Parents Any advice on how to find and try out a new gym?

[ElizaBrooke]

Hi all,

My dd wants to try out other gyms as a result of some issues I described in a prior post here: http://chalkbucket.com/forums/threa...and-leave-compulsory-track.52266/#post-397667

Do you have any advice for how to find a new gym? I'd like to have her try-out at some gyms that have JO teams within an hour of where we live. I've typed "gymnastics" in Yelp and in googlemaps to see what's around, and then I visit the websites of those to see who advertises having teams. I also took a look at mymeetscores.com to see which gyms are currently competing- and I saw some gyms advertised having JO teams on their websites, but their teams didn't appear to have competed in any events for 1 or 2 years, according to mymeetscores.com. Am I doing this right, or is there a smarter way? Also, would I call these gyms and say that my dd is on a level 2 pre-team at a gym and we're interested in trying out for a new gym's team instead? How can you tell if it's a good gym, by the way? Are there places to read reviews other than on Yelp? Thank you!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/what-to-look-for-in-a-new-gym.51924/#post-391752

 

[thefellowsmom]

Hi. I doubt that yelp will be much help and gym websites are hit or miss. Yelp reviews I have found are usually preschool or rec focused and some great teams in our area barely even have team listed on their website.

I would focus on mymeetscores.com and meetscoresonline.com. Go to this years state meets for your state and see what gyms in your radius have a good presence there across all the levels and are performing well.

If I recall xcel is in play for you as well? You should be able to see xcel state results there as well.

Don't worry about the high scores so much as just a good well rounded program.

That should at least give you someplace to start and then you will need to call around and go observe practices and look at all the amazing advice in the thread linked above.

Good luck!

 

[Clover]

I think that most states have a USA Gymnastics website. Often times it will list participating clubs, meet results, TOPS qualifiers, etc. You can get a wealth of information there. Just type "(your state) USA Gymnastics into your search and see if something comes up. If for some reason your state doesn't have a website you can try your region instead if you know that.

Good luck!

 

[GymCMLA]

If you are willing to type your city in here, many families will chime in about what they know if they are local - ish.