Eagleperson
Proud Parent
Thanks for bearing with me on this long post!
So...I am a bit frustrated with my daughters gym and am wondering if my concerns are legitimate. My ten year old is repeating level 3 for next year. I am actually fine with this because she is still working on some key level 4 skills. But, I do think that she could've been coached in a way over the past year to have been prepared better for level 4. Her coaches were both new to competitive coaching and one left at the end of the season and another coach, also new to team coaching took her place. Both are nice and my daughter likes them though she says that one (the one she worked with last year) is “holding her back” on certain skills.
Two practices a week the girls work with both those coaches (so a 10 to 1 ratio) for 2 hour practices. One practice a week all the team girls practice with all the coaches but the ration remains about 10 to 1. I watched one recent practice and in a half hour on beam and then on a half hour on bar my daughter worked with the coach only one time on each event...the rest of the time she was just doing stations or practicing on her own. So basically she got spotted for a couple minutes on each. This doesn't feel like enough attention and coaching for a kid who is repeating a level.
Next, the level 3 group is very diverse and so while my daughter has been uptraining on level 4 for a few months she is just doing really basic stuff (learning to run to the vault, beam mounts, etc) now. I am okay with that for review but the HC said to expect her to lose the new skills gained the past few months since she won't have much chance to work on them now because of the other girls. Again this makes a certain amount of sense but the gym doesn't seem very interested in dividing the group of 20 level 3 girls (my daughter is just one of a few repeating the level) into two groups for training purposes, increasing hours (they do 6 hours a week), etc.
Finally, overall the gym seems disorganized, lacks communication and is maybe more expensive than other gyms in our area. I don't think my daughter is going to be a huge champion but I think she could do better with better coaching in a more professional gym. There is a lot of coach turnover and even gymnast turnover.
I would like to take her to get assessed at another gym, if not for this years season at level 3 then to talk to them about a spot for her the following year as a level 4 but I want to get a sense of what others think. My gut tells me she could do better with a more organized gym and more experienced coaches but she feels very loyal and gets very upset even talking about it (even though she admits her main coach hasn't pushed her and that there are now too many girls on her team for coaches to pay attention to----data point, there were fewer girls on the team last year).
What do you think? Is it time to talk to other gyms?
So...I am a bit frustrated with my daughters gym and am wondering if my concerns are legitimate. My ten year old is repeating level 3 for next year. I am actually fine with this because she is still working on some key level 4 skills. But, I do think that she could've been coached in a way over the past year to have been prepared better for level 4. Her coaches were both new to competitive coaching and one left at the end of the season and another coach, also new to team coaching took her place. Both are nice and my daughter likes them though she says that one (the one she worked with last year) is “holding her back” on certain skills.
Two practices a week the girls work with both those coaches (so a 10 to 1 ratio) for 2 hour practices. One practice a week all the team girls practice with all the coaches but the ration remains about 10 to 1. I watched one recent practice and in a half hour on beam and then on a half hour on bar my daughter worked with the coach only one time on each event...the rest of the time she was just doing stations or practicing on her own. So basically she got spotted for a couple minutes on each. This doesn't feel like enough attention and coaching for a kid who is repeating a level.
Next, the level 3 group is very diverse and so while my daughter has been uptraining on level 4 for a few months she is just doing really basic stuff (learning to run to the vault, beam mounts, etc) now. I am okay with that for review but the HC said to expect her to lose the new skills gained the past few months since she won't have much chance to work on them now because of the other girls. Again this makes a certain amount of sense but the gym doesn't seem very interested in dividing the group of 20 level 3 girls (my daughter is just one of a few repeating the level) into two groups for training purposes, increasing hours (they do 6 hours a week), etc.
Finally, overall the gym seems disorganized, lacks communication and is maybe more expensive than other gyms in our area. I don't think my daughter is going to be a huge champion but I think she could do better with better coaching in a more professional gym. There is a lot of coach turnover and even gymnast turnover.
I would like to take her to get assessed at another gym, if not for this years season at level 3 then to talk to them about a spot for her the following year as a level 4 but I want to get a sense of what others think. My gut tells me she could do better with a more organized gym and more experienced coaches but she feels very loyal and gets very upset even talking about it (even though she admits her main coach hasn't pushed her and that there are now too many girls on her team for coaches to pay attention to----data point, there were fewer girls on the team last year).
What do you think? Is it time to talk to other gyms?
