Parents Does your gym just treat everyone the same?

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wgymmom

Proud Parent
I know I get told that DD is getting treated like an individual, but I don't see it. Everybody is getting moved up, the "not cracking 33 this year" right along with the "made a 37 at states." How is this treating anyone like an individual? And coaches, if I'm missing something, please tell me because I get horrible communication.

I feel like DD should be moving faster than she is. She's on a tight "schedule" for college gymnastics and she is very good.

For reference, she'll be 11 in March, competed a full year of old L4 and a full year of new L4, excellent at both levels, but very little uptraining has been done. She's training L5 along with all of her teammates, and we're told that the levels are still "conditional."

Please help!
 
Have you been there long enough to know how they're going to compete them next year? It may be that everyone was moved up to train 5, but there will be a skills deadline, after which those that didn't get the skills will be told they're repeating.

Sometimes, compulsory scores don't tell the whole story. 3 seasons ago, DD was a "not cracking 33" (old) level 4 (new level 3). This season, she's taking home firsts at level 7. Coaches saw it in her, but I couldn't figure out what they were talking about and honestly thought they just wanted my money.
 
It's hard because we had old 5's and 6's last year and all but one left the gym. The remaining one was scored out of old L6 in May and went to optionals. So we didn't have any new 5 or 6 gymnasts this year.

We've been at the gym for a year and a a half.
 
I feel like our gym does a pretty good job of treating everyone as an individual. There are girls who repeat levels and girls who skip levels. My daughter has left some of her teammates "behind" and there are other little girls who started competing years after my daughter did who will, without a doubt, beat her to level 10.

I don't know what to tell you about college. Does your DD's gym frequently get girls to the college gym level? My daughter is also in the "possible but not likely" age group for doing college gym (about to turn 13 and a level 8) but I guess the difference is that, if she doesn't "make it", I won't think it's because of any deficiencies in her gym (well, not her current gym at any rate).

I guess it comes down to your satisfaction level with your current gym and the degree to which you trust the coaches to get her as far as she can go. It has often been said on this site that, if you're seriously thinking about switching gyms, then it is probably time (or possibly it was time last year or the year before). It sounds like your gym may be losing girls as they approach optionals? There may be a good reason for that. But if you and your DD are happy with your gym and/or can't see yourself switching for whatever reason, then I think the most you can do is to make sure that her coaches know that she is interested in doing gym in college and let them take it from there.

Statistically speaking, it is actually unlikely that either your daughter or mine will stick with gymnastics till they graduate from high school anyway. Of course, you believe your daughter will stick with it, and I believe mine will too, but probably so do most parents and the reality is that most end up quitting. I'm not saying that to be an Eeyore (what does it matter? they're only going to quit anyway?) but just to put things in perspective. As parents we try to figure out, "If she only spends one year at each level, then she'll be a level X by Y grade, and maybe she'll have a shot at a scholarship." but in the end, we have very little control. We can make sure that she is in the best training situation available in our area or in our budget and make sure they eat right and get enough sleep, but after that we just have to leave it to the kids and the coaches.
 
The college thing really came from HC, who took over August 2012. It wasn't our idea, it was his stated goal for all the girls.
 
The college thing really came from HC, who took over August 2012. It wasn't our idea, it was his stated goal for all the girls.

Well don't let it take all the fun out of your life as a gym mom. It will be what it will be, and always better for kids who work hard with a coach that knows what they're doing.

I'll tell you this about something you may be missing. There are level 5's, and then there are level 5's that are comfortably "up to level" way before it's time to train routines day in and day out. These kids usually end up training skills for the future, and may have skills that exceed their competitive level by one or two years. It helps them when they move up because they'll have their season's skills early enough, once again, to train for the future until it's time to work competition routines.

So the answer is they get moved up as a group but are treated individually with respect to what they work on as a part of that group.
 
Actually, if everyone is moving up from 32s to 37s then they are being treated like individuals. If they weren't it would be a hard fast rule XX to move up. I know it's hard but do your best to focus on what is going on with your own child and let the other parents worry about theirs.
 
treating everyone the same and moving kids based on their proficiency are 2 different animals. :)
 
Actually, if everyone is moving up from 32s to 37s then they are being treated like individuals. If they weren't it would be a hard fast rule XX to move up. I know it's hard but do your best to focus on what is going on with your own child and let the other parents worry about theirs.

Does this mean that the 32s have more potential than the 37s?
 
I think that what they are saying is that if a gym says, "No one moves up unless they have X score" that they are not treating the kids as individuals or taking individual situations into consideration. With that model, it is just "Score X, move up, Don't score X and you repeat." No individual consideration is given. However if they are moving girls up with various scores then it is likely that the coaches think that while the child might not have been a top scorer for the current level, that that child has the potential to do just fine at the next level and there is no reason to hold them back at this point. It doesn't mean that the kids that scored 32s have MORE potential than the girls who scored 37s. It just means that the coaches think that the girls who scored 32s are proficient enough to move up. Maybe if what they were scoring badly on was say... vault... then the coaches think that they can continue to work on the vault at the next level. No reason to hold them back for it. Consider that between level 2 and 3 the vault is almost the same, just different heights for the mat. So they might let the kid go ahead and move up since they will be working on basically the same vault to improve. Same with vault for levels 4, 5 and 6. Same vault.

And... a kid who was scoring 37s one year might actually NOT always beat the kid who scored 32s. I have seen it this year where kids who were always 1st place last year were more like 6th place this year, sometimes falling behind girls who they beat (on their own teams) last year.

I'd say that it is best to let the coaches do their thing. I'm sure that they have some sort of plan in place. As long as you are comfortable with your child's placement then it is best not to worry about how the other kids are placed.
 
Could you please go into more detail?

everyone is treated the 'same' or are coached the same. but some kids need more time to develop at a certain level. so when some kids get moved up, it has nothing to do with athletes being treated 'differently'. you can't just move every kid up because it's dangerous for some if they're not ready.

so, for those kids, work harder and do better. :)
 
everyone is treated the 'same' or are coached the same. but some kids need more time to develop at a certain level. so when some kids get moved up, it has nothing to do with athletes being treated 'differently'. you can't just move every kid up because it's dangerous for some if they're not ready.

so, for those kids, work harder and do better. :)


But that is sort of my point. They are moving every kid up.
 

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