Question about the movie "Stick It"?

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Maddy2012

Hi :)

I was watching the movie Stick It the other day when I noticed that Haley Graham (the main character) and her teammates all lived inside the same house (when they weren't in the gym). If you don't know what I'm talking about, the house is in the first few seconds of this video: YouTube - Stick It Part 3

Why are they all living in the same house? :confused: Is it kinda like what they do in China where they house there gymnasts? Is that even legal in the USA? :confused: I'm very confused. Could someone please clear this up for me? :) Thanks!
 
I always wondered that too!! Maybe they have like dorms like collage gymnastics or something??
 
That's legal here. I know a few people who go away to boarding school, sometimes even in different states. As long as their parents say it is okay (and don't mind paying a lot of money) then they can go live away from home. I guess where Haley was is kind of like a boarding school for gymnasts, and I assume that they did some school work when they weren't at the gym. I guess there aren't any rules about having to be in a dorm or just putting everyone in a big house.

What they do in other countries is send kids away to gyms far away from home instead of school. So those girls don't learn school stuff, just gym stuff. Which means if they quit because they get injured or something, they don't know anything that people who went to school know, so they can't go to college or get a job and they are just screwed. Their family might be able to support them or they might be homeless. The other difference is that those girls don't have a choice. If the government says they have to go away to gym, then they have to go, even if their parents don't want them to. Or sometimes they just force the parents to "choose" to send their kids away. That is definitely illegal in America, because kids have to go to school or get homeschooled until they are a certain age, depending on what state you live in, and they have to provide a school that is in the school district that you live in, which is usually your town or your county. Kids and their parents can choose to go to a far away boarding school, but no one can make you go if your parents say no.

Sometimes gymnasts used to move away from home in America to go to a really good gym thats far away. but again, the parents always have to say yes and the kids still have to get an education somehow, and a lot of times a parent or someone from the family will go with them. But I think that is a lot less common now, because people realize that you don't need to go to a gym hundreds of miles away from home to be an olympic gymnast. Just ask Shawn Johnson :)
 
In the ballet world many places a bording school with Virtual High Schools or Distance learning so the girls/guys can focus on ballet....that is problaly similar
 
The movie actually references schooling when the coach sends Joann off to do her "independent study.'' She asks why Haley doesn't have to "home school" and Haley tells her she got her GED when she was 15.
 
What they do in other countries is send kids away to gyms far away from home instead of school. So those girls don't learn school stuff, just gym stuff. Which means if they quit because they get injured or something, they don't know anything that people who went to school know, so they can't go to college or get a job and they are just screwed.

This isn't really accurate. In terms of big national programs along the lines of China, Russia, Romania, schooling is provided as far as I'm aware. If you watch any of those documentaries, they'll show the kids in classrooms. I haven't really looked into the issue so I couldn't speak to the quality although at least in the case of Romania I remember seeing something that once the girls start in national training, they're allowed to stay to get an education, or at least it was that way at the time that doc was produced. Don't know exactly how it works.

I don't really remember what the situation in Stick It was precisely, but the way it's being described here, no, not common in this country with high schoolers. Homeschooling through the gym, slightly more common, though private school or independent home school may be more so.
 
There are only a few top gyms in the USA that develop a good number of elite athletes. Many kids have to move away from home in order to train with a good quality coach and in a good quality program. Often the whole family will move, and often they need to find a way around that. Some girls board with another family. I wouldn't be surprised if there were boarding houses for these kids as well. Here in Australia we have a live in gym at the Australian institute of sport where the athletes can go.

These girls will be training 6 days a week, for about 6-7 hours each day. Most can't attend a normal school. They must either attend a special flexible sports school or home school.
 
thank you gymdawg. that post is not only inaccurate but insulting. if you don't know what you're talking about, please don't post and give people and kids the wrong impression of programs in other countries. ever been to bejing and seen their national training center? ever been to round lake?

in the old days some of what you intimated might have been true in some places but not all. and you think american training programs have been perfect?
 
thank you gymdawg. that post is not only inaccurate but insulting. if you don't know what you're talking about, please don't post and give people and kids the wrong impression of programs in other countries. ever been to bejing and seen their national training center? ever been to round lake?

in the old days some of what you intimated might have been true in some places but not all. and you think american training programs have been perfect?

Beloved Dunno, can you expand on what you do know so that we can can all learn a bit. I know that you know what you're talking about, and we all love the inside scoop.:D
 
This isn't really accurate. In terms of big national programs along the lines of China, Russia, Romania, schooling is provided as far as I'm aware. If you watch any of those documentaries, they'll show the kids in classrooms. I haven't really looked into the issue so I couldn't speak to the quality although at least in the case of Romania I remember seeing something that once the girls start in national training, they're allowed to stay to get an education, or at least it was that way at the time that doc was produced. Don't know exactly how it works.

I don't really remember what the situation in Stick It was precisely, but the way it's being described here, no, not common in this country with high schoolers. Homeschooling through the gym, slightly more common, though private school or independent home school may be more so.

The nadia movie shows her being schooled in romanian gymnastics im pretty sure.
 
hello bog. i can smell your cold air coming our way...ugh!

across the pond, in communist era, they had primary, secondary, and then national training center. this was russia, east germany, poland, czech, bulgaria, rumania, and spattered in parts of what was called yugoslavia.

children received intense physical education during this era. for gymnastics this began in approx 1961. and our physical education here in the USA was rather rigorous also and included gymnastics. the communist manifesto wasn't just about polictics. it was that they rule the world in athletics also. during this era, japan was the leader in gymnastics for men and the soviets in women.

so, the sport coaches in these countries went around their countries looking for their talent from what we call K-6th grade or elementary school in the US.. everything was government funded and provided for. the talented ones were taken from the primary schools and moved to secondary, and on to national.

nothing was done WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE PARENTS, although the governments were rather persuasive. the communist system was a repressive caste system. this meant that if you wanted a 1 bedroom apartment with a wood burning stove with indoor plumbing and a couple of extra tickets for meat, bread, flour, vegetables, and coffee, etc; well then...you wanted your child chosen. most often, dependent upon the success of the athlete, the parents would also receive upwardly mobile jobs. like being moved from the farmfields to the factories. and with those moves came increased paygrades. and as long as the athlete produced and did not quit the families enjoyed a decent life. athletes & coaches were revered in these cultures for/in all sports. in fact, women were merely welcome mats in these societies. it was worse in china and you might be familar with the consequences of birthing females in this culture...but i'll stop as children read here.

athletes and coaches in all sports received more pay than doctors and nuclear physicists. only ballet and musicians were paid as much. this was to reward the arts.

all coaches in the sports schools lived, ate, and trained under one roof. ALL the children went to school. they were as well educated as anywhere else in the world. the school was also under the same roof. these were massive complex's and fully funded by the government. this is commonly referred to as the "russian system" of sport. and the one degree they could achieve in their system, and nowhere else in the world, was called a "master of sport". this acceptance and degree was very special and even more revered.

china's system was modeled after the russian system as they were communist also yet they hated each other as cultures. china didn't do as well in selection and education as their soviet counterparts. in fact, prior to 1992, most of the chinese athletes were illiterate and undereducated. the chinese ministry of sport sacrificed education over beating the tails off their soviet counterparts. and they failed miserably. it was an administrative change that was made after 1992 and a committment was made to also educate their athletes. today, they are also educated.

the only countries where overt abuse took place were in east germany and rumania. you might be aware that a sports administrator in east germany was put to death a couple of years ago for his hand in allowing the female swimmers to have performance enhancing drugs, including steroids, placed in all of their meals and drinks and snacks from the time they were young children. and several coaches and trainers received life sentences in prison. they are all still there.

in rumania, the female athletes became the concubines of the coucescu's regime. this included the gymnasts. and of course you all know what happened to him.

so, today things are different and better for everyone. governments are financially failing and it's beginning to impact athletic/olympic governing bodies throughout the world. canada has already been hurting. australia just had more funding cut and others had their funds "frozen". and china has begun to privatize. and they have a beautiful training center in bejing. one of the most complete i have ever seen. and round lake and dinamo of the soviet era were the end all to training centers. never saw dinamo. but was at round lake. national training centers still exist today just fewer of them due to expense. and the athletes in all sports live under one roof with coaches, trainers, doctors, physical therapists, etc; wouldn't you agree that this is the best way for athlete development to take place? and it's beginning right here in america with our semi-centralized training. i swear the ranch was modeled after the black forest...

and many of the finest coaches we have in america today are from those former systems. they are all pretty well educated. and they even "sit and lean against walls" when they coach. lol.

and of course, some of them are not so good. the not so good is a world wide problem. just ask defournet from france. a topic for another day. have a great night up north Bog!
 
For the Chinese gymnasts they do have school but it is limited compared to mainstream students, I have heard they are provided with extra but it is up to the individual to capitalize on that. Cheng Fei is considered to be very bright (along with being an exceptionally hard worker) and I believe she is doing tertiary study.
 

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