Parents Yikes... Trouble coming back from vacation!

[my4buffaloes]

We took the family to CO (where we are from) and yesterday was dd's first day back in the gym. She missed 5 practices but didn't do gymnastics for 12 days. Well, she came out of practice in tears I guess. When she got home she was crying about how everything hurt. She fell on beam, she ripped a toe nail off on vault (I think) and all in all had a really rough first day back. I feel so bad for her! I had tried to get her to at least work out with my husband and I some over the break and do at least some conditioning but she just wouldn't do anything. I hope she learned from this, but I also hope that this doesn't sour her love of the sport. Ugh! Anyone else deal with this?

 

[gym law mom]

Not all that uncommon. Working out with you while on vacation probably wouldn't have made that much difference. She was just a little rusty on the gymnastics and the focus. 12 days off probably did her some good in the long run--those bodies need some rest.

 

[cher062]

I think anytime they are out for at least a week they come back rusty.

 

[lilgymmie7]

I think anytime they are out for at least a week they come back rusty.

Great...Now I am having second thoughts...DD will probably be off a week due to the start of school. Her gym will still be on summer schedule when she starts back at school, next week Monday. HC said she could come in in the evening, but the hours are limited. Well what can you do?
I hope your DD will be okay! The love of gym will return for sure!

 

[bookworm]

I agree with gym law mom...those bodies need some rest...and so she was ON VACATION for 12 days doing what people on vacation like to do sometimes, nothing! Being a competitive gymnast takes so much of their time that when they get the time to just chill and be a kid, take advantage of it and don't look back.

As an aside, my teenage Level 10 daughter is going on vacation for 2 weeks at the end of the month and plans to do nothing as well!

 

[MaryA]

Had sort of the opposite issue... DH took the girls to FL to visit his folks yesterday, so Monday was DD's day of practice. She'll miss 4 practices and be out of the gym for 9 days. She came out of Monday night's practice saying it was awful. She said she hadn't done well on any event. I think, in part, it was because she was working with a coach she doesn't work with as often as some of the others, in part because they're just starting to combine the level 6 skills together into bits and pieces of the routines, and probably also because she was putting pressure on herself ("This HAS to be a good practice because it's my last one before vacation!") I told her that her body needed some rest and that she'd come back better than ever. Hope that's true!

I have, in the past, asked my husband about maybe taking DD to a couple of practices at a gym near my in-laws while he's there (more when they go during meet season than in the summer) and he looked at me as if I must be insane, so I don't ask any more.

 

[maddiemei]

I'm sure this will be my dd next week. She was off last week due to an elbow injury. The gym is closed this week due to the start of school. Monday will be her first practice back in 16 days. She will have 4 practices and then her first level 4 meet. I'm hoping it will go okay.

 

[Blazing15]

Our coach has told us when you take a week off you are two weeks behind. I bet her body is sore from being on vacation but was probably much needed. These children need to still be able to go out and have fun and not think about gymnastics sometimes. She will get back in the swing of things will just take a little hard work and patience.

 

[bribri514]

She probably just had a bad day, your poor DD! I think esp if she's younger it's better that she had a chance to go on a vacation and have fun! Rather than do gymnastics conditioning, she has all year for that. Hope you had a fun time in CO!

I'm from CO myself, and my gym is one of the gyms in a big ski town vacation area. All winter we stay open for any girls to walk in and train while they're on vacation (it's because our gym is run through the own's trec district not a private gym I think, our HC tries but the powers that be always have interests than us in mind) It's mostly optional level girls who are required to practice while they're gone but every so often you have the crazy parents of the younger girls who are on vacation a week and instead of being out snowshoeing and skiing and sledding, are pushing their kids to do full gym workouts all week. It's vacation! Your kids will be much better off in the long run if you spend the time together as a family doing vacation activities!

 

[bookworm]

]Our coach has told us when you take a week off you are two weeks behind. I[/B] bet her body is sore from being on vacation but was probably much needed. These children need to still be able to go out and have fun and not think about gymnastics sometimes. She will get back in the swing of things will just take a little hard work and patience.

Well nothing like trying to lay a guilt trip on you (and i don't think it's really fair) ...I don't know if I agree that the gymnast is necessarily "behind" at all. All bodies need a rest from time to time so if they need to get "behind" , so be it.

 

[gym law mom]

Had sort of the opposite issue... DH took the girls to FL to visit his folks yesterday, so Monday was DD's day of practice. She'll miss 4 practices and be out of the gym for 9 days. She came out of Monday night's practice saying it was awful. She said she hadn't done well on any event. I think, in part, it was because she was working with a coach she doesn't work with as often as some of the others, in part because they're just starting to combine the level 6 skills together into bits and pieces of the routines, and probably also because she was putting pressure on herself ("This HAS to be a good practice because it's my last one before vacation!") I told her that her body needed some rest and that she'd come back better than ever. Hope that's true!

I have, in the past, asked my husband about maybe taking DD to a couple of practices at a gym near my in-laws while he's there (more when they go during meet season than in the summer) and he looked at me as if I must be insane, so I don't ask any more.

MaryA, she will come back with a fresh outlook on things and a rested body. Sometimes just leaving it all for a short while works wonders!

 

[my4buffaloes]

Thanks everyone! It does make me feel better to get other people's perspectives. I know she needed the break, but it is hard to see her struggle. i certainly didn't expect her to actually do gymnastics while we were gone, but a workout here and there with the family would have helped the soreness. Oh well, it is over now and the rest of the week went better. The next day she came home talking about how she wants to coach gymnastics when she grows up, so the love is still there. Thanks!

 

[emorymom]

Mine are just littles (6 & 7 year olds) but I do take them to gym while on vacation.

Our gym is closed this week while we are back at our house, so they will be out from their workout at the gym in the mountains to their workout at the gym at the beach, 11 days. That's enough for rest I think. The beach will not be much of a vacation for me (DD's level works out mornings and DS's level works out afternoons; lots of driving for me on gym days) but so be it. If I didn't do this, they would be deconditioning from gym over three weeks in a row every August.

Their coaches always say "just do this at home (stretch and conditioning routine) while on vacation" but I am not interested in enforcing home conditioning.