at the risk of sounding redundant... going to post a question about switching gyms I don’t know any other gym parents in real life and my daughter is new to competitive gymnastics so I’m hoping to get some feedback here from those more experienced.
My daughter (she’s 9) is in her first meet season, competing Excel Silver. She’s been doing gymnastics on and off since she was 4, the gyms (we moved so we switched when she was 8) have always asked her to join the developmental/JO team but we have said no as a family up to now because we have other kids and it just felt like too much of a commitment all around (for her and us) - Excel has been a good compromise. She has really enjoyed competing and she’s done well-ish. When I say that, I mean that she’s done well compared to everyone at HER gym. My eyes have been a bit opened since going to these meets and seeing girls from other local gyms compete. They are more polished, more skilled, and generally just seem to be having more fun My daughter asked me after this last meet why the other girls seem so much more ‘professional’. I did a little research- I assumed that it must be more training hours (her level trains 6 at her gym)- and discovered that that isn’t necessarily the case. I looked at the other gym’s meet scores, and called to ask about training hours. Our gym had the lowest meet scores, one gym I spoke with that allows their girls at that level to train a minimum of 5 hours had the top scores, and the gym with 13 mandatory training hours was in the middle. I’m sure meet scores aren’t everything- but is their such a thing as efficiency in coaching? Gym A can get done in 5 hours what gym B is doing in 13? I’m not really sure what’s going on at our gym, the owners are very nice but it is a new gym and I think they are just building their teams and their identity. My daughter’s direct coach is is not my (or her) favorite.
Anyway, this is such a long explanation to say essentially- is it worth it to drive an extra 20 minutes each way to go to gym A which has a great reputation and seems to produce great gymnasts? I really would feel guilty leaving our gym but I feel like my daughter is putting in so much time, energy, and heart, (and we are putting in so much money and effort as a family), she deserves to have the best coaching available to her- right?? My husband thinks I’m crazy for even considering driving the extra 20 minutes. So there’s that, lol
My daughter (she’s 9) is in her first meet season, competing Excel Silver. She’s been doing gymnastics on and off since she was 4, the gyms (we moved so we switched when she was 8) have always asked her to join the developmental/JO team but we have said no as a family up to now because we have other kids and it just felt like too much of a commitment all around (for her and us) - Excel has been a good compromise. She has really enjoyed competing and she’s done well-ish. When I say that, I mean that she’s done well compared to everyone at HER gym. My eyes have been a bit opened since going to these meets and seeing girls from other local gyms compete. They are more polished, more skilled, and generally just seem to be having more fun My daughter asked me after this last meet why the other girls seem so much more ‘professional’. I did a little research- I assumed that it must be more training hours (her level trains 6 at her gym)- and discovered that that isn’t necessarily the case. I looked at the other gym’s meet scores, and called to ask about training hours. Our gym had the lowest meet scores, one gym I spoke with that allows their girls at that level to train a minimum of 5 hours had the top scores, and the gym with 13 mandatory training hours was in the middle. I’m sure meet scores aren’t everything- but is their such a thing as efficiency in coaching? Gym A can get done in 5 hours what gym B is doing in 13? I’m not really sure what’s going on at our gym, the owners are very nice but it is a new gym and I think they are just building their teams and their identity. My daughter’s direct coach is is not my (or her) favorite.
Anyway, this is such a long explanation to say essentially- is it worth it to drive an extra 20 minutes each way to go to gym A which has a great reputation and seems to produce great gymnasts? I really would feel guilty leaving our gym but I feel like my daughter is putting in so much time, energy, and heart, (and we are putting in so much money and effort as a family), she deserves to have the best coaching available to her- right?? My husband thinks I’m crazy for even considering driving the extra 20 minutes. So there’s that, lol