To give some back story, I did gymnastics for 18 years of my life. I started at 2 years old and went all the way until I was 20. My first year of college was spent at the Air Force Academy competing for their gymnastics team as well.
Similarly, my brother was a gymnast, but he took it even further. He competed all 4 years of college, and even competed in the college NCAA’s for the Air Force Academy on Pommel horse. It is safe to say that we know a little bit about the sport and even still help out from time to time at local gyms.
Gymnastics in Atlanta
From my multiple years of training in Atlanta, and many long nights, I had to privileged to train at many different gyms. Particularly, three gyms come to mind for gymnastics.
To preface this, these gyms are for guys and girls which is rare. Most small local gyms will not have all of the guys equipment needed for upper level gymnastics. For those reasons, here my my top three gyms in Atlanta that you can take your boy or girl to learn and train at!
Atlanta School of Gymnastics
This gym, the Atlanta School of Gymnastics (ASG), is close to my heart. I spent most of my earlier days as a gymnast here, and even came back to coach and train after leaving the Academy. The gym is mostly run by a former cheer leading coach, Rochelle, and has plenty of culture and history behind it.
This gym is particularly good for younger kids and here is why. The coaches that work with the small kids, ages 10 and younger, have been there for a long time. All of these coaches have devoted years and years to their craft and understand how to work with children. On top of this, they know how to safely train younger kids all the while pushing them to greater heights.
Team Coaches
When you get past the younger ages, you may want your child to move up to a team position. This will typically happen by one of the coaches doing a try out for your kid and accessing their skill level. Afterward, the coach will have a meeting with the parent to discuss the potential level that their skills meet.
Sometimes kids will excel and need to be moved up quickly, and other times they may not be ready. Gymnastics is not a natural sport to most kids, so do not put a lot of pressure on your kid to be great. Although, for those that do excel, there is plenty of instruction and talent at the gym to take your kid as far as he needs to go.
ASG Gym
The gym is right off of I-285 in Tucker, Georgia and seems to be in the middle of no where. That is pretty much the same for most gyms. Over the years, the owners have been trying to renovate the gym and add new equipment. The gym has been open for easily 50 years, so you can imagine the history behind it. Overall, the gym is well run and has plenty of potential for any level of gymnast.
Roswell Gymnastics
At a certain point while training, my team moved from ASG to Roswell Gymnastics which is not surprisingly in Roswell, Georgia. There were multiple reasons at the time, but the moved worked well for us. In transitioning from one gym to the other, you never really know what to expect. Luckily, Roswell was a well run and up kept gym that we thrived at.
One of the best things about the Roswell gym is that it is partially funded by the city. This means they will always have to most up to date equipment, new pit, and air conditioning. Also, the gym has plenty of coaches for all ages and is more run like a business at times which can be a positive and a negative.
Roswell Gym Classes
The benefit of having so many coaches and a different coach for each event is that kids get more attention and proper training. When you have one coach running from event to event, things can get muddled and the focus can be off. At the same time, with multiple coaches the kids may like some and dislike others. It is bound to happen because each coach my have a slightly different style to coaching.
This is entirely dependent on how well your kid adapts to changes and adjusts to each coach. Some kids love it, while some kids would rather just have one coach they work with throughout the day. Personally, it does not matter as much because in gymnastics, success is entirely up to the kid. You can train hard by yourself, with a good coach, or with a bad coach. Although, I personally liked to work with the same coach from event to event.
Gymnastics Levels
One of the great things about Roswell Gymnastics is that there is plenty of room and equipment for everyone. You kid will rarely not have space or time to get their workout in, and they will make plenty of friends as well.
This gym is on the list because they boast a great girls and boys program for all levels of gymnastics. While they may not have as many elite gymnasts, the coaches here can most certainty train kids to any necessary level since some of the coaches are former Olympians.
Cobb Gymnastics
Another good gym in the Atlanta area is Cobb Gymnastics. Like Roswell, Cobb is also partially funded by the city which means good equipment and no trouble with parking, hopefully. This gym is not as aggressive as the other gyms. This means they do not have as many gymnasts or as big of coaching staffs, but there is still plenty of talent for all ages.
Cobb Gym
While this gym has plenty of funding, it does not have the strongest upper level gymnastics teams. This is a good and a bad thing. While there are coaches at this gym who can train at all levels, it seems the gym is just out of the way for most people. Due to this, there is plenty of space and resources for your kid if you can get to this gym regularly.
They have a great rod floor and tramp both into the pit and a vault that also goes into the pit which is good for training. The people who run the gym are very nice and flexible with all needs.
While this gym may not have as big of a following or history behind it, it has both guys and girls teams which makes it stand out from most other gyms already. In addition, it has good equipment for all levels to train on.
Atlanta Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport that not many people will do for very long, but almost every person I know did as a kid. If you have a young one and want to get them some basic training, make sure to check out one of these gyms! Get your kid signed up, and who knows, you may have the next Olympian.
