WAG Privates in Level 3

[suebee]

We also are at a gym where regular privates at low levels are extremely common. To be fair, the coaches do not seem to promote them, but yes, they are always all filled up.

In our case, though, I suspect a lot of it is because the gymnast:coach ratio is really not good and I suspect lots of parents feel like their kids aren't getting enough corrections or attention during regular practice (myself included).

We've largely resisted privates, although I did have dd do two before her first meet this year because her mill circle was not that consistent (sometimes went over the top again, sometimes didn't make it up, and sometimes did it right) and whether it was the privates or luck, I do not know, but she has nailed every mill circle at a meet (although she still sometimes goes over the top at practice).

My dd is slower to get skills but when she gets them, they're quite pretty right away. But it certainly makes me a little anxious when she tells me that all her teammates have their X and she doesn't (I'm not at practice and she's 6 so I don't know how accurate she really is). She does well in meets but is not a superstar so I'm planning on holding course.

 

[VAgymdad]

We also are at a gym where regular privates at low levels are extremely common. To be fair, the coaches do not seem to promote them, but yes, they are always all filled up.

In our case, though, I suspect a lot of it is because the gymnast:coach ratio is really not good and I suspect lots of parents feel like their kids aren't getting enough corrections or attention during regular practice (myself included).

We've largely resisted privates, although I did have dd do two before her first meet this year because her mill circle was not that consistent (sometimes went over the top again, sometimes didn't make it up, and sometimes did it right) and whether it was the privates or luck, I do not know, but she has nailed every mill circle at a meet (although she still sometimes goes over the top at practice).

My dd is slower to get skills but when she gets them, they're quite pretty right away. But it certainly makes me a little anxious when she tells me that all her teammates have their X and she doesn't (I'm not at practice and she's 6 so I don't know how accurate she really is). She does well in meets but is not a superstar so I'm planning on holding course.

We seem to have similar situations. Mine is 6 also but hasn't yet competed bars in a meet. The mill circle is the last level 3 skill she needs. Our few privates have been on bars. We're still waiting on the consistency so she's permitted to compete the event. She's very close. We seem to have a 1/10 ratio in all the compulsory groups. I think you're right in that most parents feel there isn't enough 1/1 instruction going on in practice. It's mostly waiting your turn to have your rep with the coach. I'm going to stay away from privates for a bit. She has 3 meets left before states in May. I'm hoping she gets to compete bars by April so she can qualify . Good luck to rest of the season!

 

[suebee]

Yes, our ratio depends but is anywhere from 1:8 on a good day to 1:15 (or more) on a really not good day. Unfortunately, there are a lot more not good days. To be fair, they do a lot stations at bars when there aren't enough coaches, but the stations are unsupervised and if you don't have a skill (and my dd is slow to get skills, so she often doesn't have whatever the skill in question is), and the station is practicing that skill - well, I'm not sure how helpful that is. I was wondering if this was why the mill circle was so slow to get consistent for her.

Good luck to your dd as well!

 

[2G1B]

At our old gym privates were common; but there were so many gymnasts that if a kid struggled at all with a skill there was no chance for them to get a little extra help. It was generally about a 10:1 ratio.

With our gym change, we haven't been doing g privates and I haven't seen others do them either.

 

[LJL07]

@profmom
It's such a racket. The deal is that with the limited practice hours there is no time to uptrain, so the girls learn new skills in the privates. I would much prefer an optional group practice to uptrain. Doing privates to perfect level one routines seems silly to me, but some of the kids do use them for that too.

 

[LJL07]

We seem to have similar situations. Mine is 6 also but hasn't yet competed bars in a meet. The mill circle is the last level 3 skill she needs. Our few privates have been on bars. We're still waiting on the consistency so she's permitted to compete the event. She's very close. We seem to have a 1/10 ratio in all the compulsory groups. I think you're right in that most parents feel there isn't enough 1/1 instruction going on in practice. It's mostly waiting your turn to have your rep with the coach. I'm going to stay away from privates for a bit. She has 3 meets left before states in May. I'm hoping she gets to compete bars by April so she can qualify . Good luck to rest of the season!

I would probably do the privates in a situation like that. If just to make the child more confident before the meets. Especially if she's never competed before.

 

[gymdog]

I dislike doing privates and only do them if a child has some kind of fear or delay with a skill that would benefit from me setting up drills that I can't easily set up when there is a whole group (because they would take too many mats or a whole bar set or something). Something that can be worked on a single bar, or with one mat, or such would be done during practice as an extra individual assignment.

Otherwise, if people come asking for privates, I tell them they're welcome to see if another coach can do it but I don't do privates to raise your score two tenths or whatever racket coaches are selling at half the gyms here. We work in every practice to address the major elements, deductions, quality of movement, etc. The way to fix those things is to pay attention in practice. If you aren't doing that, I have no desire to charge your parents ten times the hourly rate for you to not pay attention in a private.

Also, if a child has never made a skill, truly doesn't have it, I don't do privates for that. It would take more hours of privates than anyone should or could afford to "get" something like a kip. They need to just come to practice. So if I was your child's coach I would not be asking you to do a private for the mill circle either. She will get it at practice

 

[Deleted member D3987]

save your money. you will need it later if she gets good.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

Our gym they do privates and like when the kids want to do them cause they seem to enjoy the one on one, tho we tend to share a private with another gum friend so save on costs and to add it more fun too. 6 yr old dd who is on preteam , ( we do not compete till level 4) will have one with a fried to help some detail and since they are both closer to moving up, the privates are just to help polish up skills and to work on the skills they are so close on. At least that's how I see it.
It's not as easy for coaches to help one that is closer when they are in a larger group.

 

[profmom]

How large are your groups? A good coach should be able to design drills and stations that will work well for a group of kids with a decent range of skills on every event. On bars, for instance, DD's workout group of eight girls ranges from girls who are pretty close to having a L9 routine to girls who are still working on the basics for L8. That is a huge range, probably comparable to the gap between two full compulsory levels.

 

[Momof2]

We have parents who schedule their kids private lessons every week. They are not struggling they are actually scoring ahead of the rest of the kids. Sometimes I think the parents are more competitive then the kids. We have only done privates when they have had an issue with a skill or fear on something. It's not always easy to even get a private lesson in because of the other kids who have them regularly every week. I don't think it's really fair to all the other kids.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

Last February was my DDs first meet ever (L3) and she was NOT happy she came in 8th on bars...she asked me for private lessons (with a specific coach lol) and at first I thought it was a little crazy for a 6 year old, but I got her like 3 privates and at the next meet in May (they only had 3 last season and she missed the March one) she placed 1st AA and 2nd bars! So I'm no coach, but a few privates for specific issues was worth it to us I think. I do agree with the others that on a regular basis it seems unnecessary, especially at this level. She hasn't done any since then. Good luck!!!

 

[blueredzone]

The view on privates on here seems to be negative for over time. However, it does seem that most of the people have had privates.

So privates are bad.... what about Open Gym? I have not really heard anything regarding that. Open Gym is typically longer than a private so is it also discouraged?

 

[profmom]

Neither DD nor DS had any privates until we were several years into it. We now have a cumulative total of more than 10 years in the sport starting with preteam. Between the two of them, I'd be surprised if they've had more than a dozen privates and it may not even be a half dozen. Some of their teammates had been doing weekly privates literally for years with this one coach who has since left the gym, so a lot of it is just personal choice.

They have gone through phases where they've done and not done open gym. I think open gym really depends on how it is run. Some of them sound pretty chaotic and useless. Ours are more just an opportunity to work on things they want to work on -- or to have some non-coach-directed fun. When DD was having a very hard time on beam, sometimes an open gym would help her recharge her love for the sport by working on twisting on floor. For DS, open gym is about 75% work and 25% play. For my kids, it's good for them to have the chance to decide what they want to do, which never happens really in team practice. Privates, unlike open gym, are completely coach directed.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD loved privates at her old gym. She initially did them with the compulsory coach when she decided one month before the next compulsory season that she did want to move to old L6 after all - and used privates to get the skills (got them all in that month...so it worked - it was after a meeting with HC and compulsory coach that this occurred and the rest of the L6 team had been decided that summer when DD age 9 was in la la land (working, but not thinking about the future).

Privates also were used extensively by her previous HC last year - to raise her score less than one point and add not a single new skill in her 2nd year of L7. Great for the team, but a waste of a lot of time and money and made DD think she couldn't do beam without that coach, etc....I had been led to understand this would be the way she would learn all her L8 skills while "competing down for confidence"....there was no up-training there.

Right now, she may end up doing a private here or there as we go through competition season because she isn't competing and although the HC has given her a big list of drills, skills etc to work on she doesn't always know how to set them up, etc while the other girls are running routines. And at this newer gym, the expectations are different so when the HC went through all the L8-10 leaps, dance, and drills with her her eyes were like saucers - happy but a bit confused!

Coach to gymnast ratio is also very high right now - even at upper optionals, although that is in the process of being fixed. But in general, I'm much less a "privates" fan than I used to be...I now see the "if they are ready and working, they'll get it in practice" philosophy.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

My 11 year old has been in the sport since she was 2, we've NEVER done a private. Ever.

 

[windydays]

We use privates for trouble items - generally it is tumbling. We do 1/2 hour slots and only as needed. It may take anywhere from 3 - 5 to fix it. We do not have a set schedule; we go as needed. You will have PLENTY of time to burn that money in your pocket so choose your privates wisely. It is too easy to try to keep up with the Joneses.

 

[LJL07]

How large are your groups? A good coach should be able to design drills and stations that will work well for a group of kids with a decent range of skills on every event. On bars, for instance, DD's workout group of eight girls ranges from girls who are pretty close to having a L9 routine to girls who are still working on the basics for L8. That is a huge range, probably comparable to the gap between two full compulsory levels.

In our case, 7-8 girls. I agree about the drills and stations. That was a real issue last year. No drills or stations and waiting in line just to run the routine. Now at a different gym, the girls have drills and stations but are having to work around about a hundred rec kids during practice. It's very distracting and limits equipment use. my dd hasn't done privates in quite a while, but I know the rest of the girls are doing them. I'm running out of money between all of these kids!

 

[Avasmom]

We only did privates 2x when my daughter was struggling with a skill (back hip circle on bars) and it really helped but they aren't encouraged at our gym. I think lots of moms get privates at our gym the week before competition.

 

[myliljunebugs]

We have 13 girls in our level, and only one set of uneven bars, 3 beams, one vault, and one floor. It seems like a lot of waiting. With only 4 hours of practice also, maybe that is why private lessons are more the norm in our gym....