HoldThePhone
Proud Parent
Let me preface by saying we're happy where we are, we're not looking to switch or anything, but I'm just generally curious.
I'm really just curious, for people who are new to the sport and have no clue about what makes a good program for recreational or competitive, what are things they should be looking for?
From my own experience, we ended up going through 3 gyms, just out of sheer lack of knowledge. None of them have been bad programs. First was not really a gym but a rec center. Someone had recommended for a kid just starting out that it would be sufficient, so that's what we did, and she quickly outgrew that program as they are very strict with age requirements and a level 1 class for instance was 6 and up. She had pretty much outgrown the preschool classes they offered within 2 months of once a week 30 minute classes according to the director.
During the second month at the rec center we added a second day at an actual gym. This gym was beautiful, about 25 minutes away without traffic which wasn't terrible, but with traffic was much worse. We liked the program okay, DD wanted more time so we added another class here for fun working on mostly floor skills. The overlap was about a month and she was taking just over 2hrs a week total. During our time here we started looking at continuing through the fall and times were not really what we needed because I work about an hour and a half from this gym, so we found one closer that falls between work and home. On the last day of class at gym 2 they wanted her to start their developmental track and add another class per week. (DD turned 4 in May)
Gym 3 is much smaller, but convenient. They started us in the Advanced Preschool class, and after the second class had her try for the pre-team, which is where she is now. We love the gym, and have since learned a lot more about this gym and the previous one, and feel very lucky that we just happened upon two (from what I hear) great gyms.
So all that said, we could have ended up in a bad program and never have known it because we didn't have anything to compare it to. So when you're starting out and looking for a program, how do you even know what to look for?
We're North of Atlanta and there are a TON of gyms around here it seems, though not all entirely convenient for us, but how in the world to people go about choosing?
I'm really just curious, for people who are new to the sport and have no clue about what makes a good program for recreational or competitive, what are things they should be looking for?
From my own experience, we ended up going through 3 gyms, just out of sheer lack of knowledge. None of them have been bad programs. First was not really a gym but a rec center. Someone had recommended for a kid just starting out that it would be sufficient, so that's what we did, and she quickly outgrew that program as they are very strict with age requirements and a level 1 class for instance was 6 and up. She had pretty much outgrown the preschool classes they offered within 2 months of once a week 30 minute classes according to the director.
During the second month at the rec center we added a second day at an actual gym. This gym was beautiful, about 25 minutes away without traffic which wasn't terrible, but with traffic was much worse. We liked the program okay, DD wanted more time so we added another class here for fun working on mostly floor skills. The overlap was about a month and she was taking just over 2hrs a week total. During our time here we started looking at continuing through the fall and times were not really what we needed because I work about an hour and a half from this gym, so we found one closer that falls between work and home. On the last day of class at gym 2 they wanted her to start their developmental track and add another class per week. (DD turned 4 in May)
Gym 3 is much smaller, but convenient. They started us in the Advanced Preschool class, and after the second class had her try for the pre-team, which is where she is now. We love the gym, and have since learned a lot more about this gym and the previous one, and feel very lucky that we just happened upon two (from what I hear) great gyms.
So all that said, we could have ended up in a bad program and never have known it because we didn't have anything to compare it to. So when you're starting out and looking for a program, how do you even know what to look for?
We're North of Atlanta and there are a TON of gyms around here it seems, though not all entirely convenient for us, but how in the world to people go about choosing?