Is it possible to find consistent coaching in rec gymnastics?

[Dmmetler]

DD is a tumbler, and takes classes 2x/week. And I swear, over 2 years, she's never had the same coach more than 3-4 months running, if that, and that's not counting single absences/substitutes for the coach during that 3-4 month period.

 

I'm especially frustrated right now because she had a coach, who had just started in Jan with her, and she was really responding well and doing well with the coach (and the coach, more than some of the others, was listening when DD was telling her what skills she wanted to work towards). Said class was cancelled as of this week. So, next week, different class time, different class, and probably different coach. And every time she gets a new coach, she goes backwards for several weeks because it always seems like new coaches assume every single kid is a complete beginner, go back to basics, and overspot to the hilt.

 

The team coaches for gymnastics seem to be pretty consistent, but until DD gets to advanced, there's not a tumbling team option available, and honestly, I don't think she'd want to go that route anyway-she likes the team component of cheerleading as opposed to the individual competition of gymnastics, which was why we switched her from gymnastics.

 

DD is very frustrated right now, and so am I-particularly because DD wants to move onto a higher level competition team for cheer, and needs specific tumbling skills and combinations to do so. Her cheer team is YCOA, so they don't have a gym of their own to run tumbling classes, but instead recommend that the girls go to one of several gymnastics or cheer gyms to do it. I went with gymnastics because a) she was already there and b) I'd heard that tumbling instruction at cheer gyms tended to be less focused on good technique and more on just getting skills quickly, and I wanted DD to have the good technique and strength training. But honestly, after 2 years with rotating coaches, she has good technique and has gained a lot of strength and conditioning-but has almost no skills because she spends each class working on the same beginner level skills and just when the coach starts introducing her to new ones, the coach leaves.

 

I'm wondering if changing gyms or programs would help-or if maybe this is just what you get when you do rec classes?

 

 

[Mandylubug]

We have been doing rec gymnastics for 3 years now. They are assigned a coach at fall for their level and they remain with them till May. They are then assigned a coach for the summer only. We've had different coaches from year to year but never changes mid sessions. I'd be looking for a new gym.

[Melissa B]

I've only been to two gyms, but at both the turnover of recreational gymnastics coaches was quite high. All coaches start out there and the pay is low. If they are any good they usually get moved up to competitive team coach within a year. I've never met a coach that chooses to stay a rec instructor rather than accepting the promotion. And lots of the rec coaches are students needing a little income during school months, but they leave over the summer (or when finals are nearing) and often find something else to do the following year.

 

That said, our competitive team coaches do put on one day tumbling camps. I'm not sure how often they do them, maybe one Saturday a month? They are specifically for girls on cheer teams, etc. that need more intense work on their tumbling skills. They are about four hours long. I've heard the camps are good and they focus more one on one with each student to improve exact techniques needed. Maybe you could look for similar camps in your area? I've seen flyers at other gyms where we've competed offering similar tumbling day camps.

[Mandylubug]

Wow, maybe our gym is unique but all coaches as competitive coaches and they also provide recreational classes. They choose and invite who they want on their competitive teams and have been known to compete amongst themselves to "win a member" over to their team.

 

We also have competitive cheer teams and the coaches are competitive cheer and competitive gymnastics coaches and have classes doing both. We even have parkour classes taught by the coaches.

[SKL]

My kids go to the Little Gym, which might be more recreational than you are talking about.  But the owners are the main coaches, and they are there for almost every class, all year, year upon year.  Maybe you could find a gym where the owner is more directly involved; possibly that would mean less turnover.  Just a thought.

[Jackie]

Our gymnastics places are hit and miss. However, our YMCA provides the one non-competitive gymnastics program in this town and it has had the exact same coaches for two years.

[Nart]

I have wondered about this too because last spring my younger son who was 4 at the time had an amazing boys gymnastic coach. In May a new instructor started shadowing him. The experienced instructor told me he was going to take over the class in June and he was training him. He also mentioned that he was going to miss the following week to take the SAT. In June I stopped taking my son because I didn't think it was worth paying for an inexperienced high school student to try and control five to six squirmy little boys.

 

Two weeks ago I enrolled my older son, age 7, in a tumbling class at the same gym. He has never taken a gymnastics class but is coordinated and likes to play on the monkey bars. In the two classes he attended I immediately noticed there is a very wide difference in the kids abilities even though the class is beginning tumbling. There was one girl who could fall backwards into a bridge and then almost kick over by herself, do a round off, etc. My son can do a cartwheel (it isn't perfect) and hold a bridge. And another girl who started the same day as my son cannot do a cartwheel nor do a bridge. She seems to try hard and is enthusiastic but the instructor spent a lot of time with her because she needed so much help. I could tell the mother of the most advanced student wasn't pleased. I overheard her talking to the instructor after class and she was told the two highest kids got moved up and two be kids started so she needed to balance the level of the class. She told the mother another beginning tumbling class had other kids at her daughter's level. So it seems like there is a wide range of what is aught in the beginning class. I am not sure if this gym has a check off list of what each individual student has mastered or what you need to do to move up to the next class. Does your gym have something like that?

[busymotherof4]

You could consider a few private lessons to learn the skills she needs. They are pricey but little time is wasted. At our gym they are $40 per hour for rec kids. Are the skills she wants to learn with in the scope of her class? Maybe you need to get a little pushy and have her move up. You can start by finding out what she needs to learn to move up.