Parents Anyone else have DD starting pre-team this summer/fall?

[jcs]

DD starts her new class tomorrow! Wondering if there is anyone else who has 4 or 5 year olds moving from pre-school to pre-team or a developmental program.

 

[2littlegymnasts]

My dd is 4 years old and started pre-team this summer.

 

[jcs]

My dd is 4 years old and started pre-team this summer.

Congrats! How is she doing so far?

 

[cher062]

oh boy such an exciting time when they are just starting out. My DD is now 14 and working on L8 for the fall. it seems like so long ago when she was 3yo that she started on the Pre-team L1 (our gym had 3 levels of pre team). I can still remember that first practice I was nervous and she was excited! After the first class I was thinking they have got to be kidding - no way will she make in this and here we are 11 years later and she is doing well and loves every moment.

Congrats to you and all our newbies.

 

[gymmomtotwo]

I have a four year old that just moved from preschool to preteam in mid June. She goes for 3 hours two times a week. I was worried it would be too long but she loves it. The coaches are great about being goofy with the kids. I also have a 7 year old on preteam too. We don't compete until level 5. I love our gym with older DD so far, so I felt comfortable start kid #2. They really focus on technique and basics and mix in lots of fun too. The goal is to get the kids ready for level 5 in 3-4 years, so age 7 or 8 in her case.

 

[jcs]

Glad to hear there are a few more getting started! Maybe if we all stick with this we can start a group similar to the 7yo/Level 4 group.

 

[k2bdeutmeyer]

My DD is 4.5yr and started a pre-team like class (our gym doesn't call it that though) back in March.

 

[2littlegymnasts]

She really enjoys it and is just glad to finally be doing what big sister is doing. Our gym starts to compete at level 1 and the HC thinks she will be ready by mid year. My oldest dd is 6 and will compete level 2 this season so i am in no hurry to have two competing.

 

[k2bdeutmeyer]

I wish our gym would compete level 3 at least DD could probably be ready for Level 2 or 3 this year, but....alas, we only compete levels 4 & up. That's alright though, most of the gyms in the area do the same, so there really wouldn't be any meets to go to anyway.

 

[gymmutti]

My daughter, E., is 5 (starting kindergarten this fall) and began Jr. Pre-team in June. I have had so much fun watching her. Our gym doesn't compete until Level 5, so we have a long way to go before she'll be ready. Ther are 2-3 levels of pre-team before girls are asked to join team and E. is only in that first level. She is my fearless one and was trying to do a front handspring on the tumble track today (fell flat on her face and got up laughing). If asked - her favorite part of gym is getting to play in the pit!
My oldest missed out on all of this. She did a school-year worth of rec classes and then 6 months on pre-team before moving up to team. I feel like she really missed out on some of the fundamental shaping and things I see them working on with my youngest and now she struggles on some of the basics because of that. I really look forward to watching both of my girls have fun in gym!!

 

[jcs]

Wow, Level 1 seems so early to start competing! What skills do they need for Level 1? I think our gym starts at Level 4, that's what our state does as best as I can tell. She just had her first class yesterday and I will certainly have a lot more questions for the coaches in the next few weeks as we decide what to do with DD and if we are going to continue with the pre-team program. The summer gives us an opportunity to sign up for as many classes as we feel like and then in September we have to make a commitment through May for 2x or 3x a week depending on how she progresses over the summer. She really liked class yesterday so I am leaning towards having her do it and I've talked to DH about the cost and number of classes and he seems ok with it....I think .

 

[GymnastJoy]

My younger dd who is 5 just completed the first year of pre-team. She is now level 2. Her enthusiasm was a joy to watch. My older dd is on the competitive team so younger dd was anxiously waiting for her turn.

Since this is my second time around, I will say that it is helpful not to look too far ahead in your dd's gymnastics. These girls are young and no amount of fun or talent at 4 or 5 can predict future success. Out of the entire "team" of girls on level 1 this year, only my dd and two others are continuing. This is mostly in part to parents who pushed their girls into progressing and it was no longer fun and also once the girls started working on routines it was no longer "playtime". You had to listen, wait your turn, only do what was being worked on, and be corrected over and over. There was not as much jumping on the trampoline or doing crazy handstands. My own dd marches to the beat of her own drum so was unphased. Also since she has been to countless meets, she was waiting for her own routines (or "teens" as she calls them) to come.

My older dd started out at this age and no one is more surprised than I am that she stuck with it and has been a competitive gymnast for a few years. It is a big commitment. She still loves it as much if not more than ever. Gymnastics is a great sport, especially for the younger ones. My own still sleeps with her level 1 year-end trophy every night .

 

[jcs]

Since this is my second time around, I will say that it is helpful not to look too far ahead in your dd's gymnastics. These girls are young and no amount of fun or talent at 4 or 5 can predict future success. Out of the entire "team" of girls on level 1 this year, only my dd and two others are continuing. This is mostly in part to parents who pushed their girls into progressing and it was no longer fun and also once the girls started working on routines it was no longer "playtime".

Thanks for this advice. I think this is what I am struggling with the most and whether or not to have her do pre-team. I don't want to put her in there because I think it would be neat to have her do gymnastics because I've always liked it, but because she likes it. We have heard from multiple people that she has good athletic potential (great arm strength, fast runner, etc.) and I see her so happy at gym for now and there is no way to know if she can move up unless you do pre-team....does that make sense? I feel like we need to give it a shot and it is what it is if it doesn't work out for her. She is only 4, so when I ask her if she wants to do two days a week she either says she wants to go 5 days a week or looks at me like I have three heads because I'm asking a dumb question, obviously she wants to go twice a week. But she also wants to do soccer which is one practice and games on Saturday, so trying to figure out how we also fit that in without her being exhausted and us going nuts with a schedule. The good thing is she doesn't start real kindergarten until next year since she is an Oct. 31 baby and will still have "nap" time for an hour each afternoon.

 

[lhmom]

I do not have a DD starting pre-team, but this thread has brought back fond memories of when DD started. She was 4 1/2 and neither of us had a clue. ;-) Honestly, I thought she would get bored with it and want to go back to the rec class. Well, now she is going into her 2nd yr. of level 4 and soaking up every minute of uptraining the higher level skills. Thanks for starting this thread. Just reminded me how much she has progressed over the past 3 years! Good luck to all the little ones starting out!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

My dd just started the pre-pre team class, Dynamites. It is a lot tougher, but she is loving it so far! There is an awful lot of repetition, so I am worries she may get bored.....?

 

[gymmutti]

There is an awful lot of repetition, so I am worries she may get bored.....?

I was just certain my oldest would quit gymnastics once she moved to pre-team and suddenly spent so much time stretching and doing conditioning. She had hated ballet because she thought it was really boring repeating moves over and over. However, there must be something about gymnastics that keeps her fascinated. In pre-team she spent 30 min at each of her 3 days of practice conditioning. Now she conditions/stretches about an hour at most practices - and although not her favorite part, she does it without complaint. Practicing over and over and over to get her kip with straight arms consistently is the latest challenge for her. Luckily my youngest is still many levels and skills away from team and it is all fun, fun, fun! However, at 5 she has already informed me she doesn't want to go on team because she doesn't want rips! I guess we'll see how she feels if that time ever comes. GymnastJoy is absolutely right not to think too far ahead. J. and her group moved to "team" in January and will not compete until probably October. Just the move up in hours has caused 3 girls to drop out as it wasn't just fun any longer. In January - the end of school, they practiced 10 hours a week. Now they've moved to 12. I think she'll handle that okay when school starts up again but they'll move to 16 in January and I worry that may be the tilting point for us. We'll have to see. E., the one who just started Jr. Pre-team is doing 2 classes at 1.5hrs each right now. That is fine while she is in pre-school but I'm not sure how she'll do once Kindergarten begins in August. Luckily the only has to go once a week at this level so if we need to move back down to 1 class for awhile, it should be okay.

 

[EmmasMommy]

The gym my daughter goes to starts pre-team at 5, but they are letting start in august (a couple months shy). She's already doing many pre-team skills, so they thought another session in the 4-5 class would be pointless. We'll see, though. She really likes the coach in the 4-5 class, but she listens better to the pre-team coach (she's worked with him before).

Anyway, congrats to your little one! She'll have fun

 

[Deanna]

Congrats to all the new little ones starting out. My Dd is 5 (will be 6 next month), and is training L3. Her gyms starts going to some local meets at L2. So this past season she did 4 meets. As a L3 she will do 5 meets..lol. She goes to Shreveport this coming season..thats her only outta state meet. Which is fine by me. I can only imagine the expense of having to do several out of state meets. Or meets that include airfare. At least we are close enough to Shreveport we can drive (probably about 4ish hours).
I wish the best of luck to all of you Dd and hopefully some Ds too. Im sure they will love it.

 

[jcs]

I talked to DH last night about DD's schedule for the fall since soccer sign ups were tonight and we needed to make a decision. He said he thought it was ok to do both gym and soccer since she wants to do both, so it looks like she is definitely going to do pre-team. The good news is that learned that they only have practice/games on Saturday so our schedule won't be quite as bad as I was anticipating for the fall.