Any opinions on team gymnastics start-up?

[Anonymous]

My DD is a level 6 and is eager to get back to the gym. Wondering if anyone has heard/can speculate when this may be possible? I was thinking by July since the team practices are smaller in size. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Chalkbucket.com forums are a better place for this question; I don’t think anyone has specific info for this area yet but you can see what people are saying about their gyms in other states and countries. They have added a specific section on Covid and reopening.

[Anonymous]

We’re in Colorado and our gym is letting team members do private sessions with coaches with 10 people max in the gym. One on one personal training is allowed in all types of gyms here for the last couple of weeks.

They’ve sent out a document outlining a three phase reopening plan, with teams coming back first at 25% of capacity and parent drop off. But there’s no date yet for when it will start. There’s also a long list of safety protocols that employees will follow, cleaning procedures, etc.

[Anonymous]

Our NOVA gym has been very quiet.

[Anonymous]

I wish we lived in Faquier Country right about now. I think our gym will be one of the last to open and I am not sure that we can wait it out if others find ways to safely resume practice, even if it's just small group and outdoor work.

[Anonymous]

Right now area gyms don’t have much concrete info on when they will be able to open. It isn’t clear how kid activities will be treated and what the guidelines will be. It seems like camps might be considered after Phase 1 but I haven’t seen specifics on what the limitations will be in those next phases, just the specifics for VA Phase 1 (which the DMV isn’t in yet). I assume MD and DC phases will be similar. If they limit it only to licensed childcare centers most gym programs don’t qualify. If they are allowed to open within the next 4 months (when school is out) with limited capacity I think most gyms will make an effort to change their schedules to run classes for longer periods of times to space kids out to the 10 people limitation. Most gyms had back up plans to do that before the full stay at home orders were in effect, when just gathering size was being limited, but then that was quickly ruled out. A limiting factor is that daytime classes are not popular for obvious reasons.

In areas of the country where gyms are allowed to open, most JO teams are doing so on limited hours in order to accommodate rec classes and account for the time off. Tuition just depends. I’ve seen a lot of different ways gyms are handling that even during the closing. In some states, outdoor recreation classes are being allowed, and teams have met to do outdoor workouts. This was popularly being done in some European countries which was shared online with coaches groups for ideas. I believe outdoor classes are allowed in VA Phase 1 so that could help some teams to do conditioning groups IF Virginia decides that youth gymnastics qualifies - in other states gyms were told that youth recreational activities would be considered differently than adult gyms.

Long story short some gyms might have to make some serious changes in order to financially recover from this and stay operational. Rec classes or camps may need to take more priority than they have in the past over team groups. Right now everyone is just in a holding pattern in this area. But as soon as they can they will try to get some hours in. It will probably look different than what we were used to in the past, obviously.

[Anonymous]

How do you think this will look if schools are closed in the Fall? Is there any real path forward? My daughter will. E devastated if her gym has to close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you think this will look if schools are closed in the Fall? Is there any real path forward? My daughter will. E devastated if her gym has to close.

We will move. My gymnast is on a college-track and needs the gym. If other states get their act together, but VA doesn't, we'll go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

The problem with moving is available space. That’s one thing behind USAG announcing now that all premier events are cancelled because many elite track gymnasts still are not practicing and secondary concerns that gyms wouldn’t be able to accommodate requests to use their facilities. If your child is level 10 or higher already, maybe. But even where places open up there will be restrictions (on gathering size). The gyms that are open now won’t be able to accommodate tons of additional team gymnasts at the expense of their rec classes and remain operational.

Most gyms that have the facility and coaching for a higher level athlete are in more populated areas. There are thousands and thousands of kids in this country that could be considered “on a college track”. I have seen and heard a lot of the idea of moving, but I wonder how many spots there will be to be able to accommodate this...most large gyms already have many “college track” gymnasts on team. I have worked at gyms that had more than 10 level 10s some years. In order to pay the bills and keep the facility going, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be able to continue holding off on rec classes at the expense of team, or they will be able to accept new kid at the expense of their rec base they’ve built. It’s not sustainable for them long term.

To be honest I don’t know if it matters much whether schools are open or closed, just how gyms are considered under the reopening guidelines. In many ways it will be much easier for gyms to reopen functionally if schools are closed, or on a modified schedule, because it would allow them to spread classes and practices out throughout the day while keeping under the minimum number of patrons allowed.

Nothing like this has ever happened before. I’ve been involved in gymnastics most of my life and gyms rarely close for anything. So I don’t think anyone knows for sure yet what will happen but I would try to stay positive. I have seen many gymnasts out for a year plus come back to the level they were at. Some of these gymnasts to the elite level. And this is often on top of rehabbing an injury. So even though we don’t like the idea in gymnastics, the fact is it’s certainly possible and in reality happens all the time. Main factors we need to be focused on are adequate nutrition and rest as they come back, gradually ramping up repetitions, focus on the mental aspect of this big change, maintain conditioning level.

[Anonymous]

It’s in phase 2, or “medium risk” of Hogan’s MD opening plan.

FYI: phase 2 might not happen anytime soon!

[Anonymous]

I should add, one way school closures might affect the gym is by affecting parent perception of the safety of sending their children to rec classes. If enrollment declines below what is even allowed then gyms might struggle to operate. Of course it could have the opposite effect of increasing interest. But I assume there will be a limit to what can operate and most gyms will just focus on retaining current customers.

We also missed the Olympic boom for this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It’s in phase 2, or “medium risk” of Hogan’s MD opening plan.

FYI: phase 2 might not happen anytime soon!

Yes, in VA this phase also alluded to camps etc...but I haven’t seen proposed details. I would guess there will be some limits on how many can be indoors still, so that will affect operations. Many big gyms had more than 50 people in there at once, and that seems on the generous end of what a limit might be. If they limit it to 10 (since the current VA guidance for OUTDOOR activities that are opening up in parts of the state is 10 total...) that’s gonna be tough and require significantly reduced capacity and hours BUT the good news is I think it’s doable in some capacity esp with schools closed. It’s going to be different than what we’re used to in terms of hours and scheduling but it’ll be doable. Although you’ve also gotta figure out how to comply with safesport stuff. All we can hope for is to speed through these phases and cases keep declining. Unfortunately I don’t think that will happen...but that’s what I hope for.

[Anonymous]

As a team parent, I'd gladly move to a private for pay model or increase our fees to take priority over rec classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a team parent, I'd gladly move to a private for pay model or increase our fees to take priority over rec classes.

I’m sure it might come up, because I expect under some opening limitations private lessons or extremely small groups might become available first. I know in other states this has been going on under limited indoor gathering guidance, but isn’t currently allowed here.

In this area, there’s more economic wiggle room. In other parts of the country, gyms may not have that many team families who can afford extra fees and privates, and even here there has to be some limit on how much rec income you can make up from team. I’ll use numbers from this area (because I’ve lived here a long time and don’t really know the numbers for other places, but lower for sure, obviously their rent and labor etc is lower too). Rec is currently about $20 per hour in this area. Low end JO practices approx 40 hours a week. High end practices 80. The cost of this ranges about $250-450 a month currently or half or less than half of what rec pays per hour (but of course they’re more stable in enrollment). Team coaches also generally have more experienced and get paid more. So I guess it just depends on the gym’s past structure but there’s a limit to how high team tuition can go and families can still pay it. A thriving rec program is more profitable but of course team draws rec students in.

A gym could have 50 rec kids or more come through a day along with 50 or more team kids (I can tell you for some area gyms it’s well above that in a single afternoon, but granted those are larger facilities that may have options). So it’s a big revenue difference to allocate all or most of those hours to 50 team kids at their normal 10-20 hours per week practice schedule. I’m not saying gyms won’t do their best to bring team back at priority I’m just trying to illustrate the catch 22 they’re under. Bills will be due for the space that’s being underutilized. Only 25% of the small business paycheck protection loans can go to rent so a lot of gyms are already under strain and that’s if they got these loans.

I KNOW that gyms will do their very best to hold on and accommodate team to the greatest extent possible, based on your commitment to the gym over time. Gyms are also big spaces and gym owners are for sure working on guidance on different angles of this issue, such as whether putting up temporary wall barriers and directing traffic flow would allow them to create different zones. Hopefully this along with being able to fully utilize different time shifts in the day, possibly even starting in the earlier AM than gyms are used to, will be able to accommodate hours as much as possible. I’m very hopeful gyms will be able to get guidance and that health departments will work with these businesses to accommodate to the safest extent possible, so the businesses can stay operational. I think we can be hopeful but just understand it will take awhile to get back to where we were but it IS 100% possible for gymnasts to come back from time off. It takes time but I’ve seen it countless times over time periods way longer than this so far. So I want the gymnasts to stay hopeful and be creative (and safe) on keeping in shape now.

[Anonymous]

Our team is at a county facility (I know that gives it away). So, there aren't bills not being paid, so to speak, other than lost revenue. I realize it is still impactful, but I'm not afraid of the program closing down. I am afraid, however, that they will be the last to open due to county restrictions that private gyms can work around. They are way less flexible and don't even allow private lessons. We've heard squat from the county and I haven't heard anything at all about reopening procedures from coaches. I know another large private gym was working out their guidelines weeks ago.

We absolutely could make it work if it weren't for rec classes. The compulsories would have to be split, but most optional levels are small groups, if not paired with another level.