I'm New Here!

[Krystan]

Hello! I live in Massachusetts and have a daughter involved in gymnastics. She started 14 months ago, and is starting level 5 this summer. She's 10, so started late at the ripe old age of 9. She had a severe social anxiety when she was younger, and gymnastics was the first class or sport of any kind she did on her own (without parent). I'd always known she would be good - she's naturally very flexible and has spent most of her childhood jumping on my furniture! She started with a friend, but quickly moved up fast. It has been so good for her self-confidence! People can't even believe when I tell them that just three years ago she wouldn't speak in public or let me out of her sight. Our gym has two teams, a USAG team, and a lower key one that competes in a local league and practices only 2-3 times per week. Because she started late, she was automatically put in the lower-key one (she competed level 4 with them this spring). However, this summer she'll be practicing with the USAG 5's and they'll decide what to do with her in the fall. I think we'll be happy either way, but it is all happening so fast! I'll be glad to learn all I can here. Thanks!

 

[jdf]

My daughter is similar in so many ways--didn't set foot in a gym until 3rd grade, didn't join the team until 4th, because she was nervous about activities. Now she is a confident, though reserved, sixth grader.
I think gymnastics helps because they practice the same skills for hours, and then they get that sweet payoff of accomplishment .Practice is very predictable, and the repetition gives them a chqance to replay their actions over and over. They are not expected to learn instantly, they are taught a process for learning.

 

[JBS]

Welcome to The Chalk Bucket!

 

[my4buffaloes]

Gymnastics is so good for kids, glad to hear it has benefited your daughter. Welcome! It is amazing how quickly the kids get really into it and how it suddenly starts consuming your life.

 

[MaryA]

Welcome! It's so funny to be involved in a sport when you're considered "old" at the age of 9. My daughter competed level 5 as a 10-year-old (though she didn't turn 10 until the very end of the season) and will hopefully compete as a 11-year-old level 6 next year. Welcome to Chalk Bucket!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Hi, and welcome!! Glad to have you here!!

 

[emorymom]

At our gym the girls are expected to rock the bejeezus out of Level 2, and most girls on the L2 team were 8. So she would be kind of young at our gym for L5

Welcome!

 

[Krystan]

Hey, thanks for all the welcomes! It is interesting how things are so different everywhere. I think some gyms like to move them up while they're young, and others like to wait for perfection before moving. Ours doesn't compete until level 4 anyway (I don't think any local gyms compete lower than that). And jdf, I agree about why gymnastics can be good for anxious kids. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she asked if she could compete in her first meet. I was a nervous wreck - wondering if she would go through with it, or if she would be able to function if she made a mistake. She fell of the beam and got right back on, needed to be rescued from a failed mill circle - but, she took it all in stride and was so happy to have done it. The shock still hasn't worn off!