So I've been considering a gym switch for DD for a while now. I think I posted about it a few months ago. DD is 7, competed level 3 last year and did ok. She is not a high scorer, I think her average AA was 32. She has all her level 3 skills but she lost a lot of points to bad form- not keeping legs together, etc. (This is what her coach told me). What has driven me crazy is that when I have watched practice she makes those mistakes, adding extra casts in her bar routine, not keeping legs together, extra steps on floor- and she doesn't get corrected. She did her beam mount wrong 3 times in a row with no correction from the coach. I stopped watching practices- 1 because of this forum and the wisdom from you all, and 2 because it was so frustrating. So how can she ever get higher scores or learn the right technique if they don't make her do it right at practice?
Things I don't like:
They do no uptraining during the season, so from August to May they only work on routines.
Maybe 10 minutes of conditioning each practice- and she practiced once a week. T
he gym has never had gymnasts above level 5, they will have 1 level 6 next year but they've never coached that high.
We do not compete USAG and the owners have said that we won't ever.
There is no pit, 1 set of uneven bars, 2 high beams. Only a tumble trak, no in floor trampoline.
For vault the girls have to start in the hallway outside the gym and run through the doorway-eek!!!
The coaches are frequently talking to each other during practice to the point where the girls were vaulting without a coach nearby...
They like for all the girls to do 1 year level 3, 2 years level 4 before even starting to train level 5 skills.
Things I like:
It's a small gym and everyone is really friendly.
I feel like I can talk to the coaches and owners- however, I'm beginning to feel like that does no good.
DD has a lot of friends on the team.
So what do ya'll think? There is another gym that is actually closer to us, has girls up to level 10. When I spoke with the coach he told me to bring DD and have her work out with his level 3/4 girls and he'd evaluate her. He said that he may actually want to just train her for level 5 skills and start her there since they do USAG and they train more in the summer. I know that there will always be things that I don't like at each gym. But I feel like this new gym is more in line with what we're looking for. They spend a lot mroe time conditioning and have a much bigger gym with more equipment. I appreciate everyone's insight .
Things I don't like:
They do no uptraining during the season, so from August to May they only work on routines.
Maybe 10 minutes of conditioning each practice- and she practiced once a week. T
he gym has never had gymnasts above level 5, they will have 1 level 6 next year but they've never coached that high.
We do not compete USAG and the owners have said that we won't ever.
There is no pit, 1 set of uneven bars, 2 high beams. Only a tumble trak, no in floor trampoline.
For vault the girls have to start in the hallway outside the gym and run through the doorway-eek!!!
The coaches are frequently talking to each other during practice to the point where the girls were vaulting without a coach nearby...
They like for all the girls to do 1 year level 3, 2 years level 4 before even starting to train level 5 skills.
Things I like:
It's a small gym and everyone is really friendly.
I feel like I can talk to the coaches and owners- however, I'm beginning to feel like that does no good.
DD has a lot of friends on the team.
So what do ya'll think? There is another gym that is actually closer to us, has girls up to level 10. When I spoke with the coach he told me to bring DD and have her work out with his level 3/4 girls and he'd evaluate her. He said that he may actually want to just train her for level 5 skills and start her there since they do USAG and they train more in the summer. I know that there will always be things that I don't like at each gym. But I feel like this new gym is more in line with what we're looking for. They spend a lot mroe time conditioning and have a much bigger gym with more equipment. I appreciate everyone's insight .