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

[dis4me]

DD4 has been in gymnastics for 1 session (6 or 7 wks) & she is being recommended for the pre-team class which I understand is a huge commitment but I really know nothing about.

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons associated w/this. Glad I found this thread!

Hi Welcome to the wonderful world of gymnastics. This is a great sport.It teaches the girls discipline,flexibilty, builds their confidence, and builds a base for all other sports.
However once they start competing it is very expensive and time consuming.It effects the whole family.Meets can be far away and soimetimes you don't get repoirt times until the week of the meet.
With that said my daughter just finished her level 7 season and loves it.She trains 22 hours a week. She doesn't really see her school friends much and doesn't attend many school functions but it is a sacrifice she chooses to make.

Being 4 of course your daughter will probably do 2 hours a week.I think it is great for the little ones.Not sure where you live but our state won't let the girls compete until they are 6 .This gives her plenty of time to get the skills and strength she needs.
Feel free to ask any specific questions .There are a great group of people here with girls and boys who are gymnast at various levels.
Good luck with your decision.Hope to have helped.

 

[bcvprincesses]

Wow great meet.It must be hard for your daughters when they compete against each other.Are they usually in the same age group?

They are 8 and 10 so they will be in the same age group until the state meet. At that meet they usually have a 7 to 9 year old group and a 10 year old group. I am really surprised how far they have come this year. I really thought they would have an ok year but they are both doing great and getting better at each meet. They really push each other in a good way (most of the time when they are not fighting)

 

[dis4me]

They are 8 and 10 so they will be in the same age group until the state meet. At that meet they usually have a 7 to 9 year old group and a 10 year old group. I am really surprised how far they have come this year. I really thought they would have an ok year but they are both doing great and getting better at each meet. They really push each other in a good way (most of the time when they are not fighting)

That's great that it is a friendly competition between your daughters. My dd and her bf were like that too. They pushed each other in a good way but were thrilled that the other one did well. DD figured if she couldn't be first it may as well be her BF.Glad to hear they are doing so well.Level 6 is a tough year score wise. It was my dds favorite year though.

 

[sharlon]

DD9 had a great morning yesterday. Normally our meets award 9 year olds as a separate age group, but due to numbers, she was placed with 10 and 11 year olds. She finished 5th AA and was the highest 9 year old. To top it off, her birthday was in January, so she was most likely the youngest girl in the age group. She had her highest AA score to date, 34.85, and got 4th on beam, her least favorite thing, and tied for 6th on floor.

 

[bcvprincesses]

That is great. She should be proud to be able to do so well with the older girls.

 

[missypie]

DD12 had an "off" meet on Saturday. She said her stomach was really hurting her the last two events.

Anyway, her one great event was floor...but she ended up with only a 9.2, placing 5th. It turns out that instead of a start value of 10, the judges gave her a start value of 9.7. She's had a start value of 10 at every other meet and didn't skip anything. The head coach wasn't there....their coach was the vault coach and he said he couldn't figure it out. With the extra .3 she would have won the event. I know we can't change Saturday's results, but I do hope we can get to the bottom of it and change her routine if necessary so that this never happens again.

 

[dis4me]

DD9 had a great morning yesterday. Normally our meets award 9 year olds as a separate age group, but due to numbers, she was placed with 10 and 11 year olds. She finished 5th AA and was the highest 9 year old. To top it off, her birthday was in January, so she was most likely the youngest girl in the age group. She had her highest AA score to date, 34.85, and got 4th on beam, her least favorite thing, and tied for 6th on floor.

Great meet Sharlon. That was hard being the youngest in the group but she did wonderful.

 

[dis4me]

DD12 had an "off" meet on Saturday. She said her stomach was really hurting her the last two events.

Anyway, her one great event was floor...but she ended up with only a 9.2, placing 5th. It turns out that instead of a start value of 10, the judges gave her a start value of 9.7. She's had a start value of 10 at every other meet and didn't skip anything. The head coach wasn't there....their coach was the vault coach and he said he couldn't figure it out. With the extra .3 she would have won the event. I know we can't change Saturday's results, but I do hope we can get to the bottom of it and change her routine if necessary so that this never happens again.

Missypie that stinks about floor and her not feeling well. That has happened to our girls at states as well. That is the only meet here where I have seen them flash the start value and 2 of our girls started at 9.5 on floor. OUr HC did question it but thought it might be lack of connection somewhere. Hope you get to the bottom of this.
Is dd feeling better?/I hope so.

 

[mom2kazkids]

I may have found a way for DD to get over her fears on the balance beam. She started to go to practice 3 nights a week this month. She is the only level 3/4 going that often so on Monday nights she will go with the 4/5 girls. Tonight they worked on beam the 4/5 doing more of the 5/6 skills and her doing 4/5 skills, well with trying to keep up with the big girls she was doing taller handstands, and larger split leaps and fighting harder to stay on the beam.

When they moved to bars she got to do the level 4 bar routine with help on the front hip and mill circle, but I think that she impressed the coach with the fact that she knew the whole routine and was close to the skills that she is just starting to learn.

I am now thinking that I am glad that the coaches are going to wait and start the girls competing in the winter instead of the fall season so that they are stronger on their skills, because her old gym did a meet this last weekend and girls that moved to level 4 last June were still scratching on 2 of the 4 events. I am so glad that we changed gyms in September.

Barb

 

[carone0318]

Just wanted to say that I just finished catching up from the posts over the weekend and it looks like most had good meets this weekend.

missypie - sorry to hear about dd's so-so meet. 9.2 is a great score regardless, but I know what you mean about the additional tenths would ahve made a difference. If she has always had a start value of 10.0 with the exception of this meet, I wouldn't worry about it - sounds kind of flukie....

poohluvrs - Welcome! I 2nd what dis4me said. Let her try it and see how she does, but team is a huge commitment, family-wise and financially as they get more involved, but I wouldn't let it scare you away at her young age!

As for my dd, not much going on other than training! Training, training, training!

 

[missypie]

I asked DD's head coach to go through the scoring card and DD's floor routine to see if she could figure out the 9.7 start value. She told DD that her leaps weren't really hard enough and that the judges at the other meets just hadn't noticed. JEEZ! We didn't pay for a 9.7 routine to be choreographed! DH thinks this is just more evidence that the coach doesn't care about DD and how she does, and he's probably right. DD is going to change one of her leaps to a switch leap and that wil bring up the start value. But why didn't the coaches tell her to do that in the first place????!!!!!!!!!

 

[bcvprincesses]

Missypie that is horrible about your dd's routine. At least it was caught before states and sounds like an easy fix. It's too bad that no one noticed it before this last meet. Do you have someone outside of you gym choreograph your routines?

 

[missypie]

Missypie that is horrible about your dd's routine. At least it was caught before states and sounds like an easy fix. It's too bad that no one noticed it before this last meet. Do you have someone outside of you gym choreograph your routines?

The gym brought in a lady to do the choreography. Between her and head coach, you'd think someone would have looked over the routine to make sure all the elements were there. It's not like my DD can't do the leaps..she's a dancer...that's her thing. No one else seems to have had this problem, hence our thought that the coach has written off our DD (She'll keep taking our money, but has no hopes for DD's future. Of course, this will be confirmed in the coach's mind when DD takes all of next week off for cheerleader tryout camp! )

 

[carone0318]

The gym brought in a lady to do the choreography. Between her and head coach, you'd think someone would have looked over the routine to make sure all the elements were there. It's not like my DD can't do the leaps..she's a dancer...that's her thing. No one else seems to have had this problem, hence our thought that the coach has written off our DD (She'll keep taking our money, but has no hopes for DD's future. Of course, this will be confirmed in the coach's mind when DD takes all of next week off for cheerleader tryout camp! )

Is there any other gym in the area that she could go to, maybe she just needs a fresh start.

Is it possible that she is going to switch over to cheerleading and give up gymnastics? Maybe this is what the coach is thinking.

I don't know, just trying to throw stuff out there.

Good luck!

 

[AC7179]

I'm not coaching anymore, but I'm relatively certain that a switch leap is NOT a requirement for Level 7! If it's not, then your coaches certainly know this and are just trying to pacify you. The requirements for a 10.0 SV are


1. Layout

2. Forwards acro series with 2 or more elements (Generally a fhs front)

3. 2 elements in a dance series, one requiring a 180 degree split

4. Full turn, or another turn that is at greater than 360 degrees.

There might also be a gym acro requirement (Gym is a jump, acro is a tumbling skill) Examples of these are roundoff straddle jump, hitch-kick cartwheel, etc.)

Does your daughter have all these requirements?

 

[AC7179]

Upon further investigation, (I'm trying to get my skills back!) Level 7 now also has value parts. She needs 5 A skills worth .1 each (so only .1 off if she was missing 1), and 2 B skills (worth .3 each)<----so that's what she is missing. She probably just has one B skill. Do you know her skills?

 

[missypie]

Upon further investigation, (I'm trying to get my skills back!) Level 7 now also has value parts. She needs 5 A skills worth .1 each (so only .1 off if she was missing 1), and 2 B skills (worth .3 each)<----so that's what she is missing. She probably just has one B skill. Do you know her skills?

She has all of that...she said this morning that she's going to throw in a third B skill, just for good measure.

 

[bcvprincesses]

No one else seems to have had this problem, hence our thought that the coach has written off our DD (She'll keep taking our money, but has no hopes for DD's future. Of course, this will be confirmed in the coach's mind when DD takes all of next week off for cheerleader tryout camp! )

That is really sad. I can't believe that a coach would write off any of their girls. At my dd's gym no one has ever been written off even if they are going to quit. They are still part of the team until they leave. Some of the best celebrations that the girls, coaches and parents have had is with the girls that have struggled and finally get it. Whether it is a certain score or a skill. Everyone on the team is important.

 

[missypie]

That is really sad. I can't believe that a coach would write off any of their girls. At my dd's gym no one has ever been written off even if they are going to quit. They are still part of the team until they leave. Some of the best celebrations that the girls, coaches and parents have had is with the girls that have struggled and finally get it. Whether it is a certain score or a skill. Everyone on the team is important.

DD has not breathed a word to anyone at the gym about trying out for cheerleading. She told the coach she wanted to quit around Christmas because of the BHS on the beam, but her coach talked her out of it. (Her floor was choreographed a couple of months before that, so the two can't be related.)

I always think there are two categories of girls at the gym. There are the girls for whom the skills come easy and who progress quickly. They are the stars. Then there is everyone else-the owner of the gym/coach will take their money for as long as they are willing to pay it, but they receive less attention and expectations are low.

I think that probably goes on to some degree in all but the most competitive of gyms. Do the 14 year old Level 6s really get coached as much and treated as well as the 10 year old Level 8s?

 

[carone0318]

I always think there are two categories of girls at the gym. There are the girls for whom the skills come easy and who progress quickly. They are the stars. Then there is everyone else-the owner of the gym/coach will take their money for as long as they are willing to pay it, but they receive less attention and expectations are low.

I think that probably goes on to some degree in all but the most competitive of gyms. Do the 14 year old Level 6s really get coached as much and treated as well as the 10 year old Level 8s?

I agree with you 100%. Quite honestly, our HC/O wouldn't have a 14yr old L6. That girl would have been sent to JOGA (JOGA is a NJ thing. It is still competitive, but not on the same level as USAG and you do not travel outside of NJ - basically competitive rec) by that age. The HC/O has told the girls that she would not have a 3rd yr L6 and if you do not have your giant by the end of your 2nd yr, you are moved to JOGA. The average age of our L7s and L8s are probably around 11 yrs old.

In our gym the stars do shine, you definitely see the difference.....