Parents Gymnastics, anxiety, and moving up - love to hear from coaches and gymnasts

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eryes

Proud Parent
Backstory: My DD is L4, age 8, on the small side (2nd smallest on team). She's just about done with her meet season - averaging an AA 36. She's a dedicated bar worker and had a personal best of 9.55. As her mom, I am very proud of her.

She definitely has my family's anxiety and tends to over think things - which leads to fear/apprehension. She began the season very nervous about the BHS and the mill circle. She wanted to conquer both, it took a bit, but she got them. She's also still very much a fun-loving little girl at practice giggling away...not focusing at times or making the corrections needed - so everyone knows if SHE had wanted to, she could have done even better.

Question:
Coach told me that she is thinking of having her repeat L4/new L3 because of the apprehension, her small size, and it would build her gym confidence.

Our gym doesnt like to change bar/vault settings, so she would need to learn to jump to the high bar from the setting all the other team girls use. Same goes for the vault. I do know my daughter is currently over thinking that jump to high bar and her RO BHS BHS. She hasn't said anything about vault. She does have her kip...

I see both sides of it. Repeating - doing well...but I'm worried that she still won't get sufficient time to conquer her fear, as the girls she would be placed with look really rough and will need a lot of coaching otherplaces-granted they have a year. But our gym is a bit understaffed, most team parents would say. So i dont think they're able to accomodate 'alternate' skill learning (jumping to high bar with matts underneath for a confidence booster). I also know my DD is itching for more gym time.

I haven't talked to DD yet to get her thoughts (it's ultimately up to her)... But I'd like to get some other opinions from parents with children who fit this description, coaches who have worked with kids like this, or gymnasts who are like my DD and either repeated or pressed on.

Many thanks for your input!
 
I don't like using not liking to change settings as a factor for this kind of decision. it isn't fair to your daughter.

Mine is the shortest on her team. She is exactly 4 feet tall. She vaults at 100. Her 5 foot tall teammate vaults at 110. I would be livid if one reason I was given for not moving up included height because hey coach didn't want to be bothered to adjust equipment. That is part of his/her job!

The anxiety angle I can understand but the settings thing would irk me.



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My DD is also 48" and about 42lbs...slender build. The setting thing is frustrating and a parent in the level ahead of my DD fought it last year. Tough fight though.

I'm thinking she will need some privates, or what-not, to properly learn a good heal drive to get over the vaulting table. She does ok with her current vault, but I can see that she needs more power.
 
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Even if they won't be doing much uptraining, the extra year will boost her confidence in herself, which it's huge for high anxiety kids. It will also give her another year to mature and decide that she wants to put her 100% into the practices. And of choose, gives her a year to grow physically. All of these things would help her in the long run., regardless of whether she uptrains.

Having said that, does the decision need to be made now? Can she train with her current team for the summer and see how she does? . Then, if she isn't ready with her new skills, she competes new 3. She just may surprise everyone, particularly if she knows the options.
 
My ds (not a gymnast) has anxiety. New and unknown things often make him feel anxious but routine things he already knows how to do are not a problem. For him, repeating a level that he had already mastered the skills for would not help him overcome anxiety for the next level, unless repeating that level would allow him to uptrain at his own (slower) pace and with more drills breaking the skill down, etc. It sounds like you're concerned that wouldn't be the case for your dd if she repeats. For my ds, working on the same skills he's already mastered and not trying the new ones would just delay his anxiety until the next year, but not decrease it.
 
She already has her skills for this level, so hopefully she won't be overthinking or anxious about anything if she stays, but will staying change anything--will she still be anxious the following year? Or is she getting better able to cope as she gets older? Does she have a lot of friends at her level now that will be moving up? Would being with a new group of girls add to her anxiety?
 
Suebee, I think you hit the nail on the head with this comment - this IS exactly my dd and my concern!
 
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I definitely don't think she should repeat L4 just because she's small - some of the best gymnasts are the tiny ones! As for the anxiety, would repeating L4 really help her? Or would she feel more pressure to do well since she's repeating the same level? It sounds like she has the skills and scores to move up to L5/new L4. I think the coaches recommendation should be taken into account though, since they are the ones who know her skills and personality. Is it even an option for her to move up next year? Parents don't have much say, if any, about whether the girls move up or not at our gym.
 

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