Parents Should we switch from NGA?

[Maryoliver]

Hi! I am hoping to get input from experienced parents and gymnasts or former gymnasts.
Background: My daughter just turned 7 years old last week. She joined her current gym in 2023, skipped Pre-team to go to Level 1, and this season skipped Level 2 to go to Level 3. She is doing very well, and absolutely loves the sport. I believe she's got some true talent (at least to my untrained eye). She learned her ROBHS this summer in a few hours, last week she taught herself a front handspring, and she's been working on her kip on her own at home -- she's got a lot of focus, determination, and crazy strength (which is hilarious coming from two very un-athletic parents).

Her gym has been wonderful for her, and we love the culture there. However, it switched to NGA a few years before we joined. I don't believe they strong history of sending kids to D1 or anything like that. The rest of the current Level 3's on her team are between 9-12 years old, so she is definitely an outlier. However, her team consistently does very well at local, regional, and national NGA meets.
We live in a relatively sparse area for gymnastics, and the other "good" gym here is USAG. However, I have heard very mixed reviews about it overall, and know a lot of kids have switched to our gym from there. They do have a history of kids going D1 and elite, but my take is that the culture is not as positive as where we are now. However, as I watch my daughter start to excel in this sport, I am wondering if we need to consider moving her.... *if* she does end up wanting to compete at higher levels as she gets older, or does want to pursue D1 or elite dreams, or test for TOPs, my understanding is the only way for those things to happen is if she is at a USAG gym. Is that correct? Any thoughts or advice would be helpful!

 

[Coach Kate]

First off, I would encourage her to stop teaching herself new skills at home and focus on conditioning and basics. The "self taught" or playground gymnasts end up with really bad habits that are super hard to break and end up holding them back in the long run. Our guideline when I was a gymnast was to only do skills at home we could do on a high beam in the gym, which held us to confident basics. As a coach, I always suggested that guideline to my athletes as well. Handstand holds, box handstands, press handstands you can't do too many. I trained hand balancing as an adult and our gold standard was a two minute hold in the minute of the room. Start with 30 seconds as a goal and work your way up.

NGA is still growing, but I think it would be worth doing an assessment and trial at a USAG gym, although maybe it is best to wait until after the season in the late spring. If they're used to working with high level athletes, they'll be able to offer their opinion and some perspective. Observe the trial practice (s), talk to the other parents. Be kind to the potential new gym and your current gym. We had plenty of kids move back and forth especially post focus when we moved to Xcel only. They would go to do DP somewhere else, come back a year or three later and be welcomed with open arms.

 

[Maryoliver]

Thanks so much for the advice. I agree if we would consider making the move it would be after the season, once we see how she’s feeling about it then.