WAG "Normal" yearly attrition rate for team

[Rockygym]

Hi all. Just trying to gather some data - what is your year to year attrition rate from team? And is it your sense that the majority of those are transferring to do gym elsewhere, moving out of the area or just stopping gymnastics altogether. Thanks in advance.

 

[thefellowsmom]

I think that it really is a mixed bag. I will say that over the long haul you will probably hear a consistent message around here that by the time you get to upper level optionals those that have made it are one of the few if not the only one of the girls they started with that are still doing gymnastics.

Attrition is almost universal and happens for all different sorts of reasons. Some years there may be several and some years none. If someone leaves to a different gym then often one or more may follow them. But, even a group leaving for a new gym shouldn't necessarily indicate that there is something wrong at the gym. On the other hand it might. Gyms do crash and burn sometimes and sometimes there are legitimate problems but there are also situations where one or more decide the gym is no longer a good fit and then the friends or group mates of that gymnast are convinced of the same. This doesn't mean automatically that it is also not a good fit for another gymnast or group of gymnasts. Programs and coaches and the needs of gymnasts are constantly in flux.

There tends to be times when attrition seems high. After level 4, after level 6 and after level 8 seem to be common. When they reach middle school age is a time as well as when they reach high school. The difficulty of skills, injuries and the allure of social lives are all big reasons why kids leave.

This is a super tough sport and most kids will leave at some point. Some will leave to another gym for one reason or another and then some of those will thrive at the new gym and some will realize that it wasn't the gym fit that was the problem but that they wanted to quit all together. Most kids in this sport will at some point realize that as much as they loved it, it is no longer worth it for them or they don't love it as much as other things. The gymnasts that make it to the end are a special breed. Not everyone is capable of it or even want to do the work and make the sacrifices necessary to get there. It just is the way it is.

Gymnastics is a personal journey and the sooner that gymnast and parent can get to a point where they are worried only about their own experience, happiness, growth, development, progression and whether they are getting what they need the easier the journey will be.

We have lived through so many different levels of drama and coming and going and coaches and crazy parents. It becomes part of scenery.

 

[e'smum]

i'll send you a pm.

 

[profmom]

Agreed with Thefellows. There are certain points both in gymnastics progression and in age where departures seem to be concentrated. By us, on both girls' and boys' sides, a few tend to leave after a year or two of competition as compulsories. Both start at L4, so this would be L4 or L5. The next set of non-idiosyncratic departures look to me to be related to one of two things or the interaction of both: plateauing on skill acquisition as optionals and getting busy in high school around age 13-14. One interesting recent development here though is that I'm seeing a few JO kids dropping back to XCel or JD in this situation rather than leaving gym altogether. On the girls' side, it's direct transfer, but we have seen a few guys who quit come back after some time out and pick up again with JD.

My DD is an example of the latter -- made it to JO L8 but then stopped progressing on skills due to a long spate of injuries, switched to XCel just this past summer, and is now pretty happy with life in the gym. I can't say for sure, but at this point I like her chances of graduating from high school as a competitive gymnast, which to me is huge success in this sport.

 

[CuriousCate]

I asked a similar question and got a host of responses...essentially it varies by level and age of child, but seems that between L4 and L5 is a big one and around age 12.

https://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/...e-biggest-drop-off-in-gymnasts-and-why.57695/

 

[tucktwisttumble]

I asked a similar question and got a host of responses...essentially it varies by level and age of child, but seems that between L4 and L5 is a big one and around age 12.

https://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/...e-biggest-drop-off-in-gymnasts-and-why.57695/

I am literally that statistic... I was actually 13 - between levels 4 and 5 when I quit.

 

[Rockygym]

Sorry I was thinking more on the program level rather than individual gymnast. In a given “average” competition season what % of your girls leave your team?

 

[Natasha]

DD has been on team for 10 years. Some years it seems there are lots of girls that leave and other years hardly no one leaves. One year my dd was the ONLY one left in her training group after the end of season, and last year all but one stayed.

 

[duyetanh]

You just never know. It really does depend on the year, how many are at certain levels, and their ages.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Like others have said, it totally depends. For example, we have ONE girl remaining who competed L5 AND L3 when DD did L4, and the L5 team was a rather large one (15+girls). Out of DDs original L4 team of 12 or 13, 6 still remain currently in L8-9. Those girls also did preteam together, and I personally think it is pretty cool that they have been together in the sport for so long. Out of their preteam group (20+)lots have quit, some as late as last year, and a couple moved to a different gym.

 

[raenndrops]

At our gym, girls rarely leave for another gym without moving away (3 since 2008).
Now that there is a Jr High team and a HS team, we lose 2-3 a year to the high school team (the seasons overlap and some parents don't want to pay for their HS student to only be able to compete 3-4 meets... Especially if it means having to buy a new team leotard).
Some Jr high team members also quit even though the seasons don't overlap. They quit so they can do other sports in the winter and spring.
We also have some leave if they had struggled... They go off to find another activity that they feel successful at.

We still manage to have more girls on team every year than the year before.

 

[profmom]

In some places, some gyms have very informal arrangements with other gyms in which very high performing kids will tend to switch from one to the other in late compulsories without it causing any friction. Of course a major disruption (change in owner, departure/addition of primary coaching staff, opening or closing of another gym in the area) has the potential to shake things up in any given year.

Is your question really "our gym just lost [x surprisingly large number of gymnasts]; should we be worried?" If that's your question, it's hard to answer without knowing more of the specifics, but most gyms can make it through a big blip in team numbers and will be able to backfill at the lower levels. If it's happening two or three years in a row, that may be a different matter, and if you're talking half the team, that may also be a different matter.

 

[CuriousCate]

My DD is level 4 but we had somewhere around 28 for L2, nearly all went to L3 (a few left, a few moved from other gyms), and now on L 4, 18 remain. Based on last year, I'd guess that another 5-6 will be lost between L4 and L5.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

10 - 15 percent is pretty normal.

 

[Rockygym]

10 - 15 percent is pretty normal.

Thanks. That is what I was looking for

 

[mls529]

Ditto the 10% from what I have seen. Our team of ~80 gymnasts (level 3-10) have between 5 and 10 gymnasts leave each year. It seems like very few are switching gyms (maybe 1-2 each year); most are completely quitting, maybe trying a new sport or just enjoying more time in middle school or high school. But then we get at least 8-10 new level 3s each year, so the team basically stays the same size, or grows by a few gymnasts. We were also a young team with only 1-2 seniors each year.

 

[Flyaway]

It feels like we lost a lot this year, but I'd guess we fall in that 10-15% range. When your team is <30, it's noticeable.

 

[duyetanh]

We just lost another one last week.