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.

 

[CoachS]

We think it is at our gym, had 12 post pandemic up to 34 now 3 years later.

Since then, one gym has closed their program locally. Biggest issue is coaches, but we've had luck with female coaches taking the plunge onto the men's side. I've trained them and they've taken it upon themselves to learn through other means as well. The coach education pipeline is terrible because outside YouTube/Instagram it's tough.

As per space, I made it work for a long time with one pbar set from 1963 (I looked up the patent, lol), rings hanging from a ceiling that were wayyyy to low, and a pommel horse I bought out of someone's garage. I was literally in a corner and couldn't do pbars if I was on rings (same dismount mat). I feel like there is no grit anymore on the men's side and unless things are perfect people give up wayyy too easy because of what was mentioned; everyone wants easy money on the girls side. You are looking at a potential 50% increase in revenue if you do it right! I'm willing to help out anyone, hell I just gave two competitors my club track program for nothing and said to them, "If you beat me at my own game, more power to you." I've made all the mistakes! Learn from mine, lol
I'm excited because we brought on a boatload of boys this season between JN and Club Track. If the trajectory continues (especially with the Olympics coming up this year) we are projecting being in the mid-40's to low-50's next season... too many PreTeam kids.

 

[MikeWalker]

My gym has a great boys' program including competitive through Level 10 but that's largely in part of having an excellent head boys' coach (not myself, I'm a new coach!) who has trained a robust coaching staff. That to me is the main thing: if you're in an area large enough to have a boys' program—that is, enough interested boys—next issue at hand is simply having enough capable coaches. We also have a Ninja Zone program so that may be a feeder for boys' gymnastics as well because beyond Ninja we don't offer a real parkour program, so gymnastics would be their option.

 

[Flipsrus]

We think it is at our gym, had 12 post pandemic up to 34 now 3 years later.

Since then, one gym has closed their program locally. Biggest issue is coaches, but we've had luck with female coaches taking the plunge onto the men's side. I've trained them and they've taken it upon themselves to learn through other means as well. The coach education pipeline is terrible because outside YouTube/Instagram it's tough.

As per space, I made it work for a long time with one pbar set from 1963 (I looked up the patent, lol), rings hanging from a ceiling that were wayyyy to low, and a pommel horse I bought out of someone's garage. I was literally in a corner and couldn't do pbars if I was on rings (same dismount mat). I feel like there is no grit anymore on the men's side and unless things are perfect people give up wayyy too easy because of what was mentioned; everyone wants easy money on the girls side. You are looking at a potential 50% increase in revenue if you do it right! I'm willing to help out anyone, hell I just gave two competitors my club track program for nothing and said to them, "If you beat me at my own game, more power to you." I've made all the mistakes! Learn from mine, lol
I'm excited because we brought on a boatload of boys this season between JN and Club Track. If the trajectory continues (especially with the Olympics coming up this year) we are projecting being in the mid-40's to low-50's next season... too many PreTeam kids.

What do you have your boys compete in? In my state there's less than 8 clubs that compete boys and they all start at JO level 3. We've looked into doing AAU boys 4x4 but no one does that here. Wasn't there an Xcel version for boys?

 

[Dahlialover]

What do you have your boys compete in? In my state there's less than 8 clubs that compete boys and they all start at JO level 3. We've looked into doing AAU boys 4x4 but no one does that here. Wasn't there an Xcel version for boys?

Club Track is what the USAG boys version of xcel is called. https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachme...MGHJ5aorID8X6z5N6To42rm97h_WQsDcBezpPrV3Sd5VA

 

[Flipsrus]

Club Track is what the USAG boys version of xcel is called. https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachme...MGHJ5aorID8X6z5N6To42rm97h_WQsDcBezpPrV3Sd5VA

We don't have that in our area. All USAG meets are Level 3 and up and there's a few AAU 4x4 meets. Not sure what the turnout is for AAU though. I know some boys even compete in girls Xcel.

 

[Dahlialover]

We don't have that in our area. All USAG meets are Level 3 and up and there's a few AAU 4x4 meets. Not sure what the turnout is for AAU though. I know some boys even compete in girls Xcel.

I’d talk to you state USAG mag leadership. They may have a plan to roll out club track once they get enough interest.

 

[Dahlialover]

We don't have that in our area. All USAG meets are Level 3 and up and there's a few AAU 4x4 meets. Not sure what the turnout is for AAU though. I know some boys even compete in girls Xcel.

USAG level 3D2 is very very elementary level gymnastics. Some of those D2 boys can’t do a playground-quality cartwheel. It’s a very obtainable entry point.