Gymnastics - what kind of progress to expect?

[Fantasia99]

My son started gymnastics when he was 4. It's a proper gymnastics club (not like the toddler club he used to go to which didn't involve much real gymnastics). Completely out of curiosity, how long did it take your kids to actually learn how to do some proper gymnastics moves? I'm bored witless for 2 hours a week watching them do forward rolls and and trying to touch their toes 😅 slightly lighthearted, but also interested to know if I've got years of this to come...

@jollywhite Im sorry your daughter had such a bad experience but it is really not like that at all clubs. I’m not keen on the hours but that’s the only negative (for our family - DD would happily do twice as many I’m sure).

@jollywhite I think it very much depends on the coach and the club. My daughter is a squad gymnast and does many hours a week- she adores it and her confidence is soaring. Her coach is very conscious of the girls mental health though as she had a similar experience to your daughter when she was a gymnast herself. I’m sorry your child went through that.

Op- from what I’ve observed some clubs have excellent rec classes where the kids progress well (BG are keen to push gymnastics for all and not have it so much about the squads) and others are a bit of a revolving door of kids where the rec classes bring the money in.

Kids are usually spotted fairly quickly and moved to development/squad but rarely some do get missed so if you think your son would like to do more it’s worth approaching the coaches.

From my understanding (as a complete newbie to the world of gymnastics, thanks to my daredevil child), they scout out the kids with potential and progress them to regional and national squads straight away, before they are even old enough to compete, while others spend a year or two moving through badges before being moved into a squad. This is based on my chats with club parents though. I literally know nothing!