Parents State meet stress

[LJL07]

I'm having a bit of an anxiety attack (not at all dramatic or over the top.)
DD's state meet is coming up this weekend. She is level one. We switched gyms mid season (long story), and she was not going to do any meets until next year as a level 3 (did several meets at old gym). Her new coach decided she would like her to go ahead and do state, so DD is excited to do it. All of the 6 year olds at DD's old gym were scoring on average in the mid to high 8's for level one with AA scores of 34 to upper 35. I know it's a new level system, but I'm really having second thoughts about moving her up to even 2, let alone skipping a level. If she isn't able to score in the 9's at level one (these are easy skills like front rolls and cartwheels), then how in the world can she do well at 3? I was trying to be zen about this, but her coach wants her to do extra practices this week because she is worried about her floor routine. Ugh!

She is able to do the following skills:
floor: front walkover/back walkover/ round off back handspring (learned last summer at a cheer camp, so they have worked hard to clean up her form. She looks pretty good now.). All splits are very easy for her. She has difficulty with easy things like releves and basically walking in a straight line. So weird.
bars: back hip circle, mill circle, and long hang pullover (DD calls this "baby giant".) She cannot yet do a front hip circle.
vault: handstand flat back looks AWFUL bc she has so much back flexibility she is too arched
beam: can do a cartwheel, but has a hard time with lever.

I am very nervous about this state meet as her old gym will be there, but I am pretending I am super excited. I think I just feel like this is going to be a very frustrating sport for us (ME! ) with the ADHD.
All of the coaches she has worked with say she has a lot of potential. If you need extra help for the level one floor routine, then how talented can the child really be?? I am constantly questioning all of this, and she will be spending even more hours at gym over the summer and next year. And more $$. And now I'm thinking of ballet to improve these "form issues." Gahhhh! When does it end? I'll bet I'll feel much better after this meet, but how do these level 8 and 9 parents maintain sanity all these years??

 

[GYM0M]

Ok so first, deep breath! Woosau! Lol! Compulsory routines are judged for perfection and often have nothing to do with a gymnast's ability or potential. Your DD is very young and probably doesn't have the body awareness that it takes to correct/control form. She will get there though. Think of it in terms of school grades, after a whole year of learning, you wouldn't hold her back in the grade if her final grade was a 'B.'

 

[LJL07]

Ha ha! I think the coach wanting to do privates might have made me come unglued a little. And then I see these videos of 6 and 7 yr olds competing level 3 and 4, and they have beautiful form and seem so focused. It makes me think what in the world are we doing here?? I am sure I'll feel relatively sane again after this weekend,

 

[MILgymFAM]

I am in the same boat. DDs second real meet ever is states this weekend. Her coaches are full of she isn't strong and she isn't flexible enough, but she pushes herself so hard- it is all more stressful for me than her. Lol

 

[wnl256]

First, take a breath.

Next, trust the coaches.

The coaches are well equipped to assess her skills, her talent, and her potential within the context of her competitive level. In the early levels it isn't so much about getting the good scores as it is about building a solid foundation of skills and technique. Sure, getting the scores and the placings are great (and a good boost to your child's self-esteem) but if your coaches know what they are doing then they are taking the long view and giving her what she needs to make it to the higher levels.

 

[raenndrops]

Remember... There is no Level 1 Olympics! A lot of gyms don't even compete until Level 3 or Level 4. There is a reason that all USAG requires at Levels 1-3 is mastery of 75% of the skills designated for those levels. ... so, as long as she gets a 7.5 average (so a 30+ AA), let her move up to where the coaches want her. She already has some L3/L4/L5 skills.

 

[Amusibus]

Don't worry. She's little. Body awareness comes with age. Even my impossibly form challenged daughter is now, at 8, starting to point her toes and straighten her knees and look pretty not just cute. I am a believer, it will happen. Anyway, whatever happens happens, there's not much we as parents can do about it anyway, except trust your coach's judgement.

 

[profmom]

I'm having a bit of an anxiety attack (not at all dramatic or over the top.)
DD's state meet is coming up this weekend. She is level one. . . . I was trying to be zen about this, but her coach wants her to do extra practices this week because she is worried about her floor routine. Ugh!

I'm curious as to how other gyms in your area think of level one competition. This seems a little much to me unless it is the norm to take competition at this level seriously.

What matters most for gymnasts at your daughter's stage is consistent development and progress. I know the meets are exciting and a little stressful for the parents no matter what level your child is competing, but meet outcomes really don't matter except in terms of the experience they provide until much, much later in the game. The goal is for them to do the best they can on the skills they are competing, and to get used to doing routines under the pressure of a meet environment. If she can do her skills well at meets at the introductory compulsory levels, it will prepare her for doing the harder skills well later.

Good luck to her -- I'm sure she'll be fine. Sounds like the coaches have a good plan for her and will progress her appropriately.

 

[LJL07]

I'm curious as to how other gyms in your area think of level one competition. This seems a little much to me unless it is the norm to take competition at this level seriously.

What matters most for gymnasts at your daughter's stage is consistent development and progress. I know the meets are exciting and a little stressful for the parents no matter what level your child is competing, but meet outcomes really don't matter except in terms of the experience they provide until much, much later in the game. The goal is for them to do the best they can on the skills they are competing, and to get used to doing routines under the pressure of a meet environment. If she can do her skills well at meets at the introductory compulsory levels, it will prepare her for doing the harder skills well later.

Good luck to her -- I'm sure she'll be fine. Sounds like the coaches have a good plan for her and will progress her appropriately.

I think it must be the norm to compete starting at level one around here. I'm sure there are some superstars who skip over levels 1&2. There are two 7 yr olds at the current gym doing level 3 this year. Otherwise, there were 9 year olds competing level 1 at our old gym.

Anyways, I have noticed a consistent trend that the young kids (6 yr olds) are scoring in that mid 8 range or at best low 9's on many of the level 1 events. That floor routine is not hard, and DD's scores have ranged between 8.65-9.1. I can only imagine she would score in the 7's at level 3! Meanwhile, the 9 yr olds do score very high at level 1, but they look so much better!

The coach wants her doing the privates this week so she can score comparably to her other level 1 teammates, but they are all 8 yrs old and up at her new gym. If she scored "comparably" to her older teammates, she probably would place very high at the state meet, but I think that would take a miracle. I don't think she looks close in form to the two little girls a year older who are finishing up level 3, so I just don't know. I have no idea how these coaches know who might go far in this sport.

Lol at the level 1 Olympics!! Good luck to your daughter too MILgymFAM!

 

[wallinbl]

The judging at a meet isn't about whether she's ready to move on, it's about the technical perfection of the compulsory routine. They're rather different things.

We maintain our sanity by remembering that it is what it is, and as long as our kids are having fun, the rest of it doesn't matter much. If she repeats a level, she'll be practicing and competing gymnastics and having fun. If she moves up a level, she'll be practicing and competing gymnastics and having fun. If at some point, it appears she's a level too high or too low, and is struggling with that, the coaches will adjust. Enjoy watching her have fun, and don't get caught up in the details.

 

[sce]

Don't stress. However she does, it will be great. It is good that she'll have this experience going into next year. Just focus on her having fun performing at the meet.

 

[Ali'sMom]

We just recently went through (going through) sort of the same thing. Old L2 & L3 (current L1 & L2) my daughter was scoring 37s-38s (and one 39). Upon moving up to new L3 last september, she was scoring 35s and 36s. Which is still good, but not to my perfectionist child. (she's 11 by the way). She went to States in December and did pretty well - top 50% of her group, but still not where she wanted. I figured we'd keep her in L3 through THIS December, let her go to States and have a score that SHE was proud of (the rest of us were jumping for joy at states, just not her).

I was emailing with the coach, and it seems that they are ready for her to move up this summer to L4. I was against it at first. I wanted her to have scores that she was happy with before moving up. Well, two weeks ago she finally nailed her beam routine, and was all 9s again. (Keeping fingers crossed that in 10 days she can do it again - for her own confidence).
Anyway, I had to do a lot of research on my own about what is involved in L4, and would I be setting her up for another year of feeling less than confident. But I was also up against keeping her back as the oldest L3 (our girls are YOUNG... we have an 8 & 9 year old L9...)

I finally decided to let her go for it.
As much as all of her 1st Places were great for her confidence in L2 & L3, the need to work harder in newL3 has also paid off.

So, this weekend, take a deep breath and enjoy the States!!!!

Then, I would say let her coaches see about moving her up or if she really can skip a level.
Only you can make the definite decision to move her up or skip a level, but if you trust the coaches, and you're willing to put in the extra time, etc, they usually have a good eye for the potential. (in our gym, we have an 8 year old competing L8, but ready for L9. At 5 years old, she was all over the place. Scores weren't so hot, but they moved her up & up. Now at 8, she's gotten more discipline (sounds like she's 20, doesn't it??) and she's cleaning up her routines, and the scores are showing. Sometimes when the child is quick at learning, young, it's easier to teach the skills, and then work on polishing them afterwards.

 

[LJL07]

^^ Yes, it does sound like that 8 year old is 20. I cannot even imagine. Mine is 6 years old through and through and acts it! I think I'm just scared to push her ahead too fast with more hours and harder skills with the immaturity and those less than stellar scores at level one. I will try to step back and let the coaches do their thing.

I am repeating the mantra of FUN over and over, and it is helping a little. We already let her pick out her favorite restaurant for after the meet to celebrate however she does.

 

[LJL07]

Just a happy update to say that DD improved! She got a 9.575 on bars up from an 8.9 on bars at the last meet. She was in third place on bars. What a huge improvement! Everything else was in the 9's up from mid 8's at her last meet. She was a little bummed to only medal on bars, and she placed 6 out of 12, but we made a big deal out of the big improvements. I know it's just level one, but her hard work and the new gym paid off. Her form is already looking better after a short time. I guess it's time to move forwards. She is really excited to learn new skills. Still not sure about L3, but feeling better. Hopefully next year will be a little less stressful.

 

[sce]

Just a happy update to say that DD improved! She got a 9.575 on bars up from an 8.9 on bars at the last meet. She was in third place on bars. What a huge improvement! Everything else was in the 9's up from mid 8's at her last meet. She was a little bummed to only medal on bars, and she placed 6 out of 12, but we made a big deal out of the big improvements. I know it's just level one, but her hard work and the new gym paid off. Her form is already looking better after a short time. I guess it's time to move forwards. She is really excited to learn new skills. Still not sure about L3, but feeling better. Hopefully next year will be a little less stressful.

Yeah! I'm glad she had a good meet. I think you'll be amazed at the difference a year will make for her.

 

[onebusymama]

Congrats to your DD! That is great. I'm glad she did well. Next time (for your own health) don't stress as much ;-)

 

[Ali'sMom]

Just a happy update to say that DD improved! She got a 9.575 on bars up from an 8.9 on bars at the last meet. She was in third place on bars. What a huge improvement! Everything else was in the 9's up from mid 8's at her last meet. She was a little bummed to only medal on bars, and she placed 6 out of 12, but we made a big deal out of the big improvements. I know it's just level one, but her hard work and the new gym paid off. Her form is already looking better after a short time. I guess it's time to move forwards. She is really excited to learn new skills. Still not sure about L3, but feeling better. Hopefully next year will be a little less stressful.

Terrific!!! Was that States?

 

[LJL07]

Yes! So thrilled for her improvement!

 

[happychaos]

Honestly, if your DD has at least an average amount of talent, and her coaches are decent, your DD should be ready for L3 in a year, no problem. There are girls who come straight out of rec and do well at level 3 all within a year.

What I would be worried about is the pressure cooker environment at your gym. Coaches suggesting privates for level 1?!?!?!

 

[LJL07]

Honestly, if your DD has at least an average amount of talent, and her coaches are decent, your DD should be ready for L3 in a year, no problem. There are girls who come straight out of rec and do well at level 3 all within a year.

What I would be worried about is the pressure cooker environment at your gym. Coaches suggesting privates for level 1?!?!?!

Yes, they take level one and two VERY seriously around here. This must be a regional thing. We have one gym in our area with a homeschooling program and I know of only two 7 year olds competing level 3 at state. Both were in the homeschooling program and practice over 30 hours per week. They had an A grouping for level 3 7 year olds, so I'm sure there were a handful, but definitely not the norm. Another good gym in the area had 40 girls try out for their level one team. (Between the ages of 6-9). This does not sound like the norm elsewhere.

At our old gym, the majority of the girls were doing privates for level one and two. And it showed at the meets. The few girls not doing the privates on the old team did not place as well and got no up training experience at all. That's one reason why we switched to the new gym.

At the new gym, I don't see a ton of privates happening at levels one and two. We were relatively new to the gym since February. I think her coach was really working hard to clean up DD's form. She basically had to break the routines down by elements and sort of re-teach DD bc no one at the old gym cared enough or had time to clean up her form (she's kind of form challenged).

I thought DD was a super talent because she was doing back handsprings at 5 years old, but I am realizing she's pretty average for a gymnast. She placed solidly average for level one. The form just isn't there, but this is what she wants to do. They were working elements for the new routines yesterday, and she couldn't do the pirouette turn thingie for level 2 floor to save her life, but she can do round off back handsprings all day. Doesn't make sense to me, but whatever!