WAG Skills practise (at home) for 4 year old gymnast

[Jessikazaar]

My daughter has been doing gymnastics for two years now, and is finally on a squad, although it's a pre-team with 7 other 4 year olds who aren't in the year they turn 5 yet (that's minimum age for the team squads). Anyway, I was wondering what I should be doing with her at home? She currently can do her splits every way, she can over stretch with middle splits and japana. She does pull ups, chin ups, back bends, handstands (if I hold her feet up), cartwheels, headstands (against a block), and few other things. What are the best things to do with her at home? She currently does just over 2 hours of gymnastics a week.

Thank you

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Nothing

 

[EllibugGymmie]

I wouldn't work on anything as the pp poster mentioned. She seems to have a lot of skills, although handstands against the wall would be good to work on. She sounds like my little girl!

 

[sce]

Let he be a 4yo kid. If she plays gymnastics at home then let her play. Find opportunities to get her outside, exploring, running around and playing on the playground. Also, discourage any arching skills at home.

 

[cbifoja]

I can't even wrap my head around starting gymnastics at 2YO. A Mommy & Me class....sure. A fun little preschool class where they do movement and balance, absolutely. But true gymnastics training? What does that even look like for a 2YO? Please don't say she was was doing bridges at that age!

 

[Jessikazaar]

I don't believe any gymnastics class would allow a 2 year old to do proper gymnastics training? She's been working her splits that long but it was all part of a parent and child class where she got to have fun on all of the equipment. She started doing badge work etc at 3 and at 4 was when she started working things like bridge etc.

 

[cbifoja]

Ah, that information helps. I don't really consider M&M classes to be gymnastics training so I was trying to image how you would get a 2YO to work at the level that gymnastics training requires.

My DD and I have this argument all the time. She tells people she started gymnastics at 2, but no she didn't. She did Mommy & Me at 2.5YO. She didn't start gymnastics until 4 and didn't start seriously training for team until 5.

 

[bogwoppit]

Back bends are not advisable for the under 5 crowd.

 

[LJL07]

My 4 yr old does her splits at home, lots of cartwheels, and she is working on walking her feet up the wall for handstands like her big sister. We also have a low beam and she practices her "scoop" walk and holding her lever pose. She does this stuff on her own for fun.

 

[fuzi]

At home, nothing planned or "coached." You can't stop her from cartwheeling down the hallway, but she shouldn't be doing any sort of organized practice at home. And certainly not backbends.

 

[happychaos]

I wouldn't have her do anything. Anything that she does spontaneously, fine (except bridges). I know it's hard, but just try to not pay attention to what skills she "has", or what she needs to work on...etc. Just smile, tell her she is fabulous, and make sure she is having fun. It's good to have gymmie that is always wanting more!

 

[kandkfunk]

I think the consensus you're going to get (and are already getting above) is that she shouldn't be working on anything formal at home, especially at her age. This is a common question on CB. If she is playing around and doing gymnastics, then let her play. Otherwise, leave gym in the gym and coaching to the coaches.

As she gets older, her coaches may request stretching or strength training outside of gym, but that should be directed by the coach, or, at a minimum, they should be consulted about what is proper to work on. I can't imagine many coaches giving homework to a 4 year old.

Also, you will get advice to stay away from backbends/back walkovers at her age (as some have also mentioned above). There are many threads on CB that talk about the reasoning behind this if you are interested.

 

[mpkbt]

Dancing. I think at that age I would have encouraged my older dd to dance her little heart out. It teaches them body awareness and just how to be free. My older dd was a stiff dancer until she finally became comfortable with dancing when she was a sophomore in high school. My younger dd would dance around the house constantly and was an awesome floor worker. Coincidence?

 

[munchkin3]

Let her make up routines for fun.
Dont make her do anything.
She will have so much 'coaching' that you dont want to even get into that.
she will NEVER be 4 again

 

[profmom]

My son's teammate's little brother, who's not yet three, loves to do his "L seat!" on those metal pbar type things you see at playgrounds. He's also working on "ring swings!" and "floor routine!"

I fear for the future. And for his mother's checkbook.

 

[Jessikazaar]

Thanks for the advice I don't make her train at home, but she does often ask me if we can do some gymnastics together. She mainly likes to practice what she's done in class but just wanted to see if there's anything else I can do with her. I shall leave it for now though, and just do what she wants to when she wants

 

[munchkin3]

Just make sure she doesn't hurt herself on the couch, or by hitting her feet on the furniture. If she will be in the sport for the long haul, then realistically she will be 'doing' things at home. They all do. All I would make sure is NOT to let her do backbends at her age. Do not let her do back handsprings or anything really dangerous.
I used to play a game with mine, how long she could hold a hand stand. She loved it! Now she has graduated to 'not doing gymnastics in the house' .....its kinds sad actually....I will miss that stage.

There was a L2 mom the other day, telling us moms how she and her DD broke out the mattress to practice Back Handsprings. I asked her why and how, and of course since mom used to do gymnastics (until she was 10 and maybe learned a BHS), well, it seemed perfectly reasonable, right? YIKES as dunno says................ I politely tried to explain that each coach has their progressions, and their ways. By interfering it will impede the natural progression and could actually delay the skill.........and not to mention, may hurt her daughter!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I am a little confused @Jessikazaar


Last year you told us you were a coach in an acro class and your daughter was doing 4 hours of gym a week, including handstands and bridges

My 3 year old daughter does a lot more than your daughter does per week. She does 1 acrobatics class, 2 artistic classes and I coach acro once a week to the C squad (generally kids aged 5 - 10) and she will join with that if she feels like it.

Hey


I'm new to ChalkBucket! My daughter Belle is 3 years old (4 in Feb)... She absolutely loves gymnastics. She watches youtube videos constantly, is always practicing, would spend all day every day in the gym if she could! The advice I need is regarding her physical capabilities. She does both acro and artistic. and does about 4 hours a week. I never force her to go, she asks if we can go and I have to try and encourage her to do other things (she also goes indoor climbing and swimming). Anyway - she has got her splits, can do handstand, is working on handstand press etc.

Now you say that she is doing 2 hours a week, can't handstand on her own and is working on badges ? Colour me confused !


If we are to give constructive advice it helps that we know level and experience, so we can tailor our advice accordingly, and as a coach (level 1 ?) you should be in a position to know that at 3/4 its all about play and muscle and co-ordination development instead of skills

 

[Jessikazaar]

Last year I trained for a few months as an Acro coach, but didn't manage to stick with it as my circumstances changed. Belle was then doing more gym, but since has been moved up to pre-team and does a longer session of gym a week and it's an hours drive away. She was doing more back then but I cut it down when she started doing more hours at kindergarten and her dad stopped taking her on the weekend he had her so we stopped the Acro. So she was doing bridges as part of Acro, but not through my choice. She just started doing them! Since coming on here she has not been doing them with my encouragement after the posts I read about spine issues later on. So no, I am not a coach, it was a few months of work experience with older kids. I had no idea what she was doing was bad for her back. They do back bends and bridges as part of her pre-team class though.

Re the handstands, she can handstand, but not hold it up very long, she's been doing them ages now but just hasn't had much practise as they don't focus on them in lessons. So she can only hold a handstand for any longer than a second if I hold her legs, is what I meant. She is cartwheeling now, which is great. Think that answers all of your questions?