The Pros and Cons of Privates

[gymjoy]

Playing devils advocate here

Why would a child need a private lesson to build self-confidence?
It seem to me that in our society everyone is attempting to give their child the edge with some sort of private, individually focused training - in gym, in academics(and to me this is training, not learning), in music. You name it, someone is willing to take your money to give your child the individual attention they need to excel, or meet their potential, or have a edge over the competition. What message does this send to these kids? That without special attention they can not achieve their goals? That they are more special then other children, or not special enough?
I have plenty of thoughts on this - some contradict each other, so I am curious what others think.

From a personal viewpoint - dd did privates for a season because of a stinky, inattentive bar coach. She took the privates in attempt to counter the lack of instruction she received during regular training. However, I do not fell it ever boost her confidence, even if it did boost her skills. At dd's current gym I do not think the word private would ever be spoken. If a gymnast works hard during practice, then the privates are not needed, though sometimes patience is required.

 

[gym law mom]

Gymjoy, I think you nailed it when you said its about patience. If as a parent you're happy with your dd's gym and coaches and she's just a little "behind" on some skills----use some patience instead of $. It will all come together.

As to the question regarding cost of privates--$75--WHOA. Ours are based on the coach's experience with the most expensive being $60 and the cheapest at $40(that is for 1 hour). When we did some privates for vault, it was only 30minutes.

 

[Jennemmy]

There are a few times I did privates for my dd. She has adhd and she might have all the skills but the more detailed nuances, like hand placement will cost deductions. She could have a dozen corrections over the course of a season on the same problem and it won't change it. But a private normally happens in an empty gym. 30 minutes of focus on hands, or toe point or head position takes care of it. She did 3 or 4 as a level 4. And 1 as a lvl 5. Which makes sense, team size went from about 20 girls at a practice to 5 girls.

 

[shadow]

personally, i like for our girls to take privates. our gym only practices about 7 1/2 hours a week and ive notice that the girls who take privates (either regularly or a few here and there) do much better then some of the other girls who do not at meets. usually at our practices i have a group of 10, sometimes 15 to 20 girls at a time and these girls dont have a long attention span... so paying attention to every detail for every girl gets hard sometimes. also, we encourage our optionals to take privates to they can have more time to work on skills that they are just learning, as in they still need a spot and i cant really do that during practice because i have all the other girls to teach. So what we dont get done in practice, we get to work on in privates. plus i dont think our privates are that expensive, like $18 a half hour, but i could be wrong...

 

[liseybeast]

about prices of privates... out of curiosity I looked up how much one is at my gym and an hour is $85 and a half hour is $55. That's what you get for living in an urban area I guess.

 

[gymdog]

usually at our practices i have a group of 10, sometimes 15 to 20 girls at a time and these girls dont have a long attention span... so paying attention to every detail for every girl gets hard sometimes.

Well that is a problem of gym management if you are the only instructor for that amount of kids. 1:8 is the ratio I think gyms should aim for; 1:10 depending on level and age is all right, but 1:20 shouldn't be happening. I'm not implying that it's your fault or that you set the ratios but those aren't in line for the standard best practice of a gym.

 

[shadow]

yes i realize this. but its not like im the only one who works with them. we rotate around events and they get to work with all the coaches. we are currently making changes though because sometimes the kids are too wild and it gets too crazy

 

[bookworm]

I can't think of any reason that a 6 yo Level 3 would require a "private" other than , as one prior poster said, a money maker. Put your wallet and checkbook away....there'll be plenty of time in the future if she sticks with this sport to spend oodles of money!!!

 

[vagymmomma]

Playing devils advocate here

Why would a child need a private lesson to build self-confidence?

Playing the devil back. My (limited) experience is that one of the biggest limiting factors for a gymnast is what's between their ears -- not necessarily their physical abilities (although that also plays into the equation). Conquering fears is all about self confidence. And with such a mental sport, an occasional extra dose of coaching can be just the ticket. I don't believe in over doing privates (it's too expensive), but my daughter went from a 7.75 to an 8.75 on floor after 2 privates. Sure, she could have got there by the end of the season, but now she can focus on perfecting the routine.

 

[LizzieLac]

I'll jump in and play devil's advocate, as well.

How does having a private boost someone's confidence. I always thought one's improvement or performance helped confidence (that and sheer belief in yourself). What would a coach do in a private that he/she wouldn't do in regular practice? Perhaps kids get their privates from a coach a different gym, because I would sure hope a kid would hear the same corrections in regular practice that they would in a private.

That being said, it seems to me a private is "necessary" when the ratio of coach to athlete is too high and so he/she can't give each child the proper attention. That would cause me to question the gym.

At our gym, they are actually against privates. They really won't give them. They feel that the gymmies should be getting what they need from regular practice. In my limited experience, that makes sense.

 

[gymdog]

I'll jump in and play devil's advocate, as well.

How does having a private boost someone's confidence. I always thought one's improvement or performance helped confidence (that and sheer belief in yourself). What would a coach do in a private that he/she wouldn't do in regular practice? Perhaps kids get their privates from a coach a different gym, because I would sure hope a kid would hear the same corrections in regular practice that they would in a private.

That being said, it seems to me a private is "necessary" when the ratio of coach to athlete is too high and so he/she can't give each child the proper attention. That would cause me to question the gym.

At our gym, they are actually against privates. They really won't give them. They feel that the gymmies should be getting what they need from regular practice. In my limited experience, that makes sense.

Well although I do think private lessons have some benefits I am mostly against it in implementation because I have seen it cause a lot of drama. We've mostly agreed to stay away from them for that reason - it's hardly worth the money - and there's just no time. I will say there is one child I coach who I was actually at the point of offering privates too because I felt it would really benefit her. If it had come to that point I would have done it free of charge out of my own time because I felt it would have been my failing, since she does try and work hard. However there were issues with attention span that I felt were improved when I was able to get her away from the other kids for awhile. Luckily right when I was at that point of frustration and "I need to do something else" there was a big period of improvemenet and I became satisfied with her progress.

 

[gymjoy]

Lots of interesting post with different ideas and thoughts.
gymdog's post brings up another question for me - is it right/ethical for a coach to suggest to a gymnast or their parents that they should do some privates? Or does that open a whole can of worms (ie accusations of favoritism) and create gym-drama?

 

[10.0]

Lots of interesting post with different ideas and thoughts.
gymdog's post brings up another question for me - is it right/ethical for a coach to suggest to a gymnast or their parents that they should do some privates? Or does that open a whole can of worms (ie accusations of favoritism) and create gym-drama?

I don't think it is unethical, it would really depend on why they were offering it. Say if the kid has a big fear issue, I don't see a problem in offering but not saying the parent NEEDS to do it. And of course these kind of things create gym drama, what doesn't?

 

[gymdog]

Lots of interesting post with different ideas and thoughts.
gymdog's post brings up another question for me - is it right/ethical for a coach to suggest to a gymnast or their parents that they should do some privates? Or does that open a whole can of worms (ie accusations of favoritism) and create gym-drama?

It could be unethical if there's money involved I supposed. At the gym I went to, privates were by coach suggestion only though and incredibly rare. When it was used it was because it was truly needed. In my case had I suggested it there would not have been money involved. I suppose it could create drama but for various reasons I don't really think there would be accusations of favoritism in this case. There would be a variety of concrete reasons for it.

 

[Megley]

Our gym doesn't like privates. My dd did a few of them when she was on Level 4 - mostly to help her with the dance parts of the beam and floor routine. Her current coach does not want them doing privates and with 20 hours a week in gym, hopefully she doesn't need them.

 

[UnoMas]

Ahhh, my thoughts on private lessons: I used to only think they were for kids who were really struggling with "getting" a skill. I broke down and did one for my older DD when she was 8 and just not getting her ROBHS. Then I found out that MANY of her teammates did weekly privates with the head coach! This still occurs. Many kids who are scoring 36 and 37AA are in weekly private lessons. I don't really understand this, but...for many reasons I have had both my girls in for quite a few privates.

My younger DD really benefits from 1:1 time with the head coach because she has inconsistent coaching during the week, she is 6 and cute, and some of the coaches let her get away with stuff.

However, it is ghastly expensive and I am really trying to NOT do them anymore for either of my girls. They both like the attention from HC and do benefit, but I also feel that they should be able to learn what they need to learn in 15 hours of regular practice.

So, I have come back to my original thought in that privates should just be for "getting" really tough skills.

 

[NewtoGym]

@madigym00 - is your 6-year-old in the gym 15 hours? Mine is only in for 6.

 

[10.0]

I can tell you why a young child that does regular privates may score higher. Even in the best of cases (good gymnast to coach ratio) teaching a group of little ones is difficult, try as you might you cannot keep them completly on task and they are still kids, they goof off and you spend a fair amount of time playing cop.

When I coached I spent most of my time dealing with line cutting, kids saying hurtful things to eachother and crying, complaining, doing handstand and kicking eachother in line etc. and very little time on the gymnastics.

When you have a kid one on one even a little one they can't goof off, they have no one to mess around with and get off task and they are forced to focus.

I am in no way saying you NEED to have privates but I can see why some kids might score better. Even if your kid is in the gym 15 hours a week how many hours are they actually paying attention? I also tried many times to show eachother routines to try and learn from your fellow students mistakes and they would always just end up getting bored and finding something else to do.

 

[UnoMas]

@madigym00 - is your 6-year-old in the gym 15 hours? Mine is only in for 6.

Yes, it ends up being about 15 hours. She does 30-45 minutes of TOPs conditioning stuff 4 days a week, and practices for 2-3 hours 4 days a week. It's a lot, but for some strange reason she loves it. When she was a level 2 she only went for 5 hours.

 

[UnoMas]

I am in no way saying you NEED to have privates but I can see why some kids might score better. Even if your kid is in the gym 15 hours a week how many hours are they actually paying attention? .

With my older daughter, I'd say she pays attention for about 14 hours a week! With my younger daughter, she is of course much less self-directed. She is often in a group of older kids, so often when they are independently "working" on a leap pass or something, she is just kind of going through the motions (or making up her own) She is 6, so she isn't capable of too much self-directed learning!