Moving up gymnasts because they have already repeated

[Muddlethru]

Interesting perspective. Not at all applicable to my daughters gym. In this case I believe the direct opposite is true. Coddling is certainly not the issue in my child's case, not that you were talking about her situation because your disclaimer clearly stated that. My question was asking if this was a normal course of action in large part because I don't know the Norms of this sport and it seems to be a source of aggravation for my kid, not the moving up of any one team member but rather the over all effect that large number of girls has on practice and progress as a whole . As I stated earlier I am glad that those who have responded have said this is a normal situation for the most part. I think the question is being read a bit differently than intended. I am not concerned about my daughter moving up or not moving up in the slightest. Really I am not concerned with any individual gymnast moving up or not. I am simply not understanding the process. My daughter has attended two gyms and the current gym is starkly different in its process of moving levels so I was not sure if it was normal. Previous gym did not move kids who were not proficient at skills in their current level, period end of story. Current gym takes a lot more into consideration, ie parents preference, gymnasts preference, years at a level ect ect. In turn, there appears to be more fear issues, more tears and frustration and less success come time of competition. Also there is actually more coddling and more crazy gym parents who gossip and judge. However I attribute that to the larger number of girls, 20 kids at a level is twice the size of previous gym at any one level, so by statistics alone it could happen.

I see what you are saying and understand you completely. The advice of cbone is also sound because there are many gym moms who like to compare their daughter's progress with other gymnasts and are offended or troubled when another gymnast is moved up and not their daughter. But such is not the case with you. I think it is legitimate to question certain practices at your gym. After all, we entrust our children's success in gymnastics in their hands, not to mention personal safety. So, trust is very important. How can we trust a coach to make the right decision for our child if they do not "appear" to make the right decision for other kids in the gym. Nonetheless the key word is "appear".

As merely parents, we do not have the professional training or experience to make an assessment. That is why we post questions here for people to clarify things and hopefully not just judge us. As many qualified coaches have indicated in this forum, there are many variables at play. A gymnast may not be physically ready but may be mentally ready and vice versa, etc. I can list many situations where one gymnast did very poorly the current season but was moved up, even skip a level. Or a gymnast did exceptionally well and only moved up one level or was even required to repeat the level. What we see as observers probably only skims the surface. So I pretty much just wait to see what happens. Most of the results of our coaches decisions seems to be good and maybe even the best decision for the gymnast. But there were a few decisions I felt another path would have clearly been better. But I try to remind myself they are also human, can't truly predict the future and can make mistakes.