Parents Frustrated with DD's gym :(

[TexasRose]

I read the rest of your post about your 'history' with other gym. We were in similar situation because we left our 1st gym which was 1/2 mile from home, and they pretty much blackballed us even though my kids were only 3 and 7 at the time. With that said, to spend 2 years at a so-so gym is not a bad thing as long as 1) your DD is happy and 2) the safety concerns (vault) are addressed and 3) your expectations are realistic as far as skill and progress. We have also done this (2nd gym, ended up staying over 7 years). However, at any point where your child is not happy, not safe, not progressing... AND she loves the sport enough to warrant a change, then it's time to move on! (My girls are now at 2 different gyms each 15-20 mins away in opposite directions, good thing big DD only goes 1x/wk now!)

Thanks for the advice . I talked to HC about the vault the other day and she was very receptive and said she would watch that coach next time to ensure safe practices are being done. I feel better now . I think that I was just letting everything pile up and that I needed to vent. DD is happy where she is and has fun. So I guess when we move if she's behind we'll deal with it then and it won't be the end of the world , lol

 

[gymmomtoo]

Glad you addressed your concern with the HC! I'm curious--did you say they aren't doing floor at all for two weeks or just weren't doing full routines? (not doing full routines would be completely normal at this point!)

 

[TexasRose]

They weren't doing full routines. They worked on their bridge kickovers- DD finally did it with straight legs . That makes me feel better that it's normal for them to not be doing full routines yet. I'm a new gym mom so I wasn't really sure what to expect .

 

[flippin out]

Glad you clarified the floor issue. I had thought that you meant that they never even worked on floor (totally skipped this during rotations). I'm glad to hear that, yes- they are working on floor...just not putting the routines together yet. I wouldn't be too concerned about that. A lot of gyms don't worry about hitting routines yet if the first meet isn't until Jan.

 

[emorymom]

I have thought about this and wonder why everyone is so happy with 3 hours x 1 for an L3? That leaves you with "practicing gymnastics at home" unless your daughter is very unusually flexible or very unusually strong. I mean, if the kids are all in some kind of conditioning class that meets one or two other days a week that would be one thing. Or, if the gym really doesn't expect much from L3s like, doesn't care if a bunch of them need a coaching assist on their pullover and are nowhere close on any of the splits.

Even when my daughter did 2x3 at the Y, I was under pressure to condition her on the weekends. After all there are almost five full days from the end of a Thursday practice to the beginning of a Tuesday practice.

I personally like three days a week. Keeps me out of it. DD only goes TTh right now but has dance team MF and also swims so nobody is sending home notes about strength and flexibility homework, but generally speaking I do still like three days a week. Gives at least a day of recovery in between but not more than 2.

 

[gymmomtoo]

emorymom--our gym doesn't compete L3 or even have L3 as part of a "team" but our equivalent pre-team level DOES go 2 days a week, so that is normal around here. Our gym doesn't push conditioning on off days though--even for the Optional team--except when they get a few days off (like right now--they've got conditioning exercises to complete at home during this short fall break).

The difference might be in length of the day--our pre-team goes twice a week, but 2 hrs a day, so only a total of 4 hrs--not much more than the OP's dd.

 

[emorymom]

I think 2x2 or 2x1.5 makes a lot more sense than 1x3. That just screams "conditioning at home needed" to me.

The only gym in my area that starts competing at L4, sends them 2 x 1.5 at the lowest level of preteam (really young, can't do a clean cartwheel or pullover), and they are going three days totalling about 5 hours at the highest level of preteam.

I guess I'm getting off topic.

 

[flippin out]

I think 2x2 or 2x1.5 makes a lot more sense than 1x3. That just screams "conditioning at home needed" to me.

The only gym in my area that starts competing at L4, sends them 2 x 1.5 at the lowest level of preteam (really young, can't do a clean cartwheel or pullover), and they are going three days totalling about 5 hours at the highest level of preteam.

I guess I'm getting off topic.

I also like the 2x2 or even 2x3. Two days a week seems, to me anyway, a much better option. Sitting around the other 6 days before attempting any skills or even stretching sounds very counter-productive. I sure hope they are spending a LOT of time stretching those muscles before practice on that 1 day. My dd didn't compete (wasn't even in a class that was classified as) level 3, so I don't know what most gyms do for competing L3s though. DDs gym now has a L3 team, they go 2x3 and as far as I know, both the girls and the parents are happy with this (I haven't heard any whisperings to the contrary anyway).

 

[TexasRose]

I think that going 2x week would be better too but there's just no space or time according to the coaches. We aren't pressured to do any stretching or conditioning at home and we don't do any. I don't know how much I would want to make her do at home because I want her to be able to relax outside the gym. The girls are doing well on their skills for level 3 though. DD has all her skills on bars, just needs to clean it up. That mill circle took a while! Beam is not her favorite and she has yet to land a handstand. But she loves doing the dismount, lol. I think that maybe they can "get away with" practicing 1 x a week because there's only 4- 5 girls per coach during practice. So they get a lot of attention and help.
The gym offers optional classes every month for once a week- 45 min. We go to those every week as well. There's one for bars and one for beam. Those classes have helped a lot too.

 

[jcs]

Not sure if this warrants a whole new thread but I echo emorymom's thoughts on the hours, and even the 6 hrs and only 2x a week for L4...that seems very low from what I've read. Our gym does 1.5hrsx2 for pre-team 1 and 1.5hrsx3 for pre-team2. We don't compete L3 in CT, when they move from pre-team2 to L4 they move to 3hrsx3.

My DD is in the first level of pre-team right now and is ready for a third day. She is constantly "practicing" and asks every day if there is gym. I feel like if she only went once a week a lot would be lost between sessions.