WAG What level transition seems to have the biggest drop-off in gymnasts and why?

[CuriousCate]

Still new to this gym thing. My ODD is level 3, age 6 1/2 and has about 26-28 gymnasts her level at the gym. This number is pretty consistent from her level 2 group (most moved up, a few didn't but a few new girls poppoed on). I noticed that the gym level 4 has 18 girls, and level 5 has 12 girls. I don't know beyond that because they run on a different practice schedule so I don't have that list.

I'm wondering between which levels do most gyms have the biggest fall off of athletes and the possible reasons why. Do you think it is primarily that the girls plateau and physically don't have the talent to move on, or do most decide this just isn't there thing, etc?

Just curious! TIA!

 

[3rd_time_around]

From my years in the sport, I believe the biggest en masse is between 4 & 5 (old 5 & 6). The BWO on beam and the flyaway on bars are major factors. I've always said level 5 was the make it or break it level. It's consistently when the most girls drop out.

 

[GymDad9.9]

From my years in the sport, I believe the biggest en masse is between 4 & 5 (old 5 & 6). The BWO on beam and the flyaway on bars are major factors. I've always said level 5 was the make it or break it level. It's consistently when the most girls drop out.

I haven't gotten that far as of yet in our journey but I do notice that the girls in the next level up from my daughter, Level 4, I am seeing girls have considerably increased difficulty with the skills as compared with Level 3, which seems to confirm your theory as I can see these Level 4 girls moving on to the next level (Level 6 in our gym as we do not compete Level 5), only to find them having even greater skill difficulty. I get the sense when that happens there is a wholesale assessment of whether the increased hours and corresponding increased costs are worth it.

 

[gymmom39]

I noticed the biggest drop off either out of gymnastics or to a lesser intense program like (IGC) around the transition from 4 to 5/6 and 7. I haven't seen it yet with my daughter but have heard of larger drops outs from 8 to 9 and 9 to 10. Those groups are the smallest in out gym vs the compulsory levels. As another person mentioned, driver out was movement to series on balance beam with mental blocks there.

 

[IreneKa]

From my years in the sport, I believe the biggest en masse is between 4 & 5 (old 5 & 6). The BWO on beam and the flyaway on bars are major factors. I've always said level 5 was the make it or break it level. It's consistently when the most girls drop out.

That's my experience as well. We had a big group of girls who stayed together from level 2 to 4. Then only about half of them moved to 5. Some quit, some switched to Xcel.

 

[Sasha]

I would say after Level 4 is when they start to drop in significant numbers. Level 5 bars and beam is the first real killer in terms of skills - clear hips take a long time to master, and the high casts with legs together does not come easily for many, especially as it has to be connected from a kip. The beam full turn and back walkover are sneakily difficult for quite a few as well. But overall I'd say L5 bars is the first mountain many gymnasts ultimately give up on, many of whom were often on the podium at L3 and L4, but don't have such an easy time with mastering L5 skills and are discouraged enough to quit.

I'm sure in the higher levels there is even more drop out for injuries, burnout, and puberty-related issues, but Level 5 is the first 'cliff' so to speak in terms of numbers dropping that I've seen.

 

[profmom]

The big plateaus that I've seen girls not manage to pass are the following:

• backwards beam woes barring advancement to L5/L6
• difficulty with giants barring advancement beyond L6-L8 depending on gym rules
• inability to master optional vault barring advancement beyond L7
• various weaknesses on bars blocking transition from L8 to L9
• getting a suitable acro series for L10 beam

For the boys, I don't think it's as much related to struggles on one particular event at a particular level, but some things that frustrate them are:

• transitioning from mushroom to pommel-less horse
• transitioning to baseline competence on horse with pommels
• fear issues on pbars once they start doing things like moys, moys to support, and giants that require letting go
• blind changes/more advanced turning skills on high bar
• being patient and waiting for adequate strength to do things on rings, starting with the muscle up in compulsories but going all the way through iron crosses
• transitioning to optional vault, as with the girls

With both boys and girls, many will go through a period beginning just before puberty where their muscle building isn't quite keeping pace with their growth and their growth is throwing off their spatial awareness and possibly causing vestibular issues and nagging pains and injuries. This isn't related to particular levels so much because there's no general rule about what level any given kid will be at when puberty is about to start (ranging from maybe a low of around 8-9 years old to a high of 15 or even a bit older). What happens here is that they get skills and lose skills and can feel like for every step forward, they are taking two steps back. A wise coach and parent will counsel patience and persistence through this and hopefully the athlete will hang in.

 

[Gymmommy71]

I think you see a lot of drops between 4 and 5 related to that the kid is just not that into it anymore (or never really was), wants to do other things, its just not the sport for them, etc. You'll have this stuff in level 2-3 as well, but many parents will just manage multiple activities for a while because conflicts aren't as big of an issue cause hours a lower.

I also think you see a lot of drops around 7 or 8 where the gymnasts body just isn't cooperating any more and they physically can't do the sport w/o a significant struggle compared to their peers - and it's just not worth it to stay in if they are always hurting and still have a lot of skills to get. Desire for a social life or involvement in school sports comes into play at these levels as well as these are popular middle school levels.

I think you also see drops right before or at level 9 due to frustration w/ new skill acquisition and fear, loss of skills previously mastered, and boredom combined and the realization that a future in the sport past HS is unlikely. Body giving out due to overuse happens here as well.

Usually once at 10, I think most stay in until they finish HS.

 

[gymdog]

The last stats for the country as a whole that I've seen for this are pre-Xcel and level 6. Based on the state data I've seen, the main difference is going to be there are less level 3s overall so the sheer number/percentage drops are less than they were. In the past those athletes might have been going to different state prep op programs, AAU, or something, so it's hard to tell. I would like the see the national stats for 2014-2016.

The biggest drops in terms of sheer number occur between level 3 and 4 and 4 and 5 where it first decreases by about a third and then by about half. My guess is now to make sense of the numbers you would have to combine level 5 and 6 numbers. Level 6 probably has more than level 5 based on state trends. But it goes down each year and there another drop of close to 50% between level 9 and 10. Which is hard to interpret because some people continue doing gymnastics until they graduate but at level 8 or 9, it doesn't necessarily mean they all quit.

 

[profmom]

Gymdog, that's a good point about people who stick with the sport until graduation but don't end up reaching L10. That's not the norm at our gym, but it's not unheard of either.

 

[ascarter1]

Every year you progress, the numbers generally drop. I would say that you will see a drop from lv 4/5 to lv 6. We have also seen a drop from lv 6 to lv 7. When dd started in old lv 3, there were 12 girls on her team. My dd is now training lv 8 and there is now just 1 original member left.

 

[Gymmamabear]

Beyond level I am also going to say age plays a factor. It seems that around 12- 13 a lot of girls suddenly get fearful - be it level 5 or level 8 (whoever level they are in). Then once they hit puberty and get bigger (often around this age) it becomes much harder to get some skills and they drop out for one reason for another. Again, regardless of level around this age. Don't forget the attitude and wanted social life around this time too.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

At our gym, there are two places that see a significant change. We usually have a large Level 3 team (big for us, we are a small gym, maybe 15?). After the season is over, a group of those girls/families quit having decided that: they really didn't enjoy competing as much as they thought/ they don't want to commit more time to gymnastics by increasing hours to move up to the next level/ parents had an eye opening revelation to how expensive this sport really is. A few might decide to stay and do xcel.

For those that survive, really the next biggest drop off we see is what I call the "Level 8 curse" Girls advancing to level 4 then 5 and 7 are just fine. Then level 8 hits and they are usually getting older jr/high school age. Fear issues( especially the flipped vault), growth spurts, injuries and social events become reality. When my dd's season ended in 2015, she had a level 8 team of five girls. Four of them quit, leaving her the only level 8 at the gym left to moving on to level 9. She competed 9 last year (only level 9 at her gym). Two of those girls came back to our gym after a year off, but they are doing xcel. This year, she is planning to compete 10, and there are maybe 3 girls who will compete level 8. The rest are new level 6's and 7's in her training group.

 

[Aussie_coach]

In my experience the biggest drop off isn't level based, it is age based.

8th grade seems to be a tricky time, girls bodies are changing significantly and many hit a plateau or go backwards as their have to readjust how they do things now that they are having fast increases in height and changes in body shape. At this age fear can often come into play as kids start to be able to think more and more in the abstract and imagine things going wrong that they never even considered before.

But it is also an age where kids get more freedom and gymnastics can interfere with their social lives. For younger ones, coming to gym is the social life, this is where they see their friends and if they weren't at gym they would usually be at home, but as young teens they might be at the mall with friends instead. There are also boyfriends and part time jobs.

 

[skschlag]

For the boys, I don't think it's as much related to struggles on one particular event at a particular level, but some things that frustrate them are:

• transitioning from mushroom to pommel-less horse
• transitioning to baseline competence on horse with pommels
• fear issues on pbars once they start doing things like moys, moys to support, and giants that require letting go
• blind changes/more advanced turning skills on high bar
• being patient and waiting for adequate strength to do things on rings, starting with the muscle up in compulsories but going all the way through iron crosses
• transitioning to optional vault, as with the girls

With both boys and girls, many will go through a period beginning just before puberty where their muscle building isn't quite keeping pace with their growth and their growth is throwing off their spatial awareness and possibly causing vestibular issues and nagging pains and injuries. This isn't related to particular levels so much because there's no general rule about what level any given kid will be at when puberty is about to start (ranging from maybe a low of around 8-9 years old to a high of 15 or even a bit older). What happens here is that they get skills and lose skills and can feel like for every step forward, they are taking two steps back. A wise coach and parent will counsel patience and persistence through this and hopefully the athlete will hang in.

I think for boys, the biggest dropoff is when they start to notice girls....

 

[Deleted member 18037]

So many things.

The reality is a lot of kids can do handstands, cartwheels, BWOs and beginning bars and beam.
And a lot of those kids can do a kip and squat on, cartwheel beam and ROBHS.
Not as many can do tucks, BWO on beam, and flyaways
And so it goes. Just because you can do the lower levels doesn't mean you can do the higher level stuff.

Add in increased hours, puberty, middle school and other sport options, teens wanting a social life. Then fears and injuries....................so it goes.

Our L3 was about 15 girls, down to 12 for L4, down to 8 for L5/6. I think we will be down to 5 or 6 for L7 when/if we get there. Don't see more then 4 going higher.

 

[Sasha]

I think for boys, the biggest dropoff is when they start to notice girls....

I would think that would keep them IN the gym, though, lol

(at least the co-ed gyms!)

 

[skschlag]

I would think that would keep them IN the gym, though, lol

(at least the co-ed gyms!)

Unfortunately no. The girls and cars will get many out. Mainly because while they are there...they can't really date. I have seen many leave...and while that is not the reason they give, it sure seems to fit. Our old coach used to say.....gotta keep them in thru the girls and cars..

 

[gymmutti]

When kids move from elementary to middle school and middle to high school (irregardless of level) is another factor that causes kids to quit. I've seen it time and again.

 

[Sasha]

gotta keep them in thru the girls and cars..

I'm not sure the "girls and cars" phase ever really ends, lol..