Check in here if you are a new level 4 parent.

[mom2kazkids]

Wow there are alot of us parnets with new level 4. Let's check in here.

DD is 7, starting to train level four and will compete starting in January. Has 3 level 3 meets under her belt.

Barb

[Shawn]

DD is 6 and will start training L4 next month for January competition season. By the end of April she will have competed in 7 level 2 meets (including State). She is skipping L3.

[mariposamama]

Hi! Add my DD to the bunch. She has her first L4 practice on Monday, she can't wait. She will be 6 in July. Her first competition is end of September. We don't compete the lower levels here.

Looking forward to sharing our girls' stories! I will let you know how Abby does at practice on Monday. Looking forward to hearing how your girls are doing as well.

[gymadison]

my dd7 has been a level 3 for the past year and our gym doesnt compete until level 4 - she started training as a level 4 last night - our first meet is in november

[gym mom]

my dd moved to l4 in Jan she just turned 8.She competed 5 meets at l2 and 6meets at l3 she has 1 more at l3 in July she is skipping the state meet this month she is going camping with her gs scout troop.In fl we have two state meets 1 in dec and 1 in april.She starts competing l4 in Sept.She is loving l4.

[starmaker]

Hi, my dd will me 5 on monday and has been training level 4 skills since the beginning of March. She had 1 L2 competition and will probally not compete next season. Although dd will be upset because she wants to compete I welcome the financial break for another year or so. She loves the pressure, challange, performance, etc. that comes with competing. I

[mariposamama]

well, DDs first L4 practice went great. she loved it. i could tell she was nervous though because she kept biting her fingernails. she was having fun though and said that she likes all her new coaches and doing the warm-up with the "big team girls".

anyone else just getting used to the longer practices? how are your girls coping? were they really sore after? my DD is going from 3 hours a week to 8 hours a week (when you add in her once a week pre-team class she is doing till mid may to learn routine for a show). her old class was 1.5 hours and new hours are 3.25 hours.

[mom2kazkids]

My DD made the increase in hours gradually. From 1 a week in the rec class to 4 a week in her old "Elite" class in Sept of 06 (m-w from 5:30 to 7:30), up to 6 hours a week at the new gym in Sept of 07 (w-f from 5-8), and now up to 9 hours a week in March 08 (m-w-f from 5-8). She will go 10 hours a week this summer because one of the days that she will go will be with the level 5/6 due to the fact I plan to work every Tues and Fri to bargain to get Mon, Wed and Thurs off for her practices which move to daytime in the summer. ( M-w from 10-1, and Th 7:30 to 11:30)

She has done very well with the increase in hours. Typically the girls get a 15-20 minute snack break at practice with the exception of Monday night now as the older girls that she goes with on Mon lost snack priviledge so now they have to condition mid practice, DD did OK with that tonight. I wanted to increase her hours in March so that next year when she is in 2nd grade 3 nights a week is not a big shock to her. So far so good.

Barb

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

DD will begin L4 training at the end of June. We do all moves then after our year end show. DD is not 5 yet so she will only be training this year and not able to compete. (Really frustrates her already). Oh well, I look at it as a great opportunity for her to get her skills 100% down. She has fun and it is good to keep her with her team mates. Our gym doesn't compete at lower levels so this should all be interesting when the time comes to actually get to her first meet. We shall see how this all plays out.

As for the hour increase I don't see it as a big deal. We do 4 hours a week right now. I also try to do one open gym day with her for about 3 hours so it all works well. Also last summer she did the L4 camp at our gym and that was 20 hours and she had just turned 4 and she survived pretty well. I think she would live at the gym if they would let her.

[mtbmom]

I'll chime in now that DD made L4 team. Our girls move up in June generally. Training L4 starts now 9 hours/week. Comp season for us starts in November.