Motionwear || Gymnastics Blog

How do gymnastic schools benefit from having national gymnasts?

Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by Kathe Jones.

Here in Indianapolis, it was big news among the gymnastics community when Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan won the women’s team silver in the 2008 Olympics, because they’re both students of Sharp’s Gymnastics School here in Indianapolis. Whenever something like this happens, gymnastics schools see a sharp increase in interest from parents and even other gymnasts.

Gymnastic schools who train national gymnasts can reap a number of benefits and exposures. First off, their schools become well known with little effort. In addition, aspiring gymnasts or students will want to come and practice at their facility to experience high-leveled and professional trainings. By bringing in more students, the schools earn more revenue.

If needed, part of their revenue can be spent on improving their facility. This includes enhancing the gym capacity, and purchasing more standard gymnastic equipment and props for their students. The revenue may also allow the schools to recruit additional experienced coaches.

Another benefit can be that the coaches will get to travel around the country, if not the world, with their gymnasts. This allows both coaches and athletes to learn new techniques and competing styles from various groups of competitors, and bring back their experience, and enhance their gymnasts’ routines.

Though there are several benefits that the schools can gain from coaching national gymnasts including being recognized as schools that provide high-leveled gymnastic education, the schools need to keep up with their reputation and popularity. It is always helpful when coaches and staffs are friendly and professional to students and their parents. The facility and equipment should remain clean, organized and well-maintained. By doing so, the schools can attract more and more students as they want to come and train at the schools’ facility.

Then it becomes a continual cycles. With more students comes more top-level performers, which increases the chance for another student to compete on a national or even global scale, which increases the school’s reputation, which brings in more students, and so on. So schools see accompishments like Sloan’s and Peszek as an important way to boost business.

But teaching national level gymnasts is not the only way schools can ride the Olympic wave. Many schools see an increase in new students right after the Summer Olympics, so it’s a great way to continue to grow and attract more students.

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Alternative Revenue Streams for your Gym

Posted on 26. May, 2009 by Bob Wilson.

The economy’s tight, parents aren’t renewing for another season and you’re left wondering what you can do to get your gym’s bottom line back on track. So, what can you do? Here are a few ideas that other gyms are trying with great success.

Competitive Cheerleading

Competitive cheerleading outside of the school arena is quickly catching on, as are tumbling programs designed specifically for junior and high school cheerleaders.

One gym we deal with has started offering a Cheerleading Bootcamp program in the weeks leading up to cheerleading tryouts at the local high school. They’ve seen huge interest as girls flock to the program wanting to better their chances of getting on the squad.

Birthday Parties and Kid’s Programs

If you’re up for it, fun days and birthday parties can be a great revenue stream, provided they don’t cut into your regular gym time. You also need to be prepared. Training a team of gymnasts is a whole other world compared to entertaining a gym full of 6-year-olds hopped up on cupcakes.

Adult Classes

Adult classes are a nice way to open up your client base and even encourage parents to get involved. If you have the studio space for yoga classes or Pilates, even better. One gym I work with has built up a great niche offering prenatal yoga classes and Mommy and Me gym programs.

Summer Camps

Intensive summer camps and day programs are gaining in popularity for gyms looking to boost their summertime revenue. Most gyms offer day programs over a small range of age groups and skill levels with the focus of each day’s activities weighing heavily on, of course, gymnastics.

Day camps are also a good way to provide employment for your more senior team members whether as assistants or counselors.

Extreme Sports Classes

Have you ever watched the X-Games on TV? Skateboarders, snowboards and BMX bikers are doing flips through the air over concrete, snow and dirt. But, how do they learn to do that?

The gym is a great place to start and gyms that have opened their doors to programs focused specifically on extreme sports have not only seen huge interest, but also a big influx of boys.

Open Gyms

Imagine 50-100 middle schoolers jumping on your trampolines, climbing your ropes, leaping into your pit and sliding down the zip line. That’s open gym. Okay, fine, now imagine those same 50-100 middle schoolers paying $10-$15 each for the privilege. You need supervision, of course, but open gyms are a great way to make money.

Offering open gym/childcare for younger gymnasts is another way to lure parents to your gym. While they may just start dropping in for the affordable and fun, gym-based childcare, you may find those same parents enrolling gymnasts sooner rather than later.

So, what are you doing at your gym to broaden your revenue streams and increase your income? Have you tried any of the suggestions above? If so, we’d love to hear the results in the comments.

Photo: Moore Aloha

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Keeping Your Gymnasts Healthy During a Flu Outbreak

Posted on 22. May, 2009 by Bob Wilson.

Swine flu or no swine flu, keeping your gymnasts healthy should always be your top priority. Of course, now that yet another disease is sweeping across the country, parents, gym owners and even gymnasts are on the warpath against germs.

And we all know germs love gyms. So, what can you do to keep your gymnasts healthy and encourage a clean, safe environment?

Put Out Hand Sanitizer

Make hand sanitizer widely available and put some by the front door. Encourage your gymnasts to use it before and after practice. It’s not 100% sterile, but every bit helps.

Enforce a No-Sick Students Policy

If they’re sick, they stay home. Simple as that, don’t let sick gymnasts come to class.

MRSA is Real

We don’t like to talk about it, but MRSA is a real danger. Keep your gymnasts and their parents informed by either making your own fact sheets to send home or contacting your local or state health department to see if they have readily available resources.

The most important factor in preventing MRSA is keeping any skin breakages clean and covered. No gymnasts should be allowed on the floor with an open wound and that includes broken heels. Also, clean your mats regularly, wiping them down with either a tea tree solution, mat disinfectant or even bleach and water.

Discourage Spitting on the Grips

I still see this at meets and I think “oh gosh, the germs!” Please discourage this practice at your gym.

Educate Your Gymnasts About Warts

Warts happen, they’re a gym reality and yes, you can wipe your mats down every night, but the best way to prevent their spread is to educate your gymnasts.

Send them home with a handout explaining what to look for, how to treat foot warts and how to keep them covered should an infection occur. Also, encourage your students to shower or at least wash their feet after every practice. And just because it’s called hand sanitizer doesn’t mean you can’t use it on your feet.

Did I miss anything? What do you do at your gym to keep your gymnasts safe and healthy?

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The Elegant Balance of the Gymnastics Booster Club

Posted on 21. May, 2009 by Bob Wilson.

Ahh, the Booster Club – the non-profit, separate entity that is the parent’s association at most gyms. They can either be a gym’s best friend or, in some cases, their worst nightmare.

So, how do you strike that delicate and elegant balance between a Booster Club that’s helpful and one that’s invasive?

Don’t Make it Mandatory

The Booster Club is a separate entity, there to raise money for the competitive team’s costs and their coach’s travel costs. If a parent wants to participate, fine, but making it mandatory can actually drive many of your parents away. Why? Because some people would rather spend an extra $400 a year on registration fees than have to work a Bingo night month after month.

They’re Not Your Employees

While parents helping on the floor at meets is great and it’s fantastic to get them involved, please remember that they’re not your employees and the Booster Club isn’t a reservoir of free labor. Making that distinction clear and keeping those boundaries firm protects you from parental backlash.

It also protects you from the mindset that “this is my gym, I do all the work and now I have a say in how it’s run.” And to be fair, if you’re leaving the running of your gym up to the parents, then why shouldn’t they have a say in how it’s run?

Keep a Seat on Your Booster Club’s Board

It’s important to remember that the Booster Club is a separate entity from the gym, but that doesn’t mean you should disassociate yourself completely – particularly if your Booster Club is making decisions that could affect your business.

A gym owner in California got a call recently from one of her Booster Club members saying they had obtained corporate sponsorship for the team, but would need to hang a massive corporate logo banner in the gym for the whole season. It was a messy and awkward situation that could have been avoided had the gym owner or manager stayed in touch and on top of Booster Club activities.

Sitting on your gym’s Booster Club board also lets you keep an eye on potential conflicts. They happen and they can cause massive rifts, rifts that end up with parents (and their students) leaving your gym.

Keep it Legal

Remember, if a Booster Club is fundraising, they should be registered independently as a 501(c)3. This isn’t your responsibility, but if they’re not registered and money isn’t handled correctly, you could be dinged for income. So, before you let a Booster Club start operating in your club, make sure they have their ducks in a row.

I don’t mean to scare gym owners. Booster Clubs are a great thing, if they’re managed correctly. But, a poorly operating Booster Club can be more of a drain than a support.

What do you think? Are most gymnastics Booster Clubs a help or a hindrance? How do you work with yours?

Photo: Rick McCharles

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To Gymnastics Parents & Coaches: “Sometimes, I get concerned…”

Posted on 06. Mar, 2009 by Kathe Jones.

I attend a lot of gymnastics meets as part of my fit testing and design research for Motionwear. In the process, I see a lot of gymnastic coaching and parents of gymnasts in action. And sometimes, I get concerned…

I get concerned because I see (and please keep in mind that this is the exception and not the rule) parents & coaches focusing or harping on a far-off goal. They may not manifest this attitude directly to their gymnast but I hear it from them as we talk during meets. As they describe their child or student, I hear so much built in expectation that it seems inevitable that the hard-working, super dedicated little tumbler is going to disappoint them no matter how much they accomplish. They’re so fixated on the potential success that could be achieved 5 to 10 years from now, whether in national competition or college, they seem to forget the here and now.

The end result in these fortunately rare scenarios always seems to be a lot of unhappy competitors and young kids that are far too serious for their own good.

Personally, I tend to be drawn more towards positive gymnastic coaching techniques that still focus on hard work, but offer a balance. Instead of endless drills and a sometimes heavy-handed approach, the focus is more on learning and love of the sport.

What do you think? Would I be destined to failure in a gymnastic coaching career? If not, how can we convince these hard-liners to lighten up a bit?

photo:bryangeek

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Thoughts on Choreographing Gymnastics Routines

Posted on 26. Feb, 2009 by Kathe Jones.

Choreography can be a major hurdle for young gymnasts, particularly for those who don’t have access to local choreographers with strong experience doing gymnastics routines (trust me, they’re hard to find). Not only do choreographed routines have to be unique and, well, good, they have to meet current routine requirements.

In the end, gymnasts wind up with poorly-choreographed routines or having to go to the same choreographer as every other gymnast in the area. Guess what happens? They can all end up with strikingly similar routines. And when it comes to scoring, you want to stand out. Sure, they can spend the money to fly a choreographer into the gym, but it’s expensive.

Same Routines, Same Leotards?
It’s the same with gymnastics wear. There’s one store in town selling leotards and everyone’s at the meet wearing the same, generic piece. There’s nothing wrong with it, but a unique physical appearance can often tip the judging scales ever so slightly.

MotionWear does a lot of custom leotards for gymnasts or teams who want to differentiate themselves from the crowd or maybe want to match their leotard to the theme of their gymnastics routine.

Is Online and Video Choreography the Future?
And as more gymnasts turn towards custom leotards ordered online or by phone, even more opt for the same kind of service when it comes to choreography.

I recently stumbled across a site offering custom, original routines sold as a step-by-step instructional video that can then be resold by the gymnast after they’ve used it for 1-3 years and are done with the routine. How much do these custom routines go for? The product info page said between $177 and $630.

So, I was wondering…
What do you think? Is it possible to learn a whole routine online and via video? Could this be the end of on-site choreography? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I’d love to hear from coaches and choreographers on this topic, so please post your thoughts in the comments.

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What I Think Makes a Great Gymnastics Coach

Posted on 24. Feb, 2009 by Kathe Jones.

Gymnastic coaching is an interesting business – on one hand, you want to do anything it takes to help your gymnasts succeed and on the other, you’ve got to remember that they’re still human.

I think being able to find that balance is a hallmark of great gymnastic coaching, that and:

Putting the Gymnast First
I think any coach that’s out there and putting the needs of the gymnast before themselves, their reputations or the reputation of their gym, is on the path to greatness. I love these coaches because they remember that yes, they have an important role to play, but in the end, it’s not about them.

Being Willing to Take a Break
Burnout is a serious problem in gymnastics. These gymnasts are stronger than probably you or me, but many of these young men and women are just that – young. And the pressures of constant training and competing can take their toll.

A coach that can recognize the early warning signs of burn out and take a step back is, in my opinion, putting the long term goal ahead of their own short term needs.

Making the Gym Fun
I’m a huge fan of coaches who can make their girls (or boys) laugh, keep them smiling and basically just keep the atmosphere in the gym fun. Why? Because gymnastics is fun. Yes, it’s a competition, but in the end, we’re leaping, flipping, bounding and flying because we love doing it. Take out the fun and you take out the love.

What about you? What do you think makes a great coach? Is it medals and stats or the overall experience?

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