Parents New Routines

[4theLoveofGymnastics]

My daughter’s gym hasn’t taught the new routines yet for the upcoming season and the first competition is in September. I don’t feel comfortable allowing my child to compete when she’s not prepared and the deadline is next week to notify them if she will be participating. I don’t want to set her up for failure and cause myself more aggravation over this. I watch a good amount of practices and have seen them playing games or doing drills the entire summer. I asked one coach directly about it 2 weeks ago and was told she can learn in class or I can schedule privates for her to learn the new routines. Privates start at $130/hr which isn’t affordable. The main problem is they aren’t teaching the routines or practicing them in practice. My daughter was a level 3 state champ last season on 2 events and I’d hate to see her do poorly because of this at competition this season. My husband forbids privates and feels she should be learning everything in practice and I agree. We moved from another gym last season and they had always taught routines in June so the kids had adequate time to perfect the routines before competing. Another mom on the team who is new to our gym says her daughter already knows the routines because her old gym taught her after our State Meet in March. I don’t want to be that annoying parent to make waves with the gym but school is already starting in 2 weeks and I feel like the summer was wasted as far as gymnastics goes and I am wanting to tell management that she won’t be competing in September and the reason why. We sacrifice a lot to have her in this sport and don’t take it lightly. I feel like maybe the gym isn’t as competitive as we’d like them to be and unfortunately we are stuck for now as we already paid for the season and new competition leo. My daughter wants to learn the routines from YouTube and I keep telling her no. Any advice for when I have this conversation with the gym?

 

[&bs]

While everyone wants the girls to be thoroughly prepared before competing, teaching routines too early can backfire. When starting to learn routines the kids are super excited and engaged but they do get bored of them pretty quickly and then can just go through the motions especially if you have a long comp season. If she has all her skills solidly it should only take 2 or 3 sessions to get the choreography down and then 4 weeks of full routines before the first competition is plenty to be prepared if they are training 3+ days a week.
I would only be teaching choreography super early if
1. The girls are really young and have trouble remembering especially if it is their first year learning a routine to music
2. They are only training once or twice a week so they have less time to practice and missing sessions because of illness etc could unexpectedly set back their training schedule.

Spending the summer working on strength, skills for their level and drilling upgrades is far better for their future progression than spending half the year perfecting routines.

If you do speak to someone about it I would only approach it as “My daughter is feeling concerned about being confident about the routine choreography by the competition, could you give me a time frame of when they will start working on this so I can allay her fears on this matter”

Telling the coaches how to do their job is not going to go down well as I assume they have coached kids this age/level before and know what they are doing.

I assume you chose this gym for a reason (strong higher level program???) so you just need to trust the process or pick a different gym that aligns with your goals (Level 4 State Champion????).

 

[GymnastMomX2]

You said your daughter did well last season. I would try and remember that and stop worrying and even watching practices. Trust that the coaches will have them prepared in time for the first competition. It really doesn’t take long for the girls to learn the choreography and put the routines together once the pieces and skills are ready. I remember feeling a similar way back when my daughter was getting ready for her first competition season.

 

[raenndrops]

The goal should be to peak at State. If they learn the routines too early, they will eventually get bored of them. They will just go through the motions. Summer practices are for making sure they have the skills that go into the routines, making sure they are strong, and having some fun training upgrades. We don't start training routines until August ... and they are taught in practice.

Just breathe. It will be ok.

 

[4theLoveofGymnastics]

The goal should be to peak at State. If they learn the routines too early, they will eventually get bored of them. They will just go through the motions. Summer practices are for making sure they have the skills that go into the routines, making sure they are strong, and having some fun training upgrades. We don't start training routines until August ... and they are taught in practice.

Just breathe. It will be ok.

The goal should be to peak at State. If they learn the routines too early, they will eventually get bored of them. They will just go through the motions. Summer practices are for making sure they have the skills that go into the routines, making sure they are strong, and having some fun training upgrades. We don't start training routines until August ... and they are taught in practice.

Just breathe. It will be ok.

The goal should be to peak at State. If they learn the routines too early, they will eventually get bored of them. They will just go through the motions. Summer practices are for making sure they have the skills that go into the routines, making sure they are strong, and having some fun training upgrades. We don't start training routines until August ... and they are taught in practice.

Just breathe. It will be ok.

Thank you all, I guess I’m just used to the old gym’s ways and started to question the process. I was just really rubbed the wrong way when a coach said to schedule a private in order to learn the routines. Going to try to be positive!

 

[raenndrops]

Thank you all, I guess I’m just used to the old gym’s ways and started to question the process. I was just really rubbed the wrong way when a coach said to schedule a private in order to learn the routines. Going to try to be positive!

I am guessing that the private is an option for: 1 - those who want to learn it early or 2 - those who learn things better 1 to 1.

 

[jm_gymmom]

Our girls are learning sections of routines and passes now. They will start putting it all together/full routine practice in August/September for early November meets.

If you haven’t had to officially let them know if she’s competing, maybe they are waiting until the commit date as to not have to teach girls who don’t plan on competing?

I sense there’s more here than learning routines. Are you truly happy at your gym?

 

[jm_gymmom]

Also…$130/hr privates?? Good Lord!! Do people actually pay that at your gym??
I feel like that’s “Go away, we don’t want to deal with you” pricing

 

[4theLoveofGymnastics]

Also…$130/hr privates?? Good Lord!! Do people actually pay that at your gym??
I feel like that’s “Go away, we don’t want to deal with you” pricing

One girl on the team does 2 privates weekly at that price. I’m not willing to fork that out though. All of our girls are set to start competing in September.

 

[coachAT]

My girls start competing in September as well and I have not taught them the routines. I am very picky about technique and have had more success teaching parts only in summer ex: on floor we do a chasse leap step step fish. I would recommend flight athletic academy on YouTube if she wants to start learning routines, they do an amazing job!

 

[ZB55]

One girl on the team does 2 privates weekly at that price. I’m not willing to fork that out though. All of our girls are set to start competing in September.

Just confirming - that is insane.

Sounds like your daughter has a good foundation from level 3 at her old gym, so I'd trust that she will pick up on the routines quickly and will be fine. Telling the gym she won't compete in September will punish your daughter for something out of her control as well as alienate the coaches. Working on drills and upgrading skills is much more important over the summer than learning compulsory routines, so I wouldn't call the summer a waste. I'd recommend just rolling with their plan and looking at the big picture. My daughter has been in it for the long haul (10+ years at her gym with zero private lessons) and the fun she had training and competing with her coaches and teammates in the lower levels is what she recalls most fondly, not which meets she won. It's not the end of the world if a routine is not 100% perfected by the first meet.

 

[superNova08]

When I competed the times when we learned routines were vastly different from gym to gym. We started competing in October usually I wanna say. At the gym where I competed silver (yes I know this isn't DP), the high schooler who had my routine before me taught it to me, and it was selected specifically for me, I was the only one who had it. I got an hour to learn it because the coaches didn't know it and the girl who had it before me was retiring from the sport at the end of the summer. I learned it at the beginning of August but didn't do it again until probably the beginning of September when we drilled routines HARD and really pushed for perfect form. At the gym where I competed gold (we moved so it was about an hr away) we learned routines during a separate practice at the beginning of September on a Saturday, and it was only for kids competing, literally the entire gold team competed the exact same routine. Boring as all get out, but made it easier for the coach. I missed this practice due to an all-day speech team competition that day. So my teammates taught it to me by sending me videos and walking me through it during downtime. Thankfully I pick up choreo quickly, but it was a mess.

All this is to say that every gym is different, and your gym probably uses what works for them. Most gyms teach bits and pieces throughout the summer and put it together closer to comp time. If you want, there's probably a YouTube channel somewhere out there that can teach her the routine if she's eager. However, this might make her bored when they do learn them in practice AND she could develop bad habits during technique-heavy sections.