Which gymnastics facility is considered top notch in the DC area?

[Anonymous]

How can you tell? I see a lot of mixed reviews on these places. Are they ranked anywhere?

[Anonymous]

Hills in Gaithersburg has produced Olympians.

[Anonymous]

What type of gymnastics are you looking for - trampoline, tumbling, rhythmic, acrobatic? The best gym depends on the branch of gymnastics you are looking at.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Mainly Tumbling & trampoline

[Anonymous]

Hills has the reputation as being the best. I sent DD there briefly (she did gymnastics on and off for a couple years) and they were good, but busy. The instruction seemed a little more personal and hands-on at nearby Dobre Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Mainly Tumbling & trampoline

I don't know if Dynamite is the "best", but they have an excellent T&T team.

[Anonymous]

How old is your child? Where are you located? Does your child have gymnastics experience and if so, what sort of experience?

For competitive levels, what works for one kid may not be a good fit for another. If you're looking at preschool and recreational classes, I think it's FAR more important to be at a gym that offers lots of those classes and is enthusiastic about those programs.

[Anonymous]

OP, I know watching the Olympics is fun. Just put your preschooler in a nearby gymnastics class and see if she has any talent. Then figure out the next step after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know watching the Olympics is fun. Just put your preschooler in a nearby gymnastics class and see if she has any talent. Then figure out the next step after that.

+1

The Olympics make me a little nutty. My son is 14 months and I totally have been thinking about how you become an Olympic swimmer. He's too tall to be a gymnast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Mainly Tumbling & trampoline

I don't know if Dynamite is the "best", but they have an excellent T&T team.

Silver stars has a program as well. You should do trials at both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know watching the Olympics is fun. Just put your preschooler in a nearby gymnastics class and see if she has any talent. Then figure out the next step after that.

MTE

[Anonymous]

All the programs suck for boys. It is fun from about 1-5, then the girls teams take over and they pretty much ignore the boys and the rest of the kids and just use it as income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the programs suck for boys. It is fun from about 1-5, then the girls teams take over and they pretty much ignore the boys and the rest of the kids and just use it as income.

Not true, there are several good programs for boys locally (Preston, Fairland, Capital), and also plenty of T&T teams. And for boys who don't want to compete, Dynamite has their agility and parkour centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hills has the reputation as being the best. I sent DD there briefly (she did gymnastics on and off for a couple years) and they were good, but busy. The instruction seemed a little more personal and hands-on at nearby Dobre Academy.

I don't have much experience with other places but my impression of Dobre (if it's the same one on Gaither Road) was opposite.

The older kids classes seems okay, meaning for elementary or middle school girls.

But for the classes younger than that, your experiences might vary depending on the teacher you have and the specific class. I thought the age range for some of the classes weren't set up well and some of the classes were way too big for the number of instructors they had allotted.

I heard that a lot of the impressions I have about Dobre is similar to what others posted on Yelp, so there might be some truth to some of the reviews on Yelp. But at the same time they do say that people tend to only write or post about negative experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hills has the reputation as being the best. I sent DD there briefly (she did gymnastics on and off for a couple years) and they were good, but busy. The instruction seemed a little more personal and hands-on at nearby Dobre Academy.

I don't have much experience with other places but my impression of Dobre (if it's the same one on Gaither Road) was opposite.

The older kids classes seems okay, meaning for elementary or middle school girls.

But for the classes younger than that, your experiences might vary depending on the teacher you have and the specific class. I thought the age range for some of the classes weren't set up well and some of the classes were way too big for the number of instructors they had allotted.

I heard that a lot of the impressions I have about Dobre is similar to what others posted on Yelp, so there might be some truth to some of the reviews on Yelp. But at the same time they do say that people tend to only write or post about negative experiences.

Never heard of Prestons but been to Dobre and Dynamite. Dynamite is very overpriced for what it is. Its very disorganized and some of the instructors are plain nasty.. They often gossip about parents and kids. Dobre used to be ok but they have had huge enrollment increases and do not have the space or instructors for that growth. The place was also very smelly. We often had 10-14 or more kids to a class and the boys instructors were not reliable, then left and the boys were bounced around to different classes/no consistency. They only seemed to focus on team. My child would have loved to continue but we gave up as it was not leading anywhere.