Parents Sydney AUS gym rec?

[fairylightsandroses]

Looking for a gym recommendation in Sydney, Australia. We are supposed to move permanently to Sydney (from the US) in a few months and I’m wondering where I would put my 7yo daughter for her gymnastics. She started rec in October and is now on pre-team. Of course, she says her goal is to be just like Simone Biles. I don’t know if she’ll stick with it long term, but she seems pretty serious about it; she always says she wants to do gymnastics class 4 days a week, and we’ve been able to eke out 2-3 with open gyms and duplicate classes. My daughter will work hard but likes a setting that’s fairly directed and focused. She’s on a very competitive swim team also and the coaches constantly correct the kids’ form, but they are specific. She seems to like that style of feedback. However, a couple times in the past when she had taken classes at another gym, she was sad that she was “getting in trouble” for not being able to complete a skill and the coach being frustrated with her. I overheard another coach at that gym admonishing the girls, “Are we here to get better? Or are we here to just stay exactly the same?” despite the girls seeming to have worked hard, no goofing off or anything. I guess my 7yo wants specific corrections from the coach but also for the coach to believe that she is trying her best. She likes the coaches at her usual gym, although it’s a little less structured than ideal and I think they mostly do xcel. Any gym suggestions in Sydney? Or general feedback on finding a gym? Thanks for any advice!!

 

[JessSyd]

There are only a couple of elite gyms in Sydney, but many good gyms for rec or competitive. Recommendations would depend entirely on where you end up living, as Sydney is geographically large, and every corner of it has somewhere I would happily recommend.

It actually sounds like she would be looking for a competitive program. Entry to competitive programs is generally by invitation, but if you called a gym and said she was in a pre-team group (which is often called ‘development group’ or similar here) in the USA they would probably offer an individual assessment to place her within their competitive program.