WAG Privates in Level 3

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VAgymdad

Proud Parent
I'm curious what the perspectives (coaches/parents) are on privates at level 3. Our club is highly competitive and the "parental" culture seems to be if little Sara is having privates every Sunday, then everyone else must follow or the fear is you'll fall behind. Now that we're in mid-season, it seems to be getting a bit ridiculous around here. We've done a few, but only because my 6 1/2 yr old has yet competed on bars. The dilemma for us is do we just let the process take it's course, or is it a must that we get crazy with privates like everyone else? We're already here 11 hrs plus / 2 hrs TOPS every week. She loves every minute and then some, but I don't want burnout to ensue prematurely because we were trying to keep up with little Sara and the rest of her teammates. Thanks in advance for all your comments!
 
My DD is also 6 (7 next month) and competing L3 this year and has team practice 12hr/week and TOPs 4hr/week. Our gym solid, but not what I would call highly competitive. My advice is to not get too caught up in the crazy - your DD is young and enthusiastic and you don't want to burn her out. I have taken a deep breath a few times this season and had to remind myself its just L3!!! I figure if DD sticks with it there will be plenty of time for privates :)
 
Privates for L3 are kind of silly, IMHO. They really only make sense if they have a specific purpose, and probably don't make sense at all if a gym is training kids the right way until near optionals at the earliest. DD did get a few privates to work on giants a little more when she was going into L7, and if DS needs to do some catch up work this summer to get ready for Future Stars, he may do a handful for floor in particular, but they've both been fine without them up to now.

The down sides are burnout and less capacity to focus and improve in practice, which is where the work should be concentrated. I'd be concerned if it seemed like kids in a gym were primarily making progress by taking a million privates. That's not the way team training should work.

Relax and enjoy the ride. :) Stay off the crazy train as long as possible! Honestly, it really doesn't get to the station any faster.
 
Are we at the same club? lol Our level 3's do privates but it's mostly becuase they only train 2x per week in large groups and need more one on one time.
 
Regular privates were the norm for preteam and L3 at our old gym. It was an arms race just as you describe--little Sally is taking privates, so if we don't get them for Suzy then she will fall behind. We tried privates for a short time but found them counterproductive due to negative coaching. We recently switched gyms. When I asked the management at the new gym about their attitude towards privates, I was told that "private lessons are not a good way to learn gymnastics--we save those for short-term work on specific issues." I like this philosophy much better. I think of private lessons like tutoring. If my child had a specific academic deficiency, I would not hesitate to provide tutoring in that specific area until the obstacle were overcome. If she needed long-term tutoring in all subjects in order to make progress, I would begin to think that there was something wrong with the teaching in her regular classroom.
 
We did a private during DD's L3 season this past fall when she was struggling with bars specifically. It was great for her coach to focus on specific things she was needing to work on, but it was very targeted, and short, and got the job done. It is not the norm in our gym at that level except when a kid needs a little extra help on something specific.
 
DD did privates as L3 when she was struggling with BHS. It was skill specific, very targeted and only 1-2 lessons. YDD L4 did 2 privates this year to help with floor because she is not dance-minded and needed someone to walk through the dance-y minutia with her one on one. She doesn't pick up that stuff very quickly, and definitely not in a group setting.

I agree with the other posts - I don't see the point in regularly scheduled privates.
 
What about asking the coach? I recently asked the coach if she felt DD needed a private and she said that DD is progressing nicely and there is no need for a private at this time. It was definitely nice to hear that DD is doing well because I would have no clue, it's even better to know that DD has an honest coach!
 
My dd who is a 9 year old level 6 has done 5 privates total. They were specific to her working on a skill like fhs vault or fly away on bars and thats it. Our gym does not promote regular privates.
 
I'm curious what the perspectives (coaches/parents) are on privates at level 3. Our club is highly competitive and the "parental" culture seems to be if little Sara is having privates every Sunday, then everyone else must follow or the fear is you'll fall behind. Now that we're in mid-season, it seems to be getting a bit ridiculous around here. We've done a few, but only because my 6 1/2 yr old has yet competed on bars. The dilemma for us is do we just let the process take it's course, or is it a must that we get crazy with privates like everyone else? We're already here 11 hrs plus / 2 hrs TOPS every week. She loves every minute and then some, but I don't want burnout to ensue prematurely because we were trying to keep up with little Sara and the rest of her teammates. Thanks in advance for all your comments!
We used to be at a gym like this. I refused to do it. We did do a couple privates for that stupid stride/mill circle but that was because DD was struggling so much with it. Bars are her nemesis.

My experience with this is DD started off the season 'behind' but by the end of the season when the girls with weekly privates were burning out she had more than caught up and was doing better than them at meets. I don't say this as a my kid best yours thing, I say it as a cautionary lesson. One of the weekly private girls who was very talented has since quit gymnastics. Due to burn out. At age 8.
 
Privates are the norm at most of the gyms around here. Even at preteam or level 1. Not saying it's a good thing--just reporting the facts.

Eta: I don't see where the privates are burning any of the kids out--they seem to love them. Many of them go less hours than what you are listing though. I just think the cost becomes prohibitive for the parents.
 
Regular privates were the norm for preteam and L3 at our old gym. It was an arms race just as you describe--little Sally is taking privates, so if we don't get them for Suzy then she will fall behind. We tried privates for a short time but found them counterproductive due to negative coaching. We recently switched gyms. When I asked the management at the new gym about their attitude towards privates, I was told that "private lessons are not a good way to learn gymnastics--we save those for short-term work on specific issues." I like this philosophy much better. I think of private lessons like tutoring. If my child had a specific academic deficiency, I would not hesitate to provide tutoring in that specific area until the obstacle were overcome. If she needed long-term tutoring in all subjects in order to make progress, I would begin to think that there was something wrong with the teaching in her regular classroom.

Thanks. I tend to agree with you. We were told at the beginning of the season that the coaches will let us know if we needed a private. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been contacted. Yet, the coaches are booked up for privates :)
 
Privates are the norm at most of the gyms around here. Even at preteam or level 1. Not saying it's a good thing--just reporting the facts.

Eta: I don't see where the privates are burning any of the kids out--they seem to love them. Many of them go less hours than what you are listing though. I just think the cost becomes prohibitive for the parents.

Nice business model for the coaches/gym -- instead of just adding another training block for the 10 preteamers, you charge each individual preteamer the going hourly rate.

As DS's coach likes to growl, "If you can't get it done in practice, what are you bugging me about privates for?" But I suppose if it's being driven by crazy parents, it may be easier for some coaches just to take the money and shut up than to try patiently to explain for the gazillionth time that there is no point to regular privates for most gymnasts.
 
I would say 13 hours a week is already a lot for a 6 1/2 yo. Privates might out undue pressure on her to get her bar skills when she is not ready. Let the process take it's course and don't try to keep up with the crazy.

All that being said, I do see that there are times when a kid needs the on-on-one time with a coach to work through something. Many good examples were given above.
 
DD has done about 6-8 (haven't really counted) privates this season. But her gym only does 4 hours per week for L3 (sigh) and it just isn't enough for her personally on a few skills. Now that they added an extra practice per week hopefully we will see improvement, if it isn't too late for her.
 
We have done them to work on lacking skills. Kind of like when she should have all of her L3 skills, but she's face planting her BHS. A private for that.
Just getting the L4 kip, then out a month sick. A couple privates for that.
When all the coaches say "She's so good!", but then her scores aren't reflecting that - a private to give her insight in what to work on / polish.

My DD is very cerebral, so to have a great private the week before a meet does WONDERS for her psyche.

But then there are moms who have the kid booked in weekly privates for months...
My DD would love that - but my checkbook certainly wouldn't!
 
Completely agree with Ali's mom. Sometimes DD does them for help in a specific skill she needs a little more
one on one attention with. But sometimes it's to run through routines, fine tune a few things and get a great confidence boost before a meet. We've only done a handful and I haven't felt like it was a waste of
Money on any of them.
 
I think they are useful in specific circumstances, but not as a regular thing. At least I hope not -- I couldn't afford them more than once in awhile!

We have done a handful of privates, a few over the holiday break because my DS was going stir crazy without practice and we did one today (teacher planning day) to work on a specific bonus that the coach and DS feel DS is ready for, but the rest of the team isn't training yet so he doesn't get to work on it in practice.

We are in NOVA, too VAgymdad, not even at one of the big competitive gyms and I think what you describe is pretty common on the girls' team.
 

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