Women Rushmoor Gymnastics Camp?

[jesstsherratt]

Does anyone have any experience with Rushmoor Gymnastics Residential Summer Camp?

I have a friend who is going this year and I was wondering if it is any good or not?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

all the girls I know who have been have really enjoyed themselves

 

[jesstsherratt]

Thanks, do you know at all what the hours they do each day are?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

no I don't

 

[Flossyduck]

My daughter went last summer. The hours are long - I'm pretty sure it was three sessions a day and start was early - 7.30am ish.

She was absolutely desperate to go and arranged to go with a friend but didn't enjoy herself at all and I have mixed reports but I'll try and be objective:

The coaching is really good quality and varied.
You do lots of gymnastics, pretty much all day, which is great.
There's a lido literally outside the gym - so you can walk out and swim.
The food was great.
The accommodation opens out into the gym, which is a gymnasts dream - roll out of bed onto the track!

All in all it looked as though she was going to love it but the bad bits were:

The downstairs bedrooms are better - cooler in hot weather. She was up in the roof/mezzanine room, which was roasting hot (no windows, metal roof!) and found it very hard to sleep.
The Rushmoor girls got first dibs on the room along with other regulars and friends. So my dd was also put in with a group of Portuguese teenagers, who although sweet, spoke a different language, had very different sleep patterns, stayed up very late chatting and weren't really interested in the two younger girls. So she found that quite isolating.
Most of the coaches know the Rushmoor girls, so there was a lot of banter and they got lots of attention. Again, dd found she felt sidelined and that the coaches didn't really pay her much attention.
She hurt her foot on the second day and no-one did anything until the next morning when the nurse came in and strapped it. After that she wasn't really allowed to do much, but they didn't give her alternative activities or exercises to do so she spent quite a lot of time sitting watching the others work or alone reading. Also no-one told me this had happened, which I thought a bit odd as I'd rather have collected her than have her spend three days sitting about.
Her purse with money and a brand new leotard were taken off her bed and she never got them back.

By the end of the week she was suffering from serious lack of sleep due to the hot room and late night chattering. She had felt quite isolated and didn't get to do the gym she hoped or have anyone think about what to do with her when she was hurt and she had no money.

I think if your friend is confident and is happy to chat and will tell someone if she has any problems she'll have a blast as the facilities are really good and the coaching great.

 

[jesstsherratt]

Thank you. Do you know by any chance if you are split into groups when you are there? If so is it by age or ability?

 

[jesstsherratt]

Also, do you know by any chance how long the sessions were?

 

[Flossyduck]

You are split into groups and it's roughly by ability.

When they had their first session they were asked who could do certain skills - flic, upstart and so on and then they were grouped. Within each group there were girls who were stronger on individual things, but they seemed to work to their level and there were different coaches for each piece of equipment (the beam coach last year was pretty fierce by all accounts and I mean that in a scary way, not the current use!).

They also had to fill in a questionnaire when they arrived, saying what they hoped to work on and get out of the camp.

I can't remember exactly how long the sessions (parents were sent a timetable) were and dd doesn't remember, but we think about 3 hours in the morning and then a long break for lunch (time for a swim, eat, re-do hair, change leotard and rest up a bit) and then three hours in the afternoon and a break for tea, then a shorter evening session - but the exact timings are a bit hazy. Her memory's reasonable though, so it wont be far wrong.

The groups rotated around the pieces and she thinks there were five - beam, bars, floor, vault, dance. Each group got to do all of them every day so we think maybe 7.5 hours a day of actual gym.

If you contact them they can tell you, as they may have a different format this year.

 

[SXS524]

I went to rushmoor gym camp in 2008 so it might have changed since I went but from what I remember it was good fun I was initially unsure about going as I'd always been a rec gymnast training max 4 hours a week and was worried that at 15 years old I was "too old" to go. I contacted the camp and they said that wasn't a problem and that as long as I was willing to work hard it'd be fine I did end up being the oldest in my group by a few years but it wasn't really a problem. If I remember right we had session in the morning and then another session in the afternoon- think they were both about 3 hours each? I remember the warm ups being pretty long and tiring aha but the food was good and the coaches were really great- having so many hours of training you really do learn a lot. They have a talent show at the end of the week which was good fun. Agreed with the posts above about where to sleep. I stayed in the dance studio upstairs and it was pretty hot. They give you a camp t-shirt as you arrive I'd go as a group if possible as when I went gymnasts from the same club did seem to stick together although you do get to know others girls like in the evenings and stuff. When I went we were separated by ability, mainly based on tumbling i.e. those who couldn't flick were put in one group and those who could do one flick were put in another and those who could somersault were put in another. Overall I'd recommend it If they did an adult camp I'd go again

 

[jesstsherratt]

Thanks, do you know by any chance the kind of skills they 'tested' you on?

 

[meeeshymoo]

Hi

Camp is generally 9.30am to 5.30 pm, with a long lunch break. You are sorted into groups by ability, usually your floor skills. You can be moved if another group is a better fit. There are gymnasts of all abilities and ages.

Thursday night is skits night where you have a fun evening putting on a show.

It is very unusual for Rushmoor girls or boys to be resident. Resident gymnasts are those from other clubs and Countries.

I'm sure your friend will have a great time. I do think its better to go with friends so you can share the experience, more fun.

Flossyduck, what a shame your daughter didn't enjoy it. It is quite different to any other kind of camp.