So Disappointed with Anna's Gym.

[cher062]

Do you know what skill level they usually require for kids to move up? Do they want them to be able to do all the skills for the Level 3 routines before moving up? There are only a couple of girls in my daughter's group (and my daughter is not one of them) who have all of the level 3 skills. My daughter has most, some of the girls aren't even close. Yet they moved up the whole group. Is that normal? Maybe it is and I just really don't understand how it all works.

not that I can see. I think the preteam for my dd's current gym is more like an advanced rec class with strong emphasis on contitioning while doing the levels below L4 skills. But I've seen the move up girls and well there is alot of work that will need to be done for that group. our gym also doesn't really do the fall season except for a few meets and is more focused on the spring time meets. so they see it as summer and fall to get them to level (7 months) more than enough time. In my area most really start more at L4 and when they start they really don't have alot of skills but they get them really fast I'm always amazed in just 2 months time how much they improve and by meet season they are doing so well they are placing. I don't see the compulsory groups as much as they are there either when my dd isn't or during the time inbetween when I drop off and pick up I only see them on Fridays when all the teams are there together.

 

[NGL780309]

The skill level you describe is not typical. The bare minimum would be able to do a pullover and back hip circle on bars. On floor, cartwheel on both sides, and roundoff, and bridge kickover. If those are good enough it is possible they could learn a RO BHS in 4-5 months. It's also possible they might not.

In my state there were about 15 6 year old level 4s at the state meet...there were way more 8 year olds. Only TWO 7 year old level 5s.

Perhaps it is the norm in some places but that still doesn't explain the behavior.

I agree with you gymdog, it's not typical in my area to move kids up at age 5 to level 4 without more skills. I find it strange that most of the time parents on this board are always cautioning parents to not rush their kids, it's better to go slow etc. Yet now that there is a person who doesnt want their DD moved up to Level 4 at age 5 when she doesn't seem to have the necessary skills, they tell her this is perfectly normal. It doesn't seem normal at all to me.

 

[ejgymmom]

I agree with you gymdog, it's not typical in my area to move kids up at age 5 to level 4 without more skills. I find it strange that most of the time parents on this board are always cautioning parents to not rush their kids, it's better to go slow etc. Yet now that there is a person who doesnt want their DD moved up to Level 4 at age 5 when she doesn't seem to have the necessary skills, they tell her this is perfectly normal. It doesn't seem normal at all to me.

Thank you...this is exactly how I'm feeling. Maybe I didn't explain it all very well initially, there is a lot going on in this whole situation. I will talk to the head coach but it does seem very, very odd that they would move an entire group up when so many don't have a lot of the skills.

 

[agymmom]

I'm not terribly experienced, nor am I at a big gym, but 5 year olds in level 4 is pretty uncommon in my experience. All you would have to do is go look up the results of a big meet and I'm pretty sure that there will be far more 7 year olds (or 8 year olds) than there are in the 6 year old category. I would be curious if anyone could find a meet where there are more 6 year olds than 7 or 8 year olds. I know that some 6 year olds are ready for level 4, but I would say far more are not ready for it than are.

 

[jdf]

My daughter did level 4 as a fourth grader- 9-10 years old! Three other level 4s were third graders, and two were fifth graders. All of the parents were initially appalled at ourselves for having the kids at practice until 9:30pm.

 

[lhmom]

My daughter competed last year as a 6 yr. old (turned 7 after the State meet). I can say that there were just a few meets that she competed with only girls her age. Most of the time, her age group was combined with the 7 yr. olds. The largest group at most meets were the 8 yr. old group. With the newest group of 4's that just moved up at DD's gym, there will be only one girl competing in the youngest age group. The rest will be in the 7, 8 and 9 yr. old groups.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

It sounds like your gym really needs to have an in-person meeting with parents to explain options.

At Pickle's gym, the point of pre-team is to get on team. So, no one stays on pre-team for more than a year and no one goes onto pre-team unless they think there is a good chance that their child will want to compete. Otherwise, you just go over to Rec (which is still a very good program) and have fun tumbling without all the conditioning, etc.

Also, since we don't compete L3 (and really don't do that much with L4), there isn't a lot of focus on perfecting the L3 skills on pre-team. It's all about building up to the larger skills. I'd say that most girls had their cartwheels before going to L4, but not all. Most were NOT able to really hold a handstand. But once they upped the hours and started seriously working on team, everyone got the skills very quickly, because they had been doing the broken down skills for the entire previous year.

Every gym is different, but the biggest problem I see with your gym is not that this is what they expect, but that they didn't clearly set this expectation with you when your daughter started pre-team.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

In my area most really start more at L4 and when they start they really don't have alot of skills but they get them really fast I'm always amazed in just 2 months time how much they improve and by meet season they are doing so well they are placing. I don't see the compulsory groups as much as they are there either when my dd isn't or during the time inbetween when I drop off and pick up I only see them on Fridays when all the teams are there together.

I'm amazed at how quickly certain skill improve as well. For example, when Pickle started L5, she never even really vaulted on the table until about a month before her first meet. She did tons of drills and skills leading up to it, but her coaches wanted to make sure she had all the components before training the event. I remember thinking "how the heck is it going to work..." and parents of older kids saying to me "trust them, this is how it always is..." Of course they were right.

 

[Quadqueen]

It sounds like your gym really needs to have an in-person meeting with parents to explain options.

At Pickle's gym, the point of pre-team is to get on team. So, no one stays on pre-team for more than a year and no one goes onto pre-team unless they think there is a good chance that their child will want to compete. Otherwise, you just go over to Rec (which is still a very good program) and have fun tumbling without all the conditioning, etc.

Also, since we don't compete L3 (and really don't do that much with L4), there isn't a lot of focus on perfecting the L3 skills on pre-team. It's all about building up to the larger skills. I'd say that most girls had their cartwheels before going to L4, but not all. Most were NOT able to really hold a handstand. But once they upped the hours and started seriously working on team, everyone got the skills very quickly, because they had been doing the broken down skills for the entire previous year.

Every gym is different, but the biggest problem I see with your gym is not that this is what they expect, but that they didn't clearly set this expectation with you when your daughter started pre-team.

I know this is an old thread, but this is interesting!!! Leve 4s who don't have a cartwheel??! There's a ROBHS in the L4 routine...that's a long way to go from a cartwheel! I just find it strange how different gyms operate.

 

[ejgymmom]

Well, since this post was resurrected I guess I'll do an update. After talking to the head coach and after learning about an incident involving a parent (who is now a good friend) of another girl that was in Anna's group and the head coach we pretty much ran from the gym and never looked back. I almost wish that I had just let Anna move up to Level 4 so I could have been blissfully unaware of the really bad ownership in that gym (not really, I know it would have come out sooner or later). As long as you don't question the higher-ups everything is peachy. The second you do you might as well just walk out the door. It made me really sad because we really, really liked that gym..we recommended it to everyone. I can't say that we will ever again.

Anna is now at another gym (a YMCA, actually) and is thriving. I never realized how not-so-great her pre-team coaches were until she got her new ones. It's amazing the attention that is paid to detail in her new group. She's on pre-team again learning level 3 and 4 skills and is happy as a clam. A friend from her old gym followed us there which was really nice and I've become pretty good friends with her mom now...something else good to have come out of this!

I think the bottom line is that some of you were right that the parents weren't really told that the expectation was that everyone (regardless of whether they had all...or any.. of the skills) would go to Level 4, that there's really no going back to pre-team. I fully believe that if we had known that from the beginning that we might have been more prepared and would have just agreed to do it. Since we didn't have that expectation and knew that another pre-team group was starting soon we couldn't understand why we couldn't just keep our kids on pre-team. It's a shame that the gym ended up losing at least 4 of the pre-teamers along with 2 or 3 siblings in preschool classes over this. That's quite a bit of money for them...

(Sorry, I don't know how to write just a little... )

 

[gymnut1]

Communication is the key with so many things. Often good communication can prevent these sorts of problems. Glad you are happy at your new gym.

 

[cher062]

Glad to hear everything turned out great for you. Just keep in mind as you move forward that the key will always be good communication. Unfortunatly many gyms (coaches/owners) I have experienced need alot of work in this area. As a parent I like to be in the loop of the plans for my child's gymnastics. Yes I love and trust the coaches we currently have and when I ask them how my DD is doing they are great about letting me know but As a parent I really would like some type of report card that states things like where she is at, is it where the coaches hoped she would be etc. Oh and if there are coaches out there that might want to do this I know when the coaches are sugar coating their answers. I realy like the honest truth not one that is nicey nicey so my feelings aren't hurt.