MAG How many hours?

[Deleted member 10727]

My level 4's train 8 hours per week right now. I asked their coach about next season, because he mentioned changing the schedule, and I was surprised today to hear he wants to drop their hours to 6 hours per week for their level 5 training. Seriously? That doesn't seem like enough time at all! I know his reasoning is that he is the only coach with a flakey asst coach, and next season he will have more upper levels then this year. Plus he is having a talented, but very disruptive level 4 join the team next season. My children will be lumped with him for training, because the coach mentioned something about training "by size".

Does this seem appropriate? My kids were under the assumption they would get a few more hours or have the hours stay the same, but this will be a shock to them. I know he needs help, but we've been unable to find anyone in the area so far.

 

[MyBoysFlip]

Our Level 5's can choose to go 6 or 9 hours. Many do go 6 because it allows them to do other sports like soccer. Some parents have mentioned that keeps them in gymnastics because they don't have to choose between sports yet. My son has gone 9 this year (he's 8) up from 6 last year. He's having a great year but I don't know if the extra practice makes that big of a difference. I have kept him home a few times when he looks exhausted because from November to March he fits in 4 hurs a week of another sport too. As for the new disruptive teammate- we have some too and my son has adopted a very clear "leave me alone and let me work attitude". There's always hope for new coaches too-we've added two to help out this year!

 

[Deleted member 10727]

My boys have no other sports they are interested in. They seem to live and breathe gymnastics, and they are very used to their 8 hour per week schedule. They will be highly disappointed to bump their hours down for level 5 training.

 

[Quadqueen]

That doesn't seem to make any sense to bump them down when they move up a level. Our new L4 boys started out the year doing 4 hours a week. They were then given an option to do an additional day w/2.5 hours. We have a very small boys team, and only one L5, but I think he does 10 hours a week...?

 

[Deleted member 10727]

It doesn't make sense. Well, it does in that he's the only reliable coach with 20 kids on the team. I do understand where he's coming from! Yet, at the same time...
If he had another decent coach to work with them, then I think it would be different. I don't think it's ok though to bump *down* their hours for level 5.

 

[Quadqueen]

That's got to be hard to manage for your coach. We only have about 12 boys on the entire boys team this year and just one coach, and I get frustrated sometimes with the lack of coaching! They're not usually all practicing together, but our boys coach has no assistant at ALL, and he also coaches the girls team, so boys' practice sometimes gets cancelled for girls' meets, etc.

That stinks for your boys, especially since they love gymnastics so much. Our situation works for us right now because DS also plays other sports year round, but if he was really, really into gym, I'd be pretty annoyed at your situation.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

I told the coach that the boys would be very disappointed and how I don't like it. I told him that I was hoping for 3 hours, 3x per week, or keeping the same schedule. He said that if he listened to every parent then there'd be chaos. Uh... He is a phenomenal coach, but he is youngish and lacking some maturity. I told him that I didn't think the club owner will like it and he said he's going to put his foot down. We also don't want to lose him as a coach, since we live in a semi-rural area.

 

[Quadqueen]

is the gym owner approachable?

 

[2G1B]

I don't know that it is such a big deal. At our old gym my son did 9 hours per week. When we changed to the new gym it was dropped to 5 hours per week. Honestly, he gets more done in those 5 hours than he did in the 9 hours before. For this age/level I think what happens during practice makes more of a difference than the number of hours. At our old gym we had one coach who was working with multiple levels during those 9 hours of practice. If your coach is stretched thin, then it really might be better to do fewer hours; but have them be solid house of working out than more hours with less structure/work.

As for the question of how many hours... Like I said, he is 5 hours per week this year as a 4. Next year he is moving up to level 5 and will be doing 9 hours most weeks. (3 of those are on Saturdays, so when the boys have competitions on Saturdays or when our gym hosts a competition, they do 6 hours for that week.)

 

[txgymfan]

Could your boys train with a higher level? It might be an option to discuss with the coach or the owner.

 

[skschlag]

Our level 4s do 5 hours a week. 5s do either 5 or 7.5. D is a 6 and does 13-16 hours a week. He could only do 10, but he chooses the extra.

I know it is hard to think about dropping hours. Not sure I understand it, unless it is just trying to fit in coaching time/gym equipment time. If it is more targetted practice (like 4s and 5s only) then it could be good. If it is all levels, then I think it would be very difficult.

 

[Deleted member 10727]

The coach is stretched thin. Right now 4s and 5s train 4 hours together one day per week, and 4 hours with all of the levels the other 4 hours per week. The 4s are known to be the most on-task, hardest working out of all of the levels overall. The coach is talking about these 6 hour practices in the future being more targeted practices, but I don't see how, since 2 of the days he will have all levels there, at least. I just don't see how it would work and be quality training.