This information is currently outdated and currently undergoing review.

 

IK Accelerated Program

Alpha Track is the first step for most potential future team members. Candidates are selected from pre-school classes with the purpose of placing together children who have similar abilities and a natural propensity for the sport. These are kids who appear to have the greatest potential for achieving a high skill level as they develop further in their gymnastics. At such an early age it is impossible to identify which gymnasts will become the future stars in the sport, but by placing exemplary students with other students who also show similar promise, it becomes easier to monitor how they learn, listen, respond to adversity, and push each other to do their best in a controlled environment more similar to a competitive team environment. In our school we have several teams with different time commitments and ability requirements. Once a child is in alpha track, we can analyze which team program would be the best fit for them and make recommendations for the next step in their gymnastics development. Alpha Track does not guarantee a placement in our USAG or XCEL programs, but has the goal of providing them a jumpstart on the skills, form, and techniques that they will need to join a team program in the future if they demonstrate the ability and interest to do so. Alpha Track is two hours in length during our regular season and gymnasts do not perform in competitions.

 

Rising Stars

Rising Stars is the second step in the process towards team placement for talented girls who are five years old. At this age it is already easier to identify their potential to a greater degree, and it has already been shown that they can learn and master the minimum skills required to advance into this next level. Rising Stars is a very selective program where they can combine the skills that they have learned thus far into small routines and have their first experience of performing at an in-house showcase. As with other teams, a team fee (one time $250) is included in order to provide our Rising Stars with their first team leotards and this experience of performing in their first competition-like setting.
The showcase is not only a celebration of their hard work and progress, but it is also a way for us to see how they perform in front of an audience. We want to challenge them and see how they do under pressure. Throughout the year, team coaches supervise their work, watch their progress but at the end of the year the showcase becomes another tool in forming our recommendations for the parents to decide on which direction would be the best fit for their young athletes. It is always the parents’ choice to take our recommendations or not.
We are not focused on numbers, we do not have a goal of placing as many kids as possible on a team. In fact, it is the opposite: we try to keep our teams small and very selective. Our first priority is safety and quality, and we take our recommendations very seriously, especially USAG team placement as it requires talents and time commitment.