Parents oooohhhh I have parent nerves

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Ariekannairb

Proud Parent
When we switched gyms we tried out a USAG gym. It was too far to realistically drive so we went with a closer gym that has a TAAF team and a USAG team. At the time we joined the gym wasn't accepting younger gymnasts onto USAG so we continued with TAAF. We let the coach know up front that USAG was the goal and she told us that was also their goal. Awesome. My daughter has been pushing for USAG for several months now. I asked her to wait because for about 2 weeks she was wanting to "quit". Of course you all know that phase passed quickly and she is just as dedicated as before. Mostly, I think the 2 weeks was out of boredom as when we switched she could not finish competing because of TAAF's rules. Anyways, I digress. She has asked me often enough and worked hard enough that I finally called the USAG coach and expressed her interest in possibly changing over. Normally, I would have had her talk to him but he is darn near impossible to catch because he is literally always coaching. So, I talked with him this morning and he is going to talk to K's head coach about making the change next season. I am not expecting her coach to be especially supportive (though I don't think she will sabotage directly or anything). I just expect to be told that she is not ready. Which I would quite agree. How could a gymnast doing 11 hours per week possibly compare to one that has been doing 20 hours per week? Anyways, she is willing to do the work and I am hoping that is what her head coach passes on. I am pretty realistic, but I think my DD could do well and I just want to see her given the chance.

Anyways, I just needed to vent some nerves privately so that my daughter doesn't feel them LOL
 
I think I missed the back story here.. At what level are you wanting her to go in to USAG? Are you thinking scoring out and going in as an optional? If looking at going in at level 4 I'd think 11 hours should be fine. My dd started at 12 hours when she moved to level 4. Before that she was doing 10 hours. I'd be concerned if the gym is doing 20 hours per week for compulsory levels.
 
She will compete 4 at 11 hours and score out of 5 and go to optionals ideally. A lot of the girls do optional practices. I will cap her hours this first season around 15, but honestly, every USAG team we have looked at does high hours. I think it is just a Texas thing. The gym we looked at the first time around did 16 hours at level 3!
 
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Ah. I didn't realize you are in TX. I have a friend whose dd was doing 16 hours in preteam, I think around kindergarten. I just can't imagine that!
 
Yikes! DD did 9 hours at old 4, 12 at new 4, and is at 16.5 for 5 this year. Our optionals only go about 18. I can't imagine 16 hours for L3!
 
Everything is bigger in Texas. LOL! Seriously, though, I've never heard of 16 hours for preteam. It must be what they classify as preteam - girls training for level 4 but not competing yet, maybe? I don't know. Our gym does 9 hours for level 3 and 16 hours for level 4. Beyond that I'm not sure except I've heard that the highest levels go 30-35 hours per week. ⁉️

I'm glad you got to talk to the head coach. Are you guys in the middle of competition season for USAG right now, or do your girls compete in the spring? I'm pretty sure TAAF competes in the spring, but USAG is typically fall. I can see why they might want to wait to switch her over if the USAG girls are currently competing for compulsaries. I hope there is no tension between your DD and the coach before the switch. Good luck!!
 
Well, I got the response I expected from our coach. I got the distinct impression it hurt her feelings that K was considering the move. I get that. They put a lot of work into the girls, but I have always been under the impression that USAG was the end goal for all of the girls. The email I got back was basically full of "why she won't last". I was kind of hoping for "this is going to be hard work but here is what we can do to help her find out if it is what she really wants and if she can handle it" or something, some kind of encouragement. Anyways, we still have the meeting with the head coach so we will see what he says. In the mean time she is going to do what she can to work on flexibility and strength.

Our TAAF season starts in Jan. The USAG girls started at the beginning of Sept. We have already committed to the TAAF season so even though it hasn't started and we technically could switch over if USAG wanted us to, I feel like she owes it to her current coach to compete this season with TAAF. I am honestly not sure how things are going to play out between DD and the coach. There is an...interesting coach/gymnast dynamic that I don't quite understand and my DD is quite disappointed that her current coach is not giving the impression that she wants to support her goal, but at the end of the day, the USAG coach is a gym owner and if he wants her can pull rank. We will just see what he has to say!
 
oops, I just checked with the mom. The little girl moved to 16 hours when she moved to level 3 and she was 6. Still, way more hours than level 3s do here...
 
Ah. I didn't realize you are in TX. I have a friend whose dd was doing 16 hours in preteam, I think around kindergarten. I just can't imagine that!

Can you say burn out?!

OP It's sad that her current coach can't be supportive in her goals. Maybe HC can give her some strength and flexibility exercises she can do to help her make a smooth transition?
 
Ah. I didn't realize you are in TX. I have a friend whose dd was doing 16 hours in preteam, I think around kindergarten. I just can't imagine that!
Little bit goes from 9 to 16 in January (the year she turns 6). She is ecstatic ...I am terrified
 
A lot of TAAF gymnasts will compete TAAF in the spring and then USA in the fall the same level they competed TAAF. Does that make sense? So I can see it working for your daughter to do 4 TAAF this spring and then do 4 USA with the girls that will be doing Level 4 for the first time this fall. I think it would be near impossible for her to move up to 5 this fall.

I will say that for compulsories, I like TAAF much better than USA. The divisions are so much better for the kids (in my opinion) than the straight age divisions that can be discouraging, especially in Texas. It's nice for them to be able to taste some success in their division, move up, and then have the bar raised higher for the next meet. I actually tend to see MORE improvement that way. Just my opinion!
 
A lot of TAAF gymnasts will compete TAAF in the spring and then USA in the fall the same level they competed TAAF. Does that make sense? So I can see it working for your daughter to do 4 TAAF this spring and then do 4 USA with the girls that will be doing Level 4 for the first time this fall. I think it would be near impossible for her to move up to 5 this fall.

I will say that for compulsories, I like TAAF much better than USA. The divisions are so much better for the kids (in my opinion) than the straight age divisions that can be discouraging, especially in Texas. It's nice for them to be able to taste some success in their division, move up, and then have the bar raised higher for the next meet. I actually tend to see MORE improvement that way. Just my opinion!


This is actually something she is very ok with. Especially since USAG at our gym skips level 5. Repeating level 4 as a USAG gymnast makes perfect sense to me. It gives her a TAAF season to learn the skills and then a USAG season to transition in with routines and skills she is already familiar with while getting used to the new level of conditioning. We don't uptrain enough in TAAF for a straight move to 5 to be likely though depending on how fast she picks up the required skills it would not be impossible. She would have from May to Sept to train for level 5, but if the USAG team wants her to skip 5 she would not only need to have the level 5 skills but also be training for level 6. I don't know how they would handle that, but it seems a tall order while she is also adjusting to the big increase in hours and conditioning. We will see. She has her work cut out for her for sure, but seriously, all she is looking for and all I expect is for the coaches to be supportive and help as much as they can. If she doesn't make the USAG team, they will have a better gymnast and K will know she has the support of her coaches. Seems like a win-win to me :)
 

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