For those of you who gave me such great advice on my last post, I have an exciting update! If you recall, I was looking for a gym with a more positive atmosphere for my six-year old preteamer to compete for next year, and I think I've found one. The fun part is it just sort of fell into our laps while I was busy worrying and planning and trying to schedule tours without giving out my name.
Turns out one of my daughter, A's, friends in her first grade class is a gymnast too. A knew this apparently, but never mentioned it to me (lol, I think she forgets that I can't actually read her thoughts.) I only found out because A went to this girl's gymnastics birthday party on Saturday at one of the gyms I'd been looking into. Even better, her friend is on preteam there and the preteam coach was the one doing the birthday party. I got to see her interact with A in a fun, silly atmosphere and I was so impressed by the dynamic. A absolutely loved her and was talking about how much she wished she was her coach the whole car ride home. The coach was equally taken with A and when I asked about tryouts she said I could bring her this week to see if the gym was a fit. She didn't even want a formal one on one try out because she could tell from what she saw at the party that A would fit right in with their preteam girls.
Well, I took her back tonight and It was excellent. A was so happy with her new coach and to have her school friend in her group she was smiling the whole time. Not only that, but the compulsory girls were practicing at the same time and I didn't see any red flags when I glanced over at their practice. And, even better, A did her first roundoff backhandspring by herself on the floor! They had her ring a bell so the whole gym could watch. I think that was the proudest moment of her life so far. The whole thing just feels like it was meant to be. I'm still going to double check some details (I know they're a higher hour gym that I was thinking, but as long as those hours are positive and a good experience for her I don't have a problem with that.)
Seeing A so excited and proud of herself has made me so happy I can't even tell you. Watching her do that robhs reminded me of all the wonderful parts of this sport and I'm just so excited for her. I'm going to let her go in a try out capacity for the rest of the week (Wednesday and Friday) and then I fully expect to be giving her old gym a call to let them know she won't be coming back. I never dreamed the process would be this easy. How on Earth did we get so lucky?
Thanks again for the advice everyone gave me!
Turns out one of my daughter, A's, friends in her first grade class is a gymnast too. A knew this apparently, but never mentioned it to me (lol, I think she forgets that I can't actually read her thoughts.) I only found out because A went to this girl's gymnastics birthday party on Saturday at one of the gyms I'd been looking into. Even better, her friend is on preteam there and the preteam coach was the one doing the birthday party. I got to see her interact with A in a fun, silly atmosphere and I was so impressed by the dynamic. A absolutely loved her and was talking about how much she wished she was her coach the whole car ride home. The coach was equally taken with A and when I asked about tryouts she said I could bring her this week to see if the gym was a fit. She didn't even want a formal one on one try out because she could tell from what she saw at the party that A would fit right in with their preteam girls.
Well, I took her back tonight and It was excellent. A was so happy with her new coach and to have her school friend in her group she was smiling the whole time. Not only that, but the compulsory girls were practicing at the same time and I didn't see any red flags when I glanced over at their practice. And, even better, A did her first roundoff backhandspring by herself on the floor! They had her ring a bell so the whole gym could watch. I think that was the proudest moment of her life so far. The whole thing just feels like it was meant to be. I'm still going to double check some details (I know they're a higher hour gym that I was thinking, but as long as those hours are positive and a good experience for her I don't have a problem with that.)
Seeing A so excited and proud of herself has made me so happy I can't even tell you. Watching her do that robhs reminded me of all the wonderful parts of this sport and I'm just so excited for her. I'm going to let her go in a try out capacity for the rest of the week (Wednesday and Friday) and then I fully expect to be giving her old gym a call to let them know she won't be coming back. I never dreamed the process would be this easy. How on Earth did we get so lucky?
Thanks again for the advice everyone gave me!
