~*~ Stick It! A thread for Gymnastics Parents ~*~

[mom2cinderella]

I noticed the other day that the CheerleaderParents have a thread - I thought it would be fun if we had one also*! I have a lot of fun chatting with the other parents at the gym and have learned SO much from the more experienced parents. Maybe we can support and help each other here too!

(*if there is already one, I apologize - blah blah search disabled blah blah)

About you and your gymnast:
How old was your child when they started gymnastics?
What level are they at now?
Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state?
When is your "season"?
Do you have other kids? Are you juggling their activities too?
Do you follow gymnastics at the National level?



Let me know if you can think of other questions and I'll add them to the OP.

Thanks! Michele

 

[dis4me]

Hi Michelle
My dd just finished her level 7 season and is 12 years old. She started at 3 but left for a few years and seriously started competing level 4 at 9. She loves gymnastics. I do too but am not loving the costs.LOL
I think this is a great thread. Maybe we can see if there are any meets that other disers will be at. We are in NJ but do travel. What level is your dd?
Oh I do have 2 other children ages 5 and 12 who play every sport and it is impossible to juggle all the schedules but we make it work.
Level 3 is the first year you can compete in NJ but most gyms don't( like ours). THe first year with a state meet is level 4.
I do watch gymnatics on TV whenever it is on because I enjoy it. I know who the olympic contenders are. BTW Carly Patterson will be at our gym today to promote the upcoming Olympics so the girls are psyched.


Good Luck to all the gymnasts at the upcoming meets!! Our next one isn't until Feb

 

[mom2cinderella]

How old was your child when they started gymnastics? dd started taking gymnastics classes at 3. At six she tried out for the pre-competition team.
What level are they at now? dd started the season as a level 4. January 1st she became a level 4/5 and part of a new pre-CTOPs program. She'll be 8 in a couple weeks.
Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state? At our gym, levels 1/2/3 make up the pre-competitive team. (I wish the level three's had a meet or two to get them ready for level 4) It doesn't seem like many gyms compete their level 3's in Ohio.
When is your "season"? State Championships in Ohio are in early/mid April. Tryouts for the next season are at the end of April. The compulsory teams have their first meet at the end of September, and their last meet is the State Championships in April. I don't really know about the optional teams.
Do you have other kids? Are you juggling their activities too? DS is 9.5 and dd#2 is almost 2.5. DS plays soccer so there are some days when practices overlap. What usually happens is I'll drop both off and pick one up; dh picks the other one up. The toddler's activities are during the day when the older two are at school. The family rule is that whenever possible, we all go to the games or meets.
Do you follow gymnastics at the National level? No. I've always liked to watch the Olympics, and if I catch college gymnastics on tv I'll watch. But I couldn't tell you who's who in the gymnastics world, or who the up and comers are.

Michele

 

[mom2cinderella]

Maybe we can see if there are any meets that other disers will be at.

That's what I was wondering too. Our gym hosts a pretty big meet midFebruary - it would be cool to have some other gymnasts to watch and root for!

Michele

 

[sharlon]

Thanks Michele for starting this. Glad to know others out there understand. Let's see.....

About you and your gymnast:
How old was your child when they started gymnastics? Kelly was 3 when she started at a Little Gym. We moved to a "real" gym when she was 5
What level are they at now? She is now 8 (9 next week) and is a level 4. This was her first season competing, but she had emergency surgery midseason (non gymnastics related), so will be competing at some winter/spring meets just to get more experience.
Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state?not regularly. Sometimes you'll see level 3s
When is your "season"?Compulsory is in the fall and prep-ops and optionals are in the winter/spring. Some of the winter/spring meets will have levels 4-6 competing though if they need scores or experience. That's what my DD is going to do.
Do you have other kids? Are you juggling their activities too? I also have a 10 year old daughter who does school chorus, girl scouts, basketball, and will start golf with b'ball season is over. And I have a 2 year son whose sole activity is driving me crazy!
Do you follow gymnastics at the National level?more collegiate than national, although I do read Kelly's USA Gymnastic magazine and get emails

 

[disneyfanx3]

MY daughter is not on the team yet - she has been doing gymnastics since she was 2.5 she has been asked several times to join the team, but I have been afraid of the time comitment and she was not willing to give up other activities - we have since switched gyms and they have also asked her to join the team she would be starting out at level 4 what I want to know from you is how much time is really involved and how much travel? Do you have to pay to enter the meets? Thank you for your information

 

[sharlon]

I would definitely talk to a team mom at your gym, Charlene. My DD has 9 hours of practice/ week. You pay entry fees for each meet, plus any travel costs. Meet fees are usually, here in NC, between $50 and $65. Our gym owner has 4 DDs on team so she really watches costs. Our team fee which pays for coaches expenses, etc. at the meets is only $200/year which is low. Our competition leo was about $100 as was the warm up. But, we will use that leo for about 4 or 5 years and she tries to hand them down to help save money.

 

[mom2kazkids]

Thank for the thread.

How old was your child when they started gymnastics? Lauren started in a preschool program at age 3, when she started kindergarten she moved to the "elite" program at our old gym where they worked on level 1/2/3 skills.

What level are they at now?She now is at a new gym and competes level 3, since they only have 2 meets left they are starting the girls on their level 4 and 5 skills.

Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state?Depending on the gym, old gym-NO, new gym yes, but only at level 3.

When is your "season"?The compulsory kids with the expection of level 3 compete starting in September with state the first weekend of December. Optional kids start in January and go to state in April. This year the level 3's have 3 meets, Nov, Jan and Feb.

Do you have other kids? Yes, DS is 7. Are you juggling their activities too? He does swimming lessons once a week at a Y about 10 minutes from DD gym. So we drop her off, watch for about 45 minutes, head to swim lessons and come back for the last hour of practice.

Do you follow gymnastics at the National level? Try to, DD and watched this last years World online the week that it was happening. I know that we will watch the upcoming Olympic Trials and Olympics.

Here is what a dedicated gym mom I have become, we are from Green Bay--Go Pack!!--, but where will I be when the game kicks off, at a gym in Milwaukee (Chelese Memmels' home gym) for DD second meet. I have a feeling that this will be a "moms meet" like her first one that was held opening weekend of deer hunting. So we are making a weekend of it, going down and watching the optional girls on Saturday, and also spending Sun night as awards are at 7:40pm. We will just drive home in the morning and she will get to school late.

Barb

 

[bcvprincesses]

What a great idea.

About you and your gymnast:

How old was your child when they started gymnastics? Brooke was 2 and Jessica started as soon as she could walk.

What level are they at now? They are both level 6 and are 8 and 10 years old.

Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state? Not at our gym but here in Michigan they have fun meets for level 2, 3, 4, and pre-5.

When is your "season"? My girls first meet was in Nov. and their state meet is in April.

Do you have other kids? Are you juggling their activities too? No other children. I really don't know how the other parents handle juggling their other children's activities

Do you follow gymnastics at the National level? My girls love to watch anything that is on television. We have our dvr set to tape anything gymnastics related.

My girls have a sectional this weekend and then we are off to Disney on Wednesday for the Sand Dollar invitational. This will be the third year we have gone to this meet and we can't wait.

They are also going to Chicago, Battle Creek, Kalahari, home meet and their state meet. They went to Niagara Falls two weeks ago and took first and second. Their team took first place in levels 4,5,6,8 and 9. That is all the levels at our gym. What a great weekend for the girls.

 

[mom2cinderella]

what I want to know from you is how much time is really involved and how much travel? Do you have to pay to enter the meets?

Level 4 at our gym is 7.5 hours a week. We have 9 meets this season, only two of which involve hotel stays. We pay $500 to the Booster Club for the meet fees in August. If our fundraiser (a meet we host) makes enough money, we get some of that $500 back.

Kalahari

Luau in Leos or something like that? We'll be there!



Michele

 

[Terry36]

My daughter started gymnastics when she was 5.

She will be 9 in March and is currently in level 2 gymnastics.

Her 1st meet is in 2 weeks.

No other children however I juggle school, gymnastics, girl scouts and cathecism(sp).

Yes we watch the competitions as well.

She is currently suffering from heel and knee pain..I took her to a Sports Medicine Dr. who recommends we do excercises to streghthen them. (30 reps) twice a day. Has anyone else's kid experiencing this and if so what was the recommendation. What are you doing?

 

[bcvprincesses]

Luau in Leos or something like that? We'll be there!

Michele

Yes, that's the one. It is the first time my dd's team has gone to this meet. I hope it is fun. I really hope that they compete Friday afternoon or early Sat. so the girls can have fun at the water park. We are staying at the resort Friday and Sat nights.

 

[ZanneMarie]

I am very interested to 'listen' in on all of your experiences.

My DD is 5 and she has been doing gymnastics since she was 2 1/2. I had placed her where I thought that she should be this fall (after the summer off) in a rec class and I was told that she knew how to do everything and should be moved up and could start in a preteam class (this was in the fall when she was still 4!)if I wanted. I decided that I was not ready for that much gym so I just put her in the higher level rec class.

We have a friend who is 11 and a level 4/5 and we went to the big competition that was held at our gym this weekend to watch her. It was fun to watch and extra exciting because our friend received several medals. After we got home I asked my DD if she had fun watching the girls and she said yes but she would really rather be one of those girls! Looks like we may be on the path to team! I am very worried about the financial commitement as well as the time commitment.

 

[sharlon]

I used to think gymnastics was expensive, until I talked to other moms with kids in other sports. Now, I feel fortunate that DD doesn't do ice skating, hockey, travel soccer, or cheerleading.

 

[dis4me]

I used to think gymnastics was expensive, until I talked to other moms with kids in other sports. Now, I feel fortunate that DD doesn't do ice skating, hockey, travel soccer, or cheerleading.

I had a friend who had a ds who was a hockey player and dd a gymnast. SHe said they were about the same. A lot of it depends on the gym too. At our gym we have to pay 1200 a year for meet fees. Plus we pay a huge monthly fee, leos(at least 200) every 2 years, warmups every 2 years at least, and hotel and travel costs. My friend at the other gym pays about 500 a year the monthly costs which are a fourth of mine..

 

[Terry36]

Has anyone experienced this:

My daughter is currently suffering from heel and knee pain..I took her to a Sports Medicine Dr. who recommends we do excercises to streghthen them. (30 reps) twice a day. Has anyone else's kid experiencing this and if so what was the recommendation. What are you doing?

 

[carone0318]

Hi all, another gym mom here!

Like dis4me, I am also in NJ. My dd too also just finished the L7 season. Did yours compete at States? I am estatic because dd just won AA for her age group at States!!!!

Answering the original questions:

How old was your child when they started gymnastics? My dd was 4 when she started.

What level are they at now? Dd just finished Level 7. They had States this past Saturday & Sunday.

Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state? I think there is a 3, but don't know of any gyms that compete it. Usually you do pre-team and then go to L4.

When is your "season"? Dd's season just ended as I said above. Now she is training L8, which is in the Spring. She will train and then next December she should start competing L8.

Do you have other kids? Yes, I have ds who is 6 (will be 7 on Valentine's Day)

Are you juggling their activities too? Yes, ds plays soccer pretty much yr round. He takes golf lessons and right now is also involved in wrestling. Dd also plays on a travel soccer team too, but this is the last yr for that. It has been very difficult to do soccer (can only do it because dh is the coach) and also train 20 hrs a week in the gym.

Do you follow gymnastics at the National level? Yes. The elite at dd's gym is a National Team Member, so we try to stay on top of what is going on.

Best of luck to those who are competing!

 

[dis4me]

Hi all, another gym mom here!

Like dis4me, I am also in NJ. My dd too also just finished the L7 season. Did yours compete at States? I am estatic because dd just won AA for her age group at States!!!!

Congrats to your dd!! That is wonderful. My daughter did great at states. She had a 37.025 but did not place in the aa. She had 58 girls in her age group.Lat year at level 6 she came in 2 so she was a bit disappointed but knew going in that there were alot of repeaters in her age group so the competition was fierce.

 

[mom2cinderella]

because dd just won AA for her age group at States

That's awesome!!!

knew going in that there were alot of repeaters in her age group

DD got the chance to go to a meet that was just for new level 4's. She won AA for her age group and had so much fun. I sometimes wish more meets could distinguish between 'new' and 'repeat', but the award ceremonies are already sooooooooooooo long.

Michele

 

[paigeandmorgansmom]

How old was your child when they started gymnastics? She did dance for 5 years and switched to gymnastics when she was 8...she is now almost 12
What level are they at now? she has just competed level 5 most of this season and now is doing prep-optional for the rest of the season. Hopes to test out of 6 soon and move to level 7 for next meet season.
Do levels 1/2/3 compete in your area/state? our state has some gyms that compete levels 2 & up, but most wait till level 4When is your "season"? Our season starts in november and runs to April.
Do you have other kids? Are you juggling their activities too? My other daughter is 7 and does dance, tap, jazz, and ballet. Will start to compete next season.
Do you follow gymnastics at the National level? yes