Parents How much progress would you expect after 4 months...

[Ex member]

My youngest dd has been in her new group 4 months now and is loving it, I am very pleased with the amount of progress she has made in her strength and flexibility considering she only goes once a week.

My dd first joined her new group in Novemeber last year and she was already quite flexible but she wasn't all that strong. Since joining she has done the following..

Got her left leg splits down (was close when she started)
Got her right legs splits close the ground
Box splits are a lot closer - nearly there
Her pancake stretch is near enough flat to the ground
Her sitting pike fold has improved a lot
She can do a standing pike fold and get her hands flat to the floor and also put her hands to floor slightly behind her.

Pike hang on bars - 10 seconds
Tuck hang on bars - 20 seconds
Straddle hang on bars - 12 seconds
Chin ups and get her shoulders nearly to bar (could hardly lift herself before)
Pullovers (from a small jump when standing on a block due to her height - with bar still above her head when standing on block)

Dd's group concentrates mainly on conditioning, beam and bar and have done floor work twice so far in 4 months,

On beam dd does -

High kicks
Cat leaps
Tuck jumps
Straight jumps
Balance standing on one leg with the other in air behind you
Foward roll on high beam
cartwheels on floor beam (will progress to high beam when she is used to doing them on floor beam.

Floor
Standing back bends (dd can do this after a few tries)
Bridge kickovers from wedge mat (dd has managed to do a couple of them on the floor)
From two stacked crash mats jumping upwards and backwards onto the crash mats landing in a tight shape.

I understand that 4 months is a really short time in the gymnastics world but I am really pleased with how things are going, my dd also seems to be changing shape in her upper body, she is a tiny skinny thing but is looking more broader around shoulders amd uper chest.

 

[Frase]

When dd was younger and feeling like she wasn't getting anywhere we made her a little tick chart with all the skills she did and didn't have when she moved to her new club and how much progress she had made in a really short time. She found it really funny to see what she had struggled with previously and loved ticking them all off.

Watching her now starting to learn things like flick layout on beam I wish we could roll back time to when those teddy bear rolls were hold your breath moments!

 

[Jenny]

sounds like she is doing really well!

 

[Ex member]

When dd was younger and feeling like she wasn't getting anywhere we made her a little tick chart with all the skills she did and didn't have when she moved to her new club and how much progress she had made in a really short time. She found it really funny to see what she had struggled with previously and loved ticking them all off.

Watching her now starting to learn things like flick layout on beam I wish we could roll back time to when those teddy bear rolls were hold your breath moments!

Teddy bear rolls were a favourite of my oldest dd as they were one of the things she could do well when she first started.

My youngest dd tends to be hard on herself, she gets fraustrated if she cannot do things easily, I often remind her how far she has come in term of strength and flexibility since beggining her her new group. It is hard to get a 7 year to understand that things need to be built on before she can do these things. I have reminded her how far she has come on the beam in terms of bravery, when she first started she couldn't jump very high on the high beam, she looks so different now and can jump alot higher, she has now got that gymnast stance and pretty hands seem automatic - even when doing gymnastics in school pe lesssons.

One of her biggest achievements is starting to overcome her shyness around her team mates and she makes an effort to talk to them - the rest are 2-4 school years ahead of her.

 

[Frase]

Teddy bear rolls were a favourite of my oldest dd as they were one of the things she could do well when she first started.

My youngest dd tends to be hard on herself, she gets fraustrated if she cannot do things easily, I often remind her how far she has come in term of strength and flexibility since beggining her her new group. It is hard to get a 7 year to understand that things need to be built on before she can do these things. I have reminded her how far she has come on the beam in terms of bravery, when she first started she couldn't jump very high on the high beam, she looks so different now and can jump alot higher, she has now got that gymnast stance and pretty hands seem automatic - even when doing gymnastics in school pe lesssons.

One of her biggest achievements is starting to overcome her shyness around her team mates and she makes an effort to talk to them - the rest are 2-4 school years ahead of her.

And do you know what - those life skills of overcoming shyness and developing confidence in herself are more important than gymnastics will ever be. Well done her.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Sounds normal to me! I coach little ones and it seems like she's doing well. All kids progress differently, some faster, some slower, but that progress is about what I would expect from a higher level rec kid/moving to "developmental" program.

 

[Ex member]

And do you know what - those life skills of overcoming shyness and developing confidence in herself are more important than gymnastics will ever be. Well done her.

My youngest dd has always been a good "performer" and has had no problems when she has to perform in front of other people (she has danced on stage since she was 5) but she is never one to push herself forward, she is a good girl at school and works hard and never gets in trouble and she is the same at gym, she always tries to do as she is asked, behaves well and listens.

Dd will never just go up to girls and boys she doesn't know and ask to join in with them but she will play is she is asked by them so it was a big achievement that she interacted with the older girls in her group - I understand that it must be hard due to the age gap, when dd told be she had made the effert with the girls in her group I told her I was proud of her (dd is equivelent to grade 1 in the usa at school).

 

[2gymkids]

Sounds like she's doing great! I have a similar DD in that she has a hard time seeing how far she's come and only focuses on her struggles. A couple of months ago we took out the video of last year's gym show (so only about 6 months prior) and her jaw almost dropped seeing what she couldn't do just 6 months ago (and mine did too). It was a great reminder for both of us.

 

[Ex member]

Youngest Dd did her first lot of testing at gym, she had to do the following:

Dips on PBars (dd could only do one)
Hanging Chin ups (dd suprised me and did 3 and got her head above the bar)
Hanging leg lifts (dd attempted 3 and nearly got her toes to the bar)
Forward Roll
Backwards Roll
Cartwheel
Straight jump into the pit

I did not see the testing, only going by what dd has told me, we got given a letter after practice asking ask to attend a parents meeting to discuss future changes and progress so far next week, we will be given an opportunity to ask questions at the meeting, it is a group meeting.I am looking forward to the meeting as I can ask the questions that I have but slightly nervous as this is the first time I have been to a progress meeting and don't know what to expect.