A
Anonymous (f192)
My kid's gym has traditionally been an extremely strong JO/DP only program with the stated goal of getting girls to level 10 by freshman year and then on to a college team. They've been really successful at this and my child is most definitely still on this path. She is a 6th grade level 8 who, barring COVID season when she also had a broken arm, hasn't had to repeat a level along the way. I honestly attribute this to the amazing progression planning and coaching she received and had felt really good about her prospects.
However, about a year and a half ago, our owner retired and sold the gym. The new owners brought in all new coaches with the exception of one of our former coaches who has said that she will be leaving after this season. The new coaches are all very experienced and are kind, great people, but they are on a mission to build an elite program. Based on their track records, they were able to recruit many kids who were already HOPES/Jr Elite from the state to come. They have done a good job and will probably be very successful if last season is any indication of the future.
The concern is that the elite program seems to have taken complete priority over the optional DP levels. All optionals and elite-track kids practice during the day and share the same group of 4 coaches. The levels 6-8 kids seem to be getting the shaft as a result. They appear to have no plan to get them ready for the season other than to tell them what skills are required per gym policy. There are few planned progressions and no one seems to be trying to keep them on a paced out schedule to be ready for the season on time. The kids seem to be standing still for weeks and weeks and then rushing like crazy to move skills up to high beam or to bars setting etc to be ready on time. They frequently have different coaches filling in for them when their actual event coach is pulled to cover a higher level group if the elites/HOPES/TOPS kids are at a qualifier or testing or camp with a coach. If the main elite coach need help, they pull the level 6-8 coaches and have a lower level coach or rec coach fill in, meaning that the 6-8 girls are not allowed to do their "hard" skills since these fill-in coaches don't know how to coach them safely on these skills.
My child is not and will never be on the elite trajectory. Her goal is D1 college gym and this had previously seemed quite realistic given her scores. But for the first time since starting the sport, I am worried that she just doesn't look the same degree of "ready" for the season that she usually does by now. And that goes for ALL of her teammates as well. We plan to wait out the season and see how it goes, but for those of you in gyms that train both elite and JO/DP programs, what has been your opinion of it? Can this truly be successful and fruitful for both groups?
However, about a year and a half ago, our owner retired and sold the gym. The new owners brought in all new coaches with the exception of one of our former coaches who has said that she will be leaving after this season. The new coaches are all very experienced and are kind, great people, but they are on a mission to build an elite program. Based on their track records, they were able to recruit many kids who were already HOPES/Jr Elite from the state to come. They have done a good job and will probably be very successful if last season is any indication of the future.
The concern is that the elite program seems to have taken complete priority over the optional DP levels. All optionals and elite-track kids practice during the day and share the same group of 4 coaches. The levels 6-8 kids seem to be getting the shaft as a result. They appear to have no plan to get them ready for the season other than to tell them what skills are required per gym policy. There are few planned progressions and no one seems to be trying to keep them on a paced out schedule to be ready for the season on time. The kids seem to be standing still for weeks and weeks and then rushing like crazy to move skills up to high beam or to bars setting etc to be ready on time. They frequently have different coaches filling in for them when their actual event coach is pulled to cover a higher level group if the elites/HOPES/TOPS kids are at a qualifier or testing or camp with a coach. If the main elite coach need help, they pull the level 6-8 coaches and have a lower level coach or rec coach fill in, meaning that the 6-8 girls are not allowed to do their "hard" skills since these fill-in coaches don't know how to coach them safely on these skills.
My child is not and will never be on the elite trajectory. Her goal is D1 college gym and this had previously seemed quite realistic given her scores. But for the first time since starting the sport, I am worried that she just doesn't look the same degree of "ready" for the season that she usually does by now. And that goes for ALL of her teammates as well. We plan to wait out the season and see how it goes, but for those of you in gyms that train both elite and JO/DP programs, what has been your opinion of it? Can this truly be successful and fruitful for both groups?