Parents Sick over decision to do JO

[Travelbug]

My daughter will be going into 1st grade. She has been doing gymnastics since she was 2. She was asked to be on the JO L3 team last year and I turned it down because she was going to be entering full-day kindergarten too. She repeated pre-3 this past year at 3 hrs a week. Now the decision is upon me again to move up to L3. She would be there 9hrs/wk. I’m literally losing sleep over this. She is in school 7:50-2:15. We get home at 2:30 and have to leave at 3:40 for gymnastics. She wouldn’t get home until 7:30pm on M,W and F. The following year would be 12 hrs! I’m feeling sad for all she would miss out on. I’m feeling sad for how little I’d see her. She likes it and is very good at it. But I’m not sure she absolutely loves it. There were plenty of days last year (only 3 hrs a week) she complained about going. Always had fun once she was there. We would go the Xcel route if we didn’t JO. I’m feeling so torn about not allowing her to try JO but also she is only 6 and 7 years old once. I can’t get these years back. What is the end goal?

 

[Travelbug]

I guess I should also ask...if she absolutely is loving it later and wants to take it more seriously at some point, is moving back over to JO ever an option? Obviously she’s be at a lower level than had she stuck with JO. But at least it would be her decision and not mine to make. As of now, I’m basically making the decision because she doesn't understand what the time commitment of 9 hrs means. She is very whatevs when I ask her if she’s rather do JO or Xcel.

 

[Aussie_coach]

That is a very tough question, because it is so individual. It is going to depend a lot on your daughter, your gym, her coaches etc.

In the vast majority of cases it is much easier to start with JO and then drop back to Xcel if she doesn’t like it that’s go the other way. Some gyms won’t even allow you to switch to JO from Xcel. Is this a question you could comfortably ask your gym, if not do you know some parents of older kids who could tell you more about the gyms philosophy.

Is she able to train JO over the Summer, then make a decision in the fall? It is very hard to know if she is going to love gymnastics or not until she gets a chance to taste it at a higher level.

 

[Travelbug]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, she can train over the summer for JO and then decide by fall. I guess I was hoping not to prolong the decision. And I thought 9hrs/wk won’t feel like a lot during the summer bc she’ll have the rest of day wide open. I don’t think she’ll do the gymnastics over the summer and still come out in August with a ‘it’s fine either way’ attitude. But that’s who she is. A people pleaser and goes with the flow.

When asked if she went to xcel could she come back to JO they just say it’s not recommended. They don’t say no but they dont say yes. That’s why this is so hard. I feel like I’m deciding her gymnastics future with this decision.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

My daughter just completed her level 3 season, training 9 hours a week and she was also a first grader. She did just fine balancing gym from 4:30-7:30 2 days a week (her 3rd day is Saturday so no school.) It was nice to do the hours increase last summer to give her time to adjust before the school year started. I didn't feel like I was missing her at all. We have a 30 minute car ride where we get to talk about her day and just hang out. I also don't feel like she's missing anything. She tried soccer this year, plays outside with friends all the time, goes to birthday parties, and watches her siblings at their sports or concerts sometimes.

Now, this is my kid. Only you can decide what is best for your kid. I will say, if you are even considering having her do JO, I encourage you to have her try the 9 hours this summer and then revisit what is best for her before school starts.

Try not to stress too much. This one decision is not her entire gymnastics future, it is just what you thought was best for her at this time.

 

[CLgym]

I agree with lots of the advice you've received so far. It is a very individual decision -- and one that you can likely change in the future if you're perspective or situation changes. And I think you will be surprised at how much time you still have, even at 9 hours per week . At 9 hours per week, mine still played baseball and took both swimming and figure skating lessons each week. You are right, however, that the hours go up fast. Before you know it gymnastics can feel like a full time job!

I am posting mostly to say that my DD started in Xcel (by gym choice) and then switched to JO. She did one season of Xcel Bronze at age 7. Now, at age 10, she successfully competed Level 7 this season and is training Level 8 (not sure if she'll actually move up yet or not). I do not feel that the year in Xcel was a hinderance to her gymnastics in the long run. Although the Xcel placement was not our choice, it ended up being a good opportunity to see how my daughter enjoyed competing before we made the decision to switch gyms for JO.

In your shoes, I would probably give the summer in JO3 a try. But there is definitely no right or wrong here. And the "end goal" you asked about.... Well, in my opinion, it's pretty much the same for all gymnasts (Xcel and JO alike) with rare exception. The goal for most gymnasts is training and competing in a sport they love. Until they don't love it anymore. And then they stop. There are a lot of great life lessons learned along the way, of course. But that is true of many sports.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[profmom]

Let her try JO. You'll have the answer you need by the end of the summer.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Take a deep breath, you shouldn’t be stressing yourself out about this. This is a fun level, and she’s still young. If you did level 3 this year, what would she (or you) miss out on? There’s not a lot going on for 1st graders besides school, you’d have her at home all weekend and non-practice nights, and she can see her friends at school. After this year, reassess and decide what to do for the next year. You can tell her that going into it: “we’ll do this for a year, and then we’ll talk about it before we commit to the next year.” That gives you both an out if either she doesn’t like it or you decide it isn’t working for her, you, or the family. Let her know you will decide together to continue or not.

We send our kids to school for 35+ hours per week without blinking an eye because we’ve been conditioned to just accept it, but honestly, I’d like my kids to have shorter school days and be home more—there’s a lot of wasted time at school. But, I get to drive my gymnast 25 minutes there and back when we can talk, and if I’m being honest, those practice times would be spent watching TV or playing in her room while I cleaned or cooked supper, so she wouldn’t really be spending that time with me anyway. Her time at practice is also a social time and her best friends are her teammates; she’s learning discipline and time management; she’s getting strong and is in great shape.

Take a breath, talk over the commitment of being on team without confusing her about JO vs Xcel; then make a decision and enjoy the year.

 

[Travelbug]

Thank you all so very much!!! I’ve flip flopped (ha, see what I did there?!) my decision so many times in even the last few hours. Now to make it even more confusing I ran into the lady that used to coach me this morning. She runs the AAU or GIJO program. She felt the xcel program here wasn’t a good one and that she should either try JO or go the GIJO route. I know nothing about the GIJO option. This is all so confusing! What are thoughts on GIJO?

 

[FlippinPrincess]

Thank you all so very much!!! I’ve flip flopped (ha, see what I did there?!) my decision so many times in even the last few hours. Now to make it even more confusing I ran into the lady that used to coach me this morning. She runs the AAU or GIJO program. She felt the xcel program here wasn’t a good one and that she should either try JO or go the GIJO route. I know nothing about the GIJO option. This is all so confusing! What are thoughts on GIJO?

I had to Google GIJO. Sounds like Xcel. I would personally try the JO program at your current gym. Honestly, I think you're overthinking this. Try the JO program for the summer and see how it goes. If she/you don't like it, switch to something else. Simple as that.

 

[RTT2]

Honestly, if the hours and time commitment are stressing you out so much at this point, I'd strongly consider sticking with Xcel. Others have suggested having your daughter try JO over the summer, which may be a good plan depending on the gym. I've known girls who liked but didn't love gymnastics and were picked out for JO give it one summer and then quit gymnastics entirely because it was too much and turned them off. Can you watch a bit of JO practice at your gym and see if the level of intensity would suit your daughter?

 

[Travelbug]

I know she won’t have a problem with it over the summer. We have no other real time commitments. She can 100% do it this summer. She will walk away saying it’s just fine. It’s her personality. It’s more about how will it affect her and our family during the school year? I personally can’t imagine her doing other sports and school and gymnastics next year. Maybe she physically could but when we should play with friends or hang with her family? Or have free tone to just be spontaneous?
People are saying it won’t effect her gymnastics future but our gym is making us feel like it will. If we walk away from JO now it does not seem like we can return!
The GIJO program is what the feeder team for our high school program. I guess they’ve done very well. 2nd at state.
Maybe I just try JO for a year and then I’ll have a better feel for it is something we want to continue or not for the long run?

 

[GymDadWA]

Take a look at the higher level requirements for gymnastics is that something you would ever be OK with? If you will never be OK with her spending the 16 - 20 hours/week at gymnastics for the optional levels than I wouldn't go down the JO path. Pick the path with the hours you are OK with committing to.

Also realize that all youth activities require a lot of commitments as they progress (sports, arts, music, performance, etc.) It's just comes with the territory but so do the rewards, she'll make really deep friendships, have memories for life, and something to identify with and build off of.

 

[kipnastic mom]

A lot of the decision is based on your daughter and your family priorities. You daughter at 1st grade should be able to 9 hours of gymnastics, plus school, and life. However, is that what you want to do? Only you can answer that question. For my daughter, she started out as Xcel bronze in Kindergarten, moved to a JO Pre-Team in 1st grade and then JO3 in 2nd grade, she is now in 6th grade planning to compete JO7. She also plays competitive (travel) soccer and for the first few years played softball and did girl scouts. We have tried hard to allow to experience everything she wants to make sure she is doing things that she loves. We know she wants to play school sports and when that happens her gymnastics career will need to end.
We have been luck that we are at a great gym where we don't have the hours in the gym that most gyms do, but are still able to be highly competitive.

My daughter absolutely loves being busy and hates being at home "hanging out". Over the years, her "school" friends has decreased as 2 competitive sports has made time for them very challenging. Your concern about playdates and such is valid, but, I would think that is several years away. That said, my daughters gym friends are her best friends and she prefer's to spend as much time out of gym with them as she can. If it were me, I would go with JO3, as you can always move to Xcel. Its really hard to go the other way.

 

[Travelbug]

Take a look at the higher level requirements for gymnastics is that something you would ever be OK with? If you will never be OK with her spending the 16 - 20 hours/week at gymnastics for the optional levels than I wouldn't go down the JO path. Pick the path with the hours you are OK with committing to.

Also realize that all youth activities require a lot of commitments as they progress (sports, arts, music, performance, etc.) It's just comes with the territory but so do the rewards, she'll make really deep friendships, have memories for life, and something to identify with and build off of.

I think you hit the nail on the head for me. Even if I can get my mind around 9 hours this year, what is the point if I'm not okay with 12 hrs and 16 hrs etc? Why even go down this path at all? That is exactly what I'm thinking. But I would like her to be able to do high school if she is still interested and so i want to make sure she is in program where that will be possible. It sounds like the Excel program will not prepare her for our high school program which is GIJO. But our summer JO program starts TODAY so I'm feeling pressure to do at least summer so we don't lose our spot.

 

[Travelbug]

A lot of the decision is based on your daughter and your family priorities. You daughter at 1st grade should be able to 9 hours of gymnastics, plus school, and life. However, is that what you want to do? Only you can answer that question. For my daughter, she started out as Xcel bronze in Kindergarten, moved to a JO Pre-Team in 1st grade and then JO3 in 2nd grade, she is now in 6th grade planning to compete JO7. She also plays competitive (travel) soccer and for the first few years played softball and did girl scouts. We have tried hard to allow to experience everything she wants to make sure she is doing things that she loves. We know she wants to play school sports and when that happens her gymnastics career will need to end.
We have been luck that we are at a great gym where we don't have the hours in the gym that most gyms do, but are still able to be highly competitive.

My daughter absolutely loves being busy and hates being at home "hanging out". Over the years, her "school" friends has decreased as 2 competitive sports has made time for them very challenging. Your concern about playdates and such is valid, but, I would think that is several years away. That said, my daughters gym friends are her best friends and she prefer's to spend as much time out of gym with them as she can. If it were me, I would go with JO3, as you can always move to Xcel. Its really hard to go the other way.

Wow...I wish we had a program that was highly competitive w/o having to do the high hours in the gym. Doesn't seem those two things go hand-in-hand though.

 

[CuriousCate]

i may have missed it, but do you have other children?

 

[Travelbug]

i may have missed it, but do you have other children?

I do not have other children.

 

[Travelbug]

Also, I stand corrected the other program is the AAU. So our options are JO, Xcel or AAU. Our high school competes JO levels but come up thru the AAU program. Does that even make sense???

 

[CLgym]

GIJO is a lower hour, lower intensity program in Illinois only. It operates under the umbrella of AAU -- not USAG. The meets are usually smaller (e.g., held in a local gym as opposed to a convention hall). For years, GIJO was the primary low pressure team option in Illinois, although the creation/growth of Xcel has resulted in fewer GIJO programs overall in the state. I don't think there are too many gyms out there that do all three programs -- JO, Xcel and GIJO -- because Xcel and GIJO are kind of redundant. My old gym did all three teams, structured so that Xcel was slightly more intense than GIJO (e.g., 9 vs 6 hrs per week). New gym just does Xcel. One thing that is unique about GIJO is that the GIJO levels use the same compulsory routines as JO -- although scoring is easier. So the progression is similar to JO, but less competitive and usually slower bc fewer hours.

High school gymnastics in Illinois is remarkably good at the handful of schools that place towards the top. In fact, the top high school programs have gymnasts who also successfully compete JO at Levels 8/9/10. If we had high school gym in our area, I would definitely consider it a good "end goal" for my DD.

The bottom line - Your "safer" option is to accept the JO spot and give it a try. It is certainly easier to move "down" to Xcel, then "up" to JO (although we did Xcel to JO with no real negative effects, but it did require a gym change). Some gyms will not allow movement from Xcel to JO, but all should be OK the other way. That being said, sometimes once you start down a certain path, it's hard to step off (particularly in gymnastics for some reason). So just be prepared for that....

PS -- If you want to talk specific gyms, feel free to start a private conversation with me.