Parents Question About Private Lessons

[IreneKa]

Well, you can certainly try privates, they won't hurt, and might help her skills. But I doubt they will help her to get on the team. The more I read about your gym, the more it sounds like our old gym. Some of those "power" gyms are just very particular about whom they invite on the team. Whether it's skills, age, body type, ability to focus, etc. When I first approach DD's xcel coach about switching to JO, her first reaction was "she is not JO material". When I asked to elaborate, she said DD is not focused 100% of the time, and JO coaches expect them to be focus at all times. And DD does not even have ADHD (my older DD does, so I know the difference). In my opinion she was just being a normal 8 year old.
We switched the gyms, and DD is doing just fine in JO, finished her L3 season, and now practicing for L4.
Your DD is only 6, she still has time. You can wait a few more months to see where this is going. But then I would still recommend trying out other gyms. Even if those other places are not as good as this one. Believe me, our old gym is the best in the area, they always get all top places, huge optional team, going to regionals/nationals, etc. But I guess one of the reasons they are so good is because they only except the best of the best, and don't want to wast their time on the kids who might be a bit challenging for them. Our new gym is pretty average, we don't have many top scorers, if you look at the statistics you wouldn't be impressed. But they give a chance to anyone who wants to be on the team, and the coaches are very patient when it comes to fears or difficulties to focus.

 

[cbifoja]

I'm glad that you told her. As a teacher, and coaching is SO similar....it is VITAL that I know these things about my students so I can meet their needs. It really helps coaches and teachers to know these things as soon as possible. Yes, we will eventually figure out your kid on our own but the learning curve is much steeper if you leave coaches/teachers in the dark.

We have a couple of ADHD kids on our team and their parents have met individually with the coaches to talk about strategies that do and don't work for their kids. We even have one that is allowed to drink soda on break (quelle horreur!) because her pediatrician let the coach know that the caffeine helps her brain focus.

Knowledge really is power.

 

[Malenkaya]

I'm satisfied with how things turned out. They started by saying they didn't see any advantage to her taking privates, then when I told her about the ADHD she saw how it might help DD, but there were no promises or mentioning that could lead to team. As I said, it's all about DD. She says she wants it, she has to earn it. She will either improve to the point they consider her, or they won't. But she will get to learn as much as she can and get the individual attention she thrives on.

And if there comes a time I think she's good enough and she isn't being considered, I can take her to another gym. I think her silliness comes from her lack of maturity and a lot could change with that over the next year. With ADHD they say kids are about 30% less mature than their peers, which means as a 6 year old she has the maturity of an average 4 year old. I can see how that can hurt her in the gym, but if she wants to do it and is okay being with slightly younger kids, she can still do what she loves where her maturity reaches a point that is enough for more serious gymnastics.

 

[cbifoja]

I haven't even read the responses but this phrase cracks me up every time I see it "DD will be 6 in a couple months. She didn't start gymnastics until 4 1/2."

as if 4.5 was just ancient LOL. My DD was nearly 8 when she started. I can only imagine how old that must look to some.

Which is really just another way of saying my kid has been in gymnastics for about a year.

I'm always on my DD because she tells people she's been taking gymnastics since she was 2. Ummm.....no. We took you to a Mommy and Me class a couple of weeks before your 3rd birthday and sorry babe, but that is NOT taking gymnastics.

 

[LJL07]

I'm so glad you told them about the ADHD and got a positive response. The silly and social part sounds just like my daughter.

 

[Malenkaya]

So my daughter has had a few private lessons now so I thought I'd share the experience.

First off, it was mentioned that privates are a cash cow for the gym. At our gym, the money goes straight to the coach giving the lesson. I'm not sure how that works itself out, but I communicate directly with him and have to hand him cash at the end of the lesson. So aside from providing the facility, the gym itself isn't involved with the lessons. And I have pulled her from one of her regular classes so the private lesson replaces it, so the gym itself is making less from us.

She seems to be responding well to the new situation. He is correcting her form and they are working on what he calls body awareness, saying once that is second nature a lot of other things will fall into place. He has given her some exercises to work on at home as well. He notices her focus is off sometimes but he has been pretty good at reeling her back in and so she is improving there as well.

The one thing he did note to me is that she is a natural on the beam and has incredible focus there. He says several times he caught himself about to give her instruction while on the beam, only to discover she was already doing exactly what he wants her to do.

 

[sce]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad it's going well for her.