Hello all!! It has been a while since Ive posted here I was posting before as a coach, and now I am posting as a future gymmie MOMMY! My dd is 9 months old and will be starting gymnastics in November at one of the gyms in town..but heres my dilema..I have coached at both the gyms in town and have seen the good and bad of both. *insert awkward face here* lol
Gym #1 has a great mommy and me program, a toddler program, beginner gymnastics classes which you stay in until you "test out of" and move up to pre team, at which point you stay in pre team generally for a year and then move up to level 3. You compete level 3 and wont move up to level 4 unless you have a score of 36 or higher, and this goes for every level from here on out. The only problem with this gym is that the coaches are constantly changing. They hire young girls, ages 14-20 who dont really have any prior gymnastics experience and who have weird hair and tattoos sometimes which is kind of scary. They also tend to pack the floor as much as possible to get the most bang for their buck. For example they will have 7 classes going on at one time, 1 in each floor corner, one in the center of the floor and 2 more on the outskirts. So kids tend to get distracted very easily. They rotate 2 apparatus per class, and have 1 class a week for 1 hour. So one week youll have floor and bars, and the next week youll have beam and vault. I dont really think thats a great way to get kids to progress in their skills quickly, but, thats how they do it.
Gym #2 I used to manage. The owner and I left on awkward terms but after they fired their "new" gymnastics coach they called me back a few weeks before my daughter was born to help them with their team girls but at that time I didnt have a baby sitter and it just wasnt sitting into my life, so I had to turn their offer down. They didnt seem happy about it, and were bitter. They now have a man coaching my old girls along with a few new ones and from what the owner told me on the phone, their going backwards because the girls need "a womans touch." Now that you know the background...the gym is mainly focused on cheerleading, so gymnastics is overlooked. It is a small gymnastics program and basically if you show up for gymnastics and say "I want to be on team" the owner of the gym (who also helps coach) says "okay" and lets anyone join and go to 2-3 day a week practices. Which is great in my opinion for people wanting to get the team experience, but bad because it takes time away from the girls who really ARE great and deserve to be on team. I like this option for my dd because I want her to be on team as soon as possible, level 2, competing, opposed to maybe dealing with weirdness at the other gym. There is no mommy and me program for my dd though, there is no toddler program, but if I take my daughter there, I know the owner (the man) would let me use the equipment with her because he knows my background and knows my dds potential with some good training. The whole gym is kind of sketchy though schedule wise, parent wise, owner wise, and is focused on cheerleading. They have moved locations 2x in the past 2 years due to leasing issues. The only thing I think I like about this gym, is the fact that I would have a little more free reign over my dd.
What would you do? My husband was thinking of building her a small gym in our enclosed garage to practice some there and she can grow into the equipment. I know she will probably have to go to gym #1 for mommy and me classes but I am unsure of where to take her for anything else Help!
Gym #1 has a great mommy and me program, a toddler program, beginner gymnastics classes which you stay in until you "test out of" and move up to pre team, at which point you stay in pre team generally for a year and then move up to level 3. You compete level 3 and wont move up to level 4 unless you have a score of 36 or higher, and this goes for every level from here on out. The only problem with this gym is that the coaches are constantly changing. They hire young girls, ages 14-20 who dont really have any prior gymnastics experience and who have weird hair and tattoos sometimes which is kind of scary. They also tend to pack the floor as much as possible to get the most bang for their buck. For example they will have 7 classes going on at one time, 1 in each floor corner, one in the center of the floor and 2 more on the outskirts. So kids tend to get distracted very easily. They rotate 2 apparatus per class, and have 1 class a week for 1 hour. So one week youll have floor and bars, and the next week youll have beam and vault. I dont really think thats a great way to get kids to progress in their skills quickly, but, thats how they do it.
Gym #2 I used to manage. The owner and I left on awkward terms but after they fired their "new" gymnastics coach they called me back a few weeks before my daughter was born to help them with their team girls but at that time I didnt have a baby sitter and it just wasnt sitting into my life, so I had to turn their offer down. They didnt seem happy about it, and were bitter. They now have a man coaching my old girls along with a few new ones and from what the owner told me on the phone, their going backwards because the girls need "a womans touch." Now that you know the background...the gym is mainly focused on cheerleading, so gymnastics is overlooked. It is a small gymnastics program and basically if you show up for gymnastics and say "I want to be on team" the owner of the gym (who also helps coach) says "okay" and lets anyone join and go to 2-3 day a week practices. Which is great in my opinion for people wanting to get the team experience, but bad because it takes time away from the girls who really ARE great and deserve to be on team. I like this option for my dd because I want her to be on team as soon as possible, level 2, competing, opposed to maybe dealing with weirdness at the other gym. There is no mommy and me program for my dd though, there is no toddler program, but if I take my daughter there, I know the owner (the man) would let me use the equipment with her because he knows my background and knows my dds potential with some good training. The whole gym is kind of sketchy though schedule wise, parent wise, owner wise, and is focused on cheerleading. They have moved locations 2x in the past 2 years due to leasing issues. The only thing I think I like about this gym, is the fact that I would have a little more free reign over my dd.
What would you do? My husband was thinking of building her a small gym in our enclosed garage to practice some there and she can grow into the equipment. I know she will probably have to go to gym #1 for mommy and me classes but I am unsure of where to take her for anything else Help!