WAG The 'private': does your gym offer them?

[duyetanh]

Let me preface this to say this is not about my dd or her gym. Her coaches offer privates, and we have done a few that were very beneficial. But I have a friend in a neighboring state whose dd is struggling with her level 7 series on that four letter word...beam. The child would love a private for extra help on this particular challenge. When the mom asked, she was told (nicely) that the gym did not do them...the HC felt that of the girls were there 5 days a week, then that was enough time to acquire the skill if the child was working hard. HC wasn't mean or rude, he just said she would get there when she would get there, and they were doing their best to help her get there. They love the coach, ans respect him, so they are trusting in his plan. But this got me wondering:

Does your gym offer privates? I will admit I was a bit surprised this gym didn't for an optional, but every gym is entitled to their own philosophy.

 

[Yuenling]

Our gym does them but they are hard to schedule since the coach's schedules are already tied up. Sometimes, kids have to skip school for their private. Majority of the kids do not get privates.

 

[AgingHippie]

Our gym does them but they are hard to get scheduled at times.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

This does seem to be a subject with many opinions! The new gym asked me to have Puma Jr do privates to catch up with her form issues, so that's what we've been doing for almost 5 months now...cha-ching!$$$

 

[skschlag]

Yes, our gym offers privates. I am not a fan of a coach suggesting them however. IMO, they are there enough and really, if they are coaching well, they should get the skills. That being said, my son has done a few, at HIS request, to get routines or to work a specific skill.

 

[MILgymFAM]

My YDDs T&T gym offers privates, all coaches. There are many people who get regular privates, and a number of them (maybe even most?) don't even belong to the gym. Oddly enough, the one time I inquired about privates for my YDD (she was having confidence issues on a particular skill), I was told no. HC didn't feel his working with her would help her (he's the one who does tramp privates), so my guess is they offer them to those outside the gym more easily than those on the team.

My ODDs gym also offers privates. There is a particular team coach who we get emails about her schedule for privates and asking if anyone is interested. My ODD missed a significant amount of time in the gym over the summer. I asked her HC if privates would bridge that gap at all, and he said yes and scheduled a series with himself. DD did benefit greatly from the privates and enjoyed them- the practice groups are large at the gym and she thrives on some one on one attention. I later found out that HC rarely offers privates because he already coaches 7 days a week, which I also understand. There are a few girls at this gym who get regular semi-private lessons. It's treated almost as an extra, private, class. Due to the cost of privates at her gym, it's not surprising that most kids don't do them- plus the optional girls are already there 17-30 hours a week.

I can understand the theory that practice should be enough. However, most of my DDs practices have two coaches- one for beam and one for everything else. There are about 25 optionals at any given practice, and that's a lot of girls to work with. They have lists to work off of, and show every certain number of turns, but there isn't the ability for a lot of hands on time for each girl, it's just not possible.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Yes and hard to schedule. Usually have to pull my daughter out of school early.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Our gym does them. There are some parents who I think overdo them and use them to work skills that their kid doesn't really need in the short term :/, but some parents use them to work on a problem event or skill and they can help a lot in those cases. They are very expensive either way.

My DD was once at a gym that had the same philosophy as your friend's gym. They'll get it in time and it's no big deal if they just work on it in class and scratch at the meet if they have to. Nothing wrong w/ that philsophy, and it really cuts down on CGM-syndrome .

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Never had one, never seen one offered with the exception of two disabled children who could not do a class situation

 

[gymbeam]

our gym has the same philosophy as OP's friend's gym- no privates for anyone. ya get it when ya get it. i like it. our budget is stretched thin enough so it is a relief to me that there is no pressure to do even more gym.

 

[cbifoja]

Yes our gym offers them. For her first three years of competition, DD had a standing weekly private with her coach.

Last season she did a few here and there to help with floor choreography but it wasn't a weekly thing as in the past.

This season, her teammates each have an hour or so private lesson with their coach built in to their scheduled practice time as part of their training. We don't have to pay extra for it.

 

[QueenBee]

The only private encouraged in optionals is getting your floor and beam routines. Definitely a "you'll get it when you get it" type of attitude.

 

[needcoffee]

It's upto each individual coaches discretion, but as a general rule, no.

 

[raenndrops]

Our gym does offer them... with a few caveats and they are rarely offered.
1- If you want a private, you have to make sure you are using practice time during regular practice wisely (we only practice 7.5 hours a week). This means that you can't schedule a private so you can goof off during practice.
2- Privates aren't to be a "regular" thing. My gymmies miss a lot of gymtime because of the distance and family obligations. To allow for extra time without adding a private, they were allowed to come in during Jr. Team or High School team practice. There weren't a lot of High school team members, so there was plenty of time on the equipment. With the Jr. High team, they just worked in with them.
3- Privates are for a specific issue that needs focused attention.

Now, we did, with HC's blessing, go to an outside gym for 3 privates. The schedule SEEMED more convenient (until they changed Open Gym time and the privates would have to come AFTER). The coach they worked with was nice, but ended up a little too high-pressure for my girls. Wanting them to think 2-3 levels ahead when we had told her specifically that they wouldn't EVER be 2-3 levels ahead of where they were.
YG was planning to stay Xcel Gold for another 2-3 years... then worry about Platinum. Her ENDGAME goal was Platinum.
OG was looking at L6 for 2-3 years... then maybe considering moving to L7 if she was still wanting to compete and had the skills. Her ENDGAME goal was L7.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Just for my perspective. We are more likely to add a private for detail work, because I do feel skills come when they come and there is enough time spent in gym working those skills. I do feel with 6-8 kids in a group, they don't always have the time and enough coaches to see a foot or arm placement type thing that makes a difference say on floor.

If my kid went 5 days a week, I would be less inclined to do a private with a skill.

Especially if it was optionals, since our gym doesn't score out compulsories but would optionals.
Again, in compulsories for one move maybe optionals probably not. And only if the coach felt it would make a difference quickly.

But that is just me, I realize everyone's mileage may vary.

 

[skschlag]

Just for my perspective. We are more likely to add a private for detail work, because I do feel skills come when they come and there is enough time spent in gym working those skills. I do feel with 6-8 kids in a group, they don't always have the time and enough coaches to see a foot or arm placement type thing that makes a difference say on floor.

If my kid went 5 days a week, I would be less inclined to do a private with a skill.

Especially if it was optionals, since our gym doesn't score out compulsories but would optionals.
Again, in compulsories for one move maybe optionals probably not. And only if the coach felt it would make a difference quickly.

But that is just me, I realize everyone's mileage may vary.

I am more likely now at optionals to do a private, mainly because the skills he needs need a lot of 1:1 spotting or coaching. He gets most in practice now, so we rarely do them. He will have 4 routine construction privates. After that, if he asks, he has to have a good reason...and a plan

 

[ladybird]

Yes our gym offers them. For her first three years of competition, DD had a standing weekly private with her coach.

Last season she did a few here and there to help with floor choreography but it wasn't a weekly thing as in the past.

This season, her teammates each have an hour or so private lesson with their coach built in to their scheduled practice time as part of their training. We don't have to pay extra for it.

Wow, that's crazy! You (and your dd) are really fortunate to have this!!

 

[gymmomx2]

This season, her teammates each have an hour or so private lesson with their coach built in to their scheduled practice time as part of their training. We don't have to pay extra for it.

I love this idea!!!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Definitely offered at my dd's gym, although they don't seem quite as common as talked about on here. I don't know anyone that does weekly privates (although it is possible they do, I'm not that in the know either. lol). On my dd's team, which is level 3, I know that several of the kids have had a couple of privates for specific skills. One did surprise me as she is one of the best on the team and to me she was the one that needed one the least. But her mom does take gymnastics seriously.

Last year, my dd had her one and only private to date. She just could not get the vault and had scratched it at 2 meets. I'm honestly not sure the private helped that much, but it didn't hurt. She did finally get it a couple of weeks afterwards.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Our gym does them and it's usually not hard to get one at all. The coaches seem to love giving privates, it can benefit the gymnast and of course it benefits the coach as well. I've never seen them pressure anyone to do privates though, usually it's at the parent's request.