Gymnastic Academy of Boston

My 9 year old daughter has been taking classes here for a few years. She has always loved it. I have to admit I was not overly impressed with all of the teachers in her first couple years, but last year there were many changes at the gym and I notice the teachers are much more engaged with the kids. My 9 year old is now on the team and practices 2 nights a week. I appreciate the vibe of the gym, in that it’s not an overly intense «Olympic training» style gym, but is very focused on continuous improvement. It’s amazing how much my daughter has learned in just one year of being on team (granted she does practice for 6 hours a week). My 5 year old daughter also just started taking classes too. There’s a good range of classes for those who want to take gymnastics casually or get more serious about it.

My daughters have been taking classes here for the past 4 years. They love the classes and practice time there. 2014 was a bumpy year which ended in a change of management toward the beginning of 2016. Since then, I have been impressed how Jessi (the new manager) has really hired great teachers and has improved the gym. I was close to leaving the gym at the end of 2014 due to the chaos, but I am happy I have stayed (as both of my girls love taking their classes there!)
They could use a little update with their systems to help with the organization, but these changes seem to be in the works. I have confidence that things will only improve.

I am done with this place! This year, like other years, I call and call and email and call again but get no response to find out which classes are full or have openings. I don’t know who is in charge there but the customer service is terrible. Nothing is automated/​computerized and it’s all on paper so subject to whomever is looking through the big binder of lots of paper. My daughter has been going here for 3 yrs now (she is 7, vacation camps and summer too) and she doesn’t know how to do a cartwheel! (and she’s very agile/​coordinated!) States to the complete lack of assistance from the teachers. They funnel them through a routine without any direction. And part of her class is a ball pit. For 5 – 8 year olds who want to learn gymnastics? We are beyond the germ-​filled babyish ball pit phase and I certainly don’t want to pay for it! I agree with the other review that said it was like a giant babysitting excursion. And I mean giant, there are multiple classes going on at once and they really pack ‘em in. The waiting room isn’t comfortable, old chairs and couches and wooden picnic tables. True previous review about teacher turnover, Scott was my daughter’s favorite and now he’s gone. No reason to fight the Fresh Pond traffic circles for this place. Too bad there are no competitive options in this area — which is why we stuck it out this long. I did find gymnastics at the Cambridge Memorial — will try that.

This gym was the only gymnastics place that had simultaneous classes for my preschool and elementary aged kids after school. The preschool class has the kids playing with a ball pit and balance beams and foam cushions while a teacher stands around. Perhaps that is fine for a preschooler. The Fireflies (6 – 8 yo maybe?) are told to do various things one by one while the teacher looks on without engaging personally with the kids. There is minimal to no individual instruction to actually help the kids learn how to use their bodies properly to do a cartwheel, handstand, etc. My daughter does not tend towards gymnastics prowess but she is not awful; with some actual hands-​on individual tips she could have improved much more. I’m not talking about a private lesson, but a comment to kick her back leg higher, etc next time it was her turn would have been helpful and helped her experience the joy of accomplishing something new with her body. I think this place just babysits a bunch of kids and wait to see who is good enough to progress. A waste of time and money. The kids like it but it you want someone to actually teach them something, even if they are not a future Olympic gymnast, you’d be better off elsewhere.

A coworker of mine brings her kids here on a regular basis. She really enjoys it. Said the drop-​in classes were great for teaching the basics of gymnastics. I would recommend it.

My 10-​yr old daughter has been going here for about one year because she loves gymnastics and it is the closest one to our house. However, the quality of instruction seems very low to me. The teachers don’t work with the kids to develop new skills — except for the last 15 minutes of class when the parents arrive to pick up their kids. It seems like more of a babysitting service for small children than a real gymnastics center.

I have such mixed feelings about GAB.
On one hand they are not great from a customer service perspective. I can’t believe the way the receptionist speaks to people sometimes. They also have a problem with turnover among the coaches, and the quality varies. I have been very impressed by some (Heather, Zach, and JC), but others look bored and don’t pay much attention to helping the students improve their skills.
On the other hand, the kids seem to be having fun and they have so many time slots for classes that it’s incredibly convenient. If you have a certain day of the week that you need or have two kids at different levels who you hope can have class at the same time, you can probably find what you’re looking for. That’s great. And if you get a good teacher, it’s a great experience. It’s just that you can’t find out who is teaching which class before you sign up, so it’s a gamble.
One warning — the camp programs are very weak. The supervision isn’t great and while some time is spent in the gym playing games, there are also blocks of time where the kids are left with very little structure and staff who often seem like they could care less — sitting off to the side talking about how many hours are left or even texting. I wouldn’t enroll a child in camp unless they are at least 7, the little ones seem to wander around lost, and even for school age kids, there are certainly better options.
Huge thumbs up for classes with the good teachers, meh for the other classes, and thumbs down for camp.

I went through the rigamarole of Unilocal sign-​up, just so I could give GAB this review and counter the one above.
We had my daughter’s birthday party there this Saturday (2.14.09), and it was wonderful. The staff — Dan, Alison, and Danielle — were welcoming and enthusiastic. The instructors kept all the kids engaged despite the age range (2 – 6) and juggled the egos, too. (A few of the girls wanted to be the «birthday girl» themselves.) We had no tears, whether from bruised limbs or bruised egos, throughout.
The party room was a little crowded, but then we had 18 kids plus about 24 adults. There was room at the table for all the kids; the grown ups stood. The room was definitely clean, and looked freshly painted.
They did give an envelope for tips («tips appreciated») at the end (along with an eval form). The info that the gym sent beforehand had hinted that tips would be expected («gratuity is not included»), so I wasn’t surprised by the request. Before the event, I had been a little annoyed that I’d be expected to tip. ($ 275 AND and tip? Ouch!) But the staff turned out to be so engaged that I ended up not resenting the request.
Oh, and they gave my daughter three passes to their open gym hours (worth $ 30, and something we’ll definitely use). They also gave certificates for free lessons to all the guests — self-​serving, true, but also nice to have.
L.C., if your review goosed them to shape up, thank you! Others reading this: if you can’t reconcile these reviews, stop by for their open gym hours to check them out for yourself.
(Okay, one caveat: Dan is a little «laconic» when he’s at the reception desk. I’d noticed that at previous visits, too. But he did great as an instructor. One parent, who’s a member, said, «I’ve never seen him so animated!» So, don’t judge Dan by how he acts at the desk.)