Parents Proper Coach to Gymnast Ratio

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Gymmom82773

Proud Parent
My daughters USAG team has grown significantly in the last 2 years. We have 1 head coach and 1 assistant who helps in compulsory L4 and L5 but only some days and she helps at meets. We recently got the fall schedule and there are some days where the compulsory and optional kids overlap with only 1 coach for up to 15-20 kids all different levels. I really think they need to hire another coach and should i be concerned about my daughters safety ( shes L9 but only 11 years old) here is how many we have at each level approx.

6 L4s
4 L5s
4 L7s
3 L8s
7 L9s (one is my daughter)
1 L10

I would love coaches perspectives about proper gymnast/coach ratio.
Thanks !
 
In my mind, the perfect ratio would be one to one, but that ain't going to happen! ;) The truth of the matter is there is no set ratio, it depends on the strength and experience of the coach, and how much equipment and space is available to use. Having a small/medium gym, I find myself in a similar position quite often, and seem to make it work by setting up numerous stations where higher level girls do bigger/different things than the smaller/younger girls do. Hope that helps.
 
There is no proper ratio, it depends on so many factors.

1. The experience and ability of the coach
2. The age of the gymnasts
3. How varied the ages and levels of the group are
4. The equipment available
5. How many other classes are in the gym at the time
6. The goals of the group
7. Skills the group is working on
8. Laws in your country, state etc
9. What the gym can afford
 
In my mind, the perfect ratio would be one to one, but that ain't going to happen! ;)
lol, Last Monday, YG had a 2 coach to one gymnast ratio for about 8 minutes... and she was just working kips (of course, they expected more girls to be in "kip club" at the time).

Our coaches TRY to keep the ratios at 12 to 1 or better, but there are times (coach call offs) when they get up to 20-25 to 1. If it is over 25 to 1, then they just do conditioning and relay races and things like that.
 
It takes an excellent coach to actually ensure every child learns something in a class with over 25 kids to 1 coach. Obviously not the ideal situation.

But a great coach can do more with the kids in a class with 12:1, than a less experienced coach can do with 5:1.
 

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