Parents How many gymnasts on a team/per coach

[GymSkills]

What’s the average number of gymnasts on a team for the lower levels? Our gym has combined groups this summer (a split 3/4 - level 3 redos, new level 4s and second year level 4s) and there are 24+ girls training together with two coaches. It looks like an ant hill during practice.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Our gym has about 25 upcoming level 4s. They are broken into three groups. One, sometimes two coaches with each group at any given time.

 

[Aussie_coach]

There is no ideal magic number of gymnasts tomcoaches, there are so many factors that create a good training experience environment. The main one being a coach. Some coaches can give better quality training to a group of 12 kids than another coach can give to a group of 5.

 

[MUTigerMom]

My daughter's Level 4/5 group has 10 girls with 2 coaches. However usually there is only 1 coach working with them at a time (the other coach is working with preteam, another level, or teaching rec classes). Occasionally, they do get both coaches (usually on bars.) The level 4 group has similar numbers and ratio but seems like they never have both coaches at the same time.

 

[amiandjim]

My daughter’s level 4 team has 24 girls and 4 coaches, so they are either in groups of 6 or sometimes one coach is helping with another level so they do 3 groups of 8. Our gym tries not to go over an 8-9:1 ratio for coaches. I do agree with Aussie coach above the it’s not so much the number, but how skilled the coach is in keeping an eye on all of them and making sure there are enough stations so there is little to no standing in line. At our old gym, there were 34 girls on her level and it did get a bit crazy, but mostly because there wasn’t quite enough equipment available for them all.

 

[MILgymFAM]

My DD’s team is too small for broken out levels. In the summer, the L4-10 all train together because that’s still only about 14 girls. They have three coaches. They manage to differentiate the training to what each girl needs for their level just fine.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our gym has between 8-10 kids per coach pretty much all the way up/

 

[raenndrops]

Last season's numbers (since we dont know this season's yet)
L3: 12 girls with 1-2 coaches
L4/L5: 12 girls with 1-2 coaches
L6-L8 & Xcel Platinum: 13 girls with 1-2 coaches
Xcel Gold: 9 girls with 1-2 coaches (usually 1)

 

[John]

DD's gym likes to do 10 per coach. With that said the owner seems to be superhuman and you can see him spotting Level 10's one second and Level 4's correction the next. No action is ever free from his observation. I think @Aussie_coach has given great information. It's the skill and expectation of the coach that keeps a practice group engaged.

 

[raenndrops]

DD's gym likes to do 10 per coach. With that said the owner seems to be superhuman and you can see him spotting Level 10's one second and Level 4's correction the next. No action is ever free from his observation. I think @Aussie_coach has given great information. It's the skill and expectation of the coach that keeps a practice group engaged.

Our HC is like yours. She can be working with the L6+ group and still give corrections to girls in all the other groups.

 

[sce]

What’s the average number of gymnasts on a team for the lower levels? Our gym has combined groups this summer (a split 3/4 - level 3 redos, new level 4s and second year level 4s) and there are 24+ girls training together with two coaches. It looks like an ant hill during practice.

That is a big group. I think out gym limits it to 10 per coach, though ds' group is currently level. Are they all working one event at a time? I would be more concerned about standing in line and equipment time then even the coach ratio. Also, are they varying the skills enough to meet the varied abilities of the gymnasts

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Generally at our gym we try to keep it to around 8/1 for compulsories. Right now our L3 team holds steady at 20girls and there are two coaches (me being one) but the way our practices are set up, it works just fine. Quality is better than quantity and the L3’s are “experienced enough” to not need the extra supervision that say our preteamers do... I coach that group as well and we try hard to keep it to about 6/1 with them since they need more herding and crowd control than the slightly older or more experienced groups.
Optionals depending on group and day (6/7’s is usually one group, around 16 girls, 8-10’s slightly less around 13girls) but they try to have two coaches on each group. Sometimes depending on training group overlap or event there is only one but I have never felt like they are struggling or not getting enough coaching (my DD is a L8 and I am at gym on the floor coaching every day and see what goes on up close).

 

[2gymkids]

We've had anything from 2 coaches for 5 girls at a smaller gym (both coaches weren't always there, and sometimes the girls were combined with another group of 4 so then it was 2 to 9), to 4 coaches for 20 kids (but usually only 2-3 coaches working with the kids, and on rare occasion- other coaches all at a meet etc just one coach, but those were usually very different/easier days).

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Small gym. 2/3s train different days then 4 and up.

Sometimes grouped by level, sometimes by skills, depending on what they are working on. Could be anywhere from 6-12 per group.

 

[GrayCatMom]

Ours varies day to day. Usually 8-10 girls per coach. But some days 14 to 1. It just depends on how they split the training groups that day and what coaches and girls are there. We have no assigned coach per level or event, which can be confusing for the girls (according to DD) when one coach tells them a certain way to do something and they have a different coach the next day telling them something different.

 

[Taxidriver]

I’m from the UK and at my dd gym our girls have mixed level training groups, girls with similar ability but different girls will work on different elements/drills at each piece of apparatus. Generally a max ratio of 1: 8,

DD's gym likes to do 10 per coach. With that said the owner seems to be superhuman and you can see him spotting Level 10's one second and Level 4's correction the next. No action is ever free from his observation. I think @Aussie_coach has given great information. It's the skill and expectation of the coach that keeps a practice group engaged.

There are 2 coaches at my dd gym who are like that, my dd says they never miss a thing!
I think it’s more about the coaches ability than necessarily numbers as sometimes when some girls are away at competitions with a coach or two the ratio can easily be 1:12 but they have multiple stations set up and come out having worked just as hard as when they have a higher ratio, but it does take skill to be able to differentiate the work for the different abilities.