WAG Gym switch

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Twinmom

Proud Parent
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
 
It is true that the number of hours in the gym is not messesarily the biggest factor in determining success. It mostly comes Dow. To the quality of the coaches and the environment atbthe gym.

But the gym that requires only 5 hours, and is getting the top scores, may have more to the story. They require on,y 5 hours, but they might not have any girls actually doing only 5 hours. All the one sgetting the good scores, might not be doing 5 hours either.
 
THere are lots of variables - the 5 hour gym might only allow certain gymnasts on their team while the 13 hour gym welcomes everyone, or 5 hour gym might keep kids training in a preteam type group longer until skills are perfected and are allowed to compete, or 5 hour gym might compete minimum skills required for level that will receive fewer deductions and do simple routines while 13 hour gym allows girls to compete more and bigger skills that may receive some deductions. Or the 5 hour gym might just have better qualified, skilled coaches, entirely possible.
 
THere are lots of variables - the 5 hour gym might only allow certain gymnasts on their team while the 13 hour gym welcomes everyone, or 5 hour gym might keep kids training in a preteam type group longer until skills are perfected and are allowed to compete, or 5 hour gym might compete minimum skills required for level that will receive fewer deductions and do simple routines while 13 hour gym allows girls to compete more and bigger skills that may receive some deductions. Or the 5 hour gym might just have better qualified, skilled coaches, entirely possible.

Yes to the part of minimum skills for fewer deductions. That’s why we didn’t like the Xcel program and switched to JO. We were tired of watching DD challenge herself and compete harder skills only to get beat by gymnasts doing the bare minimum. Did you compare the routines and skills competed? Was the 5 hour gym competing easier skills or the same skills as the 13 hour gym? That can tell you a lot. Also 5 hour gym key word is “minimum.” The better question to ask is how many hours do the top scorers in your gym put in?
 
Beyond what others have said, I would also look and see if the girls scoring high have been competing for a long time. Do they have a lot of girls who repeated silver, or spent a couple years in Bronze? Polish and getting details right can come from competing for a couple of years.

Also, I know from experience that some gyms just have a really competitive Xcel team. Maybe they only take young, petite girls for JO, so there is a lot of talent funneled to Xcel (there is a gym near us that does this).

And while it is good point that simple routines tend to score higher, my DD's current Xcel-only gym definitely competes skills well above the minimum, and they still score very high. But that may be because most girls are repeating silver/gold and have a year or two of competition experience.
 
Yes, there are a ton of reasons. We are an Xcel team that does very well. Most girls do minimum routines. This is because we go low hours, with a high student to teacher ratio, and there is zero uptraining through the season. My DD does an upgraded bars routine and still scores well, because her bars is very clean. She knew going into the season that girls would be competing against her doing the routine she did last year. That she has several extra elements and it would be harder to beat them. She didn't care. She loves the new skills.

There is one team that just KILLS us at every meet. They don't really go more hours. I did just get confirmation from a friend that they are using Xcel to funnel girls they think are potential elites or NCAA gymnasts past compulsories. So that makes a lot of sense. I've also heard they have a great student/teacher ratio.

One gym in our area just started an Xcel team, taking girls from their in-house league. Their girls go very low hours for level and look fantastic. But having knowledge of that gym, I know those girls took MANY years to get to that level and, at that number of hours, will most likely spend many years at that level before they get the skills to move up. You wouldn't know that unless you knew the gym.
 
I vote for investigating a little further. Stop by the gyms if you can and observe. My DD competed Xcel Bronze (at age 7) at a gym with high scoring Xcel gymnasts. In fact, my DD almost always had AA scores in the mid 37's. However, she was not happy at that gym for a variety of reasons. I could write a book, but in a nut-shell, Xcel was treated as sloppy seconds (no FB posts, no team activities/banquet, Xcel team banners weren't even hung up). In addition, the Xcel teams were largely comprised of girls who wanted to compete JO (and would have been successful in JO) but didn't make the cut because the HC wanted an extremely small JO team and a very specific body type. My DD and many other Xcel girls left the gym.

On the other hand, an extra 20 minute drive for a more positive gym experience may well be worth it. Our gym switch added about 25-30 extra minutes one way, but it was definitely a good decision.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
All super helpful responses- thank you!!
What you have all said makes so much sense. I know that the 5+ hour gym sees Excel as a super-flexible, low-key option for girls who want to do other sports, etc. I have a feeling they stick to the minimum as far as skills. I will definitely go observe myself and ask questions though.
I also plan to talk to the owner of our gym about some of my concerns. I have a feeling they are still trying to work out some kinks with coaching staff, space, etc. so I’m inclined to give it a little more time and see what happens (especially after reading all of the feedback here about what may be behind the scenes). :)
 
Possible reasons Lower hour team does well:
1. Low hour gym may have smaller groups or more equipment for less downtime.
2. Maybe they have a very particular JO team and the "lesser than" gymnasts go to Xcel. These would be gymnasts that would be high JO scorers at other gyms.
4. They choreograph routines to minimize deductions. They only allow harder skills if they are close to perfection.
5. They have a lot of repeaters. I have heard of gyms that REQUIRE girls to compete 2 years at each Xcel Division, no matter how well they score the first year.
6. They have better coaching... or more coaches... or more stringent team requirements.
 

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