Gyms in Florida?

[msl529]

Hello! I am a parent of a 2nd year L5/training L6 gymnast. Our family is moving to Florida in the next few months. My daughter is currently training for L6 at her gym. She loves it there & is sad to move, but we have to, for various reasons (NOT gym-related!). Her current club focuses on excellent technique, the girls compete well (she earned a 36.1 AA at L5 States, several others across the levels at her gym are 37-38 AA'ers), and yet the coaches manage to be kind and supportive of the girls there. They do expect them to work hard and focus, yet they still have fun w/ the girls. They do not overly pressure them for super high scores and are very helpful and sweet to them at meets. Ideal, really! We are looking on the East coast of Florida, anything driving distance from Boca Raton, and I am trying to get my hubby to look at the St. Petersburg area also. I have loooked at the USAG Florida website and spoke w/ a few gym coaches there. Ultimately, my kid will have to visit the gyms & see what feels best to her. ANYHOW.....just wondering if there are any personal opinions/stories to share about any programs out there. This is her second gym, she's competed 3 seasons, so I DO get how gyms can seem one way on paper/on the phone, but quite different, once you have been there for a while!Thanks for any help!

[awposey1]

We are in Stuart FL which is about 1.5 hours north of Boca on the east coast. We go to the YMCA in Stuart FL. Most Y's are not very good but we have a large compulsory and optional team. Head Coach is russian and awesome, altho very tough. We also have a caoch who is a level 10 judge. We are blessed with the best facility in the area for space and equpiment and pit. Below is a link where you can view my daughter who is level 10 (we have 3 tens in the gym) and this meet was our home meet (we host 2 meets a year) so you can see both the level of training and also get a glance at the facility. There are other videos as well. Where are you coming from?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkrG1...x=0&playnext=1


http://www.youtube.com/user/awposey1

You may have to cut an past the links...First link is the meet last weekend and the second is my channel which has training footage. If you want to communicate more, my e mail is
awposey1@bellsouth.net

[Ingymmom]

isn't Jana Bieger's gym in that area of FL? I thing it is Bieger International... sorry I can't help with word of mouth for that area... I have not heard anything about their gym, but it may be worth at least checking out How many hours does your dd currently train?

[gym mom]

we live 1hr n of st.Pete/ tampa our gym has a strong opt. program but not as big has some in tpa area my dd competed this winter as l3 so I have not seen the upper levels compete.there are 2 strong teams in tpa that I know do very well at meets Lafluer's in Largo have strong comp& strong Opt teams,Tampa bay Turners have strong opt teams I attached there websites http://www.tampabayturners.com/Competitive.htm
http://www.lafleursgymnasticclub.com/staff.htm

[msl529]

Thank you for the responses! The videos of your Level 10 daughter In Stuart, FL are awesome! She seems very strong, and especially confident in her tumbling skills on beam & floor. Also great bar & vault skills! We had an Optional meet this past weekend at our gym (we are in NorCal), and while our own Optionals looked very good & prepared, I was surprised at how many other gyms came w/ their girls quite unprepared to do some very difficult skills. Consequently, there were a few nasty injuries on the other teams, which was a bummer. I don't know if my kid will ever get to that level, or even if I want her to, after seeing the amount of injuries they sustain as a result of all the heavy training, and/or being forced to compete when they are not ready. Even our team has about half of their optionals out, due training injuries. Yikes! Anyhow, the gym in Stuart is probably a bit far North for us at this point. But good to know it's there in case the closer ones don't work out. Re: other quetions-yes, we will look at Bieger, & also American Twisters in Coconut Creek. I have spoken to coaches @ both & looked at websites & they both seem good. However, I am left w/ another question..WHAT IS PREP-OP?!! We do not have this here in NorCal. Twisters says they do not compete their girls at L5-6, but jump from L4 to Prep-Op, then to Optional. I thought per USAG Rules, you have to advance one level at a time and could NOT skip levels. I am not aware that Pre-Op is a valid USAG level. Any thoughts...?

[kls0418]

I am from the Tampa area and competed in gymnastics for 20 years. I went to Lafleurs Tampa, the brother gym of Lafleurs Largo. I know that both gyms are very good there. When I competed American Twisters were very good and had good coaches.

I believe that Prep-Op is a pre-optional level (somewhat of a mix between level 6 and level 7). From what I remember, I think that you have to compete at least one meet per level. I know that some gymnasts have skipped levels before but I don't know exactly how. I hope that this helps.

[msl529]

Quote:
Originally Posted by kls0418 I am from the Tampa area and competed in gymnastics for 20 years. I went to Lafleurs Tampa, the brother gym of Lafleurs Largo. I know that both gyms are very good there. When I competed American Twisters were very good and had good coaches. I believe that Prep-Op is a pre-optional level (somewhat of a mix between level 6 and level 7). From what I remember, I think that you have to compete at least one meet per level. I know that some gymnasts have skipped levels before but I don't know exactly how. I hope that this helps.

Thank you! I have been hearing good things about La Fleurs. You must be in great shape to have competed 20 years! Are you still walking?! Just kidding! I HOPE we can get a chance to look over on the West Fla. coast & check out TBT & La Fleurs. We'll see. I am sort of getting what Prep-Op is, but am still mystified how girls can go from there to Optionals, unless, as you suggest, they may just compete one L6 meet & then bump up. Still, those L6 routines are not easy & it would seem to me that the girls would need to train on the actual routines for a good amount of time. At least, at our gym they spend a lot of time fine-tuning them to get them just right for when season comes around. I will definitely report back on how this is done, once the coach at Twisters gets back to me on it. I am sure he knows exactly what he is doing, as he has been around gymnastics for a long time and has directed in the TOPS program, USAG Elite program, etc.

[medic3188]

we just moved to florida 6 weeks ago. We chose a small gym for my dd in wellington, which is close to West Palm Beach. Where are you moving from?

[AnitaV]

Check out the Florida USAG website newsletters. I am fairly sure Florida now requires level 6 competition verification before a gymnast can move up to level 7. Btw all the gyms mention are very good.

[msl529]

We are moving from Northern Calif. How do you like Florida, & the Gym in Wellington? Where did you move from?