Reply to Arlington proposing to close county gymnastics program

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's crazy how much misinformation is out there or how some people speak about the rec and competitive programs and really have no knowledge of how it works.[/quote]

Only a handful of people have knowledge of "how it works" because it's a resource that has been focused on serving the needs of that handful of people for several years, without offering much for the community at large. Resources have been focused on the competition team and the rec program has dwindled. People get frustrated that they can never get their kids into the rec classes because they always fill up immediately and the waitlists never move. Even if you can get into classes, there's no guarantee your kid will be able to continue with it in the next session because of the oversubscription.

So to a large degree, the lack of knowledge and understanding of the program is due to the program's own mismanagement and concentration of resources towards a small group of "insiders". Well now those insiders want to fight to keep that program that mostly only benefits them, and it turns out everyone else, who mostly have no direct experience with the program (and some case whose only experience is with being unable to get their kids into classes or to sign up for them themselves) are not eager to go to bat for a program with limited utility outside a small group of people in the know.

You are right I don't know much about rec and competitive programs at Barcroft. That is largely because neither I nor my kids have ever been able to take a class there. It just doesn't seem the program had much interest in us, so now we have very little interest in the program.[/quote]
This is so so inaccurate.  Folks from all across the community participate in gymnastics.  You sign up for rec classes on the Arlington county website.  There's no insider group.  For team, kids try out.  There were 60 kids at the team tryout my kids attended and my kid made the team with zero connections.[/quote]

It's like you didn't read.

People can't get into rec classes because they halved the program post-Covid. They went from offering over 3000 spots to rec students pre-Covid to less than 2000 post-Covid, with huge waitlists that no one gets off of. No one is suggesting that you need connections to get on a team. They are saying that the program is focusing resources (especially coaches) on competition teams, while neglecting the rec program which used to serve a lot more kids and be easier to get a spot in.

I get it, for the people who are being served by the program, it's invaluable. But it's not serving enough people. It's a great program for the few who can participate. Add in the percent of competition gymnasts who are not even county residents, and those getting fee waivers, and people get frustrated. Who is this program for? It's expensive and it really doesn't seem to serve that many people.

I've seen repeated complaints about Long Bridge in this thread. Yes, that facility is expensive. But I can go there tomorrow and use the facilities, as can any other Arlington resident. As for their competition teams, I am not aware of long waitlists for participating -- they seem to do a good job of actually meeting demand while ALSO providing a facility that can and is used by other residents daily for hours a day. Meanwhile Barcroft has huge waitlists and there are lots of kids who want to sign up for gymnastics and can't, despite the fact that county is spending a ton of money on that program. The facility regularly sits empty and despite demand for classes because the program either can't find or can't afford more coaches and the coaches they do have are tilted toward the competition program.

It doesn't serve enough people. It is not a useful asset to the county and it makes no sense to be spending this much money on a program that can't find a way to do that.[/quote]
I have no idea why you seem to think that I'm years removed from trying to get into rec gymnastics classes. It's exactly the opposite. I have more than one kid and my kids are not old.  I also cannot fathom why you think it will be easier to get your kid into gymnasts classes by closing Barcroft. My kids sat on the Dynamic waitlist for over 3 years without getting off. Fortunately we've had the luck of getting into barcroft rec classes some sessions.  But that's just via the county lottery program thing.

What I really want to happen is for DPR to get off its tush and to offer more rec classes and fill the facility with gymnastics.  That fixes both problems both cost recovery and meeting demand. And you're right, there is tons of demand. It's not a secret that DPR has a strong bias towards the swim program and it's really been hurting gymnastics to not get adequate staffing support.

I also think it's really wrong that you're complaining about fee waivers. I have no issue with this disadvantaged Arlington kids getting some help so they can participate in Arlington sports. It's the same policy across the board for all sports.  Fee waivers aren't available for out of County residents.

The facility isn't fully utilized because DPR has decided not to offer other programming in the facility. That's the long and the short of it. (It's right up there with APS zoning kids out of Nottingham because they were planning to close it. That wasn't a coincidence.)  And until very very recently, none of this information had been shared with Arlington residents or the gymnastics community. There has been no opportunity for anyone associated with the program to try to help or to try to find solutions. It seems crazy that Arlington can disclose a problem on a Thursday and send termination notices to all the gymnastics staff on the following Monday. Only 4 days later. Literally no notice to anyone. Nor any real information being provided until weeks later. This whole thing has been rammed through by a county manager and head of DPR who don't like gymnastics for whatever reason. This isn't how a county should be run. There needs to be a chance to try to fix this given how much has been invested in the program and how much demand there is.  Really, everyone should be finding this super fishy.[/quote]

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