I'll go with the minority opinion here, coming from someone who has had the same thoughts. Our situation is slightly different but I think all my points apply. Like any question, a LOT really comes down to the individual athlete. One big thing I have def seen in our experience that addicted2cheer mentioned, is that once the season starts the focus really shifts towards the routine as a whole. So I definitely get how taking a year off, to focus solely on tumbling looks like an option.
So you have to ask, if you stepped away from the team, is your athlete really prepared to keep up regular privates? If not having that mandatory schedule at the gym is not going to keep them there, then you may not see the results you are hoping for. Also, how is your athlete with other aspects of the routine? Namely the stunting and building, the things you can't obviously do as an individual. You don't want to necessarily improve one set of skills if at the cost of another diminishing. Will you supplement this time away with some type of additional conditioning? Any gained skills are all going to be for naught, if they lose the conditioning to actually throw them in the routine.
Again, its a case by case thing, but I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. For example, in our case, our schedule is so busy, that it's near impossible to put in the required open gym time to improve tumbling. So for us, it may be our only option to take a year off. If your athlete handles the schedule of privates, open gyms, and the team, then maybe time isn't the issue; and as others have pointed out, you may just need to look at different options for tumbling instruction.
