Blakely and Wong Attending National Team Camp

[Bob]

I guess World Champions Centre is still doing strong. Tiana and Dulchy are both still there

They were advertising wildly for elites from other gyms to go across to them.

 

[RedBirdie]

They were advertising for kids as young as 8 with elite dreams to come to WCC and enter the homeschool program and train a bazillion hours. Seemed pretty desperate, tbh.

 

[rlayt]

That’s a recipe for disaster.

 

[RedBirdie]

My mistake, it was ages 10+. But still. it's gross, imo. And they've posted this, or a variation of it, to instagram numerous times. Reading between the lines, it also says they don't have potential elites in their existing developmental program

 

[Hatsumomo]

They were advertising for kids as young as 8 with elite dreams to come to WCC and enter the homeschool program and train a bazillion hours. Seemed pretty desperate, tbh.

A homeschool program in Texas

 

[irichluck21]

Yes. Likely Abeka curriculum.

 

[QuietColours]

Cordelia Price said something about Texas' school attendance policy being a guaranteed fail if a student missed more than 10% of days, so private or homeschooling would be the only option. Not sure how accurate that is, but at least it makes that part of the advertisement make sense.

The fact the advertisement exists at all, on the other hand... And it does not say good things about WCC's dev program that they've been around this long, attracting every kid with Olympic dreams in a reasonable radius, and they can't produce any elites through their own system. Has anyone even moved there at level 8 or 9 and made it to elite under them?

 

[RedBirdie]

I'm 99% sure under the Landis the only person they had successfully test elite, not transfer in as an elite already, was Dulcy Caylor. And Caylor spent 1 year as a level 10 there, she had already done 2 years of level 10 at Texas Dreams and successfully competed Hopes. I'm a little more fuzzy on the Amiee years.

Apparently WCC's Academy is technically a private school. The website isn't up-to-date, and it's pretty lacking in info, imo. The fact that they offer classes at the elementary level bothers me. No child that young should be in schools for just a few hours a day so they can be doing sports. But WCC is happy to charge you $7,000+ a year on top of gymnastics tuition and fees so your child can attend The Academy.

This whole business of sports clubs setting up schools ("schools") solely so kids can spend the bare minimum time on academics and remain NCAA eligible is predatory. It was predatory when IMG first started this shit decades ago, and its just as predatory today. They're springing up with alarming regularity around the country. 99% of the kids enrolled in these won't be going pro. 98% of them won't get college scholarship, and 95% of them won't even make a D3 team.

 

[makam]

Well, in all honesty, how good are most US schools these days? The number of people who apparently know that New Mexico is a state and not part of Mexico makes me think the education system has failed. And with all the changes they will ram thru in the next 4 years, well, if the kids in Texas aren't learning that women come from a man's rib and all animals on the earth floated around with a dude named Noah and never touching an actual science book, I'll be shocked. WCC's school might be better than that. And hey, with school vouchers, the taxpayers of Texas might even pay it for you!

 

[QuietColours]

WCC was founded in 2014, but only opened to the public in 2016--Aimee wasn't there long enough to really affect their developmental program.

It's so striking to because it's such a stark contrast to how Simone became a successful elite--she was in public school until 2012 (when she was 14/15), spent several years at level 10, didn't start competing elite until she was 14. Some of that was pacing because her Olympics wouldn't be until she was 19, but still. Aimee said she was doing 20 hours until shortly before she went elite. a Very different (and a lot healthier!) then "Hey, 10 year olds! Want to train 33 hours a week, go elite super early, and home school in elementary school? Tell your parents you need to move across the country to train with us!"

 

[irichluck21]

I'd like to know if the Academy they offer has a certified, licensed teacher.
I am guessing not.

 

[RedBirdie]

I'm not sure how accurate the website is, but it appears one is currently licensed, one might have been at one point, and I'm guessing the third never was a licensed teacher.

Staff | The Academy at WCC

www.academyatwcc.com

 

[Hatsumomo]

The math and science teacher has no degree in teaching either subject. These kids aren't getting a well-rounded education, just the core subjects and likely substandard at that.

 

[BB12]

My mistake, it was ages 10+. But still. it's gross, imo. And they've posted this, or a variation of it, to instagram numerous times. Reading between the lines, it also says they don't have potential elites in their existing developmental program

So gross. Kids do not need to be training that many hours. All they are doing is preparing them for broken bodies and burn out by age 15.

And it sucks that parent will sign their child up for it because the allure of an Olympic medal is strong.

 

[Bob]

I thought it was a pretty poor advert for the club to be honest. In all ways.

 

[dweiss324]

For me, It just reinforces my decision to not push my kids into high pressure anything at a young age, but also to maintain a level of awareness regarding their education. I literally cannot imagine my kids coming up to me with this ad and being like "yeah that sounds like a viable idea"

 

[JaJa]

I'd like to know if the Academy they offer has a certified, licensed teacher.
I am guessing not.

By itself that is not necessarily a problem though. A lot of very good private schools have teachers that are not licensed or certified, but who are VERY well educated in the fields they teach and are in fact good teachers.