Parent’s Guide

Competitive Rhythmic Gymnastics in USA

During the last years the interest in rhythmic gymnastics in the USA is continuously growing. Every year new rhythmic gymnastics clubs apply for membership in United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics, USAG) – the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States.

Parenting a competitive athlete is a great responsibility, which includes choosing the right place for training, making your child to follow proper diet to increase physical power and flexibility, accompanying her to the competitions, and so on. To provide parents a comprehensive understanding of the whole competition process, IRG in Washington starts a series of articles on competitive rhythmic gymnastics in USA.

Choosing a Rhythmic Gymnastics Club for Your Child

Each autumn members of USAG register their athletes, who are intended to take part in rhythmic gymnastics competitions. Annual registration fee is $45 for each gymnast. To register athletes for competitions, a club must be a member of USA Gymnastics. Therefore, if you want your child to participate in competitions, the first step is to choose the right place for training.

By September 2017 there are 128 clubs registered as members of USAG. Among the leading states are California (31 clubs-members of USAG or almost 25% of all registered members), Florida (11 clubs), New York (9 clubs), Georgia (8 clubs), Illinois (7 clubs), and Washington (7 clubs).

Quick tip: When choosing rhythmic gymnastics club for your child, check out how your local clubs have been performing at state, regional and national competitions in previous years  to identify the most successful gymnastics schools in your area. You can also get some valuable insights analyzing the athletes on the current and past Rhythmic Gymnastics National Teams, to identify the top-performing gymnastics schools, or reading Yelp! reviews, to get an idea of how a particular gymnastics school is estimated by the locals.

Taking Part in Rhythmic Gymnastics Competitions.

The process of progression to a National Competition requires a certain amount of meets to be attended, depending on the gymnast’s level. You can find general information about required meets and championships for each level in the table below.

In USA rhythmic gymnasts compete in Levels 3 – 10. Up to Level 6 the athletes of each level are divided into groups according to age. Gymnasts competing in Levels 7 – 10 are not divided by age. Rhythmic Invitational Competitions are a kind of review of a gymnast’s skills and are mandatory for further participation in State Meets.

Level 3 athletes usually participate in Invitational and State meets only. They may participate in Regional championships if the host offers a Level 3 invitational within the regional championships.

Levels 4 – 6 athletes participate in Invitational, State, Regional and National Open Championships.  To qualify for Regional Championships an athlete must have attended State meet. To qualify for National Open Championships an athlete must have attended Regional championships.

Levels 7, 8 gymnasts participate in Invitational, State, Regional and National Championships. Only the top 8 athletes at Regional Championships, regardless of the age, are qualified for USA Gymnastics National Championships.

Levels 9, 10 athletes also take part in invitational and state competitions. Participation in Regional Championships is required to progress to National Qualifier. Athletes from Level 9, who place in the top 25 at Qualifier, go to Level 10, and are qualified for USA Gymnastics Championships. Athletes, who place in the top 8 at the USA Gymnastics Championships, go to the Rhythmic Gymnastics National Teams.

IRG has 7 year history in Washington . Over this period IRG has become one of the most successful rhythmic gymnastics schools in Seatle. Our school has the best coaches in Washington area, who help our students to develop to their fullest potential.

Having already created many champions in Washington, we are not going to rest on our laurels. IRG is the best place in Seatle for competitive gymnasts to receive highly professional training and achieve outstanding results.

Parenting a competitive gymnast is a great responsibility, which sometimes becomes is a financial challenge for the family. Parents, who want their child to participate in rhythmic gymnastics competitions, are curious about the costs of raising a competitive gymnast.

So, how much does it cost to raise a competitive gymnast in Seatle? Mostly, it depends on a gymnast’s level. For families who have kids doing rhythmic gymnastics, there are two primary costs: tuition fees and the cost of competitions.

Selecting a Gym

The first thing you should do to enroll your child in competitive rhythmic gymnastics program is to choose a coach and a gymnastics school. There are some important things about the gymnastics school for a competitive gymnast. To register gymnasts for a competition, a school must be a member of USA Gymnastics (USAG) – the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. By September 2017 there were 7 clubs registered as members of USAG, including rhythmic gymnastics school in Seatle.

Another important thing is the equipment of the gym. Proper training facility includes rhythmic gymnastics floor area, high ceilings, and ballet bars.Finding a great coach is also very important, because coaches become role models for competitive gymnasts, since they spend a lot of time together, both working hard to succeed, celebrating new victories and achievements and overcoming failures.

Estimated expenses per year depends on gymnast’s level and weekly amount of workouts:

• Annual membership fee USA is $60 .

• Tuition fee typically: beginners usually have 3 training sessions per week, lasting 2 hour. As gymnasts move up into higher levels, they spend more and more time in the gym. Depending on the school, gymnasts of highest levels spend up to 6 days a week in the gym, training 3 hours a day and more. Accordingly, monthly tuition fees start from $175 for beginners, we provides schoolship.

• Gymnastics summer camp start in June, after the school is over and last 10 – 11 weeks, until the beginning of the new school year. So, if your child is intended to participate in all sessions (11 weeks), we will give you discounts.  Having more hours for training during the summer camp time, coaches can focus on the balanced development of all muscle groups and introduce new tricks to gymnasts.  

• Uniform fee is $50 – $ 100 if a school requires gymnasts to wear a certain kind of clothing during workouts.

• Performance leotard – $250 – $450. The final price of a leotard depends on design and brand, or the level of complexity and the quality and quantity of crystals in case of buying handmade leotards. To optimize costs, parents of rhythmic gymnasts often buy used leotards and sell them after the competitive season is over.

• Apparatus – $245 – $395, includes $50 – $100 a ball, $20 – $55 a rope, $30– $90 a ribbon, $35 – $80 a hoop, $80 – $90 clubs. Parents typically have to buy new apparatus when is the child grows. If your buy used apparatus mostly available in gymnastic schools, you can cut apparatus expenses up to 30 – 50%.

• Additional equipment – $180 – $200, including 4 therabands, $5 each; $5 – $10 wrist & ankle weights’ 6 – 7 gym shoes, $25 each.

• USAG annual registration fee for competitive gymnasts is $ 60 Each autumn USA Gymnastics members register their athletes, who are intended to take part in rhythmic gymnastics competitions at USAG.

Taking Part in Competitions

For competitive gymnasts a year starts with Rhythmic Invitational Competitions, which are organized by gymnastics clubs across the USA. Invitational competitions are a kind of review of a gymnast’s skills and are mandatory for further participation in state, regional and national rhythmic gymnastics competitions. A gymnast can take part in more than one invitational competition during the season, so those who can afford participating in several invitational competitions have an opportunity to get valued experience and improve their public performance.

Gymnasts in USA are responsible for their own travel cost to all competitions. Entry fees may vary depending on the level, location and the number of days a competition lasts. For example, entry fees for participation in the 2017 Las Vegas International Invitational vary from $ 90 for Level 3 to $145 for Level 10. Parents of gymnasts are also responsible for the coaches’ travel, meal and hotel expenses. These expenses are usually divided among all the athletes registered for the event.

Estimated expenses include fly and hotel are $700 – $1000 per event, depending on a gymnast’s level and the number of days the event lasts (mostly 1 or 2 days):

• Competition entry fees depend on the host of competitions – from $60 – $80 for Level 3 athletes up to $140 – $150 for Level 9/10 athletes. All entry fees are non-refundable.

• Travel costs depend on many factors, including the distance to be traveled, way of traveling, event location, the number of days, a competition lasts. Starting from Level 5, rhythmic gymnasts mostly compete for 2 days.

• Admission to the competition facility for an accompanying person is $12 – $20.00adult/day.

• Coaches’ compensation fees are $25 per hour depending on the location, number of days a competition lasts, number of school gymnasts participating in competitions, number of accompanying coaches.

The process of progression to a National Competition requires a certain amount of meets to be attended, depending on the gymnast’s level.

Going Further

For top-performing rhythmic gymnasts USAG offers additional opportunities of developing athlete technique and physical preparation through organization of training camps. Among them are Rhythmic Youth Elite Squad camps (Early Spring, Late Spring, Fall), Rhythmic Youth Squad camp(fall), Future Stars camp. All these camps are by invitation only.

IRG is a place for both recreational and competitive gymnasts to receive highly professional training and improve physical development. IRG is a place where the best gymnastics coaches in Washington make every effort to create the best rhythmic gymnastics experience for your child. We create young champions in a positive atmosphere that enhances self-esteem and confidence.

Our award-winning Competitive Rhythmic Gymnastics Program is designed for those girls, who want to participate in competitions. We offer rhythmic gymnastics classes for Levels 3-10, including ballet training. IRG provides our gymnasts with proper training facilities, such as rhythmic gymnastics floor area, high ceilings, and ballet bars. IRG competitive program includes floor training and exercises with ball, rope, ribbon, hoop, and clubs.

We invite you to visit our rhythmic gymnastics school facility in Seatle!