MAG Question re Future Stars and future in general ;)

[AnotherTexasGymMom]

So DS is a 7 year old, very successful at level 5 & training level 6. Coach wants him to do Future Stars, which would require bigger time commitment. DS loves gym, but also loves other sports/activities. So in trying to prioritize, I am curious... For those who have been in this situation and done Future Stars, does this generally lead to later success in the sport at the higher levels (9,10, college)? Or does the muscle development that comes with puberty level the playing field, and the others catch up with the boys that were hot shots when they were 7, 8? I am just trying to get a realistic picture of what's to come.

 

[gracyomalley]

Future stars seems to be a huge boost for the younger kids - especially if its the way to get a kid working more progressive drills/skills at a younger age. In our region, those kids clearly show a huge advantage through about L7. Hard to say higher up - here there are few kids in the top levels....

My oldest boy has made HUGE gains gymnastically with the onset of puberty. He started competitive gym late (almost 11 - although he had played around with rec gym enough that he competed L4 successfully 6 weeks after starting). He then spent 3 year as a L5 before things clicked, then skipped L6, is competing L7 while having his L8 routines mostly down and working on L9 stuff this year...at 14. He probably never would have "made" it in future stars had it been an option as a youngster...he wasn't interested in working hard on gym and didn't have the obvious talent until about 10 1/2 years old....but he has not intention of college gym - although he thinks it looks like lots of fun...before puberty he never expected to make it past L7.....

The few kids who have done Future stars at our gym were amazing - one nationally ranked for years - and it kept him in gym. 2 others could have done it, had no interest and have moved on to other sports. We have a little 7 year old who would have been a good L5 this year, and benefited from future stars, but because we can't do that program until we have a full time experienced head coach again, he simply moved to L6 and has had a "terrible" year score wise, but is at least working with the more serious kids and working on progressive skills in the areas he's ready to do so.....and he's happy and enjoying the meets anyway, so its worked out in that sense.

My guess is that if a kid is getting good solid training in fundamental skills and staying interested in gym, then unless the goal is the Olympics, its more important for boys to simply STAY IN GYM until they hit puberty and see what it does for them, than push hard when young - but Future Stars really does work those fundamentals well. It would depend a great deal on how much more time would be involved - our nationally ranked Future Star kid never trained more than about 16 hours a week even as a L9 this year - So many talented boys simply move on to other things.....

 

[samsmama]

I'm curious about this too. Our gym doesn't have any Future Stars training, so I'm assuming that means DS can't do the testing. Our coach sent me a few videos of 8-year-old FS tests (randomly as we had never discussed FS) and I can see that DS isn't ready right now, but I think he could really benefit from the training, maybe with an eye toward trying to test next year.

I will be following this discussion with interest, though, to see whether it makes sense to try to get the coach to add a FS program (if that's even how you describe it, I'm so unclear about how it works!).

 

[skschlag]

My ds did future stars for a few years. It can be a benefit, but it can also burn boys out. Our team just uses it as a part of their conditioning and warm ups. IMO, it should be a part of every boys' program, not a separate training thing, and then testing can be determined. D loved doing FS, but then we lost our coach, etc. But we did not have a separate program, extra practices, etc. It was just worked into the program.

D has jsut hit puberty and it is making a HUGE difference. Right now he is strugglign with the added height/weight, but he is starting to understand it and make huge gains. So I am seeing puberty as a turning point.

I think, with good coaching, either works. Whether your child does fs or not, they can still make it far.

 

[ZJsMom]

My ds was not in the fast track group when he was younger and didn't do future stars. Now he's competing as a 14-yo level 9 and I do feel like he's catching up to the hot shots.

The other thing I've observed that others have touched on is the burn out issue. A lot of the guys who were successful future stars aren't in gymnastics anymore at all.

I would take your ds's lead on this. If he's rearing to go and excited about FS competition, go for it. If he'd rather try some other sports after JO competition season, do that. The first prerequisite for being a successful level 10 is still being in the gym at 15-16.

 

[samuel310]

When my DS did FS last fall a rep. came in and spoke with parents. He told us that when you look at kids on the national team and kids that won at FS there was absolutely no correlation. However...most all kids that are on the team did at least participate in FS.

My family are very big into baseball and as a 10 yo level 5 last year it was crash and burn trying to be on the all star team and train/compete for FS. One year later my DS is a level 7 who will still play baseball next month but is not going to play all stars so that he can fully dedicate himself to making it to Co.

I think you can do multiple sports early but as your DS progresses it becomes increasingly difficult as this stuff is really hard especially if he wants to win (which my son always does).

 

[profmom]

Participation is where the value really lies. Training both the skills and focusing on form is very valuable, but if it causes a kid to burn out by 12 or 13 because of the time and pressure, then obviously it isn't worth it for that kid.

DS dropped baseball a few years ago because he wanted to focus on gym but also because he didn't want to be overcommitted. He had the time and capacity to squeeze baseball in, but having some free time to play was important to him as well. The further we get into this, the harder it is to maintain that balance. Fortunately I think he's just about maxed out on gym hours at this point. Adding much more to his load would either burn him out or require us to rethink schooling and religious education, and we just aren't ready to go there yet.