Empire Gymnastics — Attraction in Bedford

Last summer, we put our daughter in camp here. The person leading the camp was very rude, and the class was chaotic. We searched around for other places, but Empire still seemed to have the best reviews. So, we tried Empire again for one time/week classes for our 5 year old and 3 year old. While my 5 year old has gotten okay coaching, she hasn't really progressed. There just isn't enough time for instruction for the number of kids in the class. The kids stand in line one behind the other and perform handstands, cartwheels, forward rolls, etc. The coach is available about once per movement to correct form. My 3 year old ended up with the same instructor that was rude to us over the summer. My son is the only boy and he is in a class with about 5 or so very sweet little girls. I have sat in the parent's area for about 6 weeks now waiting for the same level of attention on him as the other girls receive and have decided it's time to take him out of the class. After watching the instructor allow my son to skip one of the movements (her head was turned watching other girls EVERY time), I decided to confront her. I asked if he was supposed to do the same movement as the other girls, and she said that he may not be "emotionally mature" enough to do it and that he may be afraid of heights. When I told her I had watched her for 6 weeks not engage with my son, she was passive aggressive and told my son that she was "glad his injury had healed" and said to me "maybe he's scared because he fell." You can interpret that however you wish. My interpretation is that this instructor not only has no patience for children with energy but she also does not want to take responsibility for their...

We attended the Mom and Me class tonight and Miss Brooke was fantastic! She was patient with the kids and her instructions were very clear. She had plenty of activities planned for the kids and the rotations lasted just long enough that my almost 2-year old didn’t get too distracted. There were only about 4 kids in the class, which I felt was a good number. The instructor for the Weds mommy and me class gets 5 stars from me.

The facility, while quite large, seems a little shabby, and some of the pads and bumpers need to be repaired or replaced. Structurally the equipment seems fine, but we only used a small portion of the equipment. The facility gets 3 stars, maybe 4. It seems like a very large facility.

The front desk staff was helpful, although the lady working the desk tonight didn’t know how to set up my card for recurring payments, and we signed up for an entire month of classes, with the intent to attend the mommy and me class until my son is too old for it. Front desk staff gets 4 stars. Anyone who works the front desk should be trained in all the operations.

I am going to have my 9 year old daughter try out some classes here, too, and we’ll see how that goes.

Update 7/24/2021: We loved Empire so much we are back again! My now almost 5yo has loved the classes and is moving up to the beginner boys class. We called a few other gyms and they didn’t have boys gymnastics, so we came back to Empire and haven’t...

My daughter was an optional gymnast at Empire for several years, but we chose to leave after the owner told me that her number one priority is protecting the coaches over the gymnasts. She was livid that my daughter told us things that happened at practice, saying she could no longer trust my daughter, as she expects the girls to keep secrets from their parents.

They also enroll way too many kids for the number of coaches. My daughter was seriously injured when she fell from the bars when the coach walked away while he should have been spotting her. There were too many kids for the number of coaches and they had knocked the mats out from under the bar, so her fall wasn’t cushioned. No coach even called us; my daughter had to call to be picked up for X-rays. (The coach made her call from the coach’s phone for proof they had contacted us, but she told my daughter she didn’t actually want to talk to us.). And when we arrived to take her to the ER, the head coach did not even come speak to us about the injury.

Empire will take yiur money. But they won’t keep yiur child’s well being at the forefront. They will expect her to keep secrets, and if she gets hurt at practice, they won’t take care of her. So...