Contradictory advice?

[Shawn]

I'm so confused! We're trying to decide whether to move DD from level 2 to level 4, rather than spend a year training level 3. Much advice I've gotten says to move her up as quickly as possible but now I'm reading stories about girls that moved up too fast and were miserable. How do you decide when they're ready to move and when to hold them back? I don't want her to be bored with level 3 nor intimidated with level 4.

[awposey1]

It is an individual decison and I would rely on the coaches advice. My daughter skipped level 3 and missed learning some critical developmental elements like a standing back handspring and arm circling on vault. Now at Level 10, I think she still struggles with not progressing through each level ( she struggles with BHS on beam and with vaulting). Also, what are your goals...If you want to get to elite then move quickly, if you want staying power (say for college) then I think the slower path is better. Just a mom's thoughts.

[mariposamama]

I think that it totally depends on the child and the gym. I think the issue with your gym is that they don't seem to treat each child individually. A year at any level can be too much or too little for a child, depending on the kid. Or are you talking about the new gym you were looking at.

I think it depends on the gym as well. My DD's gym doesn't seem to be as strict on things and she will be moving to L4 in April most likely. They don't score the best in the meets, but it seems like the kids are all happy and they are having fun. My DD isn't super talented or a future elite or anything, so I am happy where she is.

I still struggle with the decision to let her move to L4. She turns 6 in July, but I don't think that in the grand scheme of things that it would hurt her to wait 6 months-1 year. The problem is that we don't compete anything here until L4 and she would be bored if she stays in her current class for the next year. I have a feeling she will do L4 for 2 years, which is fine with me. I just want her to have fun doing what she loves. I really wish we had AAU here or gyms that did competitions at L3.

Will the coaches consider doing L3 for now, but letting her advance at her own pace? That would be the ideal situation I think. Then she gets the opportunity to get everything step by step, but also advance if/when she is ready.

Good luck with the decision.

[bogwoppit]

Shawn, I think you are in a great position. Skylar obviously is a natural athlete and she is very young. She has just competed level 2, that leaves 8 levels until level 10. Supposing, beside the fact that she might decide to quit when she is 9 to be a cheerleader or ballerina (or whatever kids love to do), she does one year at each level, she will still only be a 14 year old level 10. Very impressive.

Kids with good, strong basics and polish can go far. Kids rushed through levels without all the basics can begin to struggle at the optional levels.

Having said that, maybe by next season she will have all the skills for level 4 and the confidence to compete it, then she should go for it. Most coaches have the girls train through the summer and see what skills the girls have before recommending levels, this means that they will only compete a level they are truly ready for.

A lot is about personality, some about natural ability.

In the end you should feel comfortable enough to trust the coaches you have chosen for your child.

Good luck, and to quote a famous Gymdad.

"remember gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint" this is so very true.

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

I guess my questions would be is where are her skills now. Is she doing the Level 3 skills as of now or is she close to having them. Our Pre-team is working on their level 3 routines. Just stated to learn them this month. They don't compete but it is good training. DD is working on a lot of her level 4 skills now. I am hoping she will have most of them before summer to make learning her routines much smoother. I know at our gym if you can't do a skill then you don't compete that event.

So I would look at how she is doing with her skills needed for level 3 and level 4 and see where she is standing and what will challange her with our giving too much pressure. Also I would talk to your daughter and coaches to see what each think.

[kristilyn73]

I tend to agree with Anne, My daughter skipped a level. It took her a long time to fix the skills she slopped through for a couple years. Now as an optional gymnast she is still has some struggles.

We made the decision this year to not move her up just because she has the score and some of the skills. She is waiting, working hard and becoming a stronger gymnast.

it is a decision that you and your DDs coach should make.

[MomChefKathleen]

I don't know what to tell you... we didn't have a gym that had Levels 2 and 3. Our old gym started a team in September 2006. DD was doing rec one hour per week. In February 2007, they asked if she wanted to try their "Developmental" class, which was preTeam. A month later, she was on Team and six months later (Sept. 2007) she competed as a Level 4. In December 2007, she placed 13th at States and tied for 4th place on Floor. Our coach moves girls up when they are ready. There are no requirements that they stay at any level for any amount of time. In fact, she just moved one girl from Level 6 to Level 7 after just a couple of meets.

Kathleen

[canadiangymmom]

I think you have to look at the individual athlete. My daughter started gym just over 2 years ago. (Jan 06, and she was already 7 years old) She did a hotshot/preteam arrangement for about half a year and then competed level 3. She won all 3 meets she attended and then jumped this year to level 5 provincial. (we have Provincial and invitational level 5's at our gym) Now she's finished her season, just Provincial Championships to go, and she won all 3 meets as a level 5 also. I heard from her coach at the meet on Saturday that she'll be skipping level 6 and going straight to 7 next season, but depending on skills, she may even do 8.

With good form I know she'll do well at whichever level they place her. The kids perform roughly the same skills at each level, it's the polish that sets the winner apart.

We have a great coaching team and I trust their judgement completely.

From the video I saw of your daughter, I think she'll do well skipping a level, but only her coaches know the other factors like how fast she acquires new skills and how strong she is etc..

Good luck making your decision

Canadiangymmom

[Shawn]

She has most of the level 3 skills. She can do the entire bars routine, although the shoot-through is inconsistent. She can do most of the beam routine except she doesn't have the swing to push-up position. The vault is the same except higher and she can do that. And the straight-arm backward roll is the only thing she's still working on for floor.

She does learn skills fairly quickly, which is why I'm afraid she'll get bored. She didn't start this team until August 1st. By December she was getting bored with the tedium of working the same routines without learning anything new. Thankfully the competition season started in mid-January which gave her renewed excitement. Also, after the first two meets, they finally started doing the level 3 skills. Skylar, of course, had already taught herself most of them but she was happy to finally be doing them in the gym. Now she is practicing at home trying to get her cartwheel on the low beam (consistently; she has done quite a few but doesn't always make it) and she desperately wants to get her kip. But they're not doing this at practice. She's doing it on her own.

If she could do level 3 for a few more months and compete it in the fall while learning level 4, that would be ideal. Unfortunately that's not how our gym works. They do a full year of level 3 and then they change to level 4. It's not a very individualized system.

[gymmomntc2e6]

I guess we are pretty lucky. Our pre-team is level 3 and some gyms in our area include level 3 in the meets so my dd has been able to do 3 meets to date and will do two more next month as L3 and one at the end of May as L4.

My dd also tries to get new skills. She has her ROBHS, standing BHS, she wants her back tuck and front tuck something awful !! She has her shoot through on bars, still does not have the mill circle but is close. Has not tried front hip circle. Is also working on kip.

I think L3 has been good for her. it has given her a chance to go to a few meets (L3 meet schedule is not as heavy as L4 & up) and get her feet wet. It has also given her time to get used to learning routines as well as working on L4 skills.

our gym did have 3 girls move up from rec to L4 last June. One quite (didn't like the jump from one day a week to 3 days a week) which is sad because she was good, one moved back to L3 after a few meets and one is doing great. I think it depends on the gymnast. I don't think getting a good L3 base is bad. I can see all the L3 elements leading to elements in L4 and up.

Good luck.