WAG Doing Privates for a girl from another gym

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I might add to this by saying that the girl that does the privates comes from a very good gym, so i really am not sure what her reason is to come train at another facility. Perhaps her gym doesn't do privates or maybe she is trying to get ahead of them game. I know they drive over and hour for the privates and are several hours each time. Heck my daughter hates privates so that will never be us! ha ha :)
 
I do get the knee-jerk reaction - it can seem atypical in artistic gymnastics. It is an interesting discussion.

Big picture though, I think it may actually be a good thing for the sport. I grew up in gymnastics but had a sibling who played "mainstream" sports in and out of school - soccer, baseball, basketball, football. Similarly, I have one gymmie and one baseball/soccer/pee-wee football player now. I look at the latter - they play in different leagues (and school teams), have different coaches and teammates each season, attend clinics and camps with all sorts of instructors and athletes from other leagues, have private sessions with specialists... the exposure is just much more broad. Different coaching styles, different knowledge and skill sets, opportunities to play different roles in teams with different makeups, different atmospheres... In artistic gymnastics on the other hand, coaches and gyms have traditionally "owned" the process for a given gymnast to an extent. One coach (especially if they're a head coach or gym owner) can utterly dominate the entire experience in the sport for a gymnast for their entire career, and a difficult situation at a single gym has resulted in more than one parent here watching their young athlete leave the sport entirely. Maybe moving away from that tradition could be a good thing? The skill progressions, technique, and specialist knowledge required for gymnastics mean it will (and should) never be exactly like a sport such as youth baseball, but perhaps pulling in some of those aspects will be beneficial.
A thousand times this.

I still remember my kid and the kip that took forever. And one day when just bemoaning my slow going kid with one of her coaches but her bars coach. The coach went no she has her kip and I said no she doesn't. Coach went out on floor had my kid a few and no she didn't make them. Gave her a couple of corrections and she kipped. Now I am sure she was close. Her primary bars coach is a fine coach. And I just think whatever difference the other coach said in her approach to the corrections, clicked for my kid.

As a teacher of adults in my former career, as well as a student, sometimes getting the same information from a different person makes a world of difference
 
Exactly. I also think it helps eliminate some of the secrecy and insular nature that fosters some of the abusive situations. If there's always new eyes on a gymnast, if a gymnast's family is exposed to alternate ways of doing things, it may highlight when things are out of sorts.
Yep
 
We once did privates at another gym with respect to one particular skill. DD had a mental block (it was a very easy skill successfully competed at a high level for years) and our gym was not willing to take a little time to help with the confidence. Our gym refused to do privates and said external privates were not allowed. However, a number of people did do privates elsewhere. I think the gym policy (no privates ever) forced many people to do it. This is such a mental sport that it seems sad when the gym seem unwilling to let coaches invest a little extra time. I know it might become challenging if everyone wanted a private, but most don't want or need them and there are ways to manage it. My experience at an earlier gym was that the coaches loved to do privates because they could make more money.

I know some gyms already practice crazy hours, so extra hours don't make sense. We weren't in that situation.
 
First off, WOW I loved every single response to this! Now only if the world would behave this way! Everyone had wonderful reasoning and i certainly can see benefits for girls doing this! I just thought it to be an interesting topic. I do not know if the girl that does the privates gym knows she is doing this and really i don't care. Thank you all for such a civil conversation!
I too am happy about the civility shown in this conversation ... Civility is a good thing!
Heck, there have been times when a coach from another team has actually coached our girls for a little bit ... and times that our coaches stepped in for another team's coach when she was stuck in traffic on her way to a meet.
Our girls know the names of all the head coaches of the teams we regularly face and refer to them as "Ms. Whatever" ... and if the person they are talking to doesn't recognize the name at first, it becomes "Ms. 'Whatever' from 'that gym.'" :)
 
It is not something I have seen at DD's gym/ in her area, but it is quite common in other sports. DD2 plays tennis and it is the norm. She has two different coaches that she works with weekly, and it is accepted and expected that kids will travel and work with other coaches, or even different coaches in the same area/ club. I personally love it because each coach is able to contribute something a little different to her game. :)
 

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