Ok, so update:
We left. I paid close attention at State meet to the other gym's coaches, how they interacted with the kids, etc. Most coaches were more hands-on throughout warm up and in cueing skills. And all seemed to have smaller lvl 4 teams. And our coaches were on their phones during team awards (we didn't place high enough for a banner) and didn't clap for the teams that were getting those awards, when most every coach in the entire gymnasium was clapping for all the teams, even if it wasn't their program. Ours were just "checked out" on their phones and not paying attention. It was disrespectful. So gym owner was notified that weekend via e-mail that we thought it may be time to look for a better fit due to ratios and her being young, etc. I left it open to her suggesting a solution, but I just got a fairly generic response back that they were sad to see us go, good luck, short and sweet.
So, we ended up taking her to a gym in a neighboring state where we had always wanted to do a weekend getaway, to just see how they responded to her, wanted to see if they had issues with her as well. We made a road trip out of it and some sightseeing and dd had 3 days of "gymnastics camp"! Lol. God bless this gym. They were amazing. AMAZING. They knew we were vacationing in the area and were not looking for a gym, just that she wanted to workout while we were in town. OMG. I had no idea what good coaching was, like I was shocked. In the first practice there she got a big skill on beam that she could barely do correctly on the floor, and they like fixed her vault issues. And they approached us before the end of that first practice us to tell us they loved her, wanted to keep her (joking), that she picked up skills and applied corrections quickly. Even that she needed to be in a program where she had "opportunitues" because of her potential (and in the end they gave me some names of local gyms in our area they felt could meet her needs). But that feedback was given without them knowing anything about her or us, so it was just such a relief that we had made the right decision.
We are now at the new gym and I miss my gym mom friends and dd her gym friends. Quite an adjustment. We approaced this new gym saying we wanted a lower ratio and her to have the opportunity to repeat lvl 4 or do lvl 5, basically at the other gym she'd be training to go to lvl6 and I don't see the reason to rush an 8 yr old lvl 4 scoring 34s into optionals. New coach does not want her to repeat 4, and she is supposedly training 5 or 7. But they do at least compete a team of lvl 5, for sure. 7...I'd bet the farm that won't happen, though the coach has told me that dd is maybe going to be invited to TOPs, which is a "real" TOPs in this gym (extra 8 hrs or so, just a few kids), so if dd goes for that who knows. Ratio is a bit lower, and it's just run different, all drills and stations. Teams are about half the size or less than that of the old gym. They just lost a couple coaches and will be hiring some, so the ratio will get better after that, too. She seems happy? Says she likes it, but she's not a chatty kid. Team parents aren't supposed to watch so I can't totally tell how she's doing there. (The doors aren't like locked, just the gym is pretty small and it'd be a mess to have rec and team parents there, we can stay for 15min at beg/end). I still feel guilty, but I was so over paying for coaching that was just going through the motions. Then the whole putting it on her at 8 years old. Nonsense. She's not perfect but she's still little. She has good qualities they like, her new coach even said "Valeri" would love her. Quite a compliment for her there, of course she's like "who's Valeri?" She has good raw materials, it's up to her now that she has a coach that believes in her. My prediction is we will be in Xcel in a few years LOL, but you just don't always know at age 8 if they will want to go for the big time stuff. She's a gym rat
. They do have a robust Xcel program at the new gym that goes through to the highest Xcel level (Plat or Diamond?) with a coach who is great with that demographic. So hopefully they will always have a good spot for her.
So there you have it, hopefully my experience can help others. It's very lonely. Hard to navigate through the decision and transition. But certainly, 100%, was the right decision. And probably at the right time, new coach wishes they'd had her sooner b/c TOPs (maybe too late to catch up), etc, but everything happens for a reason. Can't go back and worry about the what-ifs.
Thanks for the support. Truly. <3 <3 <3
We left. I paid close attention at State meet to the other gym's coaches, how they interacted with the kids, etc. Most coaches were more hands-on throughout warm up and in cueing skills. And all seemed to have smaller lvl 4 teams. And our coaches were on their phones during team awards (we didn't place high enough for a banner) and didn't clap for the teams that were getting those awards, when most every coach in the entire gymnasium was clapping for all the teams, even if it wasn't their program. Ours were just "checked out" on their phones and not paying attention. It was disrespectful. So gym owner was notified that weekend via e-mail that we thought it may be time to look for a better fit due to ratios and her being young, etc. I left it open to her suggesting a solution, but I just got a fairly generic response back that they were sad to see us go, good luck, short and sweet.
So, we ended up taking her to a gym in a neighboring state where we had always wanted to do a weekend getaway, to just see how they responded to her, wanted to see if they had issues with her as well. We made a road trip out of it and some sightseeing and dd had 3 days of "gymnastics camp"! Lol. God bless this gym. They were amazing. AMAZING. They knew we were vacationing in the area and were not looking for a gym, just that she wanted to workout while we were in town. OMG. I had no idea what good coaching was, like I was shocked. In the first practice there she got a big skill on beam that she could barely do correctly on the floor, and they like fixed her vault issues. And they approached us before the end of that first practice us to tell us they loved her, wanted to keep her (joking), that she picked up skills and applied corrections quickly. Even that she needed to be in a program where she had "opportunitues" because of her potential (and in the end they gave me some names of local gyms in our area they felt could meet her needs). But that feedback was given without them knowing anything about her or us, so it was just such a relief that we had made the right decision.
We are now at the new gym and I miss my gym mom friends and dd her gym friends. Quite an adjustment. We approaced this new gym saying we wanted a lower ratio and her to have the opportunity to repeat lvl 4 or do lvl 5, basically at the other gym she'd be training to go to lvl6 and I don't see the reason to rush an 8 yr old lvl 4 scoring 34s into optionals. New coach does not want her to repeat 4, and she is supposedly training 5 or 7. But they do at least compete a team of lvl 5, for sure. 7...I'd bet the farm that won't happen, though the coach has told me that dd is maybe going to be invited to TOPs, which is a "real" TOPs in this gym (extra 8 hrs or so, just a few kids), so if dd goes for that who knows. Ratio is a bit lower, and it's just run different, all drills and stations. Teams are about half the size or less than that of the old gym. They just lost a couple coaches and will be hiring some, so the ratio will get better after that, too. She seems happy? Says she likes it, but she's not a chatty kid. Team parents aren't supposed to watch so I can't totally tell how she's doing there. (The doors aren't like locked, just the gym is pretty small and it'd be a mess to have rec and team parents there, we can stay for 15min at beg/end). I still feel guilty, but I was so over paying for coaching that was just going through the motions. Then the whole putting it on her at 8 years old. Nonsense. She's not perfect but she's still little. She has good qualities they like, her new coach even said "Valeri" would love her. Quite a compliment for her there, of course she's like "who's Valeri?" She has good raw materials, it's up to her now that she has a coach that believes in her. My prediction is we will be in Xcel in a few years LOL, but you just don't always know at age 8 if they will want to go for the big time stuff. She's a gym rat
. They do have a robust Xcel program at the new gym that goes through to the highest Xcel level (Plat or Diamond?) with a coach who is great with that demographic. So hopefully they will always have a good spot for her. So there you have it, hopefully my experience can help others. It's very lonely. Hard to navigate through the decision and transition. But certainly, 100%, was the right decision. And probably at the right time, new coach wishes they'd had her sooner b/c TOPs (maybe too late to catch up), etc, but everything happens for a reason. Can't go back and worry about the what-ifs.
Thanks for the support. Truly. <3 <3 <3
