jessimee
Proud Parent
I am very new to the gymnastics world so I'm looking for help understanding some of this. I have two girls, 7 and 9, who have been in the rec program at our gym. My first question is about the 9 year old. She is currently doing two level 2 classes per week and is super-focused, super committed and really wants to go to the JO team when she moves up. She seems to have a lot of skills that I don't see the other girls in her class having, esp. tumbling--she can do back handsprings, back flips, and when I see her doing her skills they look very tight and good (I can compare to my 7 year old who has brute strength, but doesn't have her skills down as nicely). But I was told, without anyone even evaluating her (except her "coach" who is a high school student), that she cannot join the JO team simply because she's too old. This tells me that the gym is more concerned about making high scores at meets and their reputation, than the goals of their athletes. And why would her age even matter? If she could score high in level 3 with good coaching (she's learned all she has with pretty poor coaching in the rec classes), why is her age an issue? Is this how it is everywhere? And why do high school "coaches" without much training in coaching elite athletes get to decide her future path in gymnastics?