Can anyone advise on gymnastics club?

We are in a similar situation. I am not prepared to put our family through hours and hours of trailing about after DD’s gymnastics. She’s good at it and enjoys it but there is no way she will ever compete to the standard that I think the commitment of 15+ hours a week warrants.

Agree that there is a massive gap for those who want to do more but not sell their souls, and a more sustainable approach to those who might want to continue gym into adulthood. I think it’s true of many children’s activities TBH - no place for being good at a hobby. It’s either your life or why are you even bothering?

they are not allowed to do competition external to the club until the year they turn 8, so that is probably the reason.but talk to them

I found this with gymnastics and with dancing - they pick who they're interested in very early on and the rest of the rec classes are pretty much just subsidising the club/studio keeping you paying as long as possible before the kids lose interest and drift away (which happens quite fast when there's no consistency of teaching or real interest in them over the competition kids).

I knew how it was and kept paying for gymnastics for a while because I wanted them to have the benefit of the activity and flexibility but then a bunch of the competition crowd who'd bullied us out of the dancing class all decided en-masse to join the rec gym class mine were in which was the point where we gave up and fucked off to do things like scouting, and a very inclusive kickboxing club.

Same with lots of the usual kids' hobbies - rec is essentially subsidising and being the picking out ground for those they decide to focus on and you're not going to get much interest from the clubs in doing lots of work with the rec classes.

I'm done. She's nearly done. You literally are just a number. There are so many girls who are 'decent' that actually, despite the fact that your child commits (and you as a parent commits) they actually don't really care. Dare to have an injury? Well, forget any sympathy or concern. You keep training.

It's actually quite 'cult' like to be honest.

I can't wait til she quits and we can move away from gymnastics. In the 5 years she's been doing it, I have had cause for official complaint 4 times. Nastiness from coaches, bullying, mental abuse...and the worse bit, all the parents know about it but no one wants to risk their place on the squad.

Ridiculous.

I did gymnastics as a child. My advice is to find a good club that focuses on technique in lessons. In other words, really do your research in order to find a club that will actually help your child. Take a look at the website of the British Gymnastics Association too and ensure the gym is accredited fully. Have a list of things to check, this includes teacher qualifications and so on.

I agree it's a blessing OP's daughter hasn't been chosen for squad. They train up to 20 hours a week at such a young age, family life is disrupted, holidays limited, and for what? There are literally thousands of gymnasts in squads up and down the country and the last Olympics had a team of four. They did win bronze, but that's four gymnasts out of the thousands giving up everything else in life to train. The injuries are no joke either. My cousin was doing 20-22 hours a week in squad and regional competition and she still has severe back pain and joint issues in her thirties. She never even competed at nationals, let alone any international competitions. She was very talented but the chances of making it are just so slim. She never did her homework properly because she had to train every night after school and her social life was non existent until she quit at 15.

It's just not the kind of sport you can dip in and out of...you either stick to recreational and do an hour or two a week or you go all in. There's no middle ground.

My daughter was in a gymnastics club preschool. The kids who get into squads are approached and starts when they get into primary. You get to choose between one or two hours in the recreational class. I wanted her to stay recreational and I do not want her to spend hours training. The recreational class are not great and it left like they only care about the squad. We left as soon as we got a space in the after school gymnastics club at school. They do a class a week, no one is a second class gymnast because he isn’t in the squad or a squad coach. The kids have fun and good exercise. I much prefer that.

Thankfully the gymnastics came after the swimming so they weren't both at the same time and was only 3 times a week.

Op - an 8 year old committing to a single sport regularly results in a teen with no sport. Loads give up as they aren't making the grade and then have nothing to replace it.

When mine were swimming, I was always in trouble with the coach as I refused to fully commit to the training schedule they wanted them to do. Mine wanted to continue doing other activities so if swimming got missed, it got missed. They both swam at a high level (medals at nationals) but could have done a lot better if they fully committed. However, they ended up much more rounded and had other activities to carry on with when they finished swimming.

My DD is in the lowest hours squad and it’s 5 hours a week. They have kids doing much more. It takes over your life.

Don't feel sad for her, I feel sad for the kids training so much, it's such a hard life for them. One class a week is brilliant for fitness and flexibility and you're not tied into their hours. You can do other activities and she'll be nicely rounded. There are hundreds of these little girls training insane hours every year and there's only been one gymnast in the last decade that's been a household name. It's the only sport that's competitive really young and it's easy to feel disappointed if your kid isn't progressing but you've done a great thing by taking her and keeping her fitness up so don't feel down hearted. Also, even in squad it may not look like they're making progress as they're not somersaulting, but they're still building up the foundations safely, so you can still expect her to make progress as she gets older.

It always seems like such a shame that there isn’t as much in between the one hour a week rec classes and doing crazy hours in squads. We’re in a rec class and that is where we’ll stay but I wouldn’t mine doing 3/4 hours a week. We’d have never been able to do the hours needed for any more than that.

I think clubs can be a bit different with when they move kids into development/competitive squads. COVID has also meant things have been a bit different. You need to talk to the coaches.

Gym clubs can have the reputation of being fantastic if you are in the development/competitive squad but not so for the recreational classes.

DD’s club is great at communication but her cousins’ one, not so much.

She's defo in the rec classes not the competition squads. The photos are the squad gymnasts. At the gyms we we to they would approach you if they thought your child was good enough. At 8 they are prob doing 6-10 hours a week. Ask the coaches

It’s worth looking at all the different types of gymnastics, not just artistic, eg rhythmic, aerobic, TeamGym, trampolining, acro. Sometimes your nearest gym will not be the best for your discipline and you will need to travel. Make sure the gym is BGA accredited. Have a look at the BGA website. Your gym should be able to explain the different pathways it runs and how a child moves along it.
As per PPs, recreational is normally 1-2 hours per week, although some kids take a couple of recreational classes each week to increase their hours as otherwise it’s hard to improve.

But competitive gymnastics will require longer training hours. At a regional competition standard, you should expect around 4-5 sessions per week (15+ hours), national standard 5-7 days a week (25+ hours), international daily training (30+++ hours). Just an FYI - as this is a serious commitment and you may wish to consider if this will work for you and your family before you go too far down this road.

In terms of what you should do, if your gym is the best in your area for her discipline, stick with it, they know what they’re doing. Look at increasing your DD’s training hours by adding another recreational class or 2. If there aren’t extra classes at your gym, there’s no rule that says she can’t attend classes at another gym as well. And find out when she will next be assessed and what the next steps are. Is there a particular level/ skill your DD needs to achieve before moving up? Then you can set your DDs expectations on timelines and also help her focus her training goals (a very useful life skill for all gymnasts).

If you do do say she's a gymnast Nd maybe interested in competing and ask for "try out" which should stop you being stuck in 1-2 hour a week rec groups if that's not what she wants. My daughter has loved it!

I can really recommend a trampoline vlub though if she is interested? They are often keen on gymnasts, you can start later (competitive gymnasts are often chosen by 6 and almost impossible to get into late.)

Trampolining doesnt have rhe insane hours and a better competition structure that means you ca compete at different ages.

There really is a sharp divide between rec and squads. How many hours does she do?

Many gymnasts are doing 8-10 hoirs by that age and more if in a "good" squad. These will be the ones you see in the pictures.

Dd did gymnastics for a while and there are recreational and competitive classes. Recreational is generally only a couple of classes a week while competitive is insane. She did rhythmic rather than artistic so it wasn't as intense - 9-12 hours a week rather than 20-25 hours a week. What usually happens is the kids that show potential are invited to try out for the competitive but it's certainly worth while asking about their pathway. It sounds like she is recreational. Normally, anyone doing competitive would be doing it by her age but obviously covid has messed up the normal progression