Parents 8 Year Olds- Height/Weight/Level

[Luvmygymnasts]

DD turned 8 in Aug.
48"
46lbs.
Level 3

DD turned 11 in Jan.
53"
61lbs.
Level 4

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

Domalley, your DD is tall. Lol

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Was wondering if there is a correlation between height/weight/level- specifically for 8 year olds- was hoping everyone would participate-here's mine:

8- just turned 8
53 lbs
45inches

Level- xp/6

wonder if height at this age might correlate to level proficiency/ability

no. there will be no correlation.

 

[ascarter1]

10 1/2 yr old DD
Level 6
55 inches tall (4ft 7 in)
65 lbs (soaking wet on a good day)!

 

[Dka]

My dd walked into a gym just after her 7 th birthday, went right to preterm.
Did old level 4 at 8( which seemed to be the largest age group- now it seems older) she was about 4'2. Four year later she just turned 12 is is doing her second year level (8) too many fractures in one year to imagine, since February. She is 4'9 and 82 lbs!

 

[purpleleomom]

Almost 9 yo DD - 51", 54 lbs, L2. She's short for her class at school, but about average at gym.

 

[2gymmies]

My just turned 10 year old is 48 inches and she says 50 pounds, but I've never seen it actually break 50 on the scale. She is level 7 thanks to being too small to get her yurchenko consistently. She has to vault on 125 so all you math whizzes know that the table is taller than her! Can you imagine the "big girls" vaulting on a table that is as tall as them? I don't think so, lol! If anything I think being too small is more of a detriment than a help. Her pak is more difficult because of being small and front giants are extremely hard to hold onto, in addition to the height of the vault table and the length of the table and springboard. If you are considering the idea that smaller is better, I would say, not necessarily!

 

[emorymom]

DD is at the 97th %ile for height and is far from shiny. I believe there is subtle prejudice against her height in promotion and opportunity and had she been average to short, she might have (albeit with trepidation due to her lack of shiny) been tolerated in programs that offered more hours and more consistent training. However I doubt she would be much more than a level higher.

DS is 90th percentile for height and basically in-age.

It is, just obviously, harder to learn and maintain certain skills when you are growing steadily at 3-4 inches a year vs 1-2.

I have also heard (not about my daughter) "I just can't have her in my group because my back can't handle more than XX pounds."

Coaches, consider the next generation and the convenience of having a female coach around who's 5'10" or a male coach who's 6'3". Nurture those tallies!

 

[twocurlygirlz]

I was thinking that the smaller they are at a younger age makes it harder to get those bigger skills on vault and bars- seems like the taller girls do much better at younger age- and the smaller ones (with some exceptions) catch up and then sometimes pass.

 

[gymmomx2]

I wonder if there is an optimum height/weight for learning those "big" skills (say level 8)? Do coaches have a different progression plan for those teeny gymmies?

 

[profmom]

Not in DD's or DS's programs. It's all about who can do, regardless of size or age. And it's different by event, too -- DS, for instance, is working much more advanced stuff on the swinging events than on floor and vault, because that's what he can (and can't) do. I don't expect either of my offspring to get good at vault until they have a little more meat on their bones, but the progressions will be the same -- they will just move through them more slowly.

 

[Ex member]

My dd turned 8 in October. She is 116cm tall (45 1/2 inches), 2 Stone 5lb in weight ( 33lbs)

Level unknown at the moment but she is probably that equivalent of USA level 3 training level 4 going by skills.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

blimey you lot have small children. Mine is shortest in her class, just turned 11, middle of her friends in gym and she is 143cm ( 56 1/4 inches)

 

[Noideaaboutgym]

I have a tall one,
age 8
140cm
70lbs (but no fat on her just shoulders and quads!)
UK grade 5, prob 3 US due to upstart/kip

 

[Quadqueen]

My just turned 10 year old is 48 inches and she says 50 pounds, but I've never seen it actually break 50 on the scale. She is level 7 thanks to being too small to get her yurchenko consistently. She has to vault on 125 so all you math whizzes know that the table is taller than her! Can you imagine the "big girls" vaulting on a table that is as tall as them? I don't think so, lol! If anything I think being too small is more of a detriment than a help. Her pak is more difficult because of being small and front giants are extremely hard to hold onto, in addition to the height of the vault table and the length of the table and springboard. If you are considering the idea that smaller is better, I would say, not necessarily!

You make good points about being small, but there are loads of reasons why it's hard for the taller/heavier kids to have success as well! You can assume my DD, who is only one year older than your DD and 110 lbs, is not more than twice as strong . Imagine how much harder it is to get that much bigger body around the bars on those tougher optional level skills!

 

[profmom]

Just went back and checked and yes, I did remember correctly -- at last weekend's meet, our top L8 on vault was the tallest girl on the L8 team, the second highest score was the heaviest girl on the team, and the third highest was the smallest and lightest girl.* My child, who at 13 is all arms and legs and occasionally flirts with the 70 lb. mark, was near the bottom.

I think optional gymnastics is just plain hard!

*However, cross referencing to the vault thread on the MAG board, she is also an endomorph -- small but compact and very muscular. She runs like a tight end or a running back.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD was an old L5 at age 8. Less than 38" tall, and 50+ pounds. She really struggled on bars and vault the year prior and was too small for grips until finishing old L6. Still wears size 0s and will never reach a full size violin! Shortest kid OVERALL at state for each level until her second year at L7 when she had started puberty - and was taller than 2-3 girls overall. Just learned to vault on a setting of 3 this fall (competed at 1 through L7) so now finally ready to get her flipping vaults onto the table this next 9 months. Always powerful on floor and tight and graceful on beam. Strong on bars, but doesn't swing as well as the longer, leaner girls.

At her gym she's the smallest optional (out of maybe 25-30 kids L6+, all except 3 of them her age or older). This is despite growing well over 20% of her height in the last 2 years (she's about 4'8" now). I think she'll maybe hit 4'10" before she stops. She's recently back from about 4 months of down time, and is trying to get her strength back - the next year of so we shall see if her size helps, and I do think she's at the bottom of the height range that seems optimal for gym - but really, for her, I suspect what will matter is her attitude and desire - that's what took her out of gym for 4 months, and what brought her back...dealing with lots of difficulties this last year, and finding out how much she missed gym and wanted to try to push through.

So....within reason, I would say that there are times its good to be smaller, and times/events where its not. There definitely are a couple of "hot shots" at the gym who seem to be short but not tiny, strong but not heavy, and later bloomers - physically this seems helpful with the L8 and up skills, but even so, they have their struggles too! And one of our gymnasts really struggled for a 3 years to get out of L7 due to fear and vestibular issues, then this year is doing great at L8 - after she finally finished growing. And she's 5' 6" now! Looks amazing on bars!

 

[flipflopsalto]

Dd 8
Just went to doctor
L2 (2nd year has all kinds of skills but had no technique) wouldn't have believed it last year but now she makes a beautiful gymnast (after a gym change)

50"
51 lbs

Tends to score better on vault and bars because she still has trouble controlling her long limbs

 

[Lisbeth]

DD 9
Level 7
57 lbs
50 inches