Parents Personal experience: Dallas area gym

[flipnastic]

Hi again!!!
The input I have recieved from y'all has been sooooo valuable. I just wanted to post again to see if Anyone has personal experiences with united elite gymnastics in rockwall. Logistically, it seems perfect...drive time, class time, etc..my (5 y/o) daughter has an evaluation with them tomorrow so I am hoping so bad we love it. But as I said before, word of mouth is so valuable to me, and I would really appreciate any insight y'all may have on here or through private message. I did message dunno as suggested, and am waiting for his response.

This morning my daughter told me I need to hurry up and find a new gym or it will "be too late!" Oops!! That's what my husband and I get for taking our time!!! Lol!!

 

[Ariekannairb]

My daughter just ended her competitive 4year career after two years at United elite. As with all gyms there were good things and things we didn't like so much. In terms of the recreational classes Kennan and Chris are absolutely phenomenal. I wouldn't use to sign up with any of the female coaches for recreational unless you just have no other choice due to her age. If you're talking in terms of competition, we were on the TA AF team. I don't know a whole lot about the coaches who handle level one and two, for the rest of the team we really did like the coaches, however the team got too big too fast and very quickly lost some of the personal instruction that was there when we first arrived. We also dealt with some gym drama, though that seems to be fairly normal at any gym. Overall we are happy with our experience and will miss it greatly.

 

[Ariekannairb]

I will say that sometimes there can be a little issues with the management though I have never personally had a problem.

 

[Ariekannairb]

Sorry one more thing, as far as the USAG team goes, quite frankly you couldn't pay me to sign up for it. It's far too much pressure for such little girls. However, I kind of feel that way about every USAG team

 

[flipnastic]

Thank you soooooo much for your input!!! Overall, do you feel like the coaches Are generally pretty trustworthy and knowledgeable as they should be? Also, do you feel like it is a positive coaching environment or Did you find them pretty negative towards the girls?

 

[flipnastic]

And "yikes!" To the team getting too big...I had the impression it was a smaller team

 

[GYM0M]

The team has blown up in the past 12-18 months due to a staffing change. There is at least one coach there that knows her stuff! At least thats what it looks like from the outside. Don't go there, but know several that were part of the influx and are very happy with their decision to move there.

 

[flipnastic]

The team has blown up in the past 12-18 months due to a staffing change. There is at least one coach there that knows her stuff! At least thats what it looks like from the outside. Don't go there, but know several that were part of the influx and are very happy with their decision to move there.[/quote





Ok, awesome!!! I *think* she will be fine with a large team, as long as its a fun, comfortable (not negative) environment. Thanks soooo much

 

[flipnastic]

Ok, awesome!!! I *think* she will be fine with a large team, as long as its a fun, comfortable (not negative) environment. Thanks soooo much

 

[Ariekannairb]

Are we discussing TAAF or USAG? I know very little about USAG other than sideline stuff. That team did have a massive merge thing that happened with another local gym (Metroplex), and as far as I know that has gone smoothly. I couldn't ask my 5 year old to do the kind of hours they do, but that of course, is a personal decision. I know the head USAG coach produces some pretty excellent bar routines from the higher levels. If I heard any complaints it was about one of the beam coaches who is pretty tough, but I have also witnessed her being very encouraging while at the same time demanding that the girls do their best.

If you are talking TAAF, yes, for the most part we were pretty happy with the coaches. Sometimes, you could tell they were a bit over worked and I do feel like the size of the team has changed things, but you also have to know that I was there before it got so big so you may not see any of the things I see at all. Both of the head coaches have been coaching for MANY years together and their teams have had ups and downs, but have over all been successful. Though, again, I don't know that your DD would see coach C and G beyond the evaluation since they coach levels 5 and up and the X-cel team.

At the end of it all, my daughter did love her team. She loved her coaches. Were they strict? Yes. Were they sometimes unfair? Yes, but aren't we all? For the most part I was able to go to them and let them know when I thought something needed to be dealt with. What I do know is that there was genuine emotion when we had to leave and my girl still texts coach C often (she would bring K home since we live so close together). In our area, it is hands down the best gym. I think to get anything "better" as far as training, you would need to head towards Plano.

 

[flipnastic]

Thank you again for your input. This is the exact type of info that I want. As far as taaf vs usag, who knows...we will cross that bridge when it comes. My expectations In a gym are that: 1) She learns at gymnastics skills correctly and safely 2) She is in a fun, encouraging, hard-working environment 3) We can trust the coaches (Not sure if you read any of my previous post, but we left our last gym abruptly because we learned that the coach had a drug problem).
4) Has opportunity if she wants to go further, but if she does not want to be a high level Competitive gymnast and wants to do it recreationally, she is not looked down in/jipped or ignored (does that make sense?)

Sounds like united elite may be a good fit!!

 

[refugee]

Since the topic of coaching styles has come up, something you may want to confirm is their approach to practice groups, coaching assignments, and move ups. Specifically, will your girl stay in a practice group with the same coach as she moves up through the levels? (Few gyms do this). Or will she have new coaches from time to time as she moves up to more advanced levels? (IME, most gyms do this). Are there multiple practice groups at the same level with the same/different coaches? What's going to be important for your girl?

Put another way: Athletes have to trust their coach to perform their best. Some coaches do better with certain types of kids vs. others. And some kids are more amenable to different coaching styles while others have a tough time accepting new coaches. If the coaching relationship doesn't form, will there be other options in the gym at your girl's level?

 

[Ariekannairb]

Since the topic of coaching styles has come up, something you may want to confirm is their approach to practice groups, coaching assignments, and move ups. Specifically, will your girl stay in a practice group with the same coach as she moves up through the levels? (Few gyms do this). Or will she have new coaches from time to time as she moves up to more advanced levels? (IME, most gyms do this). Are there multiple practice groups at the same level with the same/different coaches? What's going to be important for your girl?

Put another way: Athletes have to trust their coach to perform their best. Some coaches do better with certain types of kids vs. others. And some kids are more amenable to different coaching styles while others have a tough time accepting new coaches. If the coaching relationship doesn't form, will there be other options in the gym at your girl's level?

I can answer at least some of these

The levels 1 and 2 have different coaches whom I do not know as they practice on a completely different schedule than we do. Level's 3 and 4 have their own "managing coach" but are also coached often by the two head coaches. Levels 5 and up and XCEL are coached mostly by the head coaches, but XCEL also gets the younger newer coaches a lot of the time, under the supervision of the head coach. All of the levels were exposed to all of the coaches at least a little. I did like this because when a coach needed to be absent, the girls weren't completely surprised with a coach they had never met or worked with. At any of the practices that had levels 5 and up and XCEL we always had at least 4 coaches present (Always the two head coaches, the level 4 managing coach and a younger in training coach). Level 3 practices 2 days per week. Level 4 practiced 3 days, Level 5 and up 4 days and XCEL 3 days. The practices were staggered so that each group (Xcel and 5 and up are considered a single group) had at least one day per week where they were the only group practicing.

On personalities, Coach C is not a warm and cuddly mom type, but she's not generally flat out mean either. She's pretty strict and if a girl messes up, falls off the beam or has any sort of minor injury she can be...well a suck it up butter-cup kind of coach. Coach G is a little more motherly, but she tends to stick with girls who don't need a lot of hands on. This is mostly because she has been dealing with an injury for a long time, but it means girls in her groups often don't get a lot of physical correction (remember the groups rotate so no single coach has them the entire night). For what the heads lacked in motherly-ness, the two rec-coaches are ALWAYS there to be sympathetic. It's quite amusing because they are both male and the girls knew that when you needed sympathy you ran to the guy coaches not the women LOL. I think it worked well because the heads were able to maintain discipline and be hard when it came to falls (so as not to create fear in the gymnast), but the girls had soft spots when they needed them. Outside of the gym, I like both of the heads very much and they are, as you would expect, completely different. Inside of the gym, I didn't agree with every approach they took, but I always felt like they were genuinely trying to grow the girls.

I hope that helped more than it overwhelmed LOL

 

[flipnastic]

I can answer at least some of these

The levels 1 and 2 have different coaches whom I do not know as they practice on a completely different schedule than we do. Level's 3 and 4 have their own "managing coach" but are also coached often by the two head coaches. Levels 5 and up and XCEL are coached mostly by the head coaches, but XCEL also gets the younger newer coaches a lot of the time, under the supervision of the head coach. All of the levels were exposed to all of the coaches at least a little. I did like this because when a coach needed to be absent, the girls weren't completely surprised with a coach they had never met or worked with. At any of the practices that had levels 5 and up and XCEL we always had at least 4 coaches present (Always the two head coaches, the level 4 managing coach and a younger in training coach). Level 3 practices 2 days per week. Level 4 practiced 3 days, Level 5 and up 4 days and XCEL 3 days. The practices were staggered so that each group (Xcel and 5 and up are considered a single group) had at least one day per week where they were the only group practicing.

On personalities, Coach C is not a warm and cuddly mom type, but she's not generally flat out mean either. She's pretty strict and if a girl messes up, falls off the beam or has any sort of minor injury she can be...well a suck it up butter-cup kind of coach. Coach G is a little more motherly, but she tends to stick with girls who don't need a lot of hands on. This is mostly because she has been dealing with an injury for a long time, but it means girls in her groups often don't get a lot of physical correction (remember the groups rotate so no single coach has them the entire night). For what the heads lacked in motherly-ness, the two rec-coaches are ALWAYS there to be sympathetic. It's quite amusing because they are both male and the girls knew that when you needed sympathy you ran to the guy coaches not the women LOL. I think it worked well because the heads were able to maintain discipline and be hard when it came to falls (so as not to create fear in the gymnast), but the girls had soft spots when they needed them. Outside of the gym, I like both of the heads very much and they are, as you would expect, completely different. Inside of the gym, I didn't agree with every approach they took, but I always felt like they were genuinely trying to grow the girls.

I hope that helped more than it overwhelmed LOL

No! Not the least bit overwhelming...a very interesting dynamic, it seems, but I really think it's one that will fit my daughter very well. Especially that she will be familiar with all coaches...she has a shy personality, so it always takes a but for her to adjust to new things. She responds well to firmness, but needs the comfort of gentle personalities as well.

We met Angie On Wednesday, and I met several mothers of parents who go to gymnastics there. We had a wonderful experience, and my daughter came out of the evaluation blowing, jumping and saying she wants to go here so bad. She has talked about it every day since constantly, And has told all of her teachers and friends about her new gym…

I'm really excited to see this glow in her again… It was a completely different response than with her last coach. She enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything like the other night. I think her comfort with the coach had so much to do with it.


I can't thank y'all enough for the responses. I am going to watch one more practice, and ask a couple more questions, but based on everything so far, I think this will be a great fit.