WAG Georgia Gyms

[vagymmomma]

I have a co-worker who has a daughter just starting gymnastics and she has been asked to tryout for team. He asked me for recommendations on gyms and I referenced him to GAUSAG website. When I looked at where they were now, there are very few optionals. Does anyone have recommendations for gyms near Buckhead? Thanks!

 

[gasrgoose]

There are not many gyms close to Buckhead. JumpStart is probably the closest and might be where she is trying out. It's a new gym (@ 2 years) and only has a couple of girls starting in optionals (level 7?). It's just north of 285 on Roswell road, so within 15 minutes of Buckhead. Daniella Silivas is a coach there and she is great! Great people and great coaching, if my daughter was starting gymnastics I'd probably go there. It's a competitive gym in a little more relaxed atmosphere with solid coaching. The closest "true optional" gym is probably Atlanta North Stars in Marietta. They successfully compete compulsories through optionals (around 3-4 level 10's). The head coach has coached in programs with Elites but never had an Elite while he was head coach. The other options require more driving but there are two gyms who have current Elites; GAA in Kennesaw and Northwind in Alpharetta. GAA is really big and a great facility and great coaching; competitive through all levels. Northwind is smaller and has two elites (though I heard at least one is making a change) Elena Piskun is the head coach. People drive to GA Elite in Watkinsville near Athens from Atlanta. It's a long drive; at least an hour, but they have girls on SEC teams (2 at UGA). The head coaches'(Pete Arenas and Kim Arnold Arenas) daughter is hoping to be junior elite soon. It's a big newer facility and they regularly have college coaches come through to watch practices. They have probably the biggest and maybe the best level 10 program in the state. They won team state last year at level 5 and level 10, so they cover all levels pretty well.

Roswell gymnastics also has a big program through all levels and has one of the biggest men's team. It's not an unreasonable drive from Buckhead but would probably take 45 minutes on average.

That's probably enough info from me, plus i'm tired of typing.

 

[vagymmomma]

Gargooese -
Thank you so much! I will forward that infomation to them. It wasn't Jump Start but another gym that seemed to peak at L7 for USAG. I mentioned the one in Kennesaw to them (I saw them on the GAUSAG website) and they said they were close to there. Do you know how competitive it is to get on team at GAA? Sometime I think it's better to go to a smaller well coached gym and move at the optional level to larger program. Thanks again!

 

[gasrgoose]

I don't know directly about the GAA. Our gym has had a handful of gymnasts move from there, but some people just are always looking for greener grass. I don't believe it is too competitive simply because of the size of the gym. It's a huge nice facility and it takes alot of little feet running around to pay the bills. It would be to their advantage to have large teams. Like most large gyms their is a large variety of talent level on any compulsory team. They seem to have a loyal and energetic group of parents on their compulsory teams. They have an annoying cheer that the parents constantly yell. "GAA rocks the house, whoop, whoop" It's probably unfair to judge too much by that but it is annoying if you are in a session with their team. They are successful and I've seen their coaches interact with the gymnasts and it appears to be a healthy, happy and competitive environment. I believe they use TOPS as bridge between compulsory and optional for the more talented kids. Good luck to your friend. The Atlanta area has a good group of gyms and they ALL have positives and negatives.

 

[2G1B]

Personally, when we were changing gyms I did not consider GAA. GAA places really, really well. They are a strong gym. But I have a number of friends who currently have their kids there and others who did have their kids there and left. From talking to all of them I did not want my girls there.

If you are just looking for a gym with a girls team then there are a lot of options in the metro area; but I don't know for Buckhead specifically.

I have seen GA Elite (the Athens gym) at competitions and they really do seem amazing; but it is way more of a drive than I would ever consider.

In the north/west metro area with optionals teams are Cobb Challengers (not many on their girls optionals team), North Metro Gymnastics Center (in Woodstock), Ga Allstars, Ultimate in Duluth, Roswell (already mentioned), All Around in Alpharetta... There are just a ton of teams.

 

[2G1B]

Oh, and another thing, if she is just starting out and is wanting to compete, then that is going to make a difference in what gym they might want. GAA starts competing at I believe new level 4. Definitely no earlier. I'm almost positive that Roswell starts at level 4 too. There are several other gyms in the area that don't start until level 4; but it seems like the majority start at new 3 or new 2.

If she is older, that can make a difference too. Several of the gyms much prefer to start the girls young and grow them. We have some sisters at our gym who started at one gym when one was 4 and the other was 6. The 5 year old was put on preteam; but the parents were told the 7 year old was too old for their team. Sure, it might be that they just didn't see potential in her; but I have watched her and she is a strong gymnast, so who knows.

 

[2G1B]

Oops, I went back and did the math and corrected my second statement with their ages; but not the first. I'm almost positive that they were 5 and 7, not 4 and 6. They are now 6 and 8 and I know this was around a year ago that they left the gym that said the older daughter was too old.