I'm the poster with the toddler who loves (as she calls it), "BOOM!"

We decided to take her to open gym when we could. She's going through a not-listening phase, so we thought we'd wait until the winter for formal classes.

I wish we liked SS more, but overall, I haven't been impressed by the staff. I also really hate the toy store in the lobby. We've been to Marvatots in Rockville, though, and it's been an amazing experience. There's one staff member in particular whom my DD loves.

Anonymous wrote:Hills in Gaithersburg has produced Olympians.

+1 My daughter loves Hills although she is not on a competition team. I'm amazed by most of the older girls.

We go to Dynamite and DD really likes it. But it is quite pricey. I have thought about moving her, but she really likes it, has her friends, likes the instructors, etc. She's showing some promise so I don't know if we'll consider moving her in the future.

I have friends who are doing and have done Hills and say good things.

I believe it is. She and her husband have had several gyms in the area (over the years) that have gone up and down with various names.

Slightly off topic but is Dobre Academy run by Aurelia Dobre? She was an amazing gymnast.

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.

My DS has been at the agility gym for nearly two years and recently switched to the parkour gym (they are both right next to dynamite's gymnastics gym). There is talk that they are building a parkour team for competition. I am not sure how that is going to work, but it's the avenue my son wants to pursue.

We've tried SS, which is close to our home, but our child (and us) prefer Dynamite, despite a 15-min longer drive to get there. It's a bigger facility, and our child was already familiar w/the instructors, so we returned there. However, know plenty of families who are happy w/SS, including one person we know who trained there and was actually in the Olympics at one point.

The Silver Stars experience totally depends on who is teaching the class. We've had one teacher that was amazing - really pushed them to try harder things while being safe and really fun. DC LOVED her! We've had others that just dialed it in - the hardest thing being walking on a very, very low beam. DC still enjoyed the class okay, but then requested to try other activities (soccer, ballet) once it was over.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a NP who has a 2 yo DD who is currently *obsessed* with gymnastics (she calls it "BOOM!" and has figured out how to do a somersault, much to my horror bc it can't be good for her head). I'd love to put her in a toddler class, and my only criteria are that she has fun and is safe.

We're closest geographically to Silver Stars ... is there any reason to put her elsewhere?

My twins LOVED Silver Stars but they didn't do a whole lot of tumbling.

We've been at Dynamite for almost three years and DD loves it. It is pricy, but I believe it's the newest (it's also very clean) and we have never had a bad instructor. No idea if it produces top gymnasts or gets scholarships for kids, but mine has shown some talent for it, but mostly wants to do it for fun. We're not pushing otherwise.

Haven't tried the other gyms, but I have friends who sent their kids to Hills and enjoyed it there as well.

Nope, go to Silver Stars! Hope your daughter has a great time.

I'm a NP who has a 2 yo DD who is currently *obsessed* with gymnastics (she calls it "BOOM!" and has figured out how to do a somersault, much to my horror bc it can't be good for her head). I'd love to put her in a toddler class, and my only criteria are that she has fun and is safe.

We're closest geographically to Silver Stars ... is there any reason to put her elsewhere?

I've coached gymnastics in the area for many years. It really depends on what you are looking for. Plus, the caliber of the competitive team normally means that is where the coaching talent is also. If you can find a place that is convenient for you ask if they recommend a certain teacher that might be better than others. This can also vary depending on the class. Younger kids might do better with young energetic coaches whereas older ish kids (10-12+) will to better with someone who is a little more methodical and has more experience. What are your goals OP? Just to try it out and see if your DC likes it?

If your goal is a college scholarship then yes Hills is your gym, but they also burn out a lot of kids there so the chances of them actually still doing gymnastics at 18.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We've been to Silver Stars, Dynamite and Dobre. Never heard of Preston. Fairyland and Capital are way to far for us. Not impressed with any we went to.

Preston is very close to Dobre, probably less than a 5 minute drive away.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We've been to Silver Stars, Dynamite and Dobre. Never heard of Preston. Fairyland and Capital are way to far for us. Not impressed with any we went to.