Parents Sports after Gymnastics

[MuggleMom]

I am begining to think that it may be time for my kiddo to retire from gym. Her heart is still there but her body is having trouble keeping up. Shes just in pain alot and realistically her problems are not easily solved so its a kind of can you deal with the pain or not situation. Being an athlete is a big part of how she sees herself so I am trying to find alternative sports but she is ridiculously picky. I know some if it will just have to come down to try it and see if you like it but I wanted to see if there are any sports I am not thinking of. She has a lot of feet problems so big running sports are likely out. Below is what I have come up with.

Maybe we should try sports:
Diving (duh but shes hesistant)
Rowing
Softball or baseball
pickleball (does this count I'm not sure lol)
Dance (she did it some when she was younger but seemed skeptical when I brought it up again and its still a lot on your feet barefoot)
Fencing (havent asked her about this one yet)

Ones that wont work or she has said no to already:
Soccer
Field Hockey
Lacrosse
Volleyball
Track (any running heavy activity will be hard for her)
tennis (she was interested once but now says no)
wrestling
Martial Arts (I still kinda want her to do this just to stay in shape and for self protection etc.)
cheerleading

I think she wants something that is still intense but maybe not as much as gym. I think she wants more than 1-2 times a week for a 3 month season ya know. I think a year round sport/training would be good just maybe not the same hours that gym was.

I hate this transition periods are always tough I just hate this inbetween stage of not knowing how its all going to turn out. Gym is a sport I love its a sport she loves its just not a sport thats loving her back plus shes good at it I think it would be easier to push retiring if she sucked.

 

[mezzamare]

Swimming or water polo? Where I live many kids do these sports year-round.

 

[Carabistouille]

Climbing? Especially if her health issues affect her lower limbs.

 

[NutterButter]

I second climbing!

 

[MuggleMom]

Climbing? Especially if her health issues affect her lower limbs.

I actually just thought of this as well and there is a climbing place within my reasonable driving radius and when i mentioned it to her she actually smiled a little. This one has promise!!

 

[MuggleMom]

Swimming or water polo?

I have brought up swimming and gotten mixed feelings from her on it. She said she likes to swim for fun but doesnt know if she would want to as a sport. I still may push it as a summer sport instead of a year round one just because I think it would be good for her. Not sure if there is a lot of water polo around here i would have to do some research on that.

 

[JBS]

Just linking in our article from a while back...

5 Sports To Try After Gymnastics

While your gymnast can move on to just about anything, here’s a guide to some of the sports gymnasts most easily transition into.

chalkbucket.com

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Regarding track, pole vaulting or long jump.

 

[twinmomma]

What about another gymnastics discipline like T&T or Acro

 

[Pfiga]

Or rhythmic gymnastics?

 

[Tiger93]

I agree with pole vaulting and/or long jump. My daughter did both and has asthma issues with running long distances. When she would do the running part of training it was with the sprinting group which she said was never as much cardio as a cardio day at gymnastics.

 

[Carly]

Rock climbing is a great activity for gymnasts with their upper body strength and flexibility. My dd loves climbing. The first time that she tried a class at the indoor gym they were trying to recruit her for their team.
Maybe hip hop dance since they wear supportive shoes.
What about golf, karate, weightlifting, archery?

 

[cmg]

I am begining to think that it may be time for my kiddo to retire from gym. Her heart is still there but her body is having trouble keeping up. Shes just in pain alot and realistically her problems are not easily solved so its a kind of can you deal with the pain or not situation. Being an athlete is a big part of how she sees herself so I am trying to find alternative sports but she is ridiculously picky. I know some if it will just have to come down to try it and see if you like it but I wanted to see if there are any sports I am not thinking of. She has a lot of feet problems so big running sports are likely out. Below is what I have come up with.

Maybe we should try sports:
Diving (duh but shes hesistant)
Rowing
Softball or baseball
pickleball (does this count I'm not sure lol)
Dance (she did it some when she was younger but seemed skeptical when I brought it up again and its still a lot on your feet barefoot)
Fencing (havent asked her about this one yet)

Ones that wont work or she has said no to already:
Soccer
Field Hockey
Lacrosse
Volleyball
Track (any running heavy activity will be hard for her)
tennis (she was interested once but now says no)
wrestling
Martial Arts (I still kinda want her to do this just to stay in shape and for self protection etc.)
cheerleading

I think she wants something that is still intense but maybe not as much as gym. I think she wants more than 1-2 times a week for a 3 month season ya know. I think a year round sport/training would be good just maybe not the same hours that gym was.

I hate this transition periods are always tough I just hate this inbetween stage of not knowing how its all going to turn out. Gym is a sport I love its a sport she loves its just not a sport thats loving her back plus shes good at it I think it would be easier to push retiring if she sucked.

She could try pole vault in track and field? Yes she would have to run some, but it is just a sprint to the bar. A lot of gymnasts do great at pole vault and there are not a lot of female pole vaulters.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Do you have a circus school nearby?

 

[Loopy]

Figure skating? Mine does that as well as gym.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

If you live in a snow area, skiing. Our HS has varsity alpine skiing

 

[Madden3]

Weightlifting? My former gymnast turned high school football playing son got into Olympic style weightlifting (snatch and clean & jerk) as it is a huge part of his training for football. He just competed at the national USA weightlifting meet in Colorado Springs. He loves it. There are weight classes, so she would be competing against other girls of similar size. Of course she could do it non competitively as well, and there are other types of weightlifting. I also second the idea of Acrobatic gymnastics, if that is available anywhere near you. Beautiful sport. Several Acro gymnasts on my daughters team were formerly WAG (or MAG- Acro is co-ed) gymnasts.

 

[rjb123]

We know many girls who left gymnastics as optional gymnasts in middle and high school and now are doing D1 track (pole vault, long and triple jump and even a couple of sprinters) as well as divers.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Circus arts, diving, and climbing are some obvious ones.

A slightly-less obvious one, though, is pole vault. The swing technique used on bars, rings, and p-bars translates extremely well to an efficient pole vault.

 

[Invisible Duck]

I second Olympic weightlifting.
Great for gymnasts as they generally have excellent strength to weight ration, good mobility and flexibility which is actually very beneficial for weightlifting, great body awareness so able to pick up new skills/technique quickly and used to training the same skills over and over.
I also feel a similar satisfaction hitting a good lift as I do hitting a skill really well on beam ‍