WAG How is your non-homeschool TOPs program structured?

[lovegymnastics22]

I am interested to hear how gyms structure TOPs programs-- particularly ones for non-home schooled kids where all the gym time is non-school hours. For example, is it extra days a week completely separate from USAG? is it integrated into regular lvl training hours and girls are split into groups? How many hours? Do you test both skills and physical abilities? What happens when girls at different USAG levels have to train skills based on age? Does anyone only test physical abilities or do girls also have to be able to compete the skills to test? Is there a separate TOPs coach? Is your program successful vs home schooled programs? Are the TOPs girls more successful in USAG even if not making it to camps? I'm trying to figure out how to evaluate a TOPs program without only looking at how many A/B team kids they produce. Or should that be the only metric?

THANKS!

 

[lilly7415]

At my gym we do TOPS practice from 7-9am Tuesday-Thursday. The girls who attend public school, leave a few minutes early but definitely still have enough time for a good workout.

 

[emma m]

Our gym doesn't do TOPS, but I know from other gyms that most TOPS (the younger ones) aren't homeschooled and will usually do seperate TOPS training workouts (physical and skills) from the regular USAG practices. Also, I do think TOPS could help the gymnast perform better in USAG.

 

[shelovestoflip]

No one at our gym is homeschooled. Our TOPS class is on Saturday mornings, separate from regular practice, though certainly, all the girls work on TOPS skills as part of general training.

 

[LuckyMommy]

For example, is it extra days a week completely separate from USAG? YES, TOPS KIDS SKIP ONE DAY OF USAG PRACTICE AT THEIR LEVEL, AND DO TOPS INSTEAD
How many hours? 6 HOURS TOTAL PER WEEK, THEY DO USAG FOR 12 HOURS PLUS 6 MORE TOPS
Do you test both skills and physical abilities? YES, IN 2015
What happens when girls at different USAG levels have to train skills based on age? THEY JUST TRAIN THEM TOGETHER, WE ONLY HAVE 5 GIRLS
Does anyone only test physical abilities or do girls also have to be able to compete the skills to test? LAST YEAR JUST DID PHYSICAL
Is there a separate TOPs coach? NO, THE TOPS COACHES ARE ALSO USAG COACHES
Is your program successful vs home schooled programs? NOT SO FAR, GIRLS ARE LEAVING FOR OTHER GYMS, THE OTHER GYMS ARE NOT EXCLUSIVELY HOMESCHOOL BUT THEY MISS SCHOOL TO ATTEND SOME CLASSES
Are the TOPs girls more successful in USAG even if not making it to camps? SOME ARE, SOME ARE NOT, THE YOUNGEST ONES ARE NOT AS SUCCESSFUL IN USAG B/C I THINK AT AGE 6 AND 7 IT IS HARD FOR THEM TO LEARN USAG ROUTINES AND ALSO LEARN TOPS

 

[Bess]

Our tops is the hour before your regular practice begins

 

[MomIdidit!]

My daughter trains TOPS for 3hrs a week. She attends 2 hours one night and an hour prior to Saturdays practices. It is a small group of eight six year old girls none of which are homeschool. The girls in TOPS were invited and are coached by their coach.

 

[kimute]

Our TOPS program is three hours a week in addition to regular USAG practice. No homeschool kids, but a few need to cut out of school a little early for TOPS. Our program is pretty new and small so not sure if we can measure success yet as a program, but I think being part of TOPs has helped my 8 year old DD tremendously at skill acquisition.

 

[kaloss]

Our TOPS program is invite only, 3 hours a week in addition to regular team practice. Our happen to overlap with some regular practice time, so dd misses 2 hours of normal practice/week. Last year it was early morning before school. The new schedule just came out and it's one weeknight and Saturday afternoon.

 

[GYM0M]

We went to homeschool this year. But last year, our tops girls came in one hour before the rest of the team. They would warm up and do physical abilities in the hour. They were also in a separate rotation from other gymnasts in their JO level so essentially the practice was separate. Our program is much different from others though. We have two levels of achieve team (younger girls 5-7, 1.5-3 hours), a traditional preteam (all ages, training for L3 (6-9 hours), L3-L4 team (all ages, 9-12 hours), L5 team (scarce as mostly we score out, 15 hours), optional team L6&up (9-14 18+ hours). For TOPS, we have a stars team (4-6 years, 4-6 hours, never joins team rotation), TOPS preteam (we affectionately call Tiny TOPS, but my dd is shorter than all of them!) ages 5-7/8, maybe a 9 (rare), 22 hours, then TOPS team (8-10 years) homeschooled (except 1), lots of hours per week, but balanced, imo.