New here and a question!

[my4buffaloes]

Hi everyone! I have been lurking on Chalk Bucket for several months now and finally decided to jump in. My daughter is 9 and is a level 4 gymnast. She has been in gymnastics since she was 3, but wow, I am still figuring out the competing thing. As she gets more serious I have found that people in real life don't really have a clue as to what a gymnast really goes through LOL. But I bet you knew that.

I finally decided to join up because, of course I have a question. Our gym has always done prep optionals instead of levels 5, 6, and 7. We want our daughter to compete level 5 next year and have let them know.

Now though, our current gym has thrown together a meet at their gym for next weekend. And they want my daughter and 1 other girl to compete level 5 for that meet only. They plan on teaching them the routines within the next 4 practices. What? She has the skills, but only knows the bar routine right now. That seems pretty fast.

The other mom is not happy about it and doesn't want her daughter doing it. She thinks that the owner/coach wants to prove that the girls aren't ready to move up. I think they want to see how it would work having a level 5 at that gym. Not sure. But to want these girls to compete level 5 next year is not unreasonable. My daughter has competed level 4 for 2 whole years now and got 3 first places on floor this year, so I believe she is ready.

But what would y'all do? Would you let your daughter compete, knowing that it is last minute and expecting bad scores, or would you not let her and have her end the season on a very high note (2nd all around at the last meet), all 9s? Thoughts?

I can't wait to get more involved now that I have taken the plunge and signed up.

 

[bogwoppit]

Welcome to the Chalkbucket, nice to have you out of lurkdom.

Personally I would not let her compete the meet as a L5, there is an awful lot to the floor and beam routines (even is she can nail the vault and bars) and she could easily get a horribly low score even if she has all the skills perfectly, because in compulsories it is the whole routine and not just the skills. I think ending the year on a high note is an awesome thing. Four classes is no where enough time to learn those routines well.

As to whether the coach is trying to prove a point or not, it won't matter if you don't join in the game!

 

[Flippers Mom]

I have tried to figure out what the up-side would be for her to compete in this meet and can't think of anything. I can imagine her feeling insecure and overwhelmed by trying to perform routines she hasn't had time to become comfortable with. I would opt out if it were my daughter.

 

[gym law mom]

Welcome to CB!! I agree with Bog---no way would I have my child compete at a new level with only 4 practices to learn the routines. That is being unreasonable to the kids and there is no way either of them will go into the meet feeling prepared. L5 has alot of challenges---vaulting over the table, kips and making the transistion from low to high bar, longer and more difficult beam and floor. I would say no to the coaches. Its not worth your dd having a potentially bad experience to prove some point for the coach.

 

[UnoMas]

HUH? That sounds crazy and totally unreasonable. Don't do it. There is no way anyone can learn L5 in 4 practices. My daughter is a new L5 (also 9 years old and a successful L4 gymnast) and she has been learning L5 routines for a month and NO WAY could she compete them and get decent scores. I would not say that ANY of our new L5's could. Not with the detail and perfection in every move expected. No way! Even though DD "has" all the skills except her kip, she wouldn't score out of the 7's and 8's in ANY event right now with the lack of polish after only a month. NO WAY. I am sorry your coaches are being so ridiculous!!

Welcome to CB, by the way!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I’m a little confused by your post. So the gym has no level 5 program currently, but you are asking them to start one? And the gym allows you to tell them what level you’d like your child to compete at? Maybe I’m not getting it right.

As for the meet, perhaps your daughter could compete just one or two events (for example, bars and vault). It’s pretty common for girls at the beginning of a season not to compete AA.

Pickle’s first L4 meet, she was completely unprepared. It wasn’t really the gym’s fault. There’s a meet we always go to and it was almost a full month earlier than it usually is. It was a stressful day and there were lots of tears, but she did get some good experience out of it.

 

[Bobby]

If I'm understanding right - then you want DD to compete L5, but the gym may not, but the gym is giving her an opportunity, but it's too soon to be reasonable which might be the gym's purpose?
Maybe I'm too sneaky, but I'd be tempted to tell the gym how disappointed you are that the comp is that particular weekend because you have a family event you can't get out of - but that you're very happy they are now teaching her L5 routines because you'll be looking forward to the next meet where she can finally compete L5.
Is there no other gym she can go to? You don't sound thrilled with this one.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I appreciate everyone's input! Thanks so much. I talked to the coach. They are running this prep ops meet. One gym wants to bring their level 5 girls. They saw this as an opportunity for these 2 girls to try out level 5, get some experience and see how it went. For right now, they are teaching her the routines and we will make a decision next week. My daughter really wants to compete it. We both understand it wouldn't be great scores and it really wouldn't even be for the scores, but for the experience. I need to talk to my husband, everyone's input has given me a lot to think about. I hope they are thinking of starting a level 5 option for next year.

Pickle's Mom - the gym used to have level 5, 6 and 7. Then they decided to quit offering those and switch to prep optionals. It is not a very serious program, the girls goof off a lot which drives my daughter crazy as she trains with that group a lot. She is very focused and is there to work, not play, laugh, dance, etc. My husband and I do not want her to go the prep op route. We want her to go up the levels instead. So we let the gym know we wanted to go that route, rather than the prep ops and they said at that time that "there would be options for her" - whatever that means. And this is what they offered to us this week. I'm not sure if they are thinking of dividing up the groups into both options or what, they won't really say.

Happyfacetwin - This gym is very close to our house and for the most part we like it. But we keep encountering odd things that really make us question keeping her there - but nothing to really make the decision a firm one. The other gym we are considering is the best around and would be a 30 minute drive each way. Deciding whether to switch or not is a whole nother post!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

It just doesn’t seem like having the girls compete after only working on routines for a couple of weeks is a good experience to try out Level 5. In fact, it seems the opposite since Level 5 is really about perfecting all those little things. And it really doesn’t address your bigger question, which are how they plan on training your daughter more seriously to compete at L5 when they don’t currently have a program. So, you’ll see how a completion is run, but big deal. You already know that from L4. It’s more important to know how the training will be run, isn’t it?

If your daughter really wants to compete, I’d still suggest limiting it to one or two events.