Thinking of changing gyms- opinions please!

[ruby&jack]

Hi there. My daughter who is 6 and a half has been in Pre Level 1 National for the last 12 months and trains for 3.5 hours a week. She has been doing the same thing week in a week out and starting to get a little bored. We was chosen to join level 1 IDP at the Victorian Womens High Performance Centre in Melbourne but due to work commitment etc we had to decline.
My question is... would you be happy for your daughter to be training with 13 other girl who's skill range greatly, with a coach who's young child is often at the gym (which creates caos) only one coach for 14 girls.
The girls in her squad range from 5-9 years old. They did not compete at any competition this year, although have been doing level 1 National routines all year long. I am just worried that next year she will be doing it all again...
So I am thinking of changing clubs. Her current club is extremely disorganised and little to no feed back or communication with the parents. It is extremely expensive compared to other local club and I'm not sure we are getting our moneys worth.
Have any of you changed clubs, and are you happier now that you have?
Thnaks

 

[leotardmakermum]

Hi there. My daughter who is 6 and a half has been in Pre Level 1 National for the last 12 months and trains for 3.5 hours a week. She has been doing the same thing week in a week out and starting to get a little bored. We was chosen to join level 1 IDP at the Victorian Womens High Performance Centre in Melbourne but due to work commitment etc we had to decline.
My question is... would you be happy for your daughter to be training with 13 other girl who's skill range greatly, with a coach who's young child is often at the gym (which creates caos) only one coach for 14 girls.
The girls in her squad range from 5-9 years old. They did not compete at any competition this year, although have been doing level 1 National routines all year long. I am just worried that next year she will be doing it all again...
So I am thinking of changing clubs. Her current club is extremely disorganised and little to no feed back or communication with the parents. It is extremely expensive compared to other local club and I'm not sure we are getting our moneys worth.
Have any of you changed clubs, and are you happier now that you have?
Thnaks

There are heaps of different aspects to your question, so I'll address as many as I can.

Doing the same thing, week in, week out: That's what gymnastics is like. It takes many many long hours of repetition to learn the skills, the shapes etc. You may not "see" any improvement, if, like me, you know very little about gymnastics skills. But that doesn't mean the improvement is not there. If you're not sure whether your daughter is progressing, that's a question for the coach.

Daughter seems bored: See above. Gymnastics is not all learning new skills every week. It is about getting the ones at your level right, then building on those, when you're ready and not before. However, it could also be that she does need more, new challenges. Again, this is something to raise with the coach.

Training with ... girls whose skill range varies greatly: If you have an experienced coach, the skill range aspect should not be a problem. In fact, some gymnasts can find this quite inspiring, as they see the girls "ahead" of them and want to get there too.

One coach to 14 girls: To me, this does seem a lot. However, my daughter is in the IDP program where ratios are a lot closer. For NDP, that may or may not be the norm.

Young child around: This sounds dangerous, unless the child is properly supervised.

Didn't compete this year: Some clubs don't compete their lower levels. They focus primarily on skills and conditioning, instead of learning routines. If your child is pre-level 1, then there wouldn't have been a competition level for her to compete. Competition starts at Level 1 in NDP.

Disorganised: Doesn't mean they coach badly, but can be a pain in the neck for parents...

If you're not happy where you are, then move. But be aware that the grass which seems greener on the other side, isn't always. We did move gyms, because the one we were at didn't offer the stream my daughter wanted (IDP). For us, it has been an excellent move. There are still things about our current gym that get up my nose, but that will happen wherever you are (no gym is perfect). You just have to decide whether the annoyance/discomfort is at a level you can tolerate or not.

 

[leotardmakermum]

I did want to add that if your decision is to be based on coaching issues, then I think you need to speak to the coach to find out their plans for your daughter before making any sort of decision. (The 5 minute time limit for editing my post passed before I got back to it.)

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Hi there. My daughter who is 6 and a half has been in Pre Level 1 National for the last 12 months and trains for 3.5 hours a week. She has been doing the same thing week in a week out and starting to get a little bored.
The girls in her squad range from 5-9 years old. They did not compete at any competition this year, although have been doing level 1 National routines all year long. I am just worried that next year she will be doing it all again...

Pre level one children should be spending their time developing strength, flexibility, posture, form and a few skills. They should not be running routines constantly as it is boring and a waste of time if they actually want to get good at gymnastics. It is easy for a coach to just have kids run routines and give out a few corrections, you don't need to plan or work out how to get the kids perfecting skills.

14 is too many in a group at this level, numbers should be smaller to ensure that basics are being done correctly.

Based on what you have said I think it would be worthwhile looking around to see what else is offered.

 

[ruby&jack]

Thanks all for your replies. We ended up changing gyms and couldn't be happier!! DD has gone from NDP1 to NDP2 at the new gym so she is stoked to be doing harder training!