Parents Groups?

[LTmom]

I read something tonight on here that put words to a thought I’ve been harboring for a long time. You know how a level will often divide and train in separate groups? Are those always by skill? Our gym is secretive and no one outright asks, but if you observe, you’ll see that it’s often by skill, or so it seems. Once, we heard rumors that the kids had been told they’d been divided by height, which was laughable from our adult vantage points. I wonder if they said that to the kids so they wouldn’t internalize the real reason?

 

[Tigtimes]

Bars and vault skills are usually what divides at our gym.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Some gyms do divide the kids by height. It makes it easier for apparatus settings, setting up drills and so on.

 

[Flipfloppy]

Once, we heard rumors that the kids had been told they’d been divided by height, which was laughable from our adult vantage points.

Very common, especially grouping kids by vault height and bar settings. I'm not sure why adults found that "laughable" instead of plausible.

Training groups dividing into subgroups can be about "skill," but "skill" isn't a singular concept. There are times when one group is ready for a different set of drills - one example might be a group trying to get a kip versus a group trying to improve a kip versus a group ready to focus on drills for KCH - but there are also times when a gymnast "with" a kip would benefit from the drills to "get" a kip and is put in that group for that reason.

There are times that certain kids are separated. There are times certain kids are put in the same group. Our gym likes to mix "power" gymnasts and "pointed toe gymnasts" so they can watch each other. With optionals, they frequently seem to be divided by element: those doing drills for one release are in one group, another release in another group.

Dividing by "skill" is nebulous because "skill" isn't a singular concept and it's unlikely to be consistent across all apparatuses and all elements, unless there's a group of, say, repeating L4s and training L4s, and then you likely have a group experienced at vaulting over the actual table and with consistent kips and a group that's starting without.

 

[MuggleMom]

We have multiple groups for the levels with alot of girls (usually compulsory through 6) they are split up by "skill" as in those that are scoring higher and uptraining more on most/all events are grouped together--we will sometimes have 1-2 4s with the 6s because they are uptrianing more then a middle group that may be uptraining some then sometimes a group new to the level that are still nailing the basics for that level. I will say it can be frustrating when your kid does well at uptraining but not at meets so they end up in the "middle group" but it is what it is. Its not really talked about but its not exactly secret either. I wish they were more upfront about it I had to tell my daughter she didnt get grouped with her friends and she was upset and asked why she wasnt with them and I told them it was by meet score and she knew they scored higher than her so she missed her friends but wasnt upset about why she wasnt with them if that makes sense.

When the coaches say "height" it could mean for equipment settings as others suggested. We have two sets of bars and you use either one of those settings but if kids had alot of bar settings I would guess they would arrange them for as few bar settings to have more time actually practicing. Same with vault settings they try and group them within the group according to vault table height so you have a group doing drills and a group vaulting and they switch so they dont spend all of practice adjusting the table height. Now you can have a short kid with killer vault height needing a higher table setting and/or not afraid of a broader bar setting so it physical height that you think is varied could still result in the same vault and bar settings.

If your kids dont have questions about the different groupings I wouldnt worry about it too much it can build resentment and too many questions but that is typically parent drama not kid drama.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our old gym pretty frequently divided by vault/bars settings...not necessarily by height but by setting. My kid is tiny but vaulted on a pretty high table setting, so she looked very out of place. But on bars, she was always on the closest bars setting, along with most of the shorter kids and an occasional taller one. So, not an implausible explanation.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

At our gym it’s no big secret.

1-They don’t want one group to have too many kids per coach, and try to keep the groups some what equal in size

2- It might be skills, who pirouettes, who is twisting, who is working double backs, bar releases. Flipping vaults, who is kipping or mill circling or not. They try to be most effective in giving the kids what they need to succeed.

Sometimes it’s as simple as equipment stettings , vault table height or bar settings....

Everyone gets what they need in the most efficient way

 

[Thegymnasticsmomlife]

I read something tonight on here that put words to a thought I’ve been harboring for a long time. You know how a level will often divide and train in separate groups? Are those always by skill? Our gym is secretive and no one outright asks, but if you observe, you’ll see that it’s often by skill, or so it seems. Once, we heard rumors that the kids had been told they’d been divided by height, which was laughable from our adult vantage points. I wonder if they said that to the kids so they wouldn’t internalize the real reason?

Yes our gym divides by skills. The girls know it though. This is not a division to tear down but to build up. You train with girls of a similar skill level as you. This helps the group push each other to do their best since they are all capable of performing similarly. It’s a strategy most gyms use. It would not be beneficial to train girls together with drastically different skill levels. Remember gymnastics skills can take a year or more to learn. It’s not going to be learned in a day, a week, or even a month.

 

[Muddlethru]

Kids can be divided into separate groups for several reason, height can certainly be one of them. However, they are most commonly divided based on ability not skill in my opinion. You can do several different level skills in one apparatus. I also think dividing kids into subgroups could also be a function of the coach not being able to handle too many kids at one given time (gymnasts to coach ratio). We always want to think our kid is in the advanced subgroup but I don’t think it is really that important. Being “advanced” in one level doesn’t mean the gymnast will always be advanced.

And as far as being secretive, coaches are always being accused of this. And it is likely because they are trying to avoid confrontations with parents particularly when they know gymnastics is such a fluid sport and there really are not absolutes.