WHY BSGA
At Bay State Gymnastics, we believe great gymnastics instruction is about more than teaching skills—it’s about creating an environment where athletes can learn, grow, and build confidence with purpose. Every part of our program is thoughtfully designed, from our intentional lesson plans and ongoing staff training to the education and experience our coaches bring to the gym each day. We continually look for ways to improve what we offer our athletes, adding meaningful elements to our programs that go beyond the basics.
The result is a gymnastics experience that is purposeful, progressive, and designed with your child’s development in mind.
TINY GYMNASTS, BIG DEVELOPMENT
Our infant and toddler (6m through 2y) classes are about so much more than keeping little ones moving. At this age, children are going through incredible physical, cognitive, and language development, and our lesson plans are intentionally designed to support them through those important milestones.
Our instructor who develops the lesson plans for these classes holds an Undergraduate Degree in Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education, a Master’s Degree in Reading & Language Development, and brings 10 years of experience as a Kindergarten teacher to our program. Her background in early childhood development and language education allows her to thoughtfully consider what children are developmentally working toward at each age and incorporate those milestones into our gymnastics lessons.
For our youngest students, that might mean encouraging reaching, grasping, visual tracking, rolling, balance, and core strength. As babies begin to become more mobile, our activities evolve to encourage skills such as kneeling, pulling to stand, climbing, and crawling. Even seemingly simple activities are chosen with purpose. For example, encouraging babies to crawl up an incline provides opportunities to develop strength and coordination while supporting progression away from an “army crawl” toward more mature crawling patterns.
As children move into the toddler years, our lessons continue to progress alongside their development. We incorporate opportunities for walking, stepping, balancing, climbing, hanging, swinging, rolling, and other age-appropriate gymnastics movements while also encouraging language development, listening, body awareness, coordination, spatial awareness, independence, and social interaction.
Language is intentionally woven into our classes as well. Our instructors often incorporate American Sign Language (ASL) into conversations and activities, giving young children additional ways to communicate, understand language, and participate before they have the words to express everything they want to say. In addition to language, music, repetition, counting, colors, shapes, songs, and movement all become tools for learning too. Children are encouraged to follow simple directions, recognize familiar routines, interact with their classmates, and build confidence as they discover what their growing bodies can do.
At this age, every new movement is an opportunity to learn something new. A crawl becomes a lesson in coordination. A climb builds strength and confidence. A song introduces rhythm, language, and communication. A simple turn-taking game becomes an early lesson in social development.
We’re intentional about creating those opportunities because we know how much is happening during these first few years. Our goal is to meet children where they are developmentally, encourage what comes next, and make the most of this incredible stage of growth, all while giving them a positive and joyful introduction to gymnastics.
GYMNASTICS WITH A PURPOSE
Our preschool coaching staff has undergone training through Sweet Peas Educational Gymnastics™, giving our team the education, tools, and developmental framework to create meaningful learning experiences for young children. We take those resources and use them to build our own unique lesson plans, with every activity chosen with thought and intention.
Our curriculum is centered around progressive gymnastics training that incorporates color recognition, language development, spatial relations, music awareness, measurements, and counting skills.
In addition to that, our preschoolers are also developing coordination, balance, strength, flexibility, body awareness, spatial awareness, listening skills, confidence, independence, and social skills – all while learning gymnastics. And when it comes to gymnastics itself, we focus on proper technique, age-appropriate skill progression, and hands-on spotting from trained coaches, using safe, state-of-the-art equipment.
There is a lot of fun happening in our preschool classes, but it isn't random.
Every lesson has a purpose.
Every skill has a progression.
Every child is given room to learn at their own pace.
Because we believe the best preschool gymnastics experience is one where children aren't just moving; they're learning, developing, and building skills that extend far beyond the gym.
A More complete approach to athlete development
At Bay State Gymnastics Academy, we believe developing a successful athlete means looking beyond skills and routines. Our competitive TeamGym program has introduced an individualized athlete wellness and prehab process designed to support our athletes both physically and mentally throughout their gymnastics journey.
As part of this process, athletes are screened for areas such as strength, flexibility, balance, and movement-related deficits that may place them at greater risk for overuse or other preventable injuries. Based on those individual needs, athletes can receive a specific prehab plan tailored to address their areas of weakness and support healthy movement patterns. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, we can identify areas that need attention and provide athletes with strategies to help them become stronger, more balanced, and better prepared for the demands of their sport.
Our approach also recognizes that mental wellness is an important part of athletic development. Athletes are supported through a mental wellness screening process that helps identify areas such as mental blocks, confidence, mental toughness, and challenges that may affect their performance. Our program incorporates mindfulness, positive goal-setting, healthy approaches to achievement, and strategies for developing a strong and resilient mindset.
Leading this initiative is a member of our coaching staff, Miss Acadia, who brings specialized education and professional experience to our athletes. She holds a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy (OTD) and is a Certified Occupational Therapist, Registered/Licensed (OTR/L).
By incorporating this additional level of individualized physical and mental support into our TeamGym program, we are working to develop more than capable gymnasts. We are helping young athletes build the strength, confidence, resilience, body awareness, and healthy habits they can carry with them both inside and outside the gym.
