Parents What Age Should This Get More Serious?

[SupportingHerDreams]

My daughter turns 5 in about 2 weeks. She has been at the same gym since "mommy & me" at 2 years old. Her coaches have always said they see potential in her. She loves it and it seems to come fairly naturally to her. I am so confused about the levels and ages and competing. Could you all kind of clarify this for me a little. I'm not wanting to push her too early but also not wanting to just sit back and let her fall behind. Thank you!

 

[3cats]

My daughter did a mommy and me and rec classes to age 5. She was at a no pressure rec only gym that we loved and still keep in contact with the owner. The summer before kindergarten she had more skills than they offered. So we moved to the gym my daughter is at now. They immediately put her in level 1 for her kg year. Level 1 practiced 2 days a week for an hour and a half. She then skipped level 2 and was in level 3 for 1st grade. My daughter's gym has pretty low hours for their pre team and levels 3 and 4. So I only worried about it being too much every now and then. Let's face it, as a mom I've worried about each step being too much...

Many of her teammates didn't start level 3 until 3rd or 4th grade. It was more based on when they were ready skill wise and had the interest of doing so.

So if I were you I'd would base it on her interest level, her skills, if she is looking bored, and if there is a class that offers her appropriate skills with a similar age group.

At her age, and really any age, it should be all about fun for as long as possible. Eventually the gymnasts have to have days where they put in more work than the fun they get out of it. But if your daughter wants to stay in long term she needs to find her passion in it before anything else.

And always feel free to ask the coaches what they mean by potential, what the next steps are, what the options (rec, Xcel, JO) are at her gym, etc. If you feel push back from the coaches just for asking those questions it should be a red flag.

 

[gymgal]

My daughter turns 5 in about 2 weeks. She has been at the same gym since "mommy & me" at 2 years old. Her coaches have always said they see potential in her. She loves it and it seems to come fairly naturally to her. I am so confused about the levels and ages and competing. Could you all kind of clarify this for me a little. I'm not wanting to push her too early but also not wanting to just sit back and let her fall behind. Thank you!

I would recommend talking with your dd's coach about it as a first step. There are many different aspects of competitive gymnastics (in house teams, AAU, xcel, JO, etc) and each gym has their own path, some competing from L1 while others wait until L4 and consider the lower levels as preteam, so it would be good to get a sense of what your gym does both at the entry level and the high levels. Most gyms *start looking at girls for preteam/team around 4-5yrs old, but it depends on how your gym's competitive program is set up. You will want to make sure you the coach knows that your dd is interested in the competitive aspect now though.

 

[John]

My DD didn't start gymnastics till 5.5. I think at 5 the only thing you need to worry about is her having fun doing what she likes. It seems that if the long term goal is what you are after then a fun pre-team atmosphere is what you need. In this situation your DD would learn proper shapes and begin to gain the strength and form it would take to be a successful gymnast. With that said gymnastics is a marathon and just starting out it is so hard to wrap your head around what it takes for an athlete to make it to optional gymnastics and beyond. Do yourself and your daughter a huge favor and just find a solid pre-team program with no pressure, there is a life time of pressure ahead of both of you should your daughter decide gymnastics is her thing.

Best of Luck to you and your family.

 

[mls529]

I agree with gymgal -- the best thing to do is talk to the coaches and ask what the typical path towards the competitive team is at your gym. Your DD is not too young to ask that question. When my DD was 5, it was becoming clear that she loved gymnastics and perhaps could have some talent for it.
While my DD is not at a gym where there is a "too old" for team, there are many gyms with the philosophy to start girls fairly young on team. A girl can be as young as 6 to compete level 3, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of 10+ year olds also competing level 3. So ask now, but know she is not "behind" at all either!

 

[Vondell30]

We went from rec classes to pre-team at 5.....from 1:15 to 9 hours a week....She adjusted and loved it.....competed level three at 6 and now level 4 at seven.....she has a Jan birthday....so half is at 7 and the other half will be a newbie 8.....