Anon Gym without a pit

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

Our gym does not have a pit. Both coaches and parents agree that at this point our girls desperately need one. But the gym owner was very resistant to the idea of putting one in (many excuses, but bottom line is about $). This has been a conversation for years but we are only met with empty promises.

The girls love the coaches so leaving the gym is not the most ideal option for many. Here are my questions:

1. We proposed that the girls train at a nearby gym with a pit once a week on specific skills. The nearby gym is open to it, but the owner said no, citing insurance and liability would be an issue. Has anyone gone down this path? Can we purchase separate insurance from the host gym? Or can we add a rider to our insurance? We are a small team with only 10 girls needing the pit at this point. Our contract does not prohibit this.

2. We have a trench pit bar set, which was actually intended to be a foam pit when it was built. But somehow the plan got changed. Is there anything from the construction perspective that can be done to transform the trench? Ie half trench bar, half pit bar? Our ceiling is on the Lower side too. If yes, what is the timeline and cost we are looking at?

Any experience is appreciated.

 

[Anonymous (8d82)]

We recently moved to a gym without a pit (following coaches who took over the optional program). The lack of pit was my primary concern but after only 3 months, I am no longer concerned, for a few reasons:

1. significant time is invested in drills and progressions on skills that might require a pit - and what I've noticed is that our coaches ensure a girl is ready before just letting them chuck a skill

2. we visit a gym with a pit twice monthly and only those girls who have demonstrated readiness are allowed to use the pit to practice the skill, so it's mainly double backs off bars, flipping vaults and double backs on floor - so there must be a way to make this work with insurance/liability

I recently heard that our gym will be getting some kind of pit pillow for bars and a modular foam pit for vault. I'll be happy to see this but am happy with what I've seen so far in terms of coaching without a pit. We do have a trampoline tumble track that seems to be where a lot of the pre-work goes before a skill is ready.

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

Thank you for sharing! Our coaches are very experienced with training without a pit up to level 8, but it has become a safety concern and trying level 9-10 skills become harder without a pit as girls grown older they develop fears and go through body changes.

Pit pillow and portable pit are clearly not in their budget either.

Going to another gym to train these skills is our best option now but we have to persuade the owner. It would be so helpful if you could find out about the insurance arrangement that your gym has! Thank you!!

 

[Anonymous (a666)]

My son is at a gym where virtually everything is practiced over or into a pit. Because of this, and other safety precautions, I have not seen a single gymnast get injured doing gymnastics at our gym in years. Boys get growth plate injuries from overuse but they don’t get traumatic injuries from falls or landings. There is another gym in our state that doesn’t have pits and the injuries coming out of that place are gruesome! It’s such a dramatic difference! I think you are right to want your daughter to practice over a pit.

It think you could hire your coaches as independent contractors to train your athletes at the other gym. The coaches and athletes would be training at the other gym on their personal time and other gym’s liability insurance would apply. This would completely remove your current gym from the equation and eliminate their concerns about liability.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous (33bd)]

We have never had a pit, in the last couple of years we got a Upit foam pit and a kind of super big pit pillow from gymnova. Our top gymnasts go to some fellow gyms with a pit to try out some of the harder skills (double backs, flipping vaults)
We are in a different country (Europe) so I can't really tell about insurance. Our insurance covers training not only in our home gym, but training in general, as long as you are supervised by the coaches and in an organized activity.

 

[Anonymous (0bf1)]

I think having a pit is crucial.

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

My son is at a gym where virtually everything is practiced over or into a pit. Because of this, and other safety precautions, I have not seen a single gymnast get injured doing gymnastics at our gym in years. Boys get growth plate injuries from overuse but they don’t get traumatic injuries from falls or landings. There is another gym in our state that doesn’t have pits and the injuries coming out of that place are gruesome! It’s such a dramatic difference! I think you are right to want your daughter to practice over a pit.

It think you could hire your coaches as independent contractors to train your athletes at the other gym. The coaches and athletes would be training at the other gym on their personal time and other gym’s liability insurance would apply. This would completely remove your current gym from the equation and eliminate their concerns about liability.

Good luck!

Great point! Thanks for the case comparison! So telling! We would be ok with paying separate liability insurance at the other gym.

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

We have never had a pit, in the last couple of years we got a Upit foam pit and a kind of super big pit pillow from gymnova. Our top gymnasts go to some fellow gyms with a pit to try out some of the harder skills (double backs, flipping vaults)
We are in a different country (Europe) so I can't really tell about insurance. Our insurance covers training not only in our home gym, but training in general, as long as you are supervised by the coaches and in an organized activity.

Thanks for sharing! This is exactly what we need the pit for. I never know what our insurance actually covers. Parents assumed it is just at our gym, but it may not!

 

[gym_dad32608]

My thoughts:

• Can you train high-level gymnastics (elite, L8-10) without a pit? Yes. Is it the optimal training environment? No. There is just no combination of pit pillow, coach oversight, one-day at another gym, etc. that makes training without a pit as good as training in a gym that has a pit. Period.
• Going down the path of doing the work of what the owner should be doing is a recipe for disaster. Stay away from that path.
• The best and cleanest solution is to move to a gym that has a pit, end of story. I get the "we love the coaches sentiment" but if you are serious then you need to be training with a pit. which leads to my final point.
• What is the end goal here? College team? Elite? Don't care? How you answer that should guide some of this.

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

Agreed…Unfortunately leaving for another gym will be the choice of some girls if this arrangement doesn’t work out. Most girls have college aspirations but High level gyms are not easy to come by in our area.

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

My thoughts:

• Can you train high-level gymnastics (elite, L8-10) without a pit? Yes. Is it the optimal training environment? No. There is just no combination of pit pillow, coach oversight, one-day at another gym, etc. that makes training without a pit as good as training in a gym that has a pit. Period.
• Going down the path of doing the work of what the owner should be doing is a recipe for disaster. Stay away from that path.
• The best and cleanest solution is to move to a gym that has a pit, end of story. I get the "we love the coaches sentiment" but if you are serious then you need to be training with a pit. which leads to my final point.
• What is the end goal here? College team? Elite? Don't care? How you answer that should guide some of this.

Agreed…Unfortunately leaving for another gym will be the choice of some girls if this arrangement doesn’t work out. Most girls have college aspirations but High level gyms are not easy to come by in our area.

 

[34gymcoach]

The owner is right about liability. Even if you get a rider for the liability policy- there are multiple insurances needed for gyms- abuse & molestation, accident & medical, and workman’s comp - and more. If a coach not on that host gyms payroll gets hurt- they are not covered by workman’s comp- or any other insurance either. Also- it’s just not about the costs of digging a pit- digging a pit is a MESS. They would need to break down & store all their equipment bc there is so much dirt and dust. The gym would have to be closed for a minimum of 2 weeks- but probably closer to 4. I know this doesn’t solve your problem- but it’s waaay more complicated than you think. I’m going to try to post a photo of out put getting dug.

Agreed…Unfortunately leaving for another gym will be the choice of some girls if this arrangement doesn’t work out. Most girls have college aspirations but High level gyms are not easy to come by in our area.

 

[Anonymous (5f76)]

Our gym does not have a pit. Both coaches and parents agree that at this point our girls desperately need one. But the gym owner was very resistant to the idea of putting one in (many excuses, but bottom line is about $). This has been a conversation for years but we are only met with empty promises.

The girls love the coaches so leaving the gym is not the most ideal option for many. Here are my questions:

1. We proposed that the girls train at a nearby gym with a pit once a week on specific skills. The nearby gym is open to it, but the owner said no, citing insurance and liability would be an issue. Has anyone gone down this path? Can we purchase separate insurance from the host gym? Or can we add a rider to our insurance? We are a small team with only 10 girls needing the pit at this point. Our contract does not prohibit this.

2. We have a trench pit bar set, which was actually intended to be a foam pit when it was built. But somehow the plan got changed. Is there anything from the construction perspective that can be done to transform the trench? Ie half trench bar, half pit bar? Our ceiling is on the Lower side too. If yes, what is the timeline and cost we are looking at?

Any experience is appreciated.

Does the nearby gym offer Open Gym (at a time that doesn't interfere with practice)?
You may be able to get one of your coaches to do a "group private" during that time. The open gym will have you sign a waiver of liability, so they have no responsibility for any injuries.

 

[Anonymous (f3cf)]

Here is an interesting article from College Gym News that completed a study on D3 schools with or without a pit. I obviously don't know if the athletes trained at a club team before they got to college with or without a pit, but I thought this was an interesting study.

The Impact of Foam Pits on Division III Gymnastics Teams - College Gym News

All the recent articles published on College Gym News, including event coverage, recruiting news, features, data deep dives and more.

collegegymnews.com

 

[Anonymous (5b8a)]

Here is an interesting article from College Gym News that completed a study on D3 schools with or without a pit. I obviously don't know if the athletes trained at a club team before they got to college with or without a pit, but I thought this was an interesting study.

The Impact of Foam Pits on Division III Gymnastics Teams - College Gym News

All the recent articles published on College Gym News, including event coverage, recruiting news, features, data deep dives and more.

collegegymnews.com

Interesting study! Thanks for sharing!
It would be great to know how the athletes trained and their skill set before joining.