Parents Open Gym - Let Them Play, Or Structured?

[raenndrops]

i've seen 80 and 1 teenage coach...

yikes!!!!! I stopped counting when they had to turn the page at sign in... and I gathered my gymmies and we left... there were still more cars pulling in as we pulled out. The one "supervisor" was behind the sign in desk, collecting money and making sure the parents signed the kids in and left the phone numbers where they could be reached.
Had kids on elevated double mini tramps, an elevated, short tumble track, a level that you had to climb a ladder to get to that went into a small pit (the same pit as the high bar dismounted into and the vault could dismount into)... plus a floor exercise clear at the back of the gym that you couldn't even see from the front due to the placement of the bars and beams.

 

[gymdog]

depending on where you live, look for a structured and supervised open gym for 4-6 year olds. many gyms have just that. only for kids under 7. then they have open gym times for older kids at other times.

I think the vast majority of the time, open gym for beginners and little kids is going to be a playground. What structure is there to implement? I suppose you could make all the kids stay at one station at once and watch them do what they want there, but I've never really seen or heard of that. If there's a structure, it's pretty much a class. At some gyms they basically leave it up to the parents to supervise. If I HAD to do open gym for young beginners, I would probably do the above even though I think the kids ultimately would get more bored at most of the areas such as low beams.

However, I think if there is supervision enforcing rules at all trouble areas like one at a time on tramp, jump on feet in pit, no going on equipment above waist height, the odds of injury are relatively low. Safer than the average playground. But I don't think you'll find much structure in the majority of cases. And in some cases, not enough staff to enforce all of the above rules. I don't like open gym for beginners. I think it's fine for experienced gymnasts (obviously still requires appropriate level of supervision.)

 

[Gymnastisism]

I've never witnessed an open gym, but my guess is that the supervision should include some sort of a warm up rule/session, then leave people to their own devices. In my head supervision would involve supervisors at various stations making sure kids cue up in areas they want to go to rather than letting 10 kids jump on the uneven bars at once, and not allowing kids to run around where people would normally dismount e.g underneath the high bar or at the end of the vault.

 

[cbifoja]

We have two types of open gym. We have Team Open Gym that is only for certain levels and is staffed with team coaches. Girls are expected to work on skills and coaches are available for spotting up skills or calling out corrections. But it is structured with a warm up and cool down and then you rotate between events.

We also have a general open gym that is open to anyone who wants to pay the money to come in. It is staffed by rec coaches and kids mostly come in to bounce and jump in the pit. Very chaotic and very loud. No vaulting allowed and only the pit bar can be used. No kids allowed on the high bars that aren't over a pit.