Parents Is she too old?

[Leonora]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting here. I am a mother of a 12 year old. She absolutely loves gymnastics and she is very good. She wants to try a college scholarship when the time comes. The question is, right now she is Xcel Gold, and 12 years old. Will she have enough time to reach the level needed by the time she has to apply for a college scholarship ( that is if no accidents or set backs)? Also, will she need to move on to USAG? If so, do we need to move her from XCel to USAG now? Just trying to plan her path.

Thanks so much for all the info!
Leonora.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Well, you should never say never but she definitely is not on the ideal track. There have been many threads about this topic, I suggest you do a search and settle in for some reading..!

In a nutshell, unless you move to JO at a competitive gym *immediately* with a coach who has great connections and REALLY fast tracks her... college scholarship is probably not going to happen. You can still enjoy college gymnastics team in a D3 school for instance if she is still going strong by that time.

As a personal note.... this sport has so much more to offer than the very, very slim possibility of college scholarship. It is quite rare even for the kids who have all the right circumstances from the beginning to get scholarships. I highly discourage parents or gymnasts to see that goal as their “payoff” or whatever.... this sport teaches kids so much more that will follow them through life: perseverance, work ethics, self discipline and often a life long love for physical activity. Enjoy the journey!!

 

[Leonora]

Hi SurpriseGymMom,

Thanks so much for replying. Excuse my ignorance, but what is a D3 school? I still trying to learn and get educated on these things

 

[mls529]

My DD moved from USAG JO (the "numbered levels") to Xcel. We are really happy with Xcel, but it is a very different track and experience than JO, even in my area with a lot of strong Xcel competition. If your daughter's goal is college -- even a division 3 or club gymnastics in college -- I would recommend moving from Xcel to JO ASAP. I have no doubt that your daughter is very good, but it is worth noting that JO is considerably more intense and competitive. The level of conditioning alone is so much more intense in JO, and the bar skills are much higher as well.

The other thing that I didn't know when I started this journey is that high school gymnastics is not a path to college at all. Club gymnastics is the typical path to college; high school gymnastics is generally a much lower level of competition (albeit a fun one). Our gym has made it very clear that Xcel is a path to high school gymnastics; JO is the (very difficult) path to college.

Wishing your DD a lot of luck. Despite what I have said above, I would never discourage my child's dream! There is a lot of value in the journey, as SurpriseGymMom has said!

 

[MeetDirector]

Leonora -

Brutal honesty warning.

As a 12-yr old non-JO gymnast, her path to Division I college gymnastics is just about as steep a climb as she can have. Her path is: switch to JO ASAP, score out of levels 4 and 5, skip level 6 if the gym does that (or else score out of that level too), compete level 7, 8, and 9 successfully, get good level 10 skills and compete that level all by her sophomore year in high school. Levels 7, 8 and 9 typically take a year, but not required if she has a coach that can progress her. Division I gymnastics programs are looking for solid (read that as multi-year) level 10's when they start looking at them seriously in the sophomore year. Division II and III programs may not require level 10 skills, but without them she will be at a disadvantage against all of the other girls looking for those programs. Division I programs are the big schools across the country. These programs do not look at Xcel gymnasts; there are plenty of JO gymnasts to fill thier needs out there and the skills done in JO are much more in line with college desires. Another critical piece of your puzzle is having a coaching team that understands her goal and is willing to support her achieving this goal. And as a warning to you, this path will not be friendly to your wallet or to her having a lot of free time; she will have to be in the gym probably 6 days a week to get anywhere close to the upper optional levels. This will have to be a family decision as it will impact the whole family.

There is life in gymnastics other than college competition; there are college club teams out there and there is always coaching. As others have said, not getting to a college team is not necessarily a bad thing. The journey of a competitive gymnast is, by itself, a tremendous character builder and will set her apart from others her age not making that journey.

All the best.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Hi SurpriseGymMom,

Thanks so much for replying. Excuse my ignorance, but what is a D3 school? I still trying to learn and get educated on these things

Not SurprisrGymMom.

But some basics.

There are 3 basic divisions in college athletics. Div 1, Div 2 and Div 3.

The more competitive program the college is in a particular sport the higher the division. Div 1 being the most competitive, recruiting the stronger athlete.

Div 1, has athletic scholarship available, Div 2 also but to a lesser degree.

Div 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships. However, they can find academic money, if the student adds to the athletic program the school has.

When most folks talk about scholarships for sports the focus tends to be Div 1 programs.

In gymnastics that would mean a kid should be at least a L10 gymnast by freshman/sophomore year. Earlier the better.

 

[MILgymFAM]

What grade is she in? 12 years old could be 5-8th grade, based on my kids and their friends. The lower the grade the more time she would have, since progress toward gymnastics in college is measured in grade rather than age.

Xcel and JO are both a part of USAG, but JO is really the only of the two that will lead to NCAA gymnastics. If that is her goal, and the whole family supports it, then yes. You need to move her ASAP.

Does her current coach know her goals? What do they say? How long has she been doing gymnastics? Competitive gymnastics? How much does she train right now?

It will be a long and tough road if she decides to pursue this, and will require a dedicated full-family commitment of time and resources. That said, I would never tell a kid not to try, because you just never know. Just make sure she understands that if it doesn’t work out exactly how she hopes, that club gym (which is my DDs goal) or coaching- or even continuing at a regular gym during college- isn’t a consolation prize. They can be just as amazing an experience. And of course, through all of this, never neglect academics in favor of gym. It’s way more likely for any child to get an academic scholarship than a gymnastics one.

 

[Leonora]

Ladies,

Thanks so much for your advice. I will talk to her about this, and make a decision soon.

PS: she is in 6th grade. She has been doing gymnastics for a while, but she broke her arm and couldn’t do anything for 2 years. That set her back big time.

Thanks for all the replies. This forum is great .

 

[blueberrygym]

I agree with everything that's been said here. Even if your daughter decides she doesn't really want to go after a scholarship opportunity any more, she should not be discouraged. Switching to JO can still be a great growth experience for her and if her coaches are willing to let her switch over, she should do it.

 

[gymdog]

Yes and no. Many schools have NAIGC club teams which are competitive and open to more diverse levels of participation with modified level 9 rules. This would be a great goal for her, I suggest you look into which schools have an active club team. There is also acrobatics and tumbling which is newer and in some schools but not cheer. It is more like gymnastics. And many participants are ex-gymnasts. It is good for strong tumblers.

 

[Kristie]

I had this same question, although my dd is 10. And i was told that maybe she *could* make it but it's not a likely scenario unless she blasts though the first several levels. It's a hard road and when I broke it down, I figured she's got 5 years to make it though SEVEN levels.

I try not to discourage her but I also talked to her about the realistic possiblity of not being able to complete in collage. We talked about Club Gymnastics but that's (right now) not her goal. I would talk to her about what the process is and explain to her the challanges she has before her. She's old enough I think to decide if that's a hill she wants to climb. And if she does, I say give her everything she needs to succeed.

Good Luck!!