WAG When to change gyms?

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amiandjim

Proud Parent
Ok, so I am new to the forum so go easy. My DD turned 6 in February and recently finished her first competition season as a level 1, which is no isn't competed very often in most gyms. She did ok and was about middle of the pack of her team in meets, but is also the youngest. Anway, I only said that to illustrate that I am not a CGM and I am in no way insinuating she is a super talented phenom or on a track to become a level 9-10 gymnast. However, I do think she has a great build for gym, works hard, and really enjoys gymnastics, so I would like to give you the best opportunity to become the best gymnast she can, if that is what she desires.

So, to my question. DD currently attends a small gym that has some girls that are level 5-6, but that's the highest they go. While I really love her coaches and how they treat DD, the gym overall is pretty disorganized and a little crowded, with lots of focus on cheerleading. The coaches also aren't super experienced with higher level gymnastics, but I do think she is getting the fundamentals she needs right now. So I guess my question is, when do we switch to a bigger/better gym? The closest really good gym is at least 40-45 minutes away so it wouldn't be super easy for us, especially since I work around 60-70 hours/week. However, I just want to give her the best experience and am wondering at what point it becomes "too late." Any thoughts?
 
Seems that for most, if you are thinking about it seriously enough to write asking about it then you already know the answer. Sorry, probably not the answer you were hoping for.
 
Is there a third option? Are there any other gyms that are closer to home that are better than where you are but maybe not the best in town? Because that might be enough for now. At her age you probably want a gym that shows potential for getting her a solid foundation and a path into optionals if that's where she wants to go. After a couple more years of experience you can re-evaluate and maybe then the longer commute would be worth it. In my experience, anyway, the "best" gym in our area is packed solid with level 3s with olympic rings in their eyes. I mean, they have 40-50 level 3 kids. The kids spend more time in line than doing anything else. My daughters are doing great at our smaller, solid gym. Moving later is always on the table.
 
Thank you all for the replies. What I want for DD is 1) that she is healthy and happy and 2) that I give her the best chance to succeed at gymnastics, whatever that might mean for her. I do know that we need to move her if we are going to do that, I guess I was just wondering when you all consider it "too late" to move? There is one other gym that is closer to us that has a more competitive team with even a few level 10s, but I have heard it is very crowded and chaotic, much like our current gym. I think we will go observe a class for ourselves though. The gym I am thinking of is not the best in town, actually, but probably in the top 3-4. However, we live in a southern suburb of a large city, and the better gyms are on the north side.

Bog: I do work 60-70 hours s week, but my DH is a stay at home dad and he would be the one to drive DD to most things. He does understand she will need to switch eventually, but is reluctant to do so at such a young age.
 
I have read on here that some gyms don't take kids into their developmental stream if they think they are "too old" where too old is something very low. So I would find out if any of the potential gyms are like that, because if they are you need to move her now.
 
I would change her now. You can never tell what can happen with good coaching. She's at the right age to start if its possible for the family.
 
If you have a lovely stay at home parent then go for it. I know many people do not like it when I say this, but honestly I do not get competing L1 or L2. To me those levels are developmental levels and gyms are just making money off parents having kids compete them.

If your current gym competes L1 and has no gymnasts at L6 then it is not a gym you can stay at for the long run anyway.
 
This was our exact scenario. Started gymnastics with no idea that it would progress to team, just a fun class for our toddler! Small gym with no optional gymnasts. We loved the gym, but knew she would have to move if she wanted to continue. We moved after old 4 and she was able to compete new 4 at the new gym. We left at the right time, though sometimes I wonder where she would be if we had started at our current gym. Just night and day in terms of coaches commitment, training, etc. So, if it is feasible for your family, I would move now. I completely understand what you mean about giving her the opportunity to excel, even if she doesn't stick with the sport, you may as well have her in a gym that she can take her to optionals. Now, the other question is which gym to pick? We really only wanted to switch once if possible and being at the other gym for a couple of seasons allowed me to learn what we wanted in a gym. Luckily we had lots of choices in our area. As someone mentioned above, a gym with a huge level 3 and 4 team sweeping the podium does not necessarily mean it is a great gym for optionals.
 
I switched DD right when she turned 6yo. She was at a rec gym in their 1st (and only) year of artistic. They switched to XCel the next year.
So, DD went from competing old 3 (New L2) and went to preteam. She then competed L4 as a 7yo.

The quality of DDs gymnastics went way up when we switched. I actually kicked myself for not switching sooner.
Just be prepared to have her placed on a pre team, especially if she "just competed L1". It's a good thing ;)
 
I wrote about this a bit back, and found what I shared some time back on this topic with my own experience:
We started with a gym 15 min. from home - old L3. I quickly saw the gym wasn't good once we got to meets. No other decent gyms in that town, so we switched to a gym 1 hr and 15 min. each way. This is a strong gym, and builds strength and fundamentals which she could NOT have gotten at a gym closer to our home. It was clear if she were to have a shot at this sport, she needed to do the better (MUCH better) gym.

She did that commute almost 3 years. We carpooled as much as we could (if schedules permitted); some days my DD had to wait for a ride home if the fellow carpooler's practice times did not match up perfectly. Somedays she had to get to the gym early and wait. I myself drove 2 or 3 a week. In the summer she would spend 1 night a week with a teammate, as there was a late PM followed by an early AM practice back to back. We figured out how to make it work.

While I didn't do all the driving, my DD was in the car a ridiculous amount of time each week. Ridiculous. She ate, did homework, took tests, listened to books on CD, and watched movies in the car. She left school early a couple of days each week, with a great teacher's support. I don't want to share how many miles I put on my car. But I can tell you, if we hadn't done this, she wouldn't be the gymnast she is today - not by a longshot.

I have 2 other kids. They were great about this - I had to really work to make sure they got enough of my time. No, they never made the trip to the gym. No, they didn't like me being gone 2 nights a week and their sister gone even more.
And I would do crazy things to balance all the kids - yes, there were days I would drop off DD at her gym, drive back towards home, watch another DD play basketball, then drive back to get gymnast DD and drive home again. Not often, but it happened more than once so I could be there for my other kids and DD could do her thing too. I was willing to do this. My husband was willing to do his part to make it happen - without him this never would have worked.

Several people from our town tried out at DD's gym and decided they couldn't make the commute work, although they REALLY wanted it to. They really thought it through. Those of us already driving tried to figure out ways to helps potential families however we could, but in many cases it just wouldn't work (for a wide variety of reasons).

We have since moved 1/2 way across the country, and her new gym is 8 minutes away. My life is transformed.
EVERYONE in the family is much much happier. But I wouldn't trade what we did for those 3 years for anything. That dedication paid off in spades.

One other thing to think about. Some people on Chalk Bucket have stated they would NOT drive a long distance for a lower level.
I take the opposite viewpoint. In some cases this might be the smart thing to do.
The sooner I was able to get my DD into a solid gym, teaching excellent fundamentals and building strength and a great foundation, the better off I knew she'd be.
If she hadn't started old L4 at an excellent gym with excellent basics, I question if she'd have had the ability to get to optionals at all - and if she had gotten there, I know she'd be frustrated and unsuccessful. For me, it was helpful to look at the long term picture and see how to best get her from point A to Point B. She just finished her new L5 season and is very, very prepared to move to optionals - being at a super solid gym set her up well.

Feel free to PM if any questions - I've been through this :)
 
Just wanted to post an update. We visited 3 gyms, two that are about 45-50 min away (without traffic) and one that is about 20 min. The first 2 are great gyms, with large successful teams. DD would have been on the level 2 developmental team at each gym. The 3rd, closer gym is also a very large gym with a successful team, though not quite as successful as the first 2 in terms of placings at state, etc..but they do train level 2-10 and have a great facility and coaching staff. We made the decision last night to place DD on their level 2 team. I was very impressed with their organization, clear policies, and their coaches. While I would have loved to enroll DD in one of the other gyms, at this time, it is just not really doable for our family. For example, in the fall, she would have practice 3 days per week almost an hour away, while our DS will have cross country practice or meets 3 days a week very near our house and if I am working, it's just not possible for my DH to transport both of them. If she continues to progress and work hard, we might rethink our decision in a couple years. then again, we might be very happy with the gym we have chosen. Thanks again so much for all your input!
 
What do you and your DD want from gymnastics? Go from there.
I agree with that. If your DD wants something to enjoy and just have something to look forward too then I would go with a gym that is more "fun". If both of you want to actually compete then go to a more competitive gym.
 

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