MSO's 2008 Top Ten US Gymnastic Clubs

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We never seem to post these on the CB, so thought I would go ahead and do it. List is based on JO L8-10 results:

#10 Folgers
Andover, KS

#9 GAGE
St. Louis, MO

#8 Parkettes
AllentownPA

#7 Colorado Gymnastics Institute
Aurora, CO

#6 Orlando Metro
Orlando, FL

# 5 Charter Oaks Gliders
Covina, CA

#4 Geddarts Twistars
Lansing, MI

#3 Airborne
Santa Clara, CA

#2 TwinCity Twisters
Champlin, MN

#1 Byers
Sacramento, Ca

Honorable mentions went out to:

OregonGymnasticsAcademy (OAG
Leading Edge Gymnastics (LEGA
Michigan Elite
Bay Aerials
Chows


*Please refrain from any bad comments about the gyms mentioned - and don't shoot the messenger :p
 
What are the parameters for deciding the best clubs. Not that I could think of anything bad to say about any of the top ten clubs. Really, honest, what you don't believe me????:D
 
mmm-hmmmmm:D

Basically they just look at who produced the highest numbers (how many attended regionals through nationals ) & highest scoring L8-10 gymnasts last season.

I was impressed by a couple mentioned. Apparently Charters Oaks has a very young coaching team & Folgers is a pretty small gym that sent 8 gymnasts to the national level. Always interesting to hear about the little guys. ;)

In our region Region 5 they always boast about being the strongest in the US, but only 1 gym made the team from Region 5 - also interesting.
 
I'm surprised that "biggies" like WOGA, Cincinnati and Hill's weren't on there.
 
Airborne & Bay Aerials are both teams we used to compete w/ in Cali, and were in our general area. DD had some friends move from her gym to Bay Aerials. They are relatively new (like 4 years now, I think) are are really doing great. Actually, the HC from our last gym in CA, used to coach right alongside the current Bay Aerials coaches, before a big gym-split a few years ago.

Airborne-they are just awesome. A very intense program. Strong Compulsories AND lots of strong Optionals, going on to colleges, etc. They usually get the No. 1 team award in NorCal every year (NorCal actualy tallies up all the team wins from L5 States on up to L10 States, and the team w/ the most points wins the "Perpetual Trophy" award). Now you see why I'm always complaining how competitive it was there! ;)
 
Wow. That is one of the worst lists i've ever seen. Were they rated on how much they charge? Or how rude they are to their customers? [/rant]
 
MSO covers WAY more R1 meets than R5, which is a major reason that there are more clubs from the western US represented on that list. I think I had maybe 2 MSO meet listings over the course of 3 years, while girls from a CA or AZ gym had more like 15-20 in the same period. Also note that the only two gyms from R5-8 that are listed do quite a few more travel meets (at least at upper optionals) than your typical JO gym as well.
 
MSO covers WAY more R1 meets than R5, which is a major reason that there are more clubs from the western US represented on that list. I think I had maybe 2 MSO meet listings over the course of 3 years, while girls from a CA or AZ gym had more like 15-20 in the same period. Also note that the only two gyms from R5-8 that are listed do quite a few more travel meets (at least at upper optionals) than your typical JO gym as well.

The list is based on JO Nationals qualifiers down to Level 8 Regional qualifiers. It has nothing to do with local meets/travel meets. Based on the statistics, those are the clubs with the most successful JO athletes regardless of the area where the gym competes.
 
mmm-hmmmmm:D

In our region Region 5 they always boast about being the strongest in the US, but only 1 gym made the team from Region 5 - also interesting.

Hey, I'm from Region 5 too, and there are a few places I can think of that aren't on this list that really surpise me too. For example, neither of the top 2 gyms in my state are on here.
 
Glad to see Chows got honorable mention. Wish they would have been higher....I mean...they trained Shawn!!
 
One of the reasons we moved to Cincinnati from Springfield, Illinois was the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy. I didn't see it listed in the top 10. Has it fallen from being one of the nation's best gyms?
 
It seems that a lot of the CGA gymnasts get injured or burn out. Perhaps their training style is too tough?

BUt top 10 out of how many clubs in the US, the chances of being in the top 10 are very slim. The national team is made up of over 20 girls I imagine not all their clubs are considered top 10.
 
DD had some friends move from her gym to Bay Aerials. They are relatively new (like 4 years now, I think) and are really doing great.
Bay Aerials was formed from the ashes of Cal West, which was a top-level gym. The owners and some coaches changed, but the girls stayed put for the most part, so they were able to develop some really good gymnasts like Ashley Morgan (Stanford) and Amanda Spinner. Both were or are on J.O. National Team.

Bay Aerials had a great year at both Nationals and Westerns (3 all-around champs!) so it deserves to be on the list.

Airborne has nine high-school seniors competing in college next year. Nine. By comparison, WOGA has three.
 
One of the reasons we moved to Cincinnati from Springfield, Illinois was the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy. I didn't see it listed in the top 10. Has it fallen from being one of the nation's best gyms?
I don't know if CGA was ever among the nation's best gyms. Mary Lee Tracy is an outstanding elite coach, as indicated by Amanda Borden, Jaycie Phelps, Morgan White and Bianca Flohr, but that doesn't necessarily translate into J.O. success, which is what the MSO list measures.

I seem to recall that back in 2002, dd went to a travel meet in St. Louis and was going to compete against a bunch of Level 8s from CGA. Just before competition started, the Level 8 coach defected to another gym taking all of the Level 8 girls in the process.

Running a gym is hard. I know that I could never do it.

As for graduating seniors going to college, all they have is Lauren Ritter going to Ohio State. Bianca would have gone to Michigan if she hadn't had to injury retire.
 
I wouldn't make to much of their list. They take nominations for all their list, if I understand the process correctly, and the "Top 10" are picked from those nominations. If someone from your gym didn't put in your gym, they would not be considered no matter how well they did for the season. As already noticed many well preforming gyms are not on the list.
 
I was shocked to see the lack of WOGA and Hill's, as mentioned above...
WGA Texans seem to be emerging lately as well...

And GAGE is nearly 4 hours from St. Louis.
 
I wouldn't make to much of their list. They take nominations for all their list, if I understand the process correctly, and the "Top 10" are picked from those nominations. If someone from your gym didn't put in your gym, they would not be considered no matter how well they did for the season. As already noticed many well preforming gyms are not on the list.


Actually, they outline the process on the website just before the list:

"Top Ten Women’s Teams in America were, from Level 10 to Level 8, producers."

"...when choosing the top ten clubs MSO starts at the national level meets and works backwards from there."


This explains why clubs with high numbers of elites are not included (since they often don't have particularly strong JO teams i.e. WOGA)

This list is special in that it is the only acknowledgment of the success of JO teams and JO coaches across the country at the optional level. It is also an indicator of where potential NCAA athletes may be training when they don't get the same exposure elites do.

Regarding Bay Aerials:

Only 3 of the 70+ athletes on the Bay Aerials Team ever trained at Cal West. Those 3 are Level 9s.
Morgan and Spinner were never Cal West Gymnasts. They came to Bay Aerials after the change of ownership.
 

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