Parents How Many Per Level?

[3LittleGymmies]

A comment on another thread got me thinking about this. How many gymnasts does your gym have per level? And is that indicative of a "good gym"? For example, if a gym only has a small handful of girls per level above Level 6, is that a "bad sign"? When considering a gym, should you put a lot of weight on how many optional girls there are or is it just a given that most gyms have only a few per level at that point because a lot of girls quit?

For example...

At our old gym (we recently moved), we had: Level 4 - 37 girls, Level 5 - 19, Level 6 - 7, Level 7 - 13, Level 8/9/10 - 12.

At our new gym: Level 3 - 16, Level 4 - 13, Level 5 - 17, Level 6 - 6, Level 7 - 8, Level 8/9/10 - 17.

 

[Bajanswife]

We are not typical so don't judge all gyms by us. We are small and don't have a pit. We have limited competition opportunities. We also have a small population to pull from, and as a result have been able to attract very few kids willing to commit to the sort of training schedule that would allow them to train at a level 8 or higher.

Here are some rough numbers for the girls:

Levels 1 - 4: 6 - 8 girls per level
Level 6/7 (all level 6 now, but some may become level 7 by season end): 8 girls
I don't think anyone is training level 5 at the moment. No-one at level 8 or above.

The boys are in mid levels (4 - 6), and there are about 5 or 6 of them.

 

[Gymdad2]

5g1b,

It sounds like you have experienced fairly large teams at both gyms. Have you compared the number and quality of coaches at both? I think this is equally if not more important than team size.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

From what I have seen, I think that the coaching has been pretty equal between gyms. My daughter is still a compulsory gymnast, however, so I have not had the chance to really "get to know" the optional coaches at either gym. Before she was ever on team, she went to a different gym than the two mentioned above... and there was a LOT of hostility in the coaching. There was always yelling and fighting between the parents and coaches. They also seemed to have the attitude of, "as long as we have ONE great gymnast who makes it, that's all we need". Most of their Level 4's were older (9-10) and they didn't seem to really have much interest in any of the lower level girls. I am glad that we switched from there for sure.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

I should add that the training philosophy is a bit different between the two gyms I mentioned in my original post. Her new gym does a LOT more conditioning than her old gym. That was tough in the beginning, but she got through it. It's amazing how much muscle she has built in just a few months. Our previous gym was a "winning" gym every year. And I will just go ahead and say that it seemed that they kept girls back sometimes so that they could keep winning. For example, most new Level 4's don't start out getting scores in the high 9's in the beginning of the season (there are exceptions of course). But repeat Level 4's usually do. So it's a guaranteed win usually. My daughter's high AA last season was at state, a 37.825... and they were on the fence about whether she would move up or not. She was consistent all season and showed a lot of improvement. We moved for work reasons before those decisions were made, though. I am assuming that some gyms work this way and some gyms move girls up as long as they have met the qualifying score to make it to states for their level. Her new gym uptrains A LOT. When she first got there, we were worried that there was no way she could learn the skills she needed to move up for this season. She was a Level 4 last season and when she got to her new gym in late May, she did not have ANY of the "New Level 4" skills... no kips at all, cartwheel on high beam, double back hand spring, front hand spring vault, back extension roll, nada. She got all of her new skills within the first two weeks. She is in "New Level 4" and in the advanced group. They are uptraining and she is working on things like: back hand spring back tuck, back walkover on high beam (has it), back hand spring on high beam, free kip (I think that's what it is called?), cast to handstand, etc. I think that she will have most of these skills by the end of the year. And to think, if she was still at her old gym, she might be doing "Old Level 4" (Level 3) right now. It doesn't mean their approach is wrong. It's just different. I'm not an expert. Maybe it makes a difference down the line. With my daughter's personality, her new gym works much better for her. They make gymnastics fun by keeping them uptraining and not making it stressful. At her old gym, she knew that certain skills were not worked on until you got to certain levels, so they became big and scary and impossible in her mind when she was finally told that she could work on them and she would have a mental block about it because she is a perfectionist and never wants to fail. With the pressure off, she is doing amazing and having a lot of fun.

 

[vagymmomma]

Short answer to your question - no. I don't think optional headcount alone is a bad sign. I think some people would be surprised how many really good gymnasts started at gyms without the flash or size. The reality is that if an optional group is fairly small, a gym change may make sense in the future though. As many threads here have documented, the needs of an optional program are greater than a compulosry (i.e., pits). I think changing gyms has gotten a bit of bad rep, which may not be warranted. Yes, you don't want to be known as a gym hopper, but change can be good for many reasons.

It is important even at the earliest levels to have good coaches though. Regardless of size, I would be interested in knowing how a compulsory program does at state comps and larger comps. If the girls are competitive, then it's not a bad gym choice for that moment even if the optional teams are small. Some of the really competitive programs are difficult to penetrate early on if you don't have the right genetics or age. Those same gyms may show more interest once a gymnast has proven them themselves at another program. And those same very good optional programs often have a lot of gymmies that weren't home grown.

 

[gymmomtoo]

I wouldn't put a lot of weight on it, but I would question if they had very few optionals and they've been around a long time--that tells me either the girls there quit before they get to that level or they leave because the coaches can't coach higher levels.

Our gym has 30 level 3s, 17 level 4s (I think), 16-17 level 5s, no level 6s, 10-14 level 7s (I'm not positive of the numbers), 15 level 8s, 2 level 9s and 4 level 10s. Not a huge gym, but we are competitive