MAG When to increase gym hours

[Flip4funmom]

My son, weslan will soon be 5 and has been doing some form of gym since 3. We switched him to a gym instead of rec about 6 months ago. He is technically on pre team but since he's young he only goes once a week. He has expressed interest in competing for a while now and I do know you have to be 6 to compete in boys but 6 by when? His birthday is mid april. How far out do I need to look at upping his gym hours? (I'm kind of wondering mostly so I can have a warning of the increasing cost) we've struggled a bit with the set up of his class but overall we LOVE his coach. I've tried googling to find answers but I'm struggling. May even I'm not using the right terminology.

Thanks in advance

 

[skschlag]

He has to actually be 6 before he competes...so he has a year to go. As for upping hours, take it slowly. For boys, this sport is a long haul. I think at 6, my ds was doing 4 hours up to 6 hours a week. Very rarely did he do the 6 hours. It goes up quickly from there. SOme gyms do more faster than others.

As some say, it is always good to leave them wanting more!

 

[Madden3]

Overall of course I completely agree with PP. Do not rush your child and do not let his own enthusiasm rush him too much. I have seen talented boys rushed with skipping levels and getting lots of privates (more hours training) so they could skip levels, and in the end it can really backfire. They may not have the maturity to handle the longer training hours or competition pressure and the result is behavior problems at practice that become a frustration to the coaches and the other boys, and ultimately they end up either leaving the sport or eventually they stay at the same level for as long as needed for them to do what they have to do, so the push into the sport faster makes no difference or makes things worse.

But, your son's birthday means that once he starts competing, he will always be competing in an age division that is up a year from his actual age for most of the season. So that got me thinking. *I hope someone else will read this next part to make sure I am getting this age thing correct.

The age cut off is May 31 of the competition season. So if (in a fantasy world) your child was allowed to compete next season (2017-18) he would be considered 6. But according to folks here, as pp says, child must be actually 6 before he can compete. So in that case, here is how I would figure it.

Your son turns 5 in April 2017. So, he will be 5 and not be able to compete for most of the 2017-18 season...but he will actually turn 6 before that season is over, possibly- Right? So, could he compete at a meet that happened after he turns 6 (if there was one around that late?) Could he compete at his state meet if he has not competed all season but is 6 by that meet? I do not know, but it might be something to ask coach about. This is assuming this is something you and he want to do, he has the maturity to handle it etc. Again there is no reason he needs to start competing sooner rather than later.

In any case, so then, he turns 6 in April 2018. He WILL be able to compete the 2018-2019 season. And he will be considered a 7 year old for that season's competitions, even though he will be 6 for most of the season.

So then the question would be, given his interest in more hours and early start on preteam, maybe it would make sense for your son to skip Level 4 and compete as a 5 his first year. Also his coach could take into account the new bonus/no bonus divisions in each compulsory level. Maybe he could be a 5 Division 2, which means no bonuses? Or he could compete 4 Division 1 (with bonuses.) In other words, there are many options.

As far as time in the gym and cost, given your son's interest I see no harm in adding another day of a gym class at this age if that is available and see how that goes. Many boys preteam programs the kids go 2 days a week and that is 4 and 5 year olds.

For hours going forward, you will have to talk to your coach about how they do it, but in my experience (at one gym) kids training Level 4 go 2-3 days a week for about a 2 hours practice, and the big jump happens when training Level 5 where they start longer practices (2.5 to 3 hours) for 4-5 days a week. And it increases more incrementally from there. I do not know how costs are done for preteam at your gym, but you will want to ask how much team training tuition is at your gym. It is not usually just multiples of what rec costs, as that would quickly become impossibly expensive. However there is no getting around the fact that gym team is an expensive sport. On top of practice tuition, there are the meet costs/cost of competing and that is handled differently at every gym, and includes many things you may not think of like per diem for coaches and coaches salaries etc. aside the cost of meet registration. And then you have to think about uniform cost, cost to your family for meets for travel, food, hotels possibly, and meet spectator admission.

 

[skschlag]

That is a good post Madden3. Honestly, though, very few have states after mid April. Most states are in March, Regionals mid April. So that will eliminate next season.

I woudl say to sit down and talk to the coach and explain the situation. The coach may want to train him as a 4 next year, with the thought of either competing 4 or 5 the year he is competitive age 7. I think that would make the most sense!!

 

[Flip4funmom]

Thank you so much! Clarification of the age set up makes things so much easier. Is their a website or sometching I can read up on for levels and bonuses and all that you are talking about?

 

[Madden3]

I don't know- I learned almost everything I know about it here. Team's HC also gave us a pretty clear explanation of the changes that are new this season.

There is not really anything more you need to know yet, but I think I can give you some basics. Also there are some changes every 4 years, for example this division thing is new this season.
Here is what I know, anyone please correct me. I am sticking to JO as it is most relevant for OP- also, I know nothing about elite or future stars and cannot seem to explain JD very well.

For MAG in US there are 7 JO competition levels. 4-10. There are various age requirements depending on Level and whether one is an optional or compulsory. This is why the age cut off is a big deal. You have to be old enough to start each level, and with optional levels there is an upper age limit for each level as well.

Levels 4-7 are compulsory levels. This means a base routine for each event is set each season (or is it every 4 years?) and that is what every boy in the country in that level does at every meet.
Each compulsory level is divided into 2 divisions. Division 1 gymnasts can compete with any number of the officially allowed bonuses (at coach's discretion) and Division 2 gymnasts compete with no bonuses.

Level 8-10 are optional levels. At these levels each gymnast creates his routines within guidelines.

 

[skschlag]

Routines for compulsary are set every 4 years, although minor tweaks have occurred in the past.

This will all become clear as mud once he gets to team, and starts competing. But keep asking questions it will help your sanity as he gets older

 

[SPX]

So at our gym the preteam does 6 hours over 3 days per week. Level 4 does 12 hours over 4 days per week.

This year both groups added 2 hours per week with a trainer specifically focused joint strength (stability) and conditioning for injury prevention. This happens for all levels both girls and boys and is part of the hours above.

As others have said, longevity is the thing in this sport.

 

[sce]

Thank you so much! Clarification of the age set up makes things so much easier. Is their a website or sometching I can read up on for levels and bonuses and all that you are talking about?

It's probably way more information than you are ready for though: http://www.ncbga.com/doc/2016-2020jo-complete20170104.pdf

He is young, so don't rush. Don't want to burn him out when he may really love the sport a long time. Also, remember that he will start kindergarten (I assume this fall) and that will be a big adjustment, so consider that when you are thinking about his activities and hours. Considering his young age, talk to the coaches about their plan, how they will pace things since he has so long before he's old enough to compete.

 

[rosiekat]

So at our gym the preteam does 6 hours over 3 days per week. Level 4 does 12 hours over 4 days per week.

And this is also the part where you begin to see that what happens at one gym isn't what happens at another. At our gym, preteam is 2 hours per week, L4 is 4 hours, and L5 is still just 6. Our state competition for L4 and L5 is in late April. Sometimes the more answers I get to my questions, the more confused I get!

To answer your original question, my son never did a formal preteam class as it didn't exist at the time, but he went to 2 gymnastics classes and 1 tumbling class (so 3 hours total) before he joined team. He went that much just because he loved it, we weren't even thinking of team. The best tip I've gotten so far is to leave him always wanting more time in the gym. He's now been a gymnast (in general, not just team) for about 4 years, and still has never once complained about having gym. He'll complain about other stuff till the cows come home, but not this.

If he's really loving it, and the coaching staff is OK with it (since he's preteam, not just rec), I think you'd be fine adding in a little more. My DS really enjoyed having a structured tumbling class in addition to the regular gym stuff, so that could be something to consider.

 

[M2Abi]

My son is 5 and does developmental team for 2 hours a week. Next year he will do 3 hours a week for pre-team, and the following year 6 hours a week for Level 4. He will be old enough to compete next year, but I think it will be better for him to wait an additional year before he competes for maturity reasons.

 

[profmom]

I love telling this story.

Once upon a time, my guy was a little L4. We went to our first big travel meet for him, which required a hotel stay. That morning at breakfast, we got to chatting with some parents from another gym with a name similar to ours but in a different state. We compared notes about practice hours and were mortified to learn that their guys were doing 18 hours a week during the school year and 20-22 in the summer! At the time, we were plunking along at 5 a week. Not surprisingly, their boys were breathtaking out there -- while ours were stretching and doing ugly bridges for warmups, theirs did standing back tucks; our guys were swinging just above horizontal on pbars and theirs went to handstand with every swing; our guys flopped and fell all over the mushroom while theirs did five and a half perfect circles. Chagrined, we drove on back home and wondered if it was hopeless.

Fast forward two years. Our guys' team won that meet and owned the podium. Theirs were winning some medals here and there but couldn't keep up.

Fast forward again to now. Those cute little tiny boys who started out doing 5 hours a week and struggling to remember their routines at meets are now almost all still doing gymnastics, competing L9 and JD. The other team? Well, they folded. Not a one of them is still in the sport.

 

[rosiekat]

We compared notes about practice hours and were mortified to learn that their guys were doing 18 hours a week during the school year and 20-22 in the summer!

Not to judge or anything, but that's freakin' insane! No wonder those kids dropped out, if they were doing that much at (guessing) around 7 years old! No time to be a kid, or to try anything else, or heck, even sleep! We're admittedly on the low end, but there's no way I'd let my kid do that much at that age!