Parents Probability of scholarships.

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notthatmom

Proud Parent
Just a general question that I thought of as I was browsing some threads here...

What would you say the ratio is for girls at your gym who make it to level 10 get scholarships?

For me, I don't see it as something that is so "impossible". Maybe it's just the gym we are at, but this year, all the level 10 senior girls have scholarships...

I saw someone compare getting a scholarship or going to the olympics to winning the Power ball. That can't be accurate.

I know a good number of people who have gotten gymnastic scholarships. I know/have met more Olympians than I can count on both hands (3 of them are in the gym right now). I've never met anyone who has won the lottery.
Maybe it's just the gym were at, or the people I've just had the chance to meet.


But really...how many kids on average per year from your gym get gymnastics scholarships? I keep seeing everyone say it's a crap shoot, but it seems incredibly within reach to me.


Thoughts?
 
We have no level 10s, had one last year but she retired. No scholarship. I think our gym has only had a few scholarship gymnasts in the last 6 or 7 years.

The powerhouse gyms in our area have more of course- but really only 2-4 a year. And much larger teams.

I have no idea of the actual ratio- but it would seem to be low. At least in our area.
 
I think it largely depends on your area. Our region has some great competitors and some pretty large powerhouse gyms that have Level 10's going to nationals and getting scholarships regularly. However, it our actual state, not so much. There are a few gyms in our state that have L10's but not L10's that are qualifying to nationals, or even regionals for a lot of them. Some talented gymnasts for sure but it seems like for college scholarships, they are looking for very solid L10's that have been L10 for several years and are scoring/placing well at nationals, at least for D1 scholarships. D2 scholarships may be a little different. If we lived just one state over there would be a lot more options available. So it feels pretty out of reach for us unless we were to pick up and move. Our gym is wonderful and is really building up their optional program but we don't currently have anyone past L7, although things are looking positive for the future. So for our dd, we just hope that she can progress as far as she can safely and if she wants to continue gymnastics in college, there is an awesome college about 30 minutes away with an NAIGC team, which would allow her to continue doing what she loves if she wants without all of the pressure. Don't get me wrong, if she progresses particularly well and a scholarship opportunity became available we would be all ears, but for her age and skill level, it's just not worth uprooting our entire family and chasing that right now. She probably has a much better chance at an academic scholarship.

So to answer your question, it's definitely more within reach for some than others depending on the area and the gyms available, but it still takes an exceptional and hard working gymnast to even make it to L10, let alone a full ride to college on a gymnastics scholarship. Add that to the fact that the Olympic team is going to be smaller soon, and that's even less opportunity for even the best of the best to make it to the Olympics, and the fact that more and more colleges are recruiting more elite girls and in a few years it could be even more competitive for D1 gymnastics college scholarships than it is now.
 
I think it's your gym. My DDs gym currently has no L10s and has had probably 6 total D1 scholarships in the past decade.
 
We don't have L10's every year but when we do the numbers range from 1-5. It's been several years since any have gone on to compete at a D1 school but several have gone to D3. The focus of DD's gym is not to prep girls for D1 but they do have a mission statement/goals of what they hope their athletes get from the sport. Along those lines, I've heard the coaches comment that they would rather send a girl to D3 than D1. They have lost kids who aspire to D1. I appreciate their philosophy but it may not be the right one for every athlete/family.
 
We graduated 4 girls last year. I think 2 were L10. 1 got a gymnastics scholarship and 1 got an academic scholarship.

This year we graduate 3 girls. 1 is a L10 and she has a scholarship.

We have a few other girls on the team that are L10 sophomores or juniors that are committed to schools with scholarships.

It isn't impossible, but you need to be really good and hit L10 on the earlier side. My dd is in 8th grade and a L8, but she will likely repeat next year as she has been injured this year and has yet to compete AA. I don't really see her being a candidate for a gymnastics scholarship. I'm hoping she can maintain her GPA of around 97% and get an academic scholarship.
 
Once a gymnast is a strong level 10, getting a scholarship can be within reach for sure (but not for all). I think the threads that refer to it being slim chances are referring to ALL gymnasts in starting out. When you look at the numbers of girls who start at Level 3 or 4 (or whatever beginning level is at your team) and then look at the numbers who actually stay in the sport all the way through their senior year and achieve level 10- that is the ratio that is a much lower probability. And it is impossible to predict which girls starting out will stick with it.
 
One of my friends from high-school won a million dollars playing the lottery. I've won $100 on scratch off and $150 playing power ball. I currently have several $1 winners in my wallet that need to be cashed in.

I think if your dd is talented, is willing to work hard everyday, stays happy and healthy until 17, survives puberty and she's aligned with smart, talented, invested, connected coaches.... Then she's got a shot. It's more of a perfect storm than a chance of winning the lottery.
 
It's definitely better odds than making it to the Olympics or winning power ball.

Once a kid has made it to level 10, she or he has already defied the odds. I don't know what the numbers are exactly but I bet it's no more than 1 in 30 level 4s who's still around come level 10. I think part of the problem with banking on a scholarship, is that parents of talented level 7s are dreaming of them when injury, growth spurt, burnout, loss of interest and a myriad other things potential stand between that kid and even making it to level 10.

It also depends whether the kid is willing to basically go anywhere that will take her, or is more selective. Also, there are opportunities to get partial scholarships at D II schools and get academic scholarships at D III.
 
It's definitely better odds than making it to the Olympics or winning power ball.

Once a kid has made it to level 10, she or he has already defied the odds. I don't know what the numbers are exactly but I bet it's no more than 1 in 30 level 4s who's still around come level 10. I think part of the problem with banking on a scholarship, is that parents of talented level 7s are dreaming of them when injury, growth spurt, burnout, loss of interest and a myriad other things potential stand between that kid and even making it to level 10.

It also depends whether the kid is willing to basically go anywhere that will take her, or is more selective. Also, there are opportunities to get partial scholarships at D II schools and get academic scholarships at D III.
True.

I should of qualified of our Level 10s one got a Div 1 full ride.
 
I think most level 1o's at dd's gym do end up with scholarships. Last year we had 2 senior level 10's. One went to Auburn and the other to University of Georgia. We have 8 level 10's currently at the gym. I have no idea what their grades/ages are, but I read on our gym website that at least 4 of the 8 have committed with full ride scholarships already. Our head coach/owner has said that the gym's goal is to help any athlete that makes it to level 10 successfully to get a scholarship. My dd is still in the lower levels, so I have no idea of the attrition rate to make it to level 10, but I do agree that just getting there is probably the bigger challenge.
 
I think the idea is that if you have a 7 or 8YO and you are justifying the cost of gym by counting on a full gymnastics scholarship, that is as crazy as if you spent the gymnastics $ on lottery tickets for the next ten years and counted on a win paying for college. The scholarship may be statistically more likely, but neither is sound financial planning for your family ;)
 
We had three Level 10 seniors get D 1 scholarships last year. There is usually at least one or two every year. I have no idea whether they were full rides or partial. We currently have 10 Level 10s in the gym from about age 13-17. There are usually 3 or 4 (or more) that head to Nationals every year, We have no Elites,
 
here are some stats on the number of scholarships available for gymnastics: http://www.athleticscholarships.net/gymnasticsscholarships.htm
and here is some other good info on what is looked for in college gymnastics recruiting: http://www.collegegymfans.com/FEATURES/10thingstoknow.htm
as a club owner for 12 years, we've had 7 kids get full rides and 7 others get into Ivy League schools for gymnastics (and probably only 1 of those 7 would have gotten in wo gym so while not a scholarship, certainly a leg up!).

My general advice is to just not think that much about the probability of a scholarship and let your kid enjoy the sport and be healthy (a huge plus in recruiting). if he/she is going strong at the end of 9th grade, then you can dig in and see what the options are.
 
Problem is, it's not just about making it to level 10 but it's about making it to level 10 at a young enough age to be a multi year level 10 as most D1 programs look for girls that have several years as a level 10. DD's old gym said that in order to realistically be considered for a D1 scholarship girls really need to be a level 10 by 8th grade. No later then 9th grade. Of course there are exceptions out there including a couple of girls at DD's old gym who didn't reach level 10 until 11th grade but they were not recruited. They worked their behinds off sending letters, videos, follow up letters etc all over the country and were able to eventually finding scholarships.
 
Thanks everyone!!! This is very very helpful! As many of you said it's more of the "getting to level 10" part that's the bigger accomplishment, and even then a scholarship is of course not guaranteed.

I definitely am not "investing" in gym for my daughter in lieu of a college fund (she's only six years old and has a long road ahead of her).


I was just asking the question in general, and your answers all helped immensely!


I'm gonna start buying more lottery tickets now, ya know, just for kicks :p
 
Our gym has 8 L10/national level/elite gymnasts out of approx 100 athletes in the competitive program. Although we're in Canada we have had several athletes in the US on scholarships, not all for gym, some for cheer and acrobatics, there's been at least one a year since we've belonged to the club for the last three years. We have one heading to a D1 school in the fall.
When you look at a crop of new 6 year old gymmies then the comparison that you're more likely to win the lottery than one of them making it all the way to 18 and a gym scholarship that's probably true.
 

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