What would you do?

[NGL780309]

I know there's no right answer and I'm leaning in one direction for sure, but give me advice. Maybe help me see something I'm not seeing.

So DD has competed three level 4 meets and scored fine. She's in level 5, but will have to compete level 4 again in the fall because she won't be 7 yet. I'm happy to have her compete because she should score great by then if she's already scoring a high 36-low 37 range now. She loves competing and will look forward to it. You can tell which direction I'm leaning.

Her dad on the other hand says it's better for her to forget about level 4 and just focus on being ready to do level 5 in January when she turns 7. Competition at this age and level is a waste of time and money, blah, blah, blah.

She'll compete almost every weekend Sept - the 2nd weekend in Nov and then have about 6 weeks to get ready for her first level 5 meet.

Should I let her compete Level 4 or just forget about it and let her just train level 5 exclusively? Will it be confusing for a 6 year old to do 2 floor routines and 2 beam routines? I want her to compete level 4 because I think she'll enjoy it and she'll do well.

 

[10.0]

Would she have to do every level 4 meet? Is there any way she could do the first few then stop to prepare for level 5? I think having to know 2 routines would be hard for a 6 year old and you want her to do great in level 5 too, and the skills take time to perfect.

 

[jago]

IMO The more she competes this season, the more comfortable she will be next season, especially at this age/level.

 

[lilgymmie7]

I know there's no right answer and I'm leaning in one direction for sure, but give me advice. Maybe help me see something I'm not seeing. So DD has competed three level 4 meets and scored fine. She's in level 5, but will have to compete level 4 again in the fall because she won't be 7 yet. I'm happy to have her compete because she should score great by then if she's already scoring a high 36-low 37 range now. She loves competing and will look forward to it. You can tell which direction I'm leaning. Her dad on the other hand says it's better for her to forget about level 4 and just focus on being ready to do level 5 in January when she turns 7. Competition at this age and level is a waste of time and money, blah, blah, blah. She'll compete almost every weekend Sept - the 2nd weekend in Nov and then have about 6 weeks to get ready for her first level 5 meet. Should I let her compete Level 4 or just forget about it and let her just train level 5 exclusively? Will it be confusing for a 6 year old to do 2 floor routines and 2 beam routines? I want her to compete level 4 because I think she'll enjoy it and she'll do well.

I dont know if its a waste of time, but I would go with your gut and measure in the coachs opinions also. Level 5 is very different than 4. Good luck!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Could she compete level 5 this fall in exhibition? Get a score but not be in the mix for awards? Probably no age criteria for this. That way she could get some judges feedback on her routines and some experience competing. Might be hard at that age to understand why she's competing but not able to get an award, though. Hmmm...

 

[NGL780309]

My gut tells me to let her compete level 4. She really loves going to meets and getting medals and goody bags and eating out with her teammates. To me that's what is important at this age and that's why we do this right? Will she probably be less prepared for level 5 in January than if she didn't compete? Probably. I don't want her to be behind the other girls in her level 5 group, but I also don't want her to be the only one not going to meets and having fun.

I don't know that doing some meets would be an option. The state meet is in November and if she competes and qualifies I wouldn't want to keep her out of it.

I know the routines are similar, just with added skills. I think it would be actually easier if they weren't so similar. Vault is vault and bars I don't think she'd accidently do the wrong routine. It's just beam and floor I'd worry about. I guess I can only see how it goes and hope for the best.

I guess I was hoping there would be a coach that would reassure me that they've had plenty of kids do this and they did just fine. She's been working on the level 5 routines and she competed and had no problems with beam or floor. I'm more worried that she'd have trouble learning the level 5 routines, than getting confused at a meet.

I believe the plan is to have her work only Level 5 routines from now until August as if she's competing Level 5 with her team and then just compete Level 4 instead. I'm sure they'll have her runthrough her 4 routines a little. So she should be able to learn them well enough to compete in January right? Maybe all of her details won't be there, but I think she'll do okay.

 

[NGL780309]

Could she compete level 5 this fall in exhibition? Get a score but not be in the mix for awards? Probably no age criteria for this. That way she could get some judges feedback on her routines and some experience competing. Might be hard at that age to understand why she's competing but not able to get an award, though. Hmmm...

I've never seen this done in our area. Is it provided for in USAG rules somewhere? I don't know how she'd feel about awards. I mean I know she likes getting them, but she's not too focused on medals. Of course it's easy for me to say that when she's got a medal on every event except bars at her first meet and vault at her last meet. Maybe she'd be really sad if she got nothing.

 

[gymdog]

I'm sure she'd be fine either way (though every weekend sounds a bit much to me, but I guess those might not be all big meets). I'd ask the coaches what they think. It is only March so it is a bit early to say anything really. You never know what could change by next season. What if she misses time in the gym due to injury? That would affect the decision, etc. Let her keep working on L5 for right now and revisit the issue closer to when the meet fees are due.

I've heard of kids "exhibitioning" on these boards, but that is not done in my area. I don't think it would be arranged, unless as a coach you arranged your own in-house meet and hired a judge to come give feedback.

 

[coachmolly]

I think I would go with what makes her the happiest, because at this point it really is all about loving gymnastics, having fun, and adjusting to competing. If she's doing so well at level 4 already, I'm sure she has the skills and can do them very well. If that's the case and she's training with level 5s, I'm sure she'll just do enough level 4 to keep the skills on track and plenty of level 5 with the rest of the group. This, combined with likely up training over the summer months and between the two seasons, should have her ready to go by the time level 5 rolls around.
If money/time aren't an issue for you and she enjoys competing, I say go for it. I really don't think it would hurt anything.

 

[NGL780309]

I think I would go with what makes her the happiest, because at this point it really is all about loving gymnastics, having fun, and adjusting to competing. If she's doing so well at level 4 already, I'm sure she has the skills and can do them very well. If that's the case and she's training with level 5s, I'm sure she'll just do enough level 4 to keep the skills on track and plenty of level 5 with the rest of the group. This, combined with likely up training over the summer months and between the two seasons, should have her ready to go by the time level 5 rolls around.
If money/time aren't an issue for you and she enjoys competing, I say go for it. I really don't think it would hurt anything.

That's kind of the answer I was looking for. Isn't it funny that sometimes when you ask a question you are really just looking for someone to tell you what you want to hear? I just want her to have fun. I think competing is really fun for her. She is already sad that she doesn't have a meet until after the summer. She just loves going to meets. I also think she finds it motivating. And in my opinion she could use the experience competing routines that she can do really, really well. She's been deducted at several of her meets for going overtime on beam and also for forgetting to salute.

 

[NGL780309]

I'm sure she'd be fine either way (though every weekend sounds a bit much to me, but I guess those might not be all big meets). I'd ask the coaches what they think. It is only March so it is a bit early to say anything really. You never know what could change by next season. What if she misses time in the gym due to injury? That would affect the decision, etc. Let her keep working on L5 for right now and revisit the issue closer to when the meet fees are due.

I've heard of kids "exhibitioning" on these boards, but that is not done in my area. I don't think it would be arranged, unless as a coach you arranged your own in-house meet and hired a judge to come give feedback.

All those meets do get tiring. We went to every one last year to support her teammates and I was exhausted. I can't imagine what it's going to be like going and actually having the stress of watching her compete. It's not every single weekend, but almost. The start around the first of Sept and have 3 weekends in a row, then a week off, then 3 more meets and then 2 weeks off, a qualifer for state and then if she qualifies the state meet 2 weeks later. That was last years schedule, but I imagine it will be the same. The most we had to travel last year was about an hour.

 

[flipper's fan]

I would do whatever the coach wanted her to do- I would be trusting him and believe that he had a plan.

 

[emorymom]

I'm with your husband. I would not compete too low.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

My only response is "WOW those are a LOT of meets!!!" Skill-wise, she will probably be just fine... esp. with the summer training. But remember, your DD is just a little girl too, and needs to do other things, even if she says she doesn't. She needs some downtime to play, go ice skating, go to the playground, read books, whatever. Meets every single weekend will be very exhausting on every one involved!!!

 

[lilgymmie7]

My only response is "WOW those are a LOT of meets!!!" Skill-wise, she will probably be just fine... esp. with the summer training. But remember, your DD is just a little girl too, and needs to do other things, even if she says she doesn't. She needs some downtime to play, go ice skating, go to the playground, read books, whatever. Meets every single weekend will be very exhausting on every one involved!!!

I have to agree with this as well. I gear myself for DS wrestling season. Starting in December-March, he has a wrestling comp. every weekend. This year I actually missed two because I was wiped out!! Your whole team must be tireless!! What's the secret? JK!!

 

[NGL780309]

My only response is "WOW those are a LOT of meets!!!" Skill-wise, she will probably be just fine... esp. with the summer training. But remember, your DD is just a little girl too, and needs to do other things, even if she says she doesn't. She needs some downtime to play, go ice skating, go to the playground, read books, whatever. Meets every single weekend will be very exhausting on every one involved!!!

How many meets do compulsory levels do in everyone else's area? This is the same amount every other gym in our state does that competes USAG. I never thought it was abnormal because it's all I've ever known in the years I've been around gymnastics. Is 7-8 meets really a lot?

 

[NGL780309]

My only response is "WOW those are a LOT of meets!!!" Skill-wise, she will probably be just fine... esp. with the summer training. But remember, your DD is just a little girl too, and needs to do other things, even if she says she doesn't. She needs some downtime to play, go ice skating, go to the playground, read books, whatever. Meets every single weekend will be very exhausting on every one involved!!!

She does plenty. She's homeschooled right now and gets more downtime than the average kid. Probably my number one reason for homeschooling.

 

[fishchimes]

My gym competes about 1 meet per month. Most are more than an hour away. If there were more meets that were closer, I guess we might compete more than once a month.

 

[NGL780309]

I would do whatever the coach wanted her to do- I would be trusting him and believe that he had a plan.

Well the coach told me they were moving her to Level 5 even though she wouldn't meet the age requirment, but there was no reason to hold her back. She would still only be eligible to compete Level 4, but could strive to compete Level 5 in January and if she did okay go ahead and stay on track with her group and work toward 6 for the following year since her age would finally be okay to do either level. With the understanding of course that if depends on how she does and that can't be predicted a year in advance. My question to the coach was with regards to whether it would be confusing for her to try and learn 5 while competing 4. The response was that DD didn't have to compete Level 4 in the fall if she didn't want to or if I didn't want her to. They'd love to have her scores for the team and they thought she'd enjoy it, but she didn't have to. So the coach seemed okay with either plan.

I've always thought competing was a great idea all along. It was only after talking to her dad that I started questioning it. After her meet this weekend he said something to me like he was glad she was finally done with Level 4. When I told him no she'd still have to do it in the fall, he thought it was the dumbest thing ever and such a waste of time and it would slow her down, it's too much stress for a kid her age to learn 2 routines, it's a waste of money, waste of training time doing routines etc. He's not American so he was raised in a system that spent more time training skills at this age and less time training routines and competing. If he was coaching her and in control he'd have her not competing for several years and starting competition at around Level 7. Just a different pov because he was raised and coached in a different system. But hey this isn't "insert former communist country" here. This is America and in my opinion I don't even know if DD will be doing the sport in a few years so I think she should compete and just have fun.

 

[gymdog]

7 meets including state isn't a lot to me necessarily but it sounds like your season is much shorter than ours. Here all the levels compete Nov-May. So, about 7 months (that would go through regionals/nats for optionals, and states for compulsories). So those meets are spread out way more. My old gym used to do more like 10 meets plus states (seriously, but there would be three home meets a year) some years, and one year we had signed up to do three meets in a row, and we ended up just not going to the third. After the first two meets, there was some weather issue, but we still could have gone, but everyone just didn't want to go (this was the optional team). So, we never did that again.

There are some pluses and minuses to having everyone compete most of the school year. The obvious minus is that families have to plan around meets for a longer stretch of months...but obviously it's a plus that the meets are more spread out.

I assume she will continue the same schooling situation? Obviously if a transition is involved, I would take that into account.