Parents Proud Mama Moment

[Momofcc]

Haven't posted for awhile , been keeping up with family crazyness =) good crazy though. Anywho..DD made the pre-team today!!! for a few that remember DD was going to two different gyms last yr and about 6 months ago we desided to just go to one gym after too many bad experiences with the one head coach and we havent looked back. DD is learning and having so much fun and progressing at her skills so well with all the great and happy (I might add) coaches at the gym we love. For the last few months DD has been bugging me about joining the team (they dont have an offical pre-team) but the new rule was that they have to have their splits before making team, so she has tried, but it is harder then she expected and is not improving much but she has the drive. She asked if we could find a preteam, Me not wanting to leave our great gym tried to talk her into staying at rec level a while longer but she wasn't having it, so we looked into a different gym that has a preteam and chked it out for a couple weeks and the place just didnt sit well with me with things I was seeing. So tonight I went to HC at our gym and told her that we where at this gym to look at their pre-team and I didnt care for it and asked if there was anyroom for DD somewhere on team. She said she would talk with the bronze coach and see what they could come up with. She came back and said DD could join the team as a pre-team girl and practice with them but not compete tell she was ready. I was so relieved I was about to cry. DD is SO happy now that she is on pre-team and even better at her gym with the coaches she already knows. Proud and Happy Mama tonight!

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Awesome, and well done for persevering. I shall be doing the same for my rec DD next year! I hope she gets her splits soon. Might be worth googling Lisa Howell - she is an Australian dance physio who has a video for getting splits - she has lots of techniques for improving flexibility. Good luck to your dd!

 

[cbifoja]

The splits rule makes me sad. My DD would still not be on team at your gym! She can do a giant, but no splits. Five years of gym.....no splits. Third year on team....no splits.

But so glad that your little one made the team she wanted and good for her for working at home so hard!

 

[IreneKa]

That's great, but I think you should talk to them some more and find out exactly what that team is. You said "bronze" coach. Bronze, as in Xcel bronze? If so, you need to find out if there is a possibility of switching to JO later.

 

[Momofcc]

Thanks GymMumInFrance, I will be googling Lisa Howell for sure. =)

I hear ya cbifoja, I hate the rule too, but I'm thinking it's because they are a smaller gym and have alot of girls so I think it maybe a way to slow down enrollment, not sure I could be totally wrong.

IreneKa I could of heard wrong about them being bronze I dont quite understand all the labels they have for the different types of teams. I do know she is on the lowest level team that they have. They are part of the USAG if that means anything. under the team pictures it says..... Xcel Teams 2013-14– Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum. What is JO?

 

[IreneKa]

They are two separate programs - JO (Jr. Olympics), and Xcel.
JO goes by levels - "Level 3", "Level 4", etc. up to Level 10. Xcel goes by Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum. Do they have any team pictures that says Level X? Or maybe "compulsory team" and "optional team"?

JO program is more serious - more hours, more conditioning, tougher judging, etc. Xcel is more of a "fun" program, for those who doesn't want to invest too much time and money into gymnastics (maybe wants to do other things too), but still wants to compete, learn skills, etc.
If she is just doing it for fun, then Xcel is fine, but if you want her to do serious gymnastics - international competitions, Olympics, college scholarship, etc., then you need to be in JO.
I know it's hard to tell at such a young age if she is cut out for serious gymnastics, or how long will she stick with it. The problem is, that if she starts in Xcel, but in a few years decides that she wants to do JO, it will be hard to switch, if not impossible. On the other hand, if she starts in JO now, but in a few years decides that it's too much for her, she can always switch to Xcel.

 

[Momofcc]

Thank you so much for explaining it to me. =) Now I know Xcel is just what we want =) I'm sure our gym is just Xcel because its the only thing that is talked about. I feel our gym is the perfect fit for DD. She loves all the coaches and we feel at home with all the coaches an staff and DD is perfectly happy at Xcel level. She just wants to make team, compete and have as much fun as she can while doing just that. An maybe try to win some medals. =)

 

[IreneKa]

Great! As long as you are making an informed decision! I wish someone would explain all of this to me when my DD was just starting.

 

[Momofcc]

Oh I agree! I am glad to know this now rather then later, If I knew then what I know now we would of started DD a couple yrs sooner, but what matters now is DD is having fun and is happy, so we are happy. =)

 

[LIGYMMOM]

Our gym has both JO and Xcel. It was explained to us that Xcel is the "college bound" track and that JO was "Olympic track". Since JO is more of an intense and serious track, the kids tend to burn out more quickly, and the kids who compete Xcel tend to have more staying power because their workouts are more slow and steady. DD is JO, but our Xcel team is actually quite amazing, they are taken very seriously and end up winning many of their competitions. I'm sure it's different in other gyms, but I would not have a problem switching to Xcel in the future. DD is not Olympic bound!

 

[txgymfan]

Lilgymmom, Does your gym have Xcel gymnasts earn college scholarships? I've never heard Xcel referred to as the college bound track before. The only way that makes sense is if they expect the Xcel gymnasts to work harder on academics with less gym hours.

 

[raenndrops]

The splits rule makes me sad. My DD would still not be on team at your gym! She can do a giant, but no splits. Five years of gym.....no splits. Third year on team....no splits.

But so glad that your little one made the team she wanted and good for her for working at home so hard!

OG finally got her good leg splits down about a year ago (year #5 on team and #7 in gymnastics)... YG got her good leg splits this year - still iffy sometimes though (year # 3 on team and year # 8 in gymnastics). So glad we don't have that splits rule in our gym

 

[2G1B]

I can understand the split rule for team since level 3 and up seem to require one in the floor routine. What do your girls who don't have splits do? Just take the deduction?

 

[cbifoja]

Yep.

 

[LIGYMMOM]

Lilgymmom, Does your gym have Xcel gymnasts earn college scholarships? I've never heard Xcel referred to as the college bound track before. The only way that makes sense is if they expect the Xcel gymnasts to work harder on academics with less gym hours.

Ok my mistake, I was talking about USAIGC. I thought since the levels sounded the same (copper, bronze, etc.) that they must be the same thing. The goal of USAIGC is a college scholarship. The president of the organization came and spoke to our gym a few years ago, and our IGC team has been growing alongside of our USAG team. Since I don't see their practices (or ours), I'm not sure how it compares, but I know they do really well. Not sure if we've had any from our gym get scholarships because I just don't know about about our past gymnasts or if the program is old enough at our gym to know. Sorry for the confusion! I don't actually know of any Xcel teams around here.

 

[raenndrops]

Xcel is too new to know if it will produce gymnasts that get college scholarships... but Diamond Level could have gymnasts competing Level 9 skills, so there would be a possibility for a scholarship at a smaller school for gymnastics. USAIGC (seems to be pretty much in the Norhteast area- MA, NJ, NY, DE, PA) from what I have been told, HAS had girls accepted onto college gymnastics teams and earn scholarships. The rules of their highest level are the same as the NCAA rules- which sets girls up well to compete in the NCAA.
I found this in Gymnastics Zone from last year:
"The primary qualification of the USAIGC for is a single meet, called the College Bound Invitational, designed for gymnasts who want to highlight their skills and routines to the college coaches in attendance. The competition uses rules very similar to NCAA competition rules, which require less difficulty than USA Gymnastics’ Level 10. There are college coaches who attend this meet, but it is not the primary recruiting competition for NCAA Division I and II gymnastics coaches offering scholarships. It is easier to qualify to participate in the USAIGC College Bound Invitational, than either the USAG Level 10 J.O. National Championships or the USAG Level 9 East/West National meets. So for gymnasts who do not or cannot qualify for any of those USA Gymnastics meets, the USAIGC College Bound Invitational does offer another opportunity to be noticed by some college coaches."

I think it is still more likely to get a college scholarship if you compete JO Level 10 (obviously) ... but a strong showing at this meet with top skills could get colleges to seriously look at a gymnast.