WAG Season opener breakdown-

[munchkin3]

Any other coaches/gyms experiencing pre season breakdown? Kids loosing skills, blowing the first meet, tears, parent complaints.......How common is this??? Im lucky with my DD since she does not get too crazy....shes very logical and plays it off very cool.......
coaches, how do you handle this stuff?

 

[MILgymFAM]

My YDD had her first true breakdown last night. Fear of disappointing a beloved coach, fear that she isn't good enough for her sport, sadness that she's not progressing. She has lost and gained more skills in the past six months than the past two years combined. My kid is usually a stoic (my ODD is the sensitive one), but yesterday it all came pouring out. I felt terrible for her.

ETA: they've had meets already, but the true start of the new season is this weekend. I think the internal pressure just got to be too much.

 

[Natasha]

I dread the 2 weeks before the first big meet of the season after New Year's every year and the week before state meet.... It seems like at least 1/2 the gym is falling apart and everyone gets stressed. This has been in 2 different gyms across every level but was probably the worst at the Middle School age group. My dd was actually excited for 1st meet this year, but she did tell me younger teammates (10-13 year olds) were all stressed out the week before their first meet. I think the worst drama in all of dd's years of gym have been in the week before first big meet.... This too shall pass

 

[coachmolly]

We have our first meet of the season this weekend. No meltdowns, but some strange stuff. This week is off to a better start than last week where I saw 2 girls forget how to vault and another unable to do her bar dismount. Though yesterday I saw a pretty atrocious floor warm-up from one group of kids, an "injury," and a stomach ache. Looking forward to getting this over with!

 

[AmandaLynn]

Wine. Lots of wine.

 

[duyetanh]

OMG....are your kid isn't at my kid's gym?
Just sayin'......
I think it's a disease that runs rampant right before the season ramps up. And with the 10-13's?
ooh boy.
I'll bet the coaches go home after practice and pour themselves a glass of something nice....

 

[munchkin3]

Ok. It's good to know that this is normal......as the season progresses, they will get more focused and confident.

 

[Redford]

Totally normal. The last practice before a meet tends to be hellish in our gym, stressed coaches, nervous gymnasts, wobbly beams, sudden epidemic fears and loss of all body tension.
This is normally a sign that the meet's gonna go well.

 

[e'smum]

well no jitters for the first meet this year but dd's level 6 team had done a mobility meet at the end of the summer and they were a hot mess of nerves. it was the easiest meet too. at our gym with one judge during normal practice. dd totally flubbed her first vault and started crying. she NEVER cries over gymnastics. to be fair, she slipped on the spring board and got scared but i heard from the coaches how nervous they all were. i think it was the pressure of needing to pass the meet to move up to 6 and not wanting to be the one who didn't pass (they all passed). ppl were scared to do flyaways, the beam, ect.... thankfully dd's 2nd vault was quite good and she passed with flying colors. but i think that meet got all the jitters out.

 

[NY Dad]

Sorry to hijack but what is a mobility meet? (Hope I'm not embarrassing myself with my lack of knowledge)

 

[amiandjim]

Sorry to hijack but what is a mobility meet? (Hope I'm not embarrassing myself with my lack of knowledge)

A mobility meet is what some gyms call a score out meet, where the objective is to score out of a certain level. For example, the post above yours stated that her DDs team was moving to level 6, so I would assume it was a level 4 team who did one in house meet of level 5 routines to achieve the required score to move past level 5. This is also what some people refer to as "skipping" levels, but that's not actually accurate because each gymnast must compete at least one meet at levels 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9
to move ahead (and score the minimum set by USAG). Levels 1-3 and 6 are not required levels.

 

[e'smum]

yes, we skip level 5 in our gym where a lot of gyms in the area compete level 5 and skip 6 for the reason the poster above stated. two summers ago the level 4s who were moving to 6 had a weird experience at a mobility meet held at another gym and a couple didn't get the scores so had to go to another meet and 2 of them used the first official meet to level up. so this year our AHC decided to just have one judge come for the meet and it was not open to any other gyms. there were no awards and we didn't know scores until the end when the girls were given their score cards. they were each told they passed at the end of their last event. so they did it all (one time) as a team this year.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Any other coaches/gyms experiencing pre season breakdown? Kids loosing skills, blowing the first meet, tears, parent complaints.......How common is this??? Im lucky with my DD since she does not get too crazy....shes very logical and plays it off very cool.......
coaches, how do you handle this stuff?

I Deal with on a daily basis. I ignore it, tell them to dust them selves off and move forward. the end...

 

[NY Dad]

This is also what some people refer to as "skipping" levels, but that's not actually accurate because each gymnast must compete at least one meet at levels 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9

Thanks for explaining that. I had been wondering about how skipping worked too.