Parents Best overseas gymnastics

[gymmum]

I live in Spain, so I can't really tell you about the US. But I'm sure someone could give you good advice, since there are a lot of users from the US. I think there are a lot of good places in the US, compared to most gyms in Europe, US gyms are awesome.

oh! where in spain. we were actually trying to find somewhere in madrid as my daughter's grandma lives there

 

[AnotherGymDad]

I’ve been in touch with all the gyms in Hertfordshire and have been told by a coach that actually the Hertford competitive scene is better than London. I’m not sure how true or not that is.

Not sure how that would be the case... In terms of 'big' clubs there's only really Sapphire, Saadi and Marriotts. I think I'm right in saying Berkhamsted killed off their competition squad after Covid. Dolphina are on their third home in six months. Much of what's left is trampoline-focussed.

 

[gymmum]

Not sure how that would be the case... In terms of 'big' clubs there's only really Sapphire, Saadi and Marriotts. I think I'm right in saying Berkhamsted killed off their competition squad after Covid. Dolphina are on their third home in six months. Much of what's left is trampoline-focussed.

yep, been to Sapphire and Saadi... was planning to check out Marriots but never quite made it... yet another club it's hard to get a reply out of. Yes it was a coach actually from Dolphina who told me she thought the Hertfordshire comp scene was superior.

 

[Gymgirl84]

oh! where in spain. we were actually trying to find somewhere in madrid as my daughter's grandma lives there

Mediterranean coast (comunidad valenciana). For Madrid, I'd recommend you to contact CGA Pozuelo, they have a strong team that trains in their own gym (also training the Chad gymnasts). Other strong gym clubs in Madrid are CGA Las rozas, Los Cantos-Alcorcon, Majadahonda (their head coach changed recently, so I'm not sure of their current situation) and San Blas.

 

[Poor Dad]

Sapphire in Hemel have a solid record if you're in that neck of the woods. Original home of Ondine before she headed up the A41 to Aylesbury. Hallie Copperwheat, now at Pitt. Gabby Jupp who represented GB and was heading for great things before repeated ACL tears got in the way. I think Max Whitlock started out there, too.

In London my daughter at the time was considered a level 5-6, we tried desperately to find a club that fit her skill set and competitive ambition. We were constantly told that she was advanced and needed to find a stronger gym, we failed. There was just nothing available within reasonable public transit distances. We tried as hard as we could to find something in East London. In we ended up at Metro---. Do to issues we decided my daughter should train in the States. Immediately we felt the difference in every A$pect. She was dropped down from a level 5-6 Gymnast to a level 3. We could see the difference so we did not complain. My Question is, there a gym in East London That could rival some of these highly focused (over priced) clubs here in my he states?

 

[AnotherGymDad]

My Question is, there a gym in East London That could rival some of these highly focused (over priced) clubs here in my he states?

I don't know East London that well, but South Essex Gymnastics out in Basildon is a top-level one. As I and others have said on this thread, getting your foot in the door at any high-level club can be very tricky as they already have their own well-established squads filled with gymnasts they've worked with since an early age. Trials and transfers do happen, but they're going to be looking at what your gymnast can bring to their squad rather than what they can do for your gymnast.

 

[Lily]

Hypothetically speaking... if we wanted to move overseas from the US for a few years with our high level optional gymnast who wants to compete in college, what countries/cities/gyms would you consider? Need good high schools too- she'll start in 2025-26.

If your thinking Sydney, Australia, ‘d Sydney Academy of Gymnastics’ is good. One of their top gymnasts was one of the Olympic team reserves.

 

[USmominHK]

Off topic but do you mind sharing where your DD trains in Hong Kong? I lived and trained there most my life and curious what the scene is like now. Really surpirsed there is a relatively high level gymnast in HK. I know someone without a HK passport that was given an exemption to train with the national team but that must've been like 6 years ago now.

The only way to get the hours in the gym is if you do the national team. Interesting about the exemption! I’ll keep that in mind. We’ve done the rounds across the different gyms but are currently doing Flipping Kids, Sportscene and working with a private coach who is also a coach of the national team. This brings us to 9 hours a week. I actually like the mix of FK and SS because FK is more about getting the moves and having fun and SS focuses more on the fundamentals and conditioning.

 

[MaggieMena]

Hypothetically speaking... if we wanted to move overseas from the US for a few years with our high level optional gymnast who wants to compete in college, what countries/cities/gyms would you consider? Need good high schools too- she'll start in 2025-26.

You should go to Woodruff High School if you want to be in Woodruff, SC because there is a gym I go to that is kind of far from the school and really good space.

 

[ritikaxlri07]

Hi there,
I read your post about your daughter training in camps during summers.
I am also a fellow expat 4th country is Dubai.My daughter is 7 years old level 3 and her current coach is Ukranian.During the summer she has lot of free time we would like to utilize as we were not very happy with the summer camp we had here last year.
So this year onwards we are planning to travel for summer camps.When I just saw your post.
Which camps/clubs you would suggest in US and Germany.Your guidance would be really helpful.
Also do summer camp help in developing new skills as well?Do you take also private classes in these camps or group classes?Sorry for so many questions.
BTW my daughter zara was born in Hong Kong.
Thanks in advance
Ritika Kapoor

 

[ritikaxlri07]

Serial expat here living in country number 8. DD’s home gym is in Hong Kong but she trains in the U.S. and in Germany during summer breaks.

I’ll also assume English is important and start with an overview of options in Asia in case you’re up to a bit more exotic. I’ll leave out the U.K. as it’s already been covered

While Australia would be an option, the difference in levels is important. The poster above mentioned the small number of clubs that would be options. The international school and club circuit in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand (and a handful of clubs in mainland China) use the Australian levels program. The bar skills are nowhere near the level of U.S. bars IMO. Kip to handstand is not even introduced until optionals. For the Asian circuit using the Australia levels program, the number of girls who compete optionals is small and I have not seen truly advanced optionals athletes at the competitions. I’ve never seen an athlete in this circuit do a giant in comp.

In Hong Kong, the only way to access the top level of training is to join the national team and this is only open to HK passport holders. Their new head coach is Russian and many of the other top coaches speak English, so language wouldn’t be an issue but passport would be.

I would generally rule out mainland China for similar reasons to HK and Japan because of language (happy to be told otherwise if this isn’t the case).

Philippines is an interesting option. You can get by using English without an issue. Many coaches come from Philippines to teach h at private clubs in HK. There were also 2 Stanford University athletes who competed for the Philippines in the Olympics this past summer.

Moving westward, the UAE and Dubai in particular are worth mentioning. We briefly toyed with the idea of moving to Dubai last year so I did a lot of research. Many of the gyms follow the US JO DP. The gyms are big, have proper equipment. It looked like many coaches were from Russia/Eastern Europe but I can imagine this will vary from gym to gym.

For some countries in Europe, your fees will be lower because training is done through public clubs as opposed to private clubs. Think your local recreational center. It’s a strange concept coming from the U.S.! This applies to France, Germany, Belgium and I believe the Netherlands as well. Israel follows the same model. For Germany, the websites will be in German, but in our experience many coaches speak English. In Germany they have regional training centres that would be able to coach your daughter. I’ve found that communicating with the club or Verein usually goes a long way. If you are local and pay the fees, you should be ok. The more famous clubs fielding the top athletes at the moment are Stuttgart, Cologne, and Chemnitz. You get a disproportionate number out of Chemnitz but this is because that is the headquarters of the national team. Teenagers move there to train full time. Dusseldorf can also train higher level optionals and trained an athlete from Morocco. I don’t remember if she qualified for the Olympics or not but she did quite well in the Africa circuit.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure

Serial expat here living in country number 8. DD’s home gym is in Hong Kong but she trains in the U.S. and in Germany during summer breaks.

I’ll also assume English is important and start with an overview of options in Asia in case you’re up to a bit more exotic. I’ll leave out the U.K. as it’s already been covered

While Australia would be an option, the difference in levels is important. The poster above mentioned the small number of clubs that would be options. The international school and club circuit in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand (and a handful of clubs in mainland China) use the Australian levels program. The bar skills are nowhere near the level of U.S. bars IMO. Kip to handstand is not even introduced until optionals. For the Asian circuit using the Australia levels program, the number of girls who compete optionals is small and I have not seen truly advanced optionals athletes at the competitions. I’ve never seen an athlete in this circuit do a giant in comp.

In Hong Kong, the only way to access the top level of training is to join the national team and this is only open to HK passport holders. Their new head coach is Russian and many of the other top coaches speak English, so language wouldn’t be an issue but passport would be.

I would generally rule out mainland China for similar reasons to HK and Japan because of language (happy to be told otherwise if this isn’t the case).

Philippines is an interesting option. You can get by using English without an issue. Many coaches come from Philippines to teach h at private clubs in HK. There were also 2 Stanford University athletes who competed for the Philippines in the Olympics this past summer.

Moving westward, the UAE and Dubai in particular are worth mentioning. We briefly toyed with the idea of moving to Dubai last year so I did a lot of research. Many of the gyms follow the US JO DP. The gyms are big, have proper equipment. It looked like many coaches were from Russia/Eastern Europe but I can imagine this will vary from gym to gym.

For some countries in Europe, your fees will be lower because training is done through public clubs as opposed to private clubs. Think your local recreational center. It’s a strange concept coming from the U.S.! This applies to France, Germany, Belgium and I believe the Netherlands as well. Israel follows the same model. For Germany, the websites will be in German, but in our experience many coaches speak English. In Germany they have regional training centres that would be able to coach your daughter. I’ve found that communicating with the club or Verein usually goes a long way. If you are local and pay the fees, you should be ok. The more famous clubs fielding the top athletes at the moment are Stuttgart, Cologne, and Chemnitz. You get a disproportionate number out of Chemnitz but this is because that is the headquarters of the national team. Teenagers move there to train full time. Dusseldorf can also train higher level optionals and trained an athlete from Morocco. I don’t remember if she qualified for the Olympics or not but she did quite well in the Africa circuit.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure!

Hi there I am new to the group.And i came across your post
I read your post about your daughter training in camps during summers.
I am also a fellow expat 4th country is Dubai.My daughter is 7 years old level 3 and her current coach is Ukranian.During the summer she has lot of free time we would like to utilize as we were not very happy with the summer camp we had here last year.
So this year onwards we are planning to travel for summer camps.When I just saw your post.
Which camps/clubs you would suggest in US and Germany.Your guidance would be rreallyhelpful.Have you done residential or day camps?
Also do summer camp help in developing new skills as well?Do you take also private classes in these camps or group classes?Sorry for so many questions.
BTW my daughter zara was born in Hong Kong.
Thanks in advance
Ritika Kapoor

 

[gymmum]

Just puttin in my two cents worth here... I dont know about the states but summer is hard in Europe as everywhere tends to close in August due to the heat. Not sure about Germany though. At New year we went to Turkey, the training was amazing!