WAG How far is your gym?

[Momof2]

We are about a 20 min drive each way. Not a lot of traffic and we take the interstate the entire way so it's not that bad. We do pass a few gyms on the way but they are much more expensive so it's worth the little bit of an extra drive for the savings. I would not and could not drive an hour to gym. That's just to far for us.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I'd like to say that there's no way I would do that for a kid in Compulsory levels, but each case is different and if I had had a super talented, very young gymmie with incredible potential I'm not sure what the answer would be. For a "regular" gymnast like my own (10yo L5, no elite potential) the answer would absolutely be no, I would not drive 3hrs/day for gym.
Our gym is about 15min from home, other DDs dance studio is another 15min away (and 30min from home). I drive back and forth between those every evening of the week plus Saturdays. I work at gym so I don't go home in between, I just go back and forth between gym and dance depending on who has what schedule and when I work.
We do have families who drive 1hr each way, 5days/wk. that's dedication. To be fair, I will say that those kids do have loads of potential and I might be tempted if I was in their shoes. They do have a closer gym but it's not good at all. Our gym has much better training and coaches, and one of the girls in particular wins pretty much everything, every time she competes.

I do also agree with whoever said that it may be just as, if not even more, important during the lower levels to get good training, BUT I think I would have to really be very realistic about my kids actual potential before making that decision. At this age/level, so many of them end up quitting and it's only a select few who will actually stick with it long enough to make those early years training truly worth it, KWIM? It would be nice to have a crystal ball and be able to say "little Suzie, who shows great potential now at 7, is actually going to quit and do dance team instead at age 10" or "Betsy, who is a tenacious but struggling L8 at age 13 could have really had a chance at this if she had only had better training at age 7..." There's just no way of knowing how it will play out.

I always think get the best training you can, it's never wasted (in both dance and gymnastics) BUT it has to be within reason and only you can decide what's reasonable for your family. For me, it would be unreasonable to drive 3hrs/day for L4 training.

 

[Amusibus]

We drive under 10 minutes.

 

[dani4]

Our gym has three locations, one is an 8 minute drive and the other is a 15 minute drive. Since my kids are still pre-team we just go to the location that has the better schedule, and we've been back and forth. If team happens someday we'll probably go to the closer one. If optionals ever happens we'll have to go to the farther one.

We are lucky, but that's city living.

 

[Gymmom826]

My dd's current gym is about 15 min away. Its a small gym, I admit not very good coaching at times, athletes are in and out, lots and lots of drama, etc.. My question: there is a great gym that is 1.30 hours away (each way), known olympian coach there. I want my dd to try out team there but the travel and everything else scares me. Is this even possible? anyone else here has driven that far just to get their dd to gym? My dd is 7 yrs old and a lv4 this season and I have 2 other kids.

My dd's first gym was five minutes away. We could almost walk there. She competed on the team there. She did well she was happy, but she expressed her seriousness for the sport, so I looked into other gyms. The gym she was at was not very competitive. I also heard from other parents from higher levels that they were not very happy and felt the HC was demeaning to the girls. I found a wonderful gym an hour away. It took some adjustment, but we're used to it. My other dd has to go with us, but I am able to drop of my gymnast and go home as my DH picks her up. So my other DD is able to do her own activities once we get back home. I've also scheduled most of her activities for days when my gymnast doesn't have practice. My Gymnast absolutely LOVES the new gym, so I know it's worth it. They also said the other gym taught her a lot of bad habits, so it's worth it to learn the proper way to do gymnastics.

 

[DisMom]

Following.

Our current gym is 5 minutes away by car. It's a joy. It's only 3 miles and I run there in the summer and then my daughter and I run home together after practice. BUT...at some point we need to move. I've been putting it off. Likely should have moved a year ago, if not longer. There is no pit. (She is L7/training L8...and that is just plain wrong without a pit, if you ask me.)

The "good, big name" gym is about 40 minutes away. Still doable. Not 1,5 hours. Yikes! But also not 5 minutes down the road. So I have been procrastinating.

 

[AngiesMom]

Our gym is about 10 minutes away. There is a gym with a better reputation that is about 30 minutes away that DD was originally going to attend but I deemed that too far and found a closer place. Perhaps in the future we will end up attending the further away gym - we shall see!

 

[wh/gh]

20 minutes' walk! Which is necessary, because I wouldn't have a way to get to a different gym. But I miss the days of driving to and from gym...I don't like walking back in the dark at night - my neighborhood is not that safe.

 

[All Chalked Up]

1 1/2 hours each way... but worth every minute.

 

[Pirouette]

8.5 miles, driving time ranges from 12 to 30 minutes depending on weather and traffic. With 3 other kids, that's the max I'm able to allot to the gym drive. We are lucky in that we are very happy at this gym, and there are other good gyms in the same radius from our home.

Personally, I would not make a 90 minute drive each way for one child, but I do understand why some parents choose to do so.

 

[kitkat]

Just under 30 minutes. Back road and highway driving...works out ok as I car pool. They drive them to gym and I drive home.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

Currently 20-25 min but soon we are changing to 5 min I am so happy cause we literally drive there 6 days a week between all the kids.

 

[Muffin]

I drive 20-30 minutes to gym 5 days a week, depending on the time of day and traffic. I'm not sure if I'd be willing to drive further (as a coach) especially as this gym is double the commute from my original gym. We do have a couple of gymnasts who travel longer distances to get to the gym and it seems to be pretty regular within our region to do this for the higher level gymnasts. It does seem pretty hard on the families of these gymnasts though from what I've seen.

 

[2gymkids]

Our gym is less than 10 minutes away. Usually 7-8 minutes, depending on how many red lights I hit. I love it that way! There are a couple of other gyms in the 15-20 minute range but they in places that get very trafficky in the afternoon/evening hours so it would be quite a bit longer to get there.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

The gym is about 1.5" away. Yes, I just checked my phone ap and it is only about an 1.5" Drive time is 35-40 minutes.

No pop music on my commute, SBG -

 

[mimi]

Things I said I would NEVER do as a parent, before I was a parent:

1. I would never push around one of those grocery carts that looked like a car.

2. I would never have a DVD player in my car.

3. I would never let my kids eat in the car. (Bahahahahaha)

4. I would never let my children's activities take up the majority of my time.

Fast forward to now, I pushed that grocery cart with kids hanging out the front of it, my kids watch movies in my car both on the DVD player and their iPads, the back floor boards of my car contains no less than one bag of potato chips ground into the carpet...and....I drive an hour 5 days a week to bring my DD to a quality gym where she can safely and successfully work to her potential in gymnastics. And it is worth every minute of it.

 

[KieQ]

I'd probably sign up for their march break camp as a test to see if the drive would kill me. If it's too much to do five days in a row for one week, it'll probably get old really quickly 3-5 days a week for a year. Also need to factor in that you will likely not run home or run errands while she trains. What to do with the other kids while you are waiting the full 3-4 hour training session...Gas, Meals and entertainment will add up quickly.

 

[lovethelord]

We carpool to a gym 1 hour away. I would still drive if we weren't in the carpool. Love it!

 

[Gym-Mom]

We are about 20 minutes away, depending on traffic. It is mainly highway driving, so it isn't bad. We are hoping to move closer to her school this summer, which would also put us closer to the gym.

 

[1canadiangymmom]

We are in a rural area, closest major city in either direction is almost an hour away. So its an hour drive in good weather both directions.