WAG Rating Gyms and College Programs

[ladybird]

Someone posed a very good question in another thread. "Why don't we get to rate gyms like we rate schools?" Another poster said that they would pay for that information to avoid getting into a bad gym situation. So how about it? I am envisioning a website where parents and gymnasts and former coaches can go out and rate their gym. It could be informational to the extent that each gym would have a profile. Numbers of rec kids, team, elites, numbers of gymnasts per level, hours per level. And then...a rating. Lots of possibilities here. I am not personally looking to do this as I know nothing about website construction.

Not sure how this would work for rating college programs. Thoughts anyone?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Someone posed a very good question in another thread. "Why don't we get to rate gyms like we rate schools?" Another poster said that they would pay for that information to avoid getting into a bad gym situation. So how about it? I am envisioning a website where parents and gymnasts and former coaches can go out and rate their gym. It could be informational to the extent that each gym would have a profile. Numbers of rec kids, team, elites, numbers of gymnasts per level, hours per level. And then...a rating. Lots of possibilities here. I am not personally looking to do this as I know nothing about website construction.

Not sure how this would work for rating college programs. Thoughts anyone?

It's a great idea on a conceptual level. I would have done anything to see the guts of the gyms we considered rather than just the profile snapshot presented to the world. I think it's harder to have something like this in practical terms though.

People would probably be loathe to put their names on negative information. For instance, we came from what I would term an abusive gym. If someone I knew and trusted was considering this gym I would be brutally honest with them. If anyone at all directly asked me if I could recommend the gym, I would say no without details. Mostly though, we keep our opinions to ourselves because I fear blowback on my DD. The (very nice) parents of the (very nice) girls at my DDs new gym personally know the old gym and gymnasts and I know I could easily put my foot in my mouth. I also know that my DDs former coach would bad mouth her- and me- and there is nothing more annoying than he-said, she-said.

If you go anonymous, though, there are problems too. Plus anyone could say anything about any gym, even if they have no first hand knowledge.

As for the numbers info- the numbers in terms of gymnasts would be constantly in flux, no? I think basics like tuition should always be available to prospective clients, as well as basic team training schedules (and rec too). I've never understood why some gyms are so secretive about that info- doesn't everyone in a particular group pay the same tuition for the same hours?

I wish I could think of a way something like this could be done smoothly.. I wish I didn't think that speaking ill of a gym publicly wouldn't harm a gymnasts chances at a new gym, but I do.

 

[GymDad9.9]

It's a dicey proposition. For instance, you can go on Yelp or Google review and read about my daughter's gym and you can find extremely negative reviews as well as positive reviews. Unfortunately, the negative reviews have no basis in fact and were likely planted there by a nearby competitor who used to do quite well but find themselves losing good kids to my daughter's gym. So they retaliate anonymously online to disparage my daughter's gym. When my daughter wanted to train gymnastics we gave her a choice of facility, her current gym or the nearby competitor, which is closer to our home and more convenient to shuttle her to and from. She picked her current gym hands down because the place speaks for itself.

Without a really strong filter of reasonableness you will always have doubts about the veracity of those providing the information.

 

[ladybird]

Yes, all very good points! Anonymity would have to rule the day, but maybe the rating part could be a system of very pointed questions and no opportunity for comments. Thinking along the lines of those parent surveys proposed in another thread.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Not going to happen.

Public- Gyms would be holding things against families.

Anon- trust issues. Really then any gym could undercut another with negative reviews.

Another point, the gym/personnel is the building and the name. Personnel are what makes the gym/program. Change of personnel and a good gym/program becomes bad or a bad gym/program becomes good. Or even a change in a existing coaches circumstances change things. Heck a toxic gymmie/family can make a huge difference.

Finally, what is a good fit for one is not for another.

Our old gym, my daughter's favorite coach, also most reliable became less so after starting her family. I get totally get it, new little baby. But all of a sudden, schedules changed, coaching changes for baby. Not so fine for us. Doesn't make the gym bad, it just made it not for us.

Current gym, we are there because of the coaches and schedules. If either of those things change and don't work for us we would be moving on.

 

[ladybird]

^^^^^^Yep, all about the coaches! We gained a great one and lost a great one all within 6 months.

If we ever had to switch gyms I am thankful that we have the CB and the collective knowledge of well informed parents and coaching gurus!

 

[GlobalNomad]

I would love to see something like this. Even simple and factual information can be time consuming to find through an on-line search. I'm thinking from the perspective of someone who moves around. If a gymnast were to move to a new city, or a new country even, it would be great to have a quick resource to at least guide them to a possible gym.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I would love to see something like this. Even simple and factual information can be time consuming to find through an on-line search. I'm thinking from the perspective of someone who moves around. If a gymnast were to move to a new city, or a new country even, it would be great to have a quick resource to at least guide them to a possible gym.

You can go to mymeetscores and research the team. Start at the top level athletes and click on them, did they come up through the program? Are they doing well? What age groups do they compete in? Pretty easy to get a general sense of a team by looking at all the 9 and 10 kids. Obviously if a gym as a good retention and brings up their own athletes that would be a good place to send your child. It has several meanings but the most important is the kids stick around and advance for some reason, probably a good reason. hope that helps.

 

[GlobalNomad]

You can go to mymeetscores and research the team. Start at the top level athletes and click on them, did they come up through the program? Are they doing well? What age groups do they compete in? Pretty easy to get a general sense of a team by looking at all the 9 and 10 kids. Obviously if a gym as a good retention and brings up their own athletes that would be a good place to send your child. It has several meanings but the most important is the kids stick around and advance for some reason, probably a good reason. hope that helps.

That does help sometimes, and I agree that retention is a sign of a good program, but mymeetscores doesn't work for colleges or gyms outside of the US. I think it would be convenient to be able to get basic information for several gyms at once instead of having to click on the histories of individual athletes.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

That does help sometimes, and I agree that retention is a sign of a good program, but mymeetscores doesn't work for colleges or gyms outside of the US. I think it would be convenient to be able to get basic information for several gyms at once instead of having to click on the histories of individual athletes.

there is no way to do it. Too many variables. What determines a good gym? JO ? Tops? Hopes? Jr Elite? Elite? XCEL? impossible. Colleges are ranked through the NCAA, (I am sure you already know that). Other than that, I would not be the person to start a website ranking gyms, you will just insult a bunch of people and probably get legal action against you. You hear the adds on the radio now, "is your business suffering from unfair reviews, etc..." No thanks.

 

[Natasha]

I agree. Way too many variables. There are gyms with great preschool rec programs but poor team coaching or teams with excellent optional programs with no foundational programs. There are some teams that are a great fit for someone with the potential to go Elite but would be a horrible fit for a girl who just wants to enjoy the sport but not have it consume her life. Some gyms have a philosophy of keeping girls in the sport for as long as possible and are laid back in their approach and other gyms are more serious in their training and expect full commitment and have a goal of getting kids to college or elite level. Who is to say which is 'best?' Even something that seems simple to provide info on, like monthly fee, is not simple. You could have a gym with a lower monthly tuition fee but higher costs for meet fees based on how those are determined and paid for.

 

[gymgal]

You can go to mymeetscores and research the team. Start at the top level athletes and click on them, did they come up through the program? Are they doing well? What age groups do they compete in? Pretty easy to get a general sense of a team by looking at all the 9 and 10 kids. Obviously if a gym as a good retention and brings up their own athletes that would be a good place to send your child. It has several meanings but the most important is the kids stick around and advance for some reason, probably a good reason. hope that helps.

I agree this is a good place to start but it only tells half the story - specifically the gymnasts who succeed it in that gym environment. Just as valuable to look a few years back at the level 7/8s and see if they are still at that gym or if they switched to another gym. This gives you insight as to what their retention rate is as gymnasts go up the levels. Do they squeeze out the girls who just can't keep up or don't want to go crazy hours, homeschool, etc? Do they have a narrow or "wider" range of score at the upper levels, indicating the gym is devoted to all their gymnasts, not just the ones with the top scores.