I was just asked this question through our Ask American Gymnast section.  I think this would be a good question to solicit feedback from others in the gymnastics community.

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Question:

i have a 6 year old daughter that appears to have a lot of potential and love for gymnastics.  We have her in a local ymca program and are generally happy with it.  We have been considering moving her to a USAG gym with a very good reputation.  I have 2 questions 1)  is it really worth it to be able to compete in USAG gyms? and 2) Do you think that her opportunities within gymnastics will be much greater in a good usag club as opposed to local YMCA?

Again, we are generally happy with the YMCA just looking out for the best for our daughter…

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I am a bit biased on this since I grew up solely through USAG club programs.  I do not know of many elite level gymnasts that came up through the Y programs, but I would say the decision should be based primarily upon the coaching and training situations at that particular YMCA versus the local club.  I would ask the following questions:

  1. What kind of success has each program had (State, Regionals, Nationals)?
  2. Does the facility have pits for training?
  3. What are the sizes of each of the competitive teams?
  4. How many elite-level girls does each program have?

The answers to those questions should give you a pretty clear indication on which of the 2 programs offers more potential.

What is everyone else’s thought on this?