Anon Normal for Hopes and Optionals to train together?

[Anonymous (7edb)]

Hi all. We are in the midst of a gym change and one of our favored options has a late afternoon program that is really attractive to us from a logistical standpoint. Begins at 2pm vs. 5pm. Anyway, the afternoon group is small - 5 girls - and 3 of them are training Hopes and the other 2 are not, just regular optionals. Is this normal? I don't know much about Hopes. My daughter is not on that track and we do not have desire for that track. I want to make sure the group is a good fit for her, training and otherwise...she's doing several trial practices next month. Just curious if this is a normal setup and/or if anyone has any experience to share. Thanks!

 

[Anonymous (a607)]

At most gyms with daytime programs, the day workout groups are going to be geared to half-day or homeschool elites and girls who are fast-tracked and keeping elite options open.

 

[Anonymous (461d)]

Many gyms train hopes and even elites with other optionals. It can work out just fine, as long as the coaches manage it well. One watch-out is that some coaches may put more focus on their elites and this can be to the detriment of others in the group. My daughter trained in the elite group for a long time even though she had no plans to do elite bc she liked the training style, schedule, small size, and vibe. I will say that when she eventually moved to the “regular” group she was surprised to find that she got a lot more attention, even though there were about 4x as many girls in it. This surprised me. I had not realized just how much more focus the elite girls had been getting. (She got good training in both groups but did not regret the move.)

I guess another watch out is that some hopes / elite parents (not kids) can get resentful about a “regular” gymnast training with their special one. Nothing to be done about that, and it’s the exception not the norm I think.

 

[Anonymous (18a5)]

It can definitely be very normal, especially if there are only a couple of hopes athletes.

 

[Anonymous (5acc)]

Brandy's trains like this. The biggest difference I would say is that a mixed group (elite/optionals) the training is going to be very focused and structured. So if your DD does not like intense and semi-serious training sessions, then it probably wont be a good fit. I haven't seen any preferential treatment to elites versus optional in the group at Brandys but it certainly can exist in other gyms.

 

[JBS]

Ours all trained together when we had Hopes. Hopes athletes are just optionals too.