Parents Privates?

[TheGMom]

DD, now 11 ( Happy B-day) wants so much to move to team. ( Yes, we both know that she will never reach the olympics, or near it, but she really just enjoys the sport ) Coach said she might be able to go on team in the beginning of summer, (yay DD) but she wants to improve so she can start at a level with kids more her age.
She wants to do privates for her ROBHSBT and BHS on low beam. (Yes, she is in rec, but her class is well beyond expectations. Her level 4 rec. is doing flyaways, twisting, somis, BT on Beam for some, and yurchenko drills, but some are still working kips, its all crazy)


How much does your gym charge and for how long. I would like some responses from club owners, and how do the coaches like it? When is it best for privates? In between other level classes, on weekends, or before class starts? What would you recommend? Do you think it is worth it to have private lessons?


Thanks in advance, all responses are wonderful!

 

[Sasha]

I'll PM you what we have experienced regarding privates....

Good for your daughter for working toward her goal!

 

[gymmomtotwo]

Wow! I am trying to imagine a rec class like that and am just thinking that kids that can do those things would have been sucked into JO or XCEL at our gym a long time ago! Privates can be helpful if your DD really wants to do them. My DD tried them, but she I think she felt like it was too much pressure knowing we were paying extra, so she only did a few. I recommend starting with a short lesson no longer than a half hour. It can get pretty tiring for them to work one on one for a whole hour.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our gym charges 70 an hour. Its usually before the afternoon ramps up or on weekends.

 

[cbifoja]

How much does your gym charge and for how long. I would like some responses from club owners, and how do the coaches like it? When is it best for privates? In between other level classes, on weekends, or before class starts? What would you recommend? Do you think it is worth it to have private lessons?
Thanks in advance, all responses are wonderful!

At our gym, privates are $50/hour but you can split that with another for a semi-private. You can also do a half hour for $30.

Our coaches will give privates to anyone although they do discourage them for rec kids during competition season just because of finding the time between team practice, rec schedule, and competitions. At our gym, space is at a premium so if you want privates you have to be willing to come in before classes start (before 4PM) or stay after team leaves at 8:30. If you can't do those, then you have to try to find a coach willing to work Saturday afternoons IF there are no birthday parties scheduled or on Sunday if team is away at a meet and the gym is free.

My DD did privates as a pre-teamer because she wanted more hours. Then she did privates as a compulsory to work on form and upskills. She did privates for a year and a half at the optional level to work on choreography and upskills. Now, part of her scheduled practice includes private lessons built in so we no long purchase private time. Plus at 20 hours and a packed gym, the logistics would be a nightmare.

In my opinion, yes it was worth it. My DD enjoyed building a close relationship with her coach and she was able to work upskills at a pace that worked for her. It kept her motivated and moving forward, especially through the boring compulsory years.

 

[profmom]

Hmmm, I am not sure whether privates are necessary here. It sounds like she has lots of skills. The focus in JO would not be so much on getting new skills as on improving her form. If you do decide to go forward with privates, I'd suggest spending the extra money to increase her chances of making it onto the team rather than on acquiring new skills. A few hours of working on roundoffs would probably be better for long-term development than getting a back handspring on beam.

Depending on the level of the coach, privates run between $30-60 an hour, and semi-privates are an option. Both of my gymnasts are L8s and between the two of them, they have fewer than ten privates over the years, most of which were DD's when she was working to get her giants to move up to L7.

 

[Muddlethru]

Privates can be helpful. But it is rare you will get a team coach to do a private for rec kids. And I'm not sure if rec coaches generally are in par with team coaches as far as technique and proper form. But they can be, I guess. Perhaps you can also add more classes. Have her go 3-4 times a week, two hours a day if you can. The more practice hours she has, the quicker she gets in shape and the faster she improves. When she gets to Level 4, she'll likely be practicing 12-15 hours a week.

Gymnastics should be for everyone. In fact, only .01% of all gymnasts even has a fighting chance of making thr Olympics, or national team. . The majority of us are in the same boat, whether you start at 11 or at 2 years old.

 

[B&M's mom]

Not sure that privates will be the right answer to get her ready for team at a level with kids her age. Do you know what level that may be? In USAG you can skip Level 3 but have to score out of the other levels which means learning the skills and routines for each level. So if she's aiming for L6 or 7, she'll have to score out of L4 and 5 first. You may want to sit down with the Coach and put together a plan. They may prefer that she take additional classes rather than privates.

 

[looly]

Privates at our gym vary slightly by coach but are usually $30/30 mins or $60/hour. My DD 9 is rec and they really help her because she has attention problems in a big rec class, and her coach can spend some time focusing on form or a skill DD needs additional reps on - in her rec class they might each get 2-3 reps of a skill that needs spotting per week, which is going to make for slow skill acquisition except for the most talented kids.

 

[ZJsMom]

If you decide to do privates, I would recommend doing them with a team coach. On team there are different expectations so having a team coach work with her would be helpful to get her up to their expectations. Even though she has a lot of skills, the team coaches might want to take her back a bit if they think there are issues with her basics.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

Wow some of your PL are costly, ours our 30$ an hour (makes me VERY HAPPY)

 

[oplei]

You might want to consider focusing your private lessons on strength and conditioning as well as flexibility. The private lessons may also give you some ideas for safe conditioning outside of the gym. Being strong and flexible gives coaches the chance to teach the skills as they want them done rather than having to fix bad habits in the skills.

 

[MeetDirector]

To the OP - you said "... so she can start at a level with kids more her age." In USAG JO, you don't get to pick what level you start at; all JO gymnasts must pass thru levels 4 and 5, whether that is one meet or a season's worth of meets. All of the skills you mention are way beyond the required level 4 skills and every level 4 gymnast in the US does the same set of skills on each event. My advice to you is to do some homework so that you can help guide her to the right competitive outlet for her abilities.

 

[Jasmynn]

It would help if you knew what level she's going for and what skills she's lacking for that level. Is she flexible enough and how is her form doing simple skills? Is she going for a JO team or Xcel? How long before competition season? All of these things make a difference. Our privates are 60/hr.