Can anyone advise on gymnastics club?

[Notwithittoday]

Dd is 8 and has been going to same gymnastics since she was 4. It’s quite a large private club but there’s never been any displays or shows dd has been involved in. Yet I see their Instagram and Facebook updates where they have girls younger than dd in costumes and doing shows. She did one competition which was videod online last year which they said was regional and she got first place in two parts. We did have COVID obviously when she didn’t go but she’s been straight back to it. She’s very keen and has a bar at home and practises. She’s been watching a lot of gymnasts on you tube snd the olympics and keeps pestering me about doing more. I never did gymnastics so have no experience. Im not looking for her to be an Olympian but I’d like her to make progress and enjoy something she’s interested in. As far as I can see she seems good and is very light and flexible so I don’t think it’s an ability issue. I asked if there was other classes available or if she should do more and they said they would look into it in the new year. Speaking to other mums in the same class their girls aren’t doing anything either. I’m wondering if the girls I’m seeing on their social media are relatives/ friends of the owners or what? Does anyone have any advice?

@Mnusernc

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.

I agree with you on that but swimming is just as bad. I had 2 competitive swimmers and one competitive gymnast, albeit rhythmic which didn't have the same commitment in the club she was in.

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 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.

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.

@Mnusernc

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.

Thanks for that. I’m sure you’re right. I definitely had no desires for her to be professional. I would hate her to get injured. I just thought there would be a little more motivation for her and let’s face it we all like to see our little ones performing even if they’re not that good. She does play basketball so it’s not like she has no other interests but I’ve decided to see if she might like to branch out a bit so I’ve booked her into a couple of dance/ cheer taster sessions this week to see if she likes those. Main thing in my eyes is her enjoying and gaining confidence

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.

@megustalacerveza

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.

This! My daughter is 9 now, trains 18 hours a week. She was doing 15 hrs a week when she was 6. There is literally no middle ground. You're either rec (and literally no one cares) or you push to get your child noticed and they're doing ridiculous hours training.

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 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.

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

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?