WAG Too late to be elite??

[dynamicduo]

Hi Everyone! I have a 9 year old daughter in the middle of her Level 4 season and her coach yesterday said if she keeps up her hard work, she has a chance to be elite! She will be moving on to Level 5 in the Spring, then do Level 6/7 in the Spring of 2015 when she will be 10. She just started swinging giants by herself on the strap bar, she can do back handsprings on the high beam, and just learned how to do a back layout with a full twist! But I still feel like she's behind considering other girls her age already in the optional level or those who have gone through TOPs! She is not in a TOPs group, so I'm wondering if becoming Elite is really realistic?!?

 

[Quadqueen]

Certainly, there are many girls her age who are competing at higher levels, but anything is possible! It sounds like she is beyond L4 skills, but I wouldn't get ahead of yourselves here...the coach's "plan" for your DD may not pan out for various reasons - she doesn't progress fast enough to move that quickly, she gets injured, she wants to do another sport/activity, etc. Whether she does TOPs really has no bearing on whether she makes elite. Remember, so few gymnasts make it to the elite level, but it's great if your DD has that goal for herself and works hard to try to achieve it.

My DD just turned 10 and is L7, but neither of us has any thoughts of her trying to make elite.

 

[MVJ]

Sounds like she has some talent, and elite could be possible. I really hope that becoming elite is not the only goal of gymnastics. Also, if your daughter does not want to be elite, please do not put any pressure on her and just let her enjoy the sport and do it to the best of her ability, which may not exactly be elite. Good luck

 

[dynamicduo]

She, like a lot of little girls, has dreams of the olympics, then going to college for gymnastics, then opening up her own gym!! haha Who am I to crush any of those goals of hers! However, I know that an olympic dream is few and far between and not really realistic! And, because she did not go the TOPs route, I felt that being elite was pretty much out of the question, thats why I was surprised when her coach said something! I know anything can happen (burn out, injuries, etc) but it's always fun to have big goals/dreams! BTW- She doesn't even know her coach mentioned it to me! Again, I just thought that elite was impossible because she is not on a TOPs team!

 

[iwannacoach]

Shhhh! Just let her work in a state of blissful ignorance. Encourage her to work as hard as she wants and to dream big, because those are two certain qualities an elite must have before they can any "elite potential" they may have.