N
NGL780309
So I posted last week that we have decided to switch gyms. DD tried out at one last weekend, but she wasn't there for practice. Well this past week she went to a different gym and practiced with them.
I was very nervous because when I called about trying out and explained that DD had been in level 4 since March, but hadn't competed because she's only 5 the coach sounded very skeptical. Basically that they hadn't had kids her age in Level 4. She asked me several times if she could actually do the Level 4 routines. I was nervous because I wasn't sure how DD would perform. She's very shy and it's a big change. I had visions of her going and standing in the middle of the floor crying or just some other strange reaction. They have 2 groups of Level 4's and the coach had DD try out with the better level 4's. Basically the ones that will go to Level 5 in January.
Much to my relief DD did amazing! I can honestly say that I've never seen my child look so awesome. She did things I've never seen her do. Watching her try so hard to do everything to the best of her ability confirmed my suspicion that DD needs to move on. Her current gym expects so little and offers her no corrections so she slops through everything. When put with a group of girls that just finished competing their 2nd year of level 4, she rose to their level. I knew she was capable of having beautiful form, but because nobody else does it and nobody asks her to do it, she doesn't. I've never seen her be so tight and clean and focused. I also think she really wanted them to let her be on their team so she was trying really hard to do her best.
I was sold on the gym after one practice, but we are going to practice their all next week and then still probably try a few other gyms.
The cons were the distance. It took me almost 40 minutes to get there. I took 1 wrong turn so that was probably an extra 5 minutes. It was mainly just traffic. The road was under construction so I know once that's fixed it will be less. I really didn't see any other cons at the moment. It's actually $40 cheaper per month too and the meets fees are less. They paid around $300 for all their meets due to a better booster club and more girls to split the cost. Our team paid around $700.
Here's all the things I liked:
-They actually helped/watched the girls during warm-ups and corrected their form, stretched them etc. (DD's gym they are unsupervised and they really need to be so they square their splits etc)
- They did 5x the work in a rotation. Seriously! DD typically will vault 3 times. I stopped counting at 15 vaults. The groups were smaller and they just used the time smarter. They had 3 vaults set up and they rotated to each one within the vault rotation. A Lv 4 vault station, a Lv 5 vault station and then another drill. I could type everything I loved on every event, but to sum it up, it was very organized and they used every minute.
-The coaches were on every little thing and fixing the tiniest detail. It was exactly what I was wanting out of a gym and kept expecting from ours.
-DD actually could vault! They vault on just the level 4 mat without all the extra mats. DD normally would just struggle to make it and here they could focus on her form. It was great.
-The actually set her up where she could reach the bar! What a concept. She worked on her kips and did great. After practice the coach said she is very close and closer than her girls! The coach was very impressed. DD was also the strongest on her squat on.
At the end of the night the coach said she was very excited about DD. She has all of her Level 4 skills and they just need to cleaned up. She has a great start on her Level 5 skills. I can't wait to see how this week goes and then try a few other gyms. I feel completely happy about leaving her old gym.
I was very nervous because when I called about trying out and explained that DD had been in level 4 since March, but hadn't competed because she's only 5 the coach sounded very skeptical. Basically that they hadn't had kids her age in Level 4. She asked me several times if she could actually do the Level 4 routines. I was nervous because I wasn't sure how DD would perform. She's very shy and it's a big change. I had visions of her going and standing in the middle of the floor crying or just some other strange reaction. They have 2 groups of Level 4's and the coach had DD try out with the better level 4's. Basically the ones that will go to Level 5 in January.
Much to my relief DD did amazing! I can honestly say that I've never seen my child look so awesome. She did things I've never seen her do. Watching her try so hard to do everything to the best of her ability confirmed my suspicion that DD needs to move on. Her current gym expects so little and offers her no corrections so she slops through everything. When put with a group of girls that just finished competing their 2nd year of level 4, she rose to their level. I knew she was capable of having beautiful form, but because nobody else does it and nobody asks her to do it, she doesn't. I've never seen her be so tight and clean and focused. I also think she really wanted them to let her be on their team so she was trying really hard to do her best.
I was sold on the gym after one practice, but we are going to practice their all next week and then still probably try a few other gyms.
The cons were the distance. It took me almost 40 minutes to get there. I took 1 wrong turn so that was probably an extra 5 minutes. It was mainly just traffic. The road was under construction so I know once that's fixed it will be less. I really didn't see any other cons at the moment. It's actually $40 cheaper per month too and the meets fees are less. They paid around $300 for all their meets due to a better booster club and more girls to split the cost. Our team paid around $700.
Here's all the things I liked:
-They actually helped/watched the girls during warm-ups and corrected their form, stretched them etc. (DD's gym they are unsupervised and they really need to be so they square their splits etc)
- They did 5x the work in a rotation. Seriously! DD typically will vault 3 times. I stopped counting at 15 vaults. The groups were smaller and they just used the time smarter. They had 3 vaults set up and they rotated to each one within the vault rotation. A Lv 4 vault station, a Lv 5 vault station and then another drill. I could type everything I loved on every event, but to sum it up, it was very organized and they used every minute.
-The coaches were on every little thing and fixing the tiniest detail. It was exactly what I was wanting out of a gym and kept expecting from ours.
-DD actually could vault! They vault on just the level 4 mat without all the extra mats. DD normally would just struggle to make it and here they could focus on her form. It was great.
-The actually set her up where she could reach the bar! What a concept. She worked on her kips and did great. After practice the coach said she is very close and closer than her girls! The coach was very impressed. DD was also the strongest on her squat on.
At the end of the night the coach said she was very excited about DD. She has all of her Level 4 skills and they just need to cleaned up. She has a great start on her Level 5 skills. I can't wait to see how this week goes and then try a few other gyms. I feel completely happy about leaving her old gym.
