Parents Gymnastics college team seeker, high school gymnast mom

[Gaby]

Do you ever think about moving to TX ,almost half of National team members are from WOGA!!! Any thoughts? My daughter is doing level9 now , really think about a best gym for her for high school critical time .

 

[Ty’s Dad]

Wife and I was really thinking about it a couple years ago. Talked to real estate agents, looked at homes and everything. (My family business branched off and has a office in Frisco Tx). But when it came down to it my daughter loves her gym and coaches so we’re staying in California

 

[rlm's mom]

Yes, worth moving if you want to give your DD the best chance to be on the national team and are willing to take all the risks which come with it. Not worth moving for gymnastics if you want quality of life, if you have a gym you are happy with, your DD is in school etc.

 

[Ty’s Dad]

Yes, worth moving if you want to give your DD the best chance to be on the national team and are willing to take all the risks which come with it. Not worth moving for gymnastics if you want quality of life, if you have a gym you are happy with, your DD is in school etc.

Lol my daughters gym produced a couple of National team members and has one there now. My kid will be at camp
Prob next year, not really worried about that one.

 

[rlm's mom]

Lol my daughters gym produced a couple of National team members and has one there now. My kid will be at camp
Prob next year, not really worried about that one.

Nope you don’t have to go to WOGA to be on the National team, our gym has produced a couple as well. Going to a gym with elite experience may help a gymnast’s prospects of getting to National team.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

No

 

[esor]

I can tell you many stories of people we know who did big moves for gymnastics and it didn't work out for one reason or another. I know it does for some, but I don't think it's worth major sacrifices to do so for most. I would just think hard and make sure if fits all aspects of your family's needs. And Texas isn't the only place, as others noted, that produces elites. There may be better options closer that don't require as big of a change, or fit your family better.

 

[Livelovegymnastics]

Just because Texas has all these great gyms doesn't mean they are the only ones that can produce top-level gymnasts. My gym is pretty small and definitely not considered an elite gym but we have produced multiple national team members. So if moving works for your family, do it, but there are many other options that might work just as well and are more convenient for your family.

 

[JBS]

For once I completely agree with every word that @Deleted member 18037 said above.

 

[JBS]

Do you ever think about moving to TX ,almost half of National team members are from WOGA!!! Any thoughts? My daughter is doing level9 now , really think about a best gym for her for high school critical time .

Here is a discussion about the current camp...

Link Removed

 

[Tammie]

We kinda moved for gymnastics, but my husband was also offered COL + 50% to take a job here too. However we've moved around the country like chess pieces the last 20-some years, so it wasn't as if we were leaving behind family or long term roots. We will stay here until the kid is done with gym and move again. So our situation was also a bit different going in.

We were in a small town & I researched the heck out of gyms before picking, WOGA was a solid NO from me!!! I actually reached out to former athletes, college athletes, parents of athletes, etc(anything I could find on fb) and asked their opinions-I was crazy in picking an elite gym. I asked other coaches, I asked so so many people.

BUT, my daughter is mildly autistic, she would not tell me about bad behaviors, she may not even recognize them as bad :-( so I had to protect my kid more than most. So, I asked our previous HC for a list of elite gyms he liked for her, then looked for former athletes. In addition to his list, I wrote to alumni of the big name gyms.

We did not anticipate being taken by our gym of choice right away, we figured 2-4yrs, if she was still into it, but it would give us time to settle in the area...well, pandemic hit & they ended up taking my daughter right away. Whoa, so NOT the plan-lol. Although it has worked out beautifully!! I believe they only accepted her because they needed money, post-pandemic, but does that really matter anymore?? She has since earned her spot and then some. I know now, girls come to try out for our gym fairly regularly(at least once a month, but they get calls and tape far more regularly, so the ones that show up are pre-screened), now my kid is one they compare them all against-especially when parents dont want to accept the rejection, but she wasn't like this 2yrs ago when they got her-so I'm shocked she wasn't rejected herself.

I love our gym, it is small, however that also means alot of attention from coaches! So there are trade-offs for sure, but for us, we made the right choice.

They have 98% of everything on my list of "perfect gym"...the ONLY issue is I wanted a gym that would allow her to do less if she decided that, I do not believe these coaches would-not anymore. They see too much potential & they just wouldn't. I remember about a year ago I asked about xcel(for a younger daughter-just to have fun), immediately I was told by a "side coach" that I would have to go to another gym if gymnast wanted to do xcel, the HC wouldn't allow that for her. Which just means *I* have to be more careful in ensuring this is what my kiddo still wants as we progress through it. Otherwise, perfection in a gym!! Ya know, like 19/20 aint bad(my list was long, maybe not 20, but likely darn close).

Life is good! Kiddo is now doing L9/10/elite hours(28-34hrs per week, including privates, depending on saturdays, we dont do them all, we take 1/4 to 1/3 of them off for other things-family fun/activies outside of gym, were in the middle of 3 Sat in a row off now), she will be 11 in Dec, she is L4 fall/L6 spring, with word on the street being that she will be "let loose" once she is an optional & be allowed to skip levels(compete once, not exactly skip), her level will not be determined until 2wks before any given competition. So we will see where we go. For now my kiddo still wants more, more hours, more privates, keys to the gym, etc. So this is still her thing & were still going for it

However my kiddo will never have to wonder what if, she will know everything was in her favor & whatever she achieved or didn't achieve was her choice!! That's ultimately why we did this.

So my advice?? If your daughter is on board and wants another gym/is willing to move for gymnastics, then go for it(how does the rest of the family feel?). However make sure you find a gym that is the right fit for your kid-it may not be woga. It may be a smaller gym with only 4/6/8 national qualifiers, but that number represents ALL/most of their top athletes vs woga having 20 that represents only 50% of their top athletes-because the other 50% is injured.

That's just my advice from a clueless gym mom trying my best for my kiddo.

 

[HappyDDdriver]

Your DD is going into level 4 doing 28 to 34 hours a week plus privates? That seems excessive. It's a long road through the optionals much less elite.

 

[cmg]

It seems to me that moving to a new gym out of state for your daughter to do gymnastics is a lot of pressure on her. Especially for WOGA which I am pretty sure there is documented horror stories of emotional abuse. Maybe things have changed but I don't know. I guess I would worry that if I moved to Texas for WOGA, and my daughter then found the team atmosphere unacceptable would she really tell you everything that was going on given the sacrifices the whole family made to get her to this gym? I would want to be very certain that WOGA was absolutely the right gym for my daughter. I don't think you ever really know until about 6 months or so after you join which is usually too late to make a change. If it were me, I would try to find a solution locally. If you don't have that option than you better do a lot of research and make sure which ever gym you chose is the right fit for your daughter.

 

[Tammie]

Your DD is going into level 4 doing 28 to 34 hours a week plus privates? That seems excessive. It's a long road through the optionals much less elite.

28-34 is WITH privates(not that it makes much of a difference).

We also take off many Saturdays(anytime something "fun" is going on in another part of our lives), hence the big amount of variability in our hours. We miss 1/4 to 1/3 of Saturday practices.

My kiddo has a bit different circumstance than most. She took almost 2yrs off gym(due to life, not by choice), which meant restarting her levels to ensure nothing was missing or sloppy in her foundation. She is doing a bit of catch-up now.

She is training higher level skills with the intention to compete one competition & move up once she reaches optionals(this winter/spring). All in an effort to catch her levels up to match her skills and get her where she needs to be!! She trains with the upper optionals and wins every challenge(sometimes tying with one other girl).

If you ask her, she isn't training enough hours and would like more. Her coaches won't let her have more yet, they want to protect her from burnout. Our coaches have been at this a long time, have had very few gymnasts suffer burnout, therefore I trust that they know what they're doing in setting her hours.

This is also what my kid wants-and where she lives her best life(the autism is worse with less than 28hrs, more meltdowns, so that seems to be her sweet spot and where she is happiest).

I think it's difficult to say what is too much/best, or when, for someone else's kid. As what is best for one kid isn't necessarily what is best for another. Everyone has different circumstances and is in a different place in their journey!!

They believe she will be attempting her first elite qualifier in 2yrs, 3yrs max. So while yes, it is a long road, it's not all THAT far off!

Cheers!! Good luck in your personal journey as well!!