Changing Gyms

My Z loved her coach and the feeling was mutual.  He was always on her side,  gave lots of praise and encouragement.  He told us that she has a lot of potential and seemed almost devastated when we told him that she was going to cut back to continue playing soccer and running cross country.  But he was there for her and thrilled when she came back to gymnastics full time.

And then he wasn't.

One day,  he was just gone.

No notice and no goodbyes.

Z was more than a bit upset.

So now the question became,  did we stay at the gym,  accept the new coaching staff,  or move across town to the other gym?

The other gym is where my older daughter briefly took lessons.  Other girls had come to our gym from there and said the coach was "mean." But we called and were told that Z would need to try out.  So we scheduled a try out.  And although she was nervous and didn't know anyone,  she did well.  Unfortunately,  the head coach and owner couldn't be there and asked us to meet with her a few days later,

We went to the gym and meet with the coach.  She explained her coaching philosophy and that she expects the girls to be there and work,  not goof off.  Then she asked Z to do another practice session so that she could watch.   After it was over,  we were told that they would accept her to the team.  

Now we had a decision to make.

How it all started . . .

You've heard of the soccer mom, the dance mom and the pageant mom.  I'm the gymnastics mom.  And to be honest, I've been the soccer mom and a cheer mom.  But at this point, it seems like gymnastics mom is my biggest job yet--and really, it's my gymnast that does the hard work.

Looking back, I never really thought that I'd become a gymnastics mom.  I was a competitive gymnast when I was younger.  I was never great, but I did compete for several years and was also on my high school gymnastics team.  Yes, I'm old enough that we still had gymnastics in high school.  Looking back to when I was on a competitive team, I remember practicing two hours a night, five nights a week.  I don't remember traveling too much for competition, but I guess I'd have to ask my parents for sure.

Once I had girls, I never really expected them to be in gymnastics.  I told myself I would never push my girls into the sport, nor would I push them if they decided to start.  My oldest daughter took a few lessons, but never really pursued it.  She just didn't seem like she was that into it.  Now, she is really into cheer leading and wishes that she had kept with the gymnastics if for no other reason than the tumbling.  She has also done soccer, softball and cross country.  But in the long run, her true love, and the only thing she has really stuck with, is cheer.

My youngest, who is now eight, started taking gymnastics lessons about twenty months ago.  She quickly excelled and was placed into the "pre-team" classes.  Before we knew it, her coach was talking about being put on the team and competing.  The problem?  She was also playing soccer and running cross country at school.  While we understood that the coach said she had potential, she wasn't ready to give up the other sports.  So, instead, we took a "break" from gymnastics.  She would work out with the pre-team class one day a week and take a 1/2 hour private lesson on another day.  Then, on November 4, 2013, she started working out with the team.  That meant three hours a day, three days a week of practice.

The rest of the team had already learned the competitive routines and were working on refining them.  So my kiddo was behind.  The competition season was supposed to start in January and we were not sure if she would be ready.  We took a couple of private lessons to try to learn the routines and she finally did.  Unfortunately, the team had already registered for meets and we weren't even registered with USAG, so competition was not going to happen for her.  We did attend two meets to watch.  This was a big deal.  She was able to watch her team mates and see what a competition was really like.  The main season starts in August, so we knew we would be ready by then.