Concordia Turners — Local services in St. Louis

I wouldn't recommend to anyone who is neurodivergent or has any kind of disability. Had an unfortunate encounter with the adult gymnastics coach, Haley(?) The office was a bit difficult to get ahold of for info but got a generalized email of their basic info and classes and I figured anything else could be sorted in person, so I paid the fee to enroll, the required annual membership fee, and the fee for the classes. 🙃 Got to a crowded class, no instructions of where to go to put belongings, no introduction of the instructor, who was visibly distracted while she shouted warmups to the class over the chaos of kids leaving the gym from the class before.

The adult class is actually two classes as they split into groups of ages 16-20 and 20+ and work at either end of the gym. The setup is rotating pods, a bit like a fitness test- but you don't get to decide what equipment/skills you're working on, which was a bit surprising to me. When I explained that I can't do bars because of conditions affecting my wrists/joints, the coach seemed like she'd be amenable and was going to find exercises for me to do.

When I realized I didn't get to decide what to work on (and didn't want to pay what I did to do the wall squats I do at home), I asked to talk to her when she had a moment as she was setting something up. She said she could hear me, and I repeated that it could wait until she has a moment. She repeated she could hear me just fine, so I said I didn't really want to yell it. She got a liiiiiittle bit of attitude and told me I could just come over there (she's surrounded by the class), so I gave up on tact and did. I said I thought I misunderstood what the class was and that it wasn't a good fit for me, that I had hoped to work on floorwork and acrobatics, not bars and beam. She tells me, again with a biiiiiit more snark than necessary, that is not an "open gym." I say I know that but thought there might be groups of people working on different skill areas with instructor assistance.

I was informed that they alternate each week between bars/beam and tumbling/floor/trampoline... which, okay, nowhere does anything say that in any description I could find, which would've been great to know before driving over from Illinois. She seemed confused that I wanted to do more focused skill work and not do whatever the class is doing that day. (I expect that for kids, not for adults.) When she asked what I could and couldn't do, I said both pushing/pulling on and hanging from bars causes wrist and thumb issues for me. She then asked me that, if I have bad wrists, why was I there?

Good question.

I asked to speak to someone about dropping the class and spoke to Erin, I believe. Night and day difference in attitude, Erin was not at all snippy and seemed genuinely upset. She said she'd speak to the other coach and offered to switch me to their adult trampoline/tumbling course. (Had there been more class info, I'd have enrolled in to begin with.) She said that wasn't at all the kind of environment they wanted to foster and that wasn't usually like the coach to have that attitude.

Unfortunately, the same young woman who felt compelled to ask why I was there teaches the adult trampoline/tumbling class too, so I will be...

We've been members here for many years. I pay less than $80 TOTAL for 2 kids to do competitive gymnastics in a USA Gymnastics gym. This is unheard of pricing and it's the only competitive gymnastics program in St. Louis City. My kids also take sport stacking and could take dance and martial arts if we had time for that. All the athletic classes are included...

Concordia Turners is an old and run down family/community center that's in desperate need of a make over. Their system is pretty repetitive every year, with the same ol board members making decisions for the place. New blood with fresh ideas is needed, badly. The fees are ridiculously high, considering that everything is outdated. You're better off...