Anon Gym quietly ending evening practices

[Anonymous (1490)]

Our gym traditionally only has a few girls who did daytime/homeschool practices, and the bulk of girls level 2 and up practiced from 3:30 on.

In the past two years, there’s been an increase in the girls doing daytime workouts, but it was the kind of girls who were on the elite track, so it wasn’t noticeable since they had always been a bit separated from us. Coaches had casually mentioned that they were trying to make more room for xcel and rec and mag, but I didn’t realize that would have any implications for wag DP.

Now the gym has announced move ups and it’s clear that they are trying to unwind evening afternoon/evening workouts for the DP program without officially announcing it. Girls training level 6 who just finished level 4 have been told they’re repeating 4 and training with level 3s in the evening. Girls who did level 5 last season have been told they have to move to daytime or repeat 5 and train with the 3s and 4s.

My daughter just finished level 4, has all of her level 5 skills, and her 2 36s, so she was going to move to 6. But they’ve said that she actually to repeat level 4.
I’m trying to weigh the friendships and solid coaching against the benefits of making a clean break now to find a place where she can compete 5 or 6 next year.

Questions:

1) is there a level at which a switch would be more detrimental? Would another year of rock-solid 4 be better than unknown 5/6 coaching?

2) is a gym that only has daytime DP practice a place for only elite-track gymnasts? Is there a benefit for a “normal” gymnast that I might not be thinking of?

 

[Anonymous (e326)]

1) I would switch gyms now. If she was getting 36s in L4, there is no reason to repeat. If she repeats level 4 this year, they would still have her move to daytime hours next season if they are moving that way.
2) One benefit for "normal" gymnasts is that the gym is less crowded. Of course, this would probably require either asynchronous online schooling or homeschooling. Another benefit is the opportunity to have their evenings back.

 

[Dahlialover]

Unless you want to switch to days, it’s time to go. Don’t wait, this will be a waste of a year if you stay.

 

[Anonymous (1490)]

Unless you want to switch to days, it’s time to go. Don’t wait, this will be a waste of a year if you stay.

Good advice that I needed to hear outside of my own thoughts. Thank you.

We took a risk on the gym and joined when it was in a rebuilding phase, and my daughter’s group of girls are the first ones to come up all the way from rec. I know it’s a business and that getting to 10 early or getting to elite is becoming more important for college recruiting, but it’s tough to feel cast aside in this way. What a sport.

 

[Dahlialover]

We took a risk on the gym and joined when it was in a rebuilding phase, and my daughter’s group of girls are the first ones to come up all the way from rec. I know it’s a business and that getting to 10 early or getting to elite is becoming more important for college recruiting, but it’s tough to feel cast aside in this way. What a sport.

Moving the optionals program to daytime has nothing to do with getting gymnasts to level 10 fast and everything to do with profit margins. The real issue is that optional-level gymnastics programs are not profitable. Rec, Xcel, and lower compulsory are profitable programs. Moving optionals to an undesirable time slot when the gym facilities are underutilized makes financial sense. Having access to additional training hours in an uncrowded gym can be beneficial from a purely gymnastics point of view. But that’s not why they do it.

 

[Anonymous (1490)]

Moving the optionals program to daytime has nothing to do with getting gymnasts to level 10 fast and everything to do with profit margins. The real issue is that optional-level gymnastics programs are not profitable. Rec, Xcel, and lower compulsory are profitable programs. Moving optionals to an undesirable time slot when the gym facilities are underutilized makes financial sense. Having access to additional training hours in an uncrowded gym can be beneficial from a purely gymnastics point of view. But that’s not why they do it.

Sorry- from my perspective with a kid who’s not elite/fast-tracked, it feels like it’s all about that because those are the only kids who have access to the daytime program right now. I probably didn’t explain it well. Only the best girls are being invited to come during the day and everyone else is being told they will repeat. So 3s who are in TOPS are being invited to move to daytime and train 5/6. 4s and 5s who are ready for 6 but not 7 are not being invited to move to daytime. The remaining upper optionals girls who did evening practices are shifting to a morning schedule for summer but it’s not clear what happens after that.

I think that what’s going on is that they’re trying to push the regular girls into xcel and make the bar for entry into DP practices higher.

 

[Anonymous (a682)]

Our gym traditionally only has a few girls who did daytime/homeschool practices, and the bulk of girls level 2 and up practiced from 3:30 on.

In the past two years, there’s been an increase in the girls doing daytime workouts, but it was the kind of girls who were on the elite track, so it wasn’t noticeable since they had always been a bit separated from us. Coaches had casually mentioned that they were trying to make more room for xcel and rec and mag, but I didn’t realize that would have any implications for wag DP.

Now the gym has announced move ups and it’s clear that they are trying to unwind evening afternoon/evening workouts for the DP program without officially announcing it. Girls training level 6 who just finished level 4 have been told they’re repeating 4 and training with level 3s in the evening. Girls who did level 5 last season have been told they have to move to daytime or repeat 5 and train with the 3s and 4s.

My daughter just finished level 4, has all of her level 5 skills, and her 2 36s, so she was going to move to 6. But they’ve said that she actually to repeat level 4.
I’m trying to weigh the friendships and solid coaching against the benefits of making a clean break now to find a place where she can compete 5 or 6 next year.

Questions:

1) is there a level at which a switch would be more detrimental? Would another year of rock-solid 4 be better than unknown 5/6 coaching?

2) is a gym that only has daytime DP practice a place for only elite-track gymnasts? Is there a benefit for a “normal” gymnast that I might not be thinking of?

Switch now if you're not going to homeschool. There is no reason to repeat level 4 just because they don't want to train her in the evenings. There are lots of gyms out there with normal training hours for girls in regular school.

 

[Anonymous (ca66)]

Sound like a 'Powers gym' or someone using that model. That alone would have me looking elsewhere now regardless of training/coaching.

Definitely do a search of this forum to see the potential chaos if it is.

 

[Anonymous (39a9)]

Our gym traditionally only has a few girls who did daytime/homeschool practices, and the bulk of girls level 2 and up practiced from 3:30 on.

In the past two years, there’s been an increase in the girls doing daytime workouts, but it was the kind of girls who were on the elite track, so it wasn’t noticeable since they had always been a bit separated from us. Coaches had casually mentioned that they were trying to make more room for xcel and rec and mag, but I didn’t realize that would have any implications for wag DP.

Now the gym has announced move ups and it’s clear that they are trying to unwind evening afternoon/evening workouts for the DP program without officially announcing it. Girls training level 6 who just finished level 4 have been told they’re repeating 4 and training with level 3s in the evening. Girls who did level 5 last season have been told they have to move to daytime or repeat 5 and train with the 3s and 4s.

My daughter just finished level 4, has all of her level 5 skills, and her 2 36s, so she was going to move to 6. But they’ve said that she actually to repeat level 4.
I’m trying to weigh the friendships and solid coaching against the benefits of making a clean break now to find a place where she can compete 5 or 6 next year.

Questions:

1) is there a level at which a switch would be more detrimental? Would another year of rock-solid 4 be better than unknown 5/6 coaching?

2) is a gym that only has daytime DP practice a place for only elite-track gymnasts? Is there a benefit for a “normal” gymnast that I might not be thinking of?

 

[Anonymous (39a9)]

Switch now if you're not going to homeschool. There is no reason to repeat level 4 just because they don't want to train her in the evenings. There are lots of gyms out there with normal training hours for girls in regular school.

Find another gym. Any gym where your child is being held back to repeat a level, when they are beyond that level is
a sure sign it’s time to move on. I recently coached at a gym where the kids were so held back in Xcel, it was ridiculous, beyond boring and so bad that I quit along with the entire team and went to another gym at end of season when we knew none of them would get moved up. And some of these bronze kids could already do the gold level skills but they would not allow them to work ahead. I could o my coach them to their true level in private lessons. This awful gym had a policy that you had to repeat each level for two years- it was in the contract. It was all about making as much money out of each family - they ignorantly believed this would keep a kid in the gym ten years moving through 5 levels.
At the new gym the kids were immediately promoted and in 2 weeks learned the next level routines and were competing. Good luck!

 

[Anonymous (a674)]

We’re at a Powers owned gym and that sounds very similar to how things work for us.

High performing, high potential compulsory kids are invited to daytime. Anyone level 8+ MUST train during the day.

Sounds like your gym may not be the best fit for your daughter, however I think I’d have a conversation with the coaches first about their plan for her, and you also need to take into account your daughter’s happiness, does she want to leave? Switching gyms isn’t a guarantee she won’t repeat 4. (FWIW my now level 10 repeated 4 and it was the best thing for her)