Parents Rules about gymnastics camps?

[thefellowsmom]

Couple of things have come up with my dds coach about this. Sleep away gymnastics camps in these huge environments with tons of kids and coaches and unpredictable coaching and gymnastics situations just brings all the things dds coach hates about gymnastics camp together in one place.

1. Gymnastics training is best accomplished in the gym, with her coaches and at the pace and progressions that are appropriate and decided for her by her coaches. Although access to words and advice and coaching by others is welcomed and appreciated, it can also be detrimental if not controlled. This may not be true or needed for all gymnasts, but my dds coach is very picky about the caliber of coach that works with my daughter.

2. As others have mentioned, skills and progressions are introduced above where a child may be training at the gym. This can cause frustration by the child when they return to the gym with this great new brand new skill that they are now not allowed to work on any more or may not get the reaction from coach that they desire be cause the skills are not done properly or may even have planted the seed of a bad habit. In the extreme, this may even cause a dangerous situation with the child training or attempting a skill they weren't ready for and now they are hucking it on a playground or something crazy because they aren't able to do it in the gym.

3. Time in the gym is precious and important. It also eventually eats up all free time and family time. My dds coach would argue that time away from the gym, on the rare occasion it comes should be spent doing something completely unrelated to gym, preferably as a family.

I hope this helped give some context. As gymnasts progress and get older these thing are more important, of course. As a young or new gymnast looking to her coaches for advice is best and appreciated by them. It shows that you trust them and respect their opinions about gymnastics.

With all that said, many younger gymnasts at my dds gym went to a nearby college camp, some several times, but eventually even that was frowned upon. I think this varies from gym to gym and coach to coach and also the rules may be different for different gymnasts depending on the training goals at the time.

 

[gymnastmom05]

My daughter has attended FlipFest multiple years now. One of our coaches likes camp the other does not. My daughter loves it - it combines fun, friends, multiple nights of sleepovers and gymnastics all at once. She doesn't go to gain more skills, she goes for the entire experience. She could go to a girl scout camp but honestly, these girls are so used to gym time and action, she would end up bored stiff and probably flipping around on hard ground to get her gymnastics "fix" in (these kids are crazy - how in the world can you be sick and throwing up one minute and practicing handstands the next??). I try to look at it based on reality. I know she is not going to the Olympics and she probably won't compete in college so I try to keep a balance between taking gymnastics seriously and maintaining fun. She'll remember her memories from camp when she's 30 years old. So far, I believe she'll look back on her days at camp as a highlight of her childhood. In my opinion, overnight camp is more than a camp to learn gymnastics.

 

[sce]

HC did say that he would never encourage big camps like Woodward etc, he feels they are a complete waste of money. He recommended smaller camps instead.

I find each person's perspective interesting. I guess the money thing depends on why you want to get out of it. My dd went to Woodward West, still probably smaller than Woodward PA but it was very well attended. It was great for her. First, she goes because it is summer camp, bonus that she gets a ton of gym time too. She had great coaching working both at level and above level skills.

 

[profmom]

My camper is a boy, so it could be different, but he actually got some very good skill training at IGC this past summer. He came back to the gym with some new skills that were appropriate progressions from what he'd been working on in the gym (THANK YOU Josh Dixon and Brandon Wynn!!!!). His coach was pleased, but it may be important to keep in mind that his coach and the main men's coach at IGC go back a long way. The rule by us is that IGC/Woodward are fine, but other camps and clinics must be run by the coaches.

 

[mommyof1]

My daughter's gym does not prohibit the girls from attending gymnastics camp, and actually helps facilitate communication among parents so the girls can find roommates and camp buddies. The gym does not make any recommendations for or against particular camps. We started sending our daughter to a college gym camp when she got bored of Girl Scout camp and wanted a different sleepaway camp experience that included air conditioning. For a little L3 only spending 9 - 12 hours a week in the gym, there didn't seem to be much danger of burnout.

 

[e'smum]

nope - no rules at our gym. our head coach used to go to them when he was a gymnast. we are in MA and have gymnasts go to the one in western MA. my dd went to the UNH camp this year with a teammate. it was sun-wed (sun and wed were 1/2 days) for up to level 6 (the other half of the week was level 7 and up along with their incoming freshman gymnasts). they stayed in a college dorm that used to be a hotel and she loved it. mon and tuesday were long days. researching camps i came to the realization that it's fun. not necessarily going to be something where your gymnast will come home with loads of new skills learned. in fact, i was a little stressed because she was working on getting level 5 skills and routines for a mobility meet and she missed the coaching from coaches that knew her ability and what skills she needed to get down those days. so, instead of being one of 13 girls in her level she was put in with the level 6s and i'm not sure how many were in that group. plus, none of the coaching staff knew her ability. she was able to get her flyaway by herself on the pit bar and brought that home to hammer out but a teammate of hers who didn't go got the flyaway, that same week, on the regular bars and mat. so other than it being a new experience and meeting new girls (most were from NH so we won't even run into them at meets), i didn't see it being an advantage or anything. AND i spent over $600 when i had already paid for her to be learning at her gym. she doesn't want to go back but she enjoyed it. i probably would discourage any more camps unless she was wanting to do college gymnastics and then we would travel to colleges where she was interested in, just to get in front of their coaches.

 

[Ms.Pak-Man]

There is a place for sleep-away gymnastics camps. Two rules: make sure you tell your kid to never overestimate their ability and be honest in evaluations (this is where kids get hurt), and as parents, do not expect retained skills, even if they got a new skill, technically. It was likely the ugliest xyz skill you've ever seen chucked (hopefully onto a pit pillow or into a foam pit).

That said you can't replicate the feeling of identity as a young gymnast and confidence they will (hopefully) gain. My dd loves gymnastics and spends so much time at gym that she'd feel entirely out of place at a normal sleep-away Summer camp. It's an opportunity to meet kids that already share the same all consuming obsession that is this insane sport. I went to IGC two Summers in late comp/early optional. I came back way more passionate about gym and more confident. And I loved being at a place where I had so much in common with my peers.

 

[bogwoppit]

This is an old thread, we try not to dig them up as it is confusing when members have moved on.