Safe up to what level?

[MaryA]

My DD practices at a gym with very basic equiptment. I think what they have is "safe" but there is no pit. They don't have a spring floor. They have roll-out mats and then a strip of air floor for doing the tumbling passes. Right now there are no gymnasts past a level 7, and those are all high-school girls, but next year we'll have a group of five level 6's between the ages of 9 and 11 (my DD included). There is a coach who should be able to coach the higher levels (a former div. I college gymnast). Is there a level where it is no longer safe to practice without pits, a spring floor, etc? My DD is completely devoted to her gym, but I can't imagine she'd be happy staying at level 7 for 5-6 years either. I know... I'm borrowing trouble. Right now she's happy and fine where she is, but I can't keep from wondering, "what's next?" Up until level 6 was in sight, level 7 seemed worlds away. All of a sudden, it's feeling much closer!

 

[bookworm]

No spring floor, no pits and roll out mats...hmmm...I wouldn't say that you'd stay there much beyond level 6..once they start the pounding on their legs , they need equipment that will help preserve their shelf life (for lack of a better term). The equipment in your gym seems ok for a rec program or compulsory levels but if I were you and I thought she was going to progress beyond that, I'd start scouting for a new gym sooner than later. You know what it needs to have in it and it's not an urgent matter at this point so I'd do the research so I would have a plan in mind at least.

 

[ZJsMom]

No spring floor seems like a big red flag. With all the running and jumping they do, the spring floor isn't just a tool for doing bigger tumbling, it also provides some cushioning and hopefully reduces overuse injuries. I think I might look around too. Is there a bigger gym within reasonably distance for you?

 

[bogwoppit]

I agree that the spring floor will be the biggest challenge. Lots of high level gyms have no pits and work around them, but to not have a full floor to practice routines with tumbling is probably going to cause problems.

DO you have a strap bar? They do come in really handy for learning giants etc

DO you have other options?

 

[marie83]

I know one gym in my region doesn't have a sprung floor or pit- they are one of those gyms who have to get their equipment out every session and pack it away every evening. They have gymnasts up to about British Level 3 or 2 - then they seem to lose them to better equipped gyms which is a shame, but realistically that is the way it goes.
Like others have said, it isn't the lack of a pit that will hold your dd back, but rather the lack of sprung floor.
good luck - it'll be a tough decision!

I suppose one option might be for the team and coach to hire out another gym's facility occasionally to help get those bigger skills? We used to do that when we didn't have our own facility - just once a month but it helped just to use the full floor area and pit!

 

[gymdog]

Hmm, so they don't have a spring floor, just an air floor and like cheer mats?

If I'm understanding that correctly, without a spring floor I doubt you could (easily) reliably learn to do the sorts of "punching" combination tumbling that is common training for level 8 (i.e. twisting to a punch front, front layouts to a punch front salto), and then reliably compete those combinations on competition equipment.

That said, if the coach can do it, and girls get to that level, it is possible they will arrange something like to visit the next farthest gym every so often, to practice on the floor and use the pit. That is not unheard of. But obviously it depends on whether there is a gym close enough, and whether this can be arranged.

But, without at least competition standard equipment and at least a resi available for practices, it would be very difficult in my opinion to get kids into level 9 and 10. There might be a fantastic gymnast able to do it, but other girls would probably experience more success at another gym. I don't think a gym needs to be super fancy, but there has to be a bare minimum.

 

[MaryA]

they are one of those gyms who have to get their equipment out every session and pack it away every evening.

This is what we do! I hate it! Every night the parents tear down while the girls do conditioning. I'm sure it's character building, but it's not very much fun!

Yes, there is one private gym in town, with pits and spring floors and all of the bells and whistles. There are reasons why I'm not 100% thrilled with this gym either, and I hate to "make" my child switch teams when she's happy. I wish we had more choices! I did have a short discussion with my DD tonight. I said, "Sweetie, what's the highest level your gym currently has?" She said that it was level 7. I asked, "What level are you going to be competing next year?" and she said "level 6." Because our level 7's are so much older than her, I think that level 7 just seems like it's something that's years away! She hadn't realized that she was getting pretty close to that. I didn't say anything but just looked at her and watched the realization dawn across her face. She said, "but I might do a year of intermediate prep op before I go to 7" and I said that yes, that might happen. So she said that she could maybe have 3 more years at her current gym, and then she'd switch to (the private gym). Maybe 2-3 more years will be enough for us to have another option. There are rumblings of another gym opening up, but nothing definitely yet!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My DD practices at a gym with very basic equiptment. I think what they have is "safe" but there is no pit. They don't have a spring floor. They have roll-out mats and then a strip of air floor for doing the tumbling passes. Right now there are no gymnasts past a level 7, and those are all high-school girls, but next year we'll have a group of five level 6's between the ages of 9 and 11 (my DD included). There is a coach who should be able to coach the higher levels (a former div. I college gymnast). Is there a level where it is no longer safe to practice without pits, a spring floor, etc? My DD is completely devoted to her gym, but I can't imagine she'd be happy staying at level 7 for 5-6 years either. I know... I'm borrowing trouble. Right now she's happy and fine where she is, but I can't keep from wondering, "what's next?" Up until level 6 was in sight, level 7 seemed worlds away. All of a sudden, it's feeling much closer!

start planning ahead...

 

[gymmom14]

Just wondering how old you dd is? The years go fast and maybe making a move sooner rather than later is whats best if she has long term plans in the sport. Just my two cents....

 

[MaryA]

Just wondering how old you dd is? The years go fast and maybe making a move sooner rather than later is whats best if she has long term plans in the sport. Just my two cents....

She is 10. If my main concern was having her go as far as possible with gymnastics, I suppose I would have switched her to a different gym a while ago.

Next year I am sending her to a charter school. She doesn't really want to go... she wants to stay where she is with her friends, but I believe she will get a better education at the charter school, and ultimately be happier there, so I am moving her in spite of her objections because, well, I am the mommy.

I don't feel like I should necessarily do that with gymnastics. Gymnastics is her thing, her choice, her passion. And she loves being where she is. When she maxes out what this gym has to offer, I will start suggesting strongly that she try somewhere else. If I feel like it is a matter of safety, I will insist. But for now, neither of these are true, so I let things be. The other gym will require a much bigger time commitment from her, which will mean sacrifices in terms of other activities, play time, family time, etc. I feel like, since those will be her sacrifices, the choice needs to be hers as well.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I would talk to her again and see if maybe she wants to at least tryout the other gym. My daughter is around the same age and when she started do a lot of the level6 tumbling she developed the heel pain I know a lot of the other girls had knee pain and her gym has a spring floor and pit. I think it would be very hard on their bodies doing those tumbling pass on a mat. How are the other gymnasts that are at a higher level do they have injuries? I do respect your opinion that it is her sport and she likes her coaches and teammates but the other girls will be in the same situation as your daughter.what is their plans. Maybe you could also discuss it with her coaches is their any plans in the future if they move on past level7. I know a couple of girls who came from recreational city gyms to my daughters gym were told that they recommended them going to a private gym since they felt there was no more they could offer them in terms of advancement. Is your daughters gym honest enough to tell her it is time to move on. Since my daughter has always trained at the private gym I really do not know too much about other gyms such as Ymca but if they are competing with private gyms and doing well I think it is great but I would also worry about the equipment and safety factor ecspecailly if you think your daughter is going to stck with the sport.

 

[MaryA]

I do definitely worry about the safety factor, which is why I posed this question. It does seem like there are more ankle and knee braces on our girls than on other teams (though this is largely the older girls who are also on the HS team, and that equiptment is worse than ours...). Another thing I have to consider is that, in the current budget that just passed the house, all funding for the program that I work for has been cut. Not that anything is definite yet, but at the end of this year, if she's ready to move out of compulsaries and I still have a job, maybe that will be the time to start "encouraging" a little harder. I would imagine that the other girls in her group are going to have to start considering other options soon as well, unless things start changing pretty soon.