WAG Gyms in SE suburbs of Boston?

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2gymkids

Proud Parent
That title should say SW!! Not SE!!! Sorry!!

We are getting (hopefully! we have to sell our house first) ready for a move about an hour south, into the SE suburbs of Boston....around 495 south of the MA pike. I've been doing research and it looks like our closest gyms will be Shen's, Marcov Sharp, and McKeon. If anyone knows the area/anything about these gyms and can give me any input, I would be forever grateful! You can PM if you prefer, or let me know if you know of someone in that area I should reach out to...I'd also be happy to hear about other gyms in the area but with three kids, travelling too far probably won't work out all that well.

My daughter is a L4 from New Hampshire, and is both nervous and excited to be moving into MA with the kids she sees as much more competitive. I know it will be an adjustment, as she's at a small, low hours gym now. We are fully anticipating she will repeat L4 as it's been a tough year so far....our main goal is finding somewhere that is a great fit for her and our family that will develop her as a person and a gymnast. She's a great kid but can be timid and struggle with fears so I want to do my due diligence in finding somewhere she can hopefully succeed....she doesn't care about changing schools, neighborhoods, etc....but is very concerned about changing gyms! Our current gym knows about the upcoming move so we will likely start visiting gyms soon in order to make a plan as soon as our house sells- I will likely call at least the three I listed but would love any extra info.
As an aside, I'm most nervous about the move because the small group of parents we're with right now are all relatively normal, super kind and supportive parents. I'm hoping we can find something similar- I'm going to miss these other moms!
Thanks!!!
 
How old is she?
Elite Gymnastics is one of the best ones in that area, in my opinion, but they are pretty selective, so if she is on the older side they might not take her.
Marcov Sharp seems like a good gym. I don't know much about them, but they seem to be very strong in competitions.
 
She's 9, will be 10 in May. She's not used to a super competitive environment, so while she claims to want one, I think it will be a delicate balance. She's a fish in a very small sea right now (her current gym has 4 Level 4, and none of them are superstars).
 
Marcov Sharp seems very strong when we see them at meets. I've never heard of the other two-we are at one of the most competitive gyms in the state, feel free to PM me with questions.
 
from a MA mom - Hampshire is in western MA and is a top competitor in my book. their beam coach was a former olympian and their beam routines (last year when we were lvl 4 and had 2 meets with them) were fantastic. i talked to a mom sitting next to me and she told me about their beam coach. it's in amherst. my dd was good last year but the hampshire girls were just a tad bit better and i think it was a hampshire who took 1st AA in my dd's child category at states. we haven't come up against them this year in level 6 but i did notice a lot of the girls dd was up against last year in 4 went to 5 and then i assume they skip 6 since they don't have any level 6s this year. we have a very small level 6 in MA (in my opinion).

our gym has gone against all 3 of those gyms. i wouldn't say they stand out but are good solid gyms.

Elite (ashland) is a good gym but they lost their amazing level 4 coach to another gym (MGC Waltham). so i don't feel their lower levels are as good as they were. MGC Waltham now, much better since gaining that coach. their upper levels do well also. there are a few MGC locations but i'd only recommend the Waltham one. we compete against them a lot.

10.0 in Stow is another good gym. their girls do really well in competition. i like their team spirit. every single floor routine in the upper levels has some fun clap in it where all the girls on the sidelines clap. they do face tattoos as well. although my dd would hate that.

i would recommend Hampshire, 10.0 and Elite - in that order over the other gyms you mentioned. but if you can't make it to any of my picks, those 3 are decent gyms.

we are southeast. otherwise i'd recommend our gym. ;)

welcome to MA!
 
Ps - Mckeon's does competitive dance as well and I've seen them at dance comps (my oldest dances). They are fantastic in dance but not the same level in gymnastics, imo, going by our run ins with them at meets. I felt they concentrated more on dance with the benefit of tumbling for their dancers. There was a young boy doing fulls and bt, etc on the hard dance floor in dance shoes. Um, yah, no. He was amazing and landed everything perfectly but so not safe!
 
Ps - Mckeon's does competitive dance as well and I've seen them at dance comps (my oldest dances). They are fantastic in dance but not the same level in gymnastics, imo, going by our run ins with them at meets. I felt they concentrated more on dance with the benefit of tumbling for their dancers. There was a young boy doing fulls and bt, etc on the hard dance floor in dance shoes. Um, yah, no. He was amazing and landed everything perfectly but so not safe!

Can I hijack this thread a little?
@e'smum, sounds like you know a lot about competitive dance in MA too. Can you please recommend dance studios?
DD is doing dance now that she quit gymnastics. She is currently in a non competing studio, but really wants to get on a competition team next year. We are looking for one in about the same area OP of this thread is looking. You can PM me if you want. TIA!
 
We compete against all those gyms as well. I agree with all opinions given so far. I'd also add in MEGA in Millis. We have completed against their level 4s twice this year and they are beautiful. My suggestion is everyone is looking for something a bit different each of these gyms is gonna have a different feel. Tryout soon before they solidify levels for next year because I'm sure it's not easy to come in to some of these gyms as they are all pretty big. Compare the hours they range from 10-18 hrs for level 4 and compare where they compete (all instate or out of state) and pricing including competition fees. Most importantly which gym does your daughter feel most welcomed and comfortable. Good luck if you end up 30 min further west let me know we would love to have you give our gym a try.
 
Agree about MEGA, I've mentioned it to OP in PM too. It's a new gym, so people might not know about it, but it's not REALLY new, since most coaches and gymnasts came from NESA, and NESA has always been a pretty strong gym.
 
I can't recommend MEGA for several reasons I won't go in to. But they are at a new facility and it is a smaller team right now b/c they lost a bunch of girls due to their unfortunate circumstances with their facility. I would suggest that the OP look at the other gyms vs. MEGA. All I will say is that it has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with attitude.
 
My daughters and I are extremely happy at MEGA. The facility is new (the old one, NESA, closed down because of asbestos) but the coaches have been around for a long time and know very well what they are doing. I also love the fact that there is great team spirit. We lost several kids with the move but the ones that stayed became like family. On top of that, our athletes are having a great season. You can check our lv4 scores on meetscoresonline. I would recommend trying out at all gyms mentioned above including MEGA and see what is the best fit for you. Good luck!
 
Thanks for everyone's responses and PMs. I really appreciate all the input we can get from people, and I know it will come down to the right fit for the gym and our family. We went to watch a L4 friend at a meet in Mass this weekend and got to see Shen's and MEGA compete, so that was an added bonus. Our plan is to start calling around as soon as Mass L4 states are over next weekend and go from there! She's definitely nervous about the change but getting more excited after she watched some of the other gyms do well yesterday. :)
 
That's awesome I'm so glad you got to that meet. We were there too. It was a great meet and a wonderful display of some of the great talent we have in MA. My daughter moved from ME to MA and she was so nervous trying out at new gyms but knew as soon as we were in the right one. Good luck
 
one more - GLC - Gymnastics Learning Center. They are in Shrewsbury. They are a good solid gym as well. We were at their Hawaiian Luau meet and they are solid on bars and floor. Lacking a bit on beam and vault. To be fair though, one of the toughest judges in MA was on beam for our meet yesterday (and the other really tough judge on bars). Their team won 1st place in our meet.

i think this was our first time going up against them this year so they slipped my mind.
 
one more - GLC - Gymnastics Learning Center. They are in Shrewsbury. They are a good solid gym as well. We were at their Hawaiian Luau meet and they are solid on bars and floor. Lacking a bit on beam and vault. To be fair though, one of the toughest judges in MA was on beam for our meet yesterday (and the other really tough judge on bars). Their team won 1st place in our meet.

i think this was our first time going up against them this year so they slipped my mind.

I'm not sure they are in the area the OP is looking at, but I agree that they are a good gym. One of the coaches there used to be my DD's coach and we loved her. She is a former Olympian (not US).
 
I'm not sure they are in the area the OP is looking at, but I agree that they are a good gym. One of the coaches there used to be my DD's coach and we loved her. She is a former Olympian (not US).

lol - if it's not south shore, i have to look up where it is. lol. it was on the other side of boston. :)
 
one more - GLC - Gymnastics Learning Center. They are in Shrewsbury. They are a good solid gym as well. We were at their Hawaiian Luau meet and they are solid on bars and floor. Lacking a bit on beam and vault. To be fair though, one of the toughest judges in MA was on beam for our meet yesterday (and the other really tough judge on bars). Their team won 1st place in our meet.

i think this was our first time going up against them this year so they slipped my mind.

Thanks! It would be a stretch from a couple of the towns we're looking at but not far at all from one of them!
(I wonder if either of the judges you're talking about is one of my DD's old coaches. She judges all over the place in MA and it is super tough....my DD misses her terribly!)
 

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