Help for parents deciding how much to put into gymnastics

[lovinggymnastics]

This is my first post. I joined basically to ask this question which has been in my mind for awhile now so I hope to get some real concrete advise.

My son will be an 8 yr old level 5 gymnast next season. Like many boys his age, he dreams of becoming an elite gymnast and going to the olympics. Having not competed in gymnastics ourselves my husband and I have no way of knowing how realistic this is. I know, of course, that competing at the elite level is a long shot. But he did have a great season this year and brought home many medals from our very competitive state meet. So he clearly has some talent for this sport. I would like to match his enthusiasm and make decisions that give him the best chance to reach his potential but be realistic about it too. We also want to help him be realistic. We love our gym and our coaches but we're at a smaller gym that has never developed an elite level gymnast, doesn't have a Future Stars program, etc. I don't know enough about recognizing potential in gymnastics to be able to make smart decisions about things like how much money and time do we want to invest in gymnastics, do we need to consider switching gyms (which would not be a small thing - there are no better gyms a resonable daily driving distance from us), are there things that we could be doing to augment his training (camps, etc). I don't actually know that his training needs augmenting at this point - his coaches seem to be doing a great job at this point. But possibly in the next few years should we be doing something that we aren't doing now?

So I guess what I'm looking for is some insight into at what age or skill level will it become more obvious what his potential is? And then what things should we be looking into in order to help him be as successful as he can be? And is the fact that he is likely to be tall (5'10 - 6' or so) a definite limiting factor for him?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

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[GymBee97]

Welcome to the wonderful world of gymnastics and to the CB.

Elite gymnasts are rare and very few make it to the Olympics - this is not to say that your son might not be the one that makes it but out of the thousands of gymnasts out there only 5 spaces.

to be an olympian/Elite - Gymnastics had to be your life - you are at the gym 30+ hours a week usually homeschool and don't have very many outside social life events. It it in my opinion somthing you have to have a true calling for. And he should be in an Elite program already.

Now that doesn't mean your son can't do very well in this sport. In the Jr Olympic program he can go through the levels to Level 10 and have lots of opportunities espcially college scholarship opportunities.

If you love your gym then stay there at L5 you are just at the start of the gymnastics competion levels. Don't tell him he won't make the olympics (as he might just do it) let him have that dream, be supportive and encouraging of the skills he gains and know that even as a Competitive gymnast in this program its a life style for the whole family. You will need to choose meets over birthday parties, other sports etc. As he moves forward he will spend more time at the gym. I have a Son who use to compete until he was 16 and now is a coach. My DD is still competing and doing well. Both spent or are spending 20 hours a week at the gym 4 days a week. So that does't leave alot of free time but some how the time was found to do some things.

Our family schedules are centered around practice and meet schedules of my DD so from Nov - april when the competitions happen we really don't do much else but take DD to practice and go to meets (doing High School Gymnastics and Club gymnastics fills up everyweekend and several weekdays with meets).

As for potential your coaches will let you know where your child should be. It sounds like you have a gym you love, your child loves and is happy at. He is only 8yo and alot can change in the next few years. he may find some other activity that he wants to do and quit gymnastics you never know.

This is just a small fact I came across not too long ago in one of the gymnastic magazines my son gets.

"Only about one in a hundred (1.28 %) gyms in the United States is currently producing an Elite gymnast and has a rightful claim to the title of an elite gymnastics gym. Only about 2.2% of gyms, now in existence, have ever produced even one Elite gymnast"

[lovinggymnastics]

Thank you for all the info GymBee. It is helpful to hear how gymnastics affects your life with a higher level gymnast and you have some great insight.

I should clarify that I'm not expecting my son to be an elite level gymnast. I know how rare that is. I don't know if he even has the potential to go on to the college level. What worries me is that our gym has a pretty successful compulsory level program but not much going on at the optional level even. I think there may have been 1 gymnast who went on to compete at college. I don't know why that's the case - there are a lot of factors beyond the coaches control I know. I just don't want his success to be limited because we didn't have him in the right place or doing the right things. There's always the risk that he could decide to quit and move on to some other interest, although going in to his 3rd year at the competitive level I don't see his enthusiasm fading yet.

[Aussie_coach]

Men's gymnastics is very different to woman's gymnastics. In women's gymnastics the aim is to reach as high a level as possible before hitting puberty, but men are limited in what they can do until they hit puberty and start to develop their adult strength. So men don't have to reach as high a level as women at a young age to be successful, they don't have to train as many hours as women at a young age either, this can happen when they reach their teenage years.

Women can compete internationally when they are 15 ( turning 16 that year) men must be 18. Women are usually retiring in their late teens and early 20's while men will start to get better and stringer in their early 20's.

If he is level 5 at 8 then he is well on track to hit the higher levels at the right age. However, yes his height is likely to be an issue. You just don't see 6 foot gymnasts at the Olympics.

[GymBee97]

Yes Aussie that is true - men have alot longer time to gain the levels than girls do thats for sure. I've had a boy and I have a girl in competitive gymnastics. Level 5 at 8yo is a good age for that. Alot of boys spend a few years at Levels 5 and Levels 6. There are big skill jumps from one to the next in the boys program.

Lovingymnastics Usually only one or two do go on to college from any gym or high school at least that has been my experience so yours sounds about average. If the compulsory levels are good I would stay there for now since everyone seems happy as you do competitions check out the other gyms competing and see which might be a good fit for the upper levels. They might not have a big optionals boys program because alot of boys quit after L6 and opt for school sports instead. Go to a few competitions with optional levels to see which gyms have good competitors then maybe do a visit when it gets closer to your son getting to those levels. I know when my son was competing at the compulsory levels he use to love when they went to meets where the optional level boys were competing too. Right around 10 or 11 yo his friends started to tease him about gymnastics being a girls sport - he stood up to them and told them to try it and see just how hard it is. Seeing the older gymnast compete let him know that it wasn't a girl's sport and gave hime the confidence to stick up for the sport he loves. (He coaches the compulsory team he use to compete for and loves it) Alot of boys will quit when frinds start that "its a girls sport" teasing.

[LilHawkMom]

Very good question to be asking. I had that same question when my son fell in love with the sport. It is good that you understand how rare it is to be elite/Olympics. I personally feel being at the right gym/coach is important. If you see your son progressing and having all the things necessary to compete well against others at your current gym, that is great. Just be open to reassessing things as you go along. You could also talk to your current gym about why they don't do future stars, maybe it was because there hasn't been the talent to compete at future stars since you have to have talent at the
"right age" to compete at it, or parents didn't want to do another thing because of expense or time or they don't have the staff/time to add it. You could tell them you are interested in it for your son and ask them if they think is capable of competing in future stars. This would also provide a way for the coaches to tell you how they think your son is doing. While it is true boys peak later I think it is important to have good training when they are young in the basics so they don't have to fix things later. I know for us we would not have done the things we have done if my son didn't have some talent and if he didn't have this passion for it. It is a huge sacrifice for our family, everything goes around it even though he is only a level 7.

I don't think you have to do all these gymnastics camps. Our coaches actually don't want him to go to any. They have a specific way they want him to learn things and progress and don't want him to just go chuck skills or learn new skills that they think he shouldn't be doing yet.

As for the height thing, that worried me too when we first started out. I really think that applies more to girls than boys. If you go and look up the stats on the current men's college team you will see many tall guys 5'7 and up. That made me feel better seeing how many there are! We even met Justin Spring in person, I was surprised how tall he was, 5'7. Also, one of my son's coaches is 6'1 and was one of the best on his college team. Also, our other coaches are not worried that my son might be tall around 5'7 or 5'8 if he follows like his 18 yr old brother.

[lovinggymnastics]

Thanks to all for your thoughtful responses. I'm kind of putting it all together in my head and this is what I've come up with: (Tell me if this sounds about right).

So as long as he is remaining fairly competitive over the next couple of levels at the state and then the regional level (as I mentioned - we are in a pretty competitive state and region) I can feel pretty comfortable that he isn't falling terribly behind to the point where there's no chance of getting to an elite level later. Once we get to the teen years it will become more obvious what track he is capable of (as in elite vs collegiate vs neither) and we may want to re-examine the whole gym question then but until then he isn't likely missing some important step. Yes?

LilHawkMom - thanks for sharing that your son's coach was a collegiate level gymnast at 6'1". I have not heard too many stories like that. It seems like 5'9" is the cut off.

GymBee - so sad to hear about the boys teasing each other about it being a girls sport. Those junior high school years are so tough!

[profmom]

If there's any way to get him to a college meet, take him!

[lovinggymnastics]

to be an olympian/Elite - Gymnastics had to be your life - you are at the gym 30+ hours a week usually homeschool and don't have very many outside social life events. It it in my opinion somthing you have to have a true calling for. And he should be in an Elite program already.

GymBee - this comment has been sticking in my head. I think this is at the heart of my worry. What would be an example of an "Elite Program" and how would one know, at the ripe old age of 7 or 8, whether they have a "true calling" for it?

For the parents who have their children in very high profile programs, who homeschool and make other life accomodations for gymnastics - how do you come to that conclusion at such a young age? Or would you have homeschooled anyway and so gymnastics doesn't really change how you would be raising the kids?

I hope the tone of this doesn't sound confrontational. I really am curious and interested to hear from some of you in that situation about what process you went through to make those decisions.

[emorymom]

But I mean do boys really "fall behind" at any point before puberty? My son's first MAG coach started gym at 9 and competed D1.

I would have homeschooled anyway, but am able to have mine in gymnastics because I homeschool. It fits well enough into the homeschool day and other sports because we are able to be so much more efficient about learning. It's similar with acting, which they also do. Because I was homeschooling it became a viable activity, and like gymnastics, offers such valuable experiences.