parents may talk about in regards to gym hoppers.... I know for a fact that it's the coaches/owners who discuss this the most - it really effects them the most after all if the gym hopper shows up their gym. I really don't think that the concern of coaches/owners taking on a known gym hopper is being 'snarky gossip' that is having valid business concerns. And maybe if the gym hopper leaves the Region, they aren't talked about as much, but I know that the Region owners and coaches all discuss extreme gym hoppers (again, not talking about 1 or 2 switches few and far between) when they get together. This is their livelyhood and they don't want to invest in a gymnast whose parent will either will pull their dd out before really showing the changes that the coaches are trying to make in the gymnast or cause major drama in the lobby with their constant (why aren't they doing this, my dd is way better than that) complaining .

I don't know what caused your 'gym hopping' or how many times you've hopped in what time frame that you're calling yourself a gym hopper, but you should be aware that it's the coaches and owners that will be talking about all the hopping around. As your dd gets in to higher levels, it's the college coaches that will be discussing it as well if it is extreme. Parents of the new gym and old talk, but it's not like parents at every gym in the Region talk about it (unless they've been to Every gym in the Region, lol).

AGAIN - if you're referring to a gym switch or 2 over a career, that's not what I call extreme hopping - I'm referring multiple changes in a very short time. And I really don't consider trying out a gym and then deciding that that's not the right fit switching (there is no commitment in a try-out period on the part of either the gymnasts' family or the gym for that matter)
 
Setting aside anything that parents may talk about in regards to gym hoppers.... I know for a fact that it's the coaches/owners who discuss this the most - it really effects them the most after all if the gym hopper shows up their gym. I really don't think that the concern of coaches/owners taking on a known gym hopper is being 'snarky gossip' that is having valid business concerns.

You make a good point. I wasn't referring to the gym owners and coaches gossiping (at least not the professionals). I was talking about the parents and the lobby talk. When a gymnast is joining a gym, I would expect that her parents would discuss her history with the owner/coach and their reasons for making a change. I would also expect that if the HC/O has concerns, he/she will contact the old gym to see what happened (in our area, HC/Os will also make sure that someone didn't leave their previous gym still owing them any money). That kind of talk is between the gymnast, her family, and the HC/O and certainly does not constitute gossip.
 
You're right, the switches in the OP's example were much more extreme than switching teachers / classmates once a year. It was just an analogy that popped into my head.
 

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