Parents USA Rec gym Vs UK Rec gym

[Jaks]

I am interested to know the differences between uk rec gym and USA (and other countries) Rec gym.

At my dd's gym the rec groups are held by age and gender -

5-8 year old girls (boys separate class)
8+ girls (boys separate class)

All rec classes are 1 hour

They then put them in smaller groups according to age - 4-5, 6, 7

They are mixed ability groups and the only time things are skills dependent are when it is badge week , the girls are then put in groups for the badge they are working on no matter how old they are. They practice for 2 weeks and are tested on the third week. After that they go back into the age groups as they were before. If its not badge week they are all working on similar things with adjustments for age. For example they might do:-

forward rolls down cheese wedges and a forward roll on a mat on the floor.
Forwards Rolls on the beam with support
Straddle on box, Forward Roll on crash mat off box.
Work on the Bars

They do different things every week, nothing is skill related where you need to achieve something before you move on to something else. One week they might do cartwheel drills on the floor, the next backwards rolls on cheese mats etc.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

in the US, rec programs are all different everywhere you go. curriculum's are varied. and some programs use the USAG level 1-3 system.

 

[Faith]

That sound about right for your DD's age group

In the UK, rec gym is based on the FUNdamentals scheme. So firstly ensuring the kids have fun, and secondly work on transferable skills through sport/life in general, as well as gymnastics specific stuff. So you'll also see throwing, catching, balancing, running etc. They do develop, we have rec kids at 9/10 who can back flip, handspring vault, somersault and the like.

In one hour a week there's not the time to progress as fast as squad kids, and any decent club will always focus on getting basics right rather than letting them just chuck stuff. If they concentrated on rec kids achieving skills, some of them would never get there, so the focus is on the process, learning the shapes and form. It's not that much different in squad tbh, it's all about the drills rather than "learning skills" in a whole sense, everything is broken down. It's much safer, better for the kids confidence, less catching of flying gymnasts In fact squad sometimes is even slower, as everything must be perfect before they progress, rather than just "good enough"

IME rec is nearly always on age rather than ability.

I think if your DD is having fun, leave it to the coaches. As has been said before, if you and your DD are desperate to get onto squad, might be worth a word with a coach to find out how it works. She is still only 6 though? My DD is in rec, and I will leave her there until she's 6/7. If she hasn't made team by then, and wants to, I'll approach the coach and let them know she wants to try if they think she might be able to cope with it.

 

[Jaks]

That sound about right for your DD's age group

In the UK, rec gym is based on the FUNdamentals scheme. So firstly ensuring the kids have fun, and secondly work on transferable skills through sport/life in general, as well as gymnastics specific stuff. So you'll also see throwing, catching, balancing, running etc. They do develop, we have rec kids at 9/10 who can back flip, handspring vault, somersault and the like.

In one hour a week there's not the time to progress as fast as squad kids, and any decent club will always focus on getting basics right rather than letting them just chuck stuff. If they concentrated on rec kids achieving skills, some of them would never get there, so the focus is on the process, learning the shapes and form. It's not that much different in squad tbh, it's all about the drills rather than "learning skills" in a whole sense, everything is broken down. It's much safer, better for the kids confidence, less catching of flying gymnasts In fact squad sometimes is even slower, as everything must be perfect before they progress, rather than just "good enough"

IME rec is nearly always on age rather than ability.

I think if your DD is having fun, leave it to the coaches. As has been said before, if you and your DD are desperate to get onto squad, might be worth a word with a coach to find out how it works. She is still only 6 though? My DD is in rec, and I will leave her there until she's 6/7. If she hasn't made team by then, and wants to, I'll approach the coach and let them know she wants to try if they think she might be able to cope with it.

my dd did the FUNdemental stuff in pre school gym and loved getting the cat badges

As for my dd wanting to join team, she is now saying that the is not sure if she wants to do that, so as long as she is happy where she is then we when cross that bridge if/when we come to it.Maybe it's a case of be careful what you wish for lol. Overall I am happy with her rec gym class as it gives her a chance to burn if some of her energy and she gets to meet new people and is having fun.

My thread was just about wanting to know the differences in rec classes thought the world. What is level 1,2 & 3 and what do they envolve? Just curious.

 

[OzZee]

In Australia for the younger ages you tend to have:
Kindergym (preschool 2-5 year olds, most gyms will have mixed aged classes as well as more specific aged classes 2-3 and 4-5, some have a 4-5 yr old kindy rec class which is a bit more skills past the kindergym 4-5 group).
Then a 5-8 year old beginners 'rec' programme. Grouped by age and/or ability. 3-5 levels-ish depending on the club.
This can then feed into pre levels training or national/state level 1 + (yes compared to the US we can spend years before even getting to level 1)
We compete in Aus from level 1.
There are usually also rec classes for older kids - often called advanced rec - this is for kids who just want to continue down the rec path/ex-gymnasts.
Or you can be picked from kindergym/early rec to go into a developmental group/pre-levels training (prelevels is usually a one year program, leading to compete level 1 the next year).
IDP (international stream) is different altogether but nothing to do with rec.

 

[gymgal]

As Dunnoo said, in the US there is a wide variety of how the rec programs are set up but the ones in my area tend to be set up by both skill level and to and age. I think it also depends on the size of the rec program. If it is very large, then it is easier to break down the groups by age/level. All the gyms we looked at have at least 2 age levels: preschool and older. Some break it even further. And then within those groups, they have levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and you have to have coach recommendation to progress to the next level. In addition to that, some of the gyms have rec teams for kids who show potential for eventual team or whose parents don't want to go down the true team path. Gyms use these differently. Some require the girls to pass through all the rec levels first whereas others look for the potential and put the kids on these rec-teams quickly, giving them a sense team practices and unity before they hit true team.

 

[Flossyduck]

I think there's quite a variety of ways in which rec classes are organised here in the UK too. As someone else said, it depends on the size of the gym, but it also depends on whether the gym is essentially set up as a rec gym (with maybe a team on the side) or a competitive gym (with a rec programme on the side).

At my daughter's first gym the rec programme was divided in to classes by ability. They had beginners, intermediate and advanced - mixed age and mixed boys and girls until intermediate when they separated. There were quite a few older kids in advanced rec with some big skills - they just didn't want to do competitive.

At our closest gym, which some friends kids go to, it's also done by ability in mixed age classes. Everyone has a basic class and then others by invitation.

At our current gym the rec programme is by age, but they also have a competitive rec programme for kids who are not quite squad material. There are some very talented gymnasts in it, some of whom have been elite for a time and dropped back for some reason. They compete the regional grades and other county and regional level comps and there are two class levels - in age and out of age, but it's all classes as rec.

So lots of variety just in our small country...

 

[Faith]

Flossy, I wouldn't call regional/county gymnasts rec exactly, they still need to be doing the hours, the conditioning, and the work to compete at that level. In our gym those gymnasts are definately team. My dd will do regional level 5 out of age next year, she trains 12 hours a week and is certainly not rec. Some of our gymnasts are strong US level 7/8/9/10, my own dd is near enough a level 6, just not a future elite...

I would call rec those kids that do an hour a week, for fun. Anyone training more than hour, or multiple sessions, is team. I know you are at a high standard gym, is it really only elite path kids or recreational? So any 11 year old that's not level 10 (our level 2) is classed as rec? That's pretty high standards!

We also have floor and vault squads, for those kids that want more than rec, but don't want to or can't do 4-piece.

 

[Flossyduck]

I think you've misunderstood me Faith - it isn't my label it's the gym's label.

There are distinct disciplines in the club - men's artistic, women's artistic, and recreational. The girls who do regional club grades are definitely under the rec programme - they have a different competition leotard, totally different coaches, separate committee and they are specifically not referred to as squad.

I know that they work very hard and as I said they have some very talented gymnasts. I wasn't judging at all!! They put in the hours and the standard of coaching is high and they do very well, but yes they are classed as competitive rec on all the information, posters, notices etc...

One of the girls from my daughters old gym trialled for the squad and she didn't get in. She was offered the alternative of a place in the competitive rec group and she was told that this was probably the equivalent of squad in most other clubs, but when she asked if it was a squad or a team she was told no it isn't and they wont get to wear the team leo or tracksuit. She stayed where she was.

I don't necessarily agree with this or have strong feelings either way - it's just the way it is in this club and I know, because my daughters coach used to coach in another of the 'big' gyms, that it is the same there too. I used it as an example that rec can go up to a pretty high standard depending on what the individual club sets out to do.

 

[Faith]

Wow, so basically the whole gym is team, and you have to try out even for the rec classes? Everyone is placed on ability, or not accepted to the gym?

do any kids move from the rec side to the elite path side? As most would start at level 4 when they're 7 or 8?

 

[Kiwi]

Here in NZ we have Kiwi Gym Fun, a series of badges that the kids go for twice a year. The skills are very basic and include ball skills, hoops and skipping. These kids would mostly be 5 to 8.

Then there are Incentive Award badges for older kids and those who have completed Kiwi Gym Fun. These are more specific gymnastics skills like rolls, handstands, cartwheels, pullovers, etc. The highest levels of incentive badge have more advanced skills like handsprings and flic-flacs, but I've never seen anyone from our gym get to those levels, maybe they do at other gyms.

In between the badges they learn competition routines for novice competitions (that is, rec competitions), competing is optional. Some of the novice comps give out places, others are participation based and everyone gets a ribbon with the ribbon colour based on their average score.

Our gym also has a novice comp class, that is like a more advanced rec and also serves as a pre-comp class where girls may be selected to go into the comp program, although sometimes rec girls will be talent-spotted and tested by coaches and pulled straight into a comp program (STEPs or IDP). Our competitive program starts at STEP 1 (or IDP level 1 for IDP, what you would call the elite path I guess). Our gym also has a teen gym class and tumbling classes, and classes for pre-schoolers.

 

[KarenUK]

My daughter's in a club in the UK.

We have one and two hour rec (general) classes, which are pretty much mixed ability, the kids within those classes are grouped according to age and ability. Some of the two hour kids compete at novice level floor and vault competitions, a couple of times a year. Plus they run 'babygym' in the daytime, and adult rec class.

Then we have 'squad'.

These are split into artistic and floor and vault squad.

Artistic are the 'elites', they have competitive artistic group and baby artistic group. These are the gymnasts that are working through or towards artistic grades

Floor and vault squad mainly do 8 hours a week, and although called floor and vault about half of their competitions are four piece ones. They work in levels intermediate (which follows on from the novice that the 2 hour general kids do), advanced, bronze, silver and gold. Sometimes a gymnast that gets up to silver/gold will transfer to artistic, and sometimes an artistic gymnast will move to floor and vault squad if they want to do fewer hours etc. Young girls invited onto squad generally will go into the baby artistic group for a couple of months as a trial, and will sometimes move into floor and vault if artistic is not the right fit for them - so they are still squad.

Floor and vault squad gymnasts tend to have more competition outings during a year, with county, regional, and club invitational events at their level.

All squad gymnasts wear the club leotard and tracksuit - they are all representing the club when they go out.

 

[Jaks]

Thanks for the replies, it is interesting to read about the differences around the world and in my own country.

At my daughters gym we have:

Parent & Me classes (up to school age)
Baby classes up to walking.
Pre school up to school age.

5-8 year old girls Rec Gym (can start at 4 if already on full time education)
5-8 year old boys as above

8+ girls
8+ boys

6-8 year olds (mixed gender) trampolining.
8+ mixed gender

5+ cheerleading Rec group

I think they do adult classes as well.

All the rec groups follow the British Gymnastics proficiency awards with fundementals badges for pre school, proficiency badges for gym, trampolining and cheerleading (spirit awards). Once you have completed proficiency badges 7-1 you then work on bronze, silver and gold awards.

At rec gym they are grouped together by age and not ability and they run competitions twice a year that you can take part in if you wish.

They also have squads for elite (all round gymnastics), trampolining, Floor and Vault, Tumbling and Cheerleading. All are invitation only.

 

[guest301]

I want to add some info about gymnastics in Russia. It may not be all correct but that is what my friend tells me and what I know. There are sports schools that are free and sponsored by goverment. There is sports gymnastics and there is artistics gymnastics among so many other sorts departments in those sports school. To get into this free school you need to be selected. But opsolutely no prior training required. Now that being free people started making private clubs to prepare kids to get into those schools. My friend enrolled her 2 year old girl into a club like this. The little girl is now 4. My frind said everything is based on the play. She said they don't even do cartwheels. They are not allowed parents to watch training (aka games) at those clubs. Sometimes they have open days when thru can. At sports schools no parents allowed as well.