Parents Which gym?

[Liduska1]

My daughter started gymnastics somewhat late at 8 years old. Since the 1st recreational class her coaches kept saying she was talented. She is currently level 3 rec at the gym where we started. Her coach just casually mentioned that maybe next year she might be ready to join their team.

Meanwhile a new gym opened in our neighborhood. My DD went to try out for their TOPS inspired class. She got in and also received an offer for her to join their Xcel bronze team.

What would you do?

 

[Coach Kate]

You need a lot more information. Rec levels vary widely from gym to gym so rec level 3 doesn't mean anything to anyone else. What skills is she doing? What does the first coach mean by team? Development Program? Excel? What level? Is she happy there?

Second gym: how do they use Xcel? Some gyms use it instead of compulsory. Starting TOPS style training now (is she 8 now? Realized I may have misread that), she'd be testing as a 9 year old next year and there are some big requirements, especially if she's just starting now, so what's the goal there, unless it's just the conditioning and they aren't planning on testing. Do they see her transitioning to Development Program at some point? TOPS and Xcel don't generally go together, so that's just a bit funky to me.

Then for both gyms: What are her goals? Are there optionals/level 10s who seems happy and successful? Does she want to work towards college gymnastics? Does the gym have recruited/recruitable athletes?

I personally don't like excel bronze and don't think she would necessarily benefit from jumping into that. Our gym skips it and starts at silver. We just felt the time was better spent working on skills than putting things together in bronze routines. We feel the same about DP levels 1&2.

 

[Kara]

Agreed; "TOPS" training and Xcel Bronze seems like a bizarre combination. I'd be guessing it's just an extra class to get more money out of naive parents.

 

[IreneKa]

The OP said her daughter took "'TOPS inspired class". It's probably just the name of the class, with some TOPS inspired conditioning, doesn't have anything to do with the Xcel bronze team she was invited to join.

But I do agree that more information is needed. How successful the current gym is? Do they have both Xcel and DP? Do they have higher level DP gymnasts? You can find that information on www.mymeetscores.com. What "team" do they have in mind for your daughter?
What about the new gym? If it just opened, it's probably harder to find information on them online. Do they have both DP and Xcel? Are they separate tracks or Xcel is used in place of compulsory DP?

What does your daughter want to do? How old is she now? Is she excited about starting team and competitions sooner rather than later? How many rec classes does she take now? Is it just one hour class a week?
I'd say if she is serious about pursuing gymnastics, she needs to start some sort of formal training sooner rather than later. Does the current gym have anything like pre-team she could join while waiting to be invited to team? If not, then I would probably give Xcel team at a new gym a chance, see how it goes, and reevaluate next year.

 

[Liduska1]

The OP said her daughter took "'TOPS inspired class". It's probably just the name of the class, with some TOPS inspired conditioning, doesn't have anything to do with the Xcel bronze team she was invited to join.

But I do agree that more information is needed. How successful the current gym is? Do they have both Xcel and DP? Do they have higher level DP gymnasts? You can find that information on www.mymeetscores.com. What "team" do they have in mind for your daughter?
What about the new gym? If it just opened, it's probably harder to find information on them online. Do they have both DP and Xcel? Are they separate tracks or Xcel is used in place of compulsory DP?

What does your daughter want to do? How old is she now? Is she excited about starting team and competitions sooner rather than later? How many rec classes does she take now? Is it just one hour class a week?
I'd say if she is serious about pursuing gymnastics, she needs to start some sort of formal training sooner rather than later. Does the current gym have anything like pre-team she could join while waiting to be invited to team? If not, then I would probably give Xcel team at a new gym a chance, see how it goes, and reevaluate next

I believe the new gym invited all the kids that got chosen for their conditioning TOPS inspired class for Xcell Bronze team.

I was finally able to talk to DD's regular coach yesterday on the phone. Apparently she'd already picked our DD as one of the girls to go on Excel team but the gym is doing a tryout to determine which level (Bronze to Gold). That won't happen until the last day of September though

When it comes to what our DD wants... she will be 9 in November, so college gymnastics, etc.is too far in future for her to even understand. She wants to be on a team ASAP and preferably at our old gym as she has made friends there, knows the coaches. But it's farther away - at least 30 to 40 minutes one way as opposed to 10 to 15 minutes it would be for the new gym.

 

[Dahlialover]

Being close to home is a huge advantage. When you are making two round trips per day an extra 30 minutes each way is huge! Start close if you can.

 

[ZB55]

If she's happy at the current gym, you like the coaches and families, the gym has a decent track record, and she will be soon be evaluated and placed on a team (especially with a possibly of going to a higher level than bronze), then it would seem crazy to me to switch to a new unknown gym just to do bronze 3 weeks sooner. I also wouldn't pick solely based on distance - the quality and character of the coaches trumps all other decisions in my opinion.

 

[katrid11]

Part of the sport is having a good environment with coaches and friends. I would stay and find out the team in late September.... You have a girl that likes the gymnasts and the coaches which is a huge advantage to being happy in this sport.

I would keep the other gym in mind for a couple years from now - when your daughter is going into middle school and the commute becomes an issue b/c it impacts times with friends etc.

 

[LCsMom]

Team gymnastics is very different then Rec gymnastics. If she's happy with her current gym, I'd be tempted to keep her there and take a wait and see approach. Maybe she'll love Team, maybe she'll hate it. I totally understand the desire to be closer to home though!

Also I agree that Bronze wouldn't be the right level for her if she's already doing DP level 3 skills in Rec. My kid ended up on a Bronze team her first year and was bored out of her skull. I ended up getting her into circus classes just to keep her from climbing the walls. It was a new gym for us too, so I had a feeling they just stuck the kids they didn't know into Bronze to see if they were really Team material.