General Gymnastics
Maintaining Enrollment During the Summer Months
Dean Capelotti and Steve Whitlock
How to survive the summer is a topic among gym owners. Summer time has been the scourge of the gymnastics community since they started renting private facilities. Gymnasts are out of school and away from their normal routines. Families take vacations. Since they are already going to miss a number gym classes, the vacation is expensive, and nothing is really happening in the gym—they decide to save money and skip gym for July or August.
Keeping them enrolled for the summer
How do you counteract this? For team gymnasts, program directors need to remind parents that summer is a critical time to train and prepare for the upcoming fall season. While this is quite true for athletes in the competitive program, it is even more difficult to sell to the majority of the program participants—the recreational class students. Recreational gymnasts need different reasons than team gymnasts to stay active during the summer. Remember not all recreational gymnasts have the desire or the ability to work at the team level, but they still love the sport. This is where a General Gymnastics (GG) program can help gymnastics clubs maintain enrollment during the lean summer months.
In GG, students are involved in programs that emphasize health, fun, and fitness benefits of gymnastics participation rather than preparation for gymnastics competitions. The highlight for GG participants is usually an exhibition, performance, or display rather than a meet. This activity appeals to a broad range of ages (children to seniors) and abilities (beginner to elite). The display is generally choreographed to music, lasts from 8-30 minutes, and involves 10 or more performers in the group. Some display groups can have several hundred performers! The gymnastics activities performed by the group are varied—apparatus gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, aerobics, gymnastics games, Acro-sport, dance, and so on.
Successful Solutions – Sample Gym Club Experience
The members of the Fallbrook Gymnastics Club Performance Team range in age from 5 to 61. One of their most popular routines is performed to the music “Cotton Eyed Joe” and utilizes gymnastics components including tumbling, Acro-sport, rhythmic, mini-tramp, and dance.
To combat the “summer enrollment blues,” Fallbrook plans a major performance for the end of summer or early fall. Students are informed that they will participate in special workouts and rehearsals on the routines for this performance. Last year, they started working on the routine for our participation in the 1996 National GymFest that was held at Disneyland in December. They experienced an increase in income from the previous summer of over 11 percent (June, July, and August). The special GG training brought a lot the gymnasts back early from vacation and kept a number of families in the gym instead of taking a month off.
For the summer of 1997, they have two major performances: the National GymFest at Walt Disney World, August 22-27; and a pre-game performance at a major league baseball game. For the pre-game performance, They will combine with another local club that does GG, Charter Oaks Gymnastics. We selected these two activities because the cost of the trip to Florida would be fairly expensive—the lower cost pre-game performance will be a nice alternative that appeals to a larger number of gymnasts.
For the first time, this they will be trying a flex schedule. Instead of a monthly enrollment period, we are going to offer a plan where participants can enroll for a 6, 7, 8, or 9 week session. The price will vary depending on the total number of weeks a family enrolls–with the greatest value for the family who enrolls for the full summer. This suggestion is from Jeff Metzger (Queen City Gymnastics Center).
How to get your club to participate
What can you use as your major GG event? This is already planned for you. The 1997 National GymFest in Orlando at Walt Disney World, August 24-27. This is going to be a fantastic opportunity for clubs with performance groups. The facility will be the new Fieldhouse at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. It is truly spectacular. Activities include Opening Ceremony, Welcome Party, GG workshops and clinics, two performances of your group routine, and the Gala. Plus time to visit the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or Disney’s MGM Studios.
You can also plan a local event. If you have a major or minor league sports franchise in your town you can perform at a pre-game or half time. Amusement parks also make a great performance location and many have youth performance programs. County and state fairs often provide opportunities to do GG displays. These venues allow your club to be seen by members in your community who will be interested in joining your program. Examine the opportunities in your town and city to find locations. Ask your students and their parents where they would like to perform. Be creative. With a GG program you can chase away those summer enrollment blues.
For clubs in the Southern California area, the summer of 1997 is a perfect time to starting a Performance Team, because during the spring of 1998, Southern California will be the first area in the U.S. to establish a GG season utilizing several different amusement parks as the venues.
If you are interested in learning more about GG, you can visit the GG pages on USA Gymnastics Online or contact either Dean Capelotti or Steve Whitlock.
Steve Whitlock, USA Gymnastics Dean Capelotti Pan American Plaza, Suite 300 Fallbrook Gymnastics 201 S. Capitol Avenue 1031 Felicidad Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46225 Fallbrook, CA 92028 Phone: 317-237-5050 619-728-8582 (9:00 am–2:00 pm PST) Email: gg@usa-gymnastics.org dcapelot@tfb.com USAGO: www.usa-gymnastics.orgThis article appears in the June 1997 issue of Technique, Vol. 17, No. 6.
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