F
Fliptwisttumble
Our family has come to a gymnastics crossroads - to leave our gym or to stay.
DD has been at this gym since the beginning (except for one rec year when she was 4). It is a big gym, well known, great coaching, and a real together type atmosphere. We both love it there. But..... it doesn't train elite athletes, or want high performance kids. National, sure. College scholarship, sure. That isn't a focus, but if it happens great. But if you want more, it really doesn't work with their overall goals, and I can appreciate that.
But DD thinks she might want more. She's willing to work as hard as she needs to, and has some significant goals. She thinks in the two year or so horizon, and I have to say, when I was eight, I couldn't think much beyond that either. She's a good little gymnast (competed level 7 this year and training L8 and starting some L9 beam). But her coaches don't really push her.... I keep hearing "don't worry, she's only 8. There's plenty of time. ".
We went to open tryouts at another gym, where they have a history of training elite athletes, and not just a couple. They have a great HC. I'm not too familiar with the other coaches, but she'd be training with HC and someone else. They offered her a spot on the spot. We chatted about what she can do, and I mentioned the "don't worry, she's only 8". They said, "hey, she's already eight. If she wants to go far, we have work to do and should start now."
She would likely be fine for the next year or two in her current gym. But DH and I are thinking perhaps we should switch her now, and potentially she could be that much further along, given a jointly agreed on focus, and surely not behind even if she chose a less strict/intense path in the future. But she's only eight, loves her friends and her next year's coach. She acknowledges she'll eventually have to switch, and thinks the new gym would be the place....eventually. She's torn too.
Sorry for dragging on. As I write, the answer seems straight forward, and yet I'm still torn. After all, she's only 8....
DD has been at this gym since the beginning (except for one rec year when she was 4). It is a big gym, well known, great coaching, and a real together type atmosphere. We both love it there. But..... it doesn't train elite athletes, or want high performance kids. National, sure. College scholarship, sure. That isn't a focus, but if it happens great. But if you want more, it really doesn't work with their overall goals, and I can appreciate that.
But DD thinks she might want more. She's willing to work as hard as she needs to, and has some significant goals. She thinks in the two year or so horizon, and I have to say, when I was eight, I couldn't think much beyond that either. She's a good little gymnast (competed level 7 this year and training L8 and starting some L9 beam). But her coaches don't really push her.... I keep hearing "don't worry, she's only 8. There's plenty of time. ".
We went to open tryouts at another gym, where they have a history of training elite athletes, and not just a couple. They have a great HC. I'm not too familiar with the other coaches, but she'd be training with HC and someone else. They offered her a spot on the spot. We chatted about what she can do, and I mentioned the "don't worry, she's only 8". They said, "hey, she's already eight. If she wants to go far, we have work to do and should start now."
She would likely be fine for the next year or two in her current gym. But DH and I are thinking perhaps we should switch her now, and potentially she could be that much further along, given a jointly agreed on focus, and surely not behind even if she chose a less strict/intense path in the future. But she's only eight, loves her friends and her next year's coach. She acknowledges she'll eventually have to switch, and thinks the new gym would be the place....eventually. She's torn too.
Sorry for dragging on. As I write, the answer seems straight forward, and yet I'm still torn. After all, she's only 8....