MAG Is boys gymnastics booming?

[Dahlialover]

Our gym in the PNW is overflowing with little boys! They had a small boys program before the pandemic and there are currently only 8 boys in levels 5-10. This season there were an unprecedented 24 boys in level 3 and I just heard that they invited 56 new boys to join the level 3 team this summer! Is there a major boom in boys gymnastics happening in other areas or is our gym an outlier?

 

[mezzamare]

Unfortunately our gym just eliminated the boys team due to small numbers.

 

[JBS]

No boom here.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

No boom here unfortunately.

 

[CeeJay]

Our PNW gym has been growing our boys team program, but we are going to have to stall due to coaches. This past season, we had 43 boys & 4 coaches. With another local gym closing, new Level 3 boys coming up, and post-season shuffling, we'll be around 50 boys for the summer, I'm guessing. But we are losing 2 coaches. We have a replacement in the works for one of them, but will be very short staffed unless we can get another coach. My son's Level 8-10 workgroup will have 17 boys in it over the summer...which is a lot for one coach.

 

[KinPer]

Our gym in the PNW is overflowing with little boys! They had a small boys program before the pandemic and there are currently only 8 boys in levels 5-10. This season there were an unprecedented 24 boys in level 3 and I just heard that they invited 56 new boys to join the level 3 team this summer! Is there a major boom in boys gymnastics happening in other areas or is our gym an outlier?

I don't know about other regions, but my son is attracted to gymnastics. I don't even know where this attraction comes from. Probably from some film.

 

[JBS]

we are going to have to stall due to coaches

This seems to be one of the major issues in most places.

 

[CreateMagic]

Our old gym closed their boys program last summer, and we just got another boy from a different gym join our new gym this summer due to their program closing. No boom around here.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Boys gymnastics can be a lot harder to make work. Although, a good boys gym will be very popular because there is a lot less competition between gyms, as there are far fewer programs.

A few problems gyms have with boys programs are.

A lack of coaches. So many more female coaches than male and many dont want to coach boys.

The equipment. Boys need 6 apparatus, which is harder to fit in a gym. Many of those apparatus can only be used by one person at a time.

Less boys in general. A very large percentage of girls want to do gymnastics. There is a much lower level of interest in boys.

More pressure for boys to do team sports.

Boys teach an age where they feel pressure to quit gymnastics due to social acceptance and the push to do team sports.

 

[NCC141]

I started two 5 year old twin boys in in 1 day a week gymnastics and 1 day a week tumbling course for ages 5-7. They are the only boys in the class, with the rest of the class being girls.

I'm coming to the sport entirely green but a life long wrestler & wrestling coach.

I had them join gymnastics/tumbling as I had read a bunch of reports about how it has probably the highest level of cross-over skills.

The gym we are at is pretty discouraging in regards to the fact that boys are not allowed on any form of competition team. As of right now I don't mind it, they are beginners, 5, and I'm just not that eager to be pressured into hotel stays and such to compete in meets. But if it grows into something they enjoy (as of now they both like it) it's hard to imagine it being something we will stick with when you aren't allowed to compete and the coaches clearly prefer to focus their attention on just about anyone else beings they can enter competition.

At this point I'm guessing we will be on a two year plan where we try and gain some balance and coordination skills, but without any prospect of being allowed to compete down the road without going to a different club 40 minutes away, I just don't see how their interest in it can be sustained which is disappointing.

 

[skschlag]

I started two 5 year old twin boys in in 1 day a week gymnastics and 1 day a week tumbling course for ages 5-7. They are the only boys in the class, with the rest of the class being girls.

I'm coming to the sport entirely green but a life long wrestler & wrestling coach.

I had them join gymnastics/tumbling as I had read a bunch of reports about how it has probably the highest level of cross-over skills.

The gym we are at is pretty discouraging in regards to the fact that boys are not allowed on any form of competition team. As of right now I don't mind it, they are beginners, 5, and I'm just not that eager to be pressured into hotel stays and such to compete in meets. But if it grows into something they enjoy (as of now they both like it) it's hard to imagine it being something we will stick with when you aren't allowed to compete and the coaches clearly prefer to focus their attention on just about anyone else beings they can enter competition.

At this point I'm guessing we will be on a two year plan where we try and gain some balance and coordination skills, but without any prospect of being allowed to compete down the road without going to a different club 40 minutes away, I just don't see how their interest in it can be sustained which is disappointing.

We started in a very similar way. Ended up needing to search out competition opportunities for my son. He tried all the other more traditional sports, but this was definitely his true passion! You might look around and see what is available. I wouldn't start competing at 5, and not traveling for a few years but it is definitely fun!

But otherwise, the skills they obtain do carryover to a lot of other sports!

 

[Djames425]

The rec gym I work at in UT is growing the boys program. Our pre-K/kinder program is about 1/3 boys, 2/3 girls, and we've seen a decent number of boys continue on to the rec levels. Our big issue is coaching. We can't find male coaches with MAG experience, and there seems to be very few resources or coaching clinics geared towards MAG. I've switched to coaching the boys, and I'm learning a lot on the fly. 2nd issue is equipment. We're making do, but we really need a proper sized P bars, rings, and pommel now that some of the boys are breaking into Level 2/3 skills. It's expensive and hard to bite the bullet when the boys program is so much smaller than the girls. Hopefully it continues to grow and we can afford the equipment.