Parents does your gymnast have outside activities?

[dani4]

I'm curious how many team gymnasts have activities & interests outside of gym.. and what they do and how much time they spend doing it. I get that gymnastics is a big commitment and if you're on team that has to be a priority, but I'm wondering if these kids get to play soccer, take tennis lessons, learn an instrument, go skiing, etc. My kids are still little and I'm wondering what it will look like in a few years- I don't think my older daughter is going to compete but I also don't want to rule it out. And DD2 is definitely going to be a competitive *something*- now is my chance to have some control over it.. before she gets completely sucked in!

So, informal poll: what does your competitive gymnast do outside of gymnastics? And it would of course help to know what level they are in gym.. because I imagine a level 4 gymnast has more time than an optional-level gymnast. Did they ever have to give up an activity they liked because of gymnastics?

 

[GymMom67]

My DD is a Level 3. She is my kid who wants to do EVERYTHING. She is on safety patrol at school, which means she has to be there 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes late. I have to pick her up and head straight to the gym and she changes clothes there. She also just signed up for Ecobots in school, and she's in the honor choir. I won't let her play another sport, just because it just isn't feasible. There is a good chance she is about to get moved up (we find out next week). If that happens, she'll be at the gym more hours, but it will actually make all this other stuff a little easier because she'll have an extra hour before she has to be at the gym.

 

[2G1B]

On a regular basis:
DD1 -(Just finished level 2 year, moving up to level 3) 1 dance class per week. 1 art class per week. Wants to try out for year round swim team. I haven't decided if *I* can handle it.
DD2 - (Just finished level 3 year and moved to level 4) 2 dance classes per week. 1 art class per week. Chorus once per week.
DS - (Level 5, competitions are about to start) Used to take guitar lessons and wants to get back to that. We need to find a new instructor.
At least for a week each year:
They all go skiing out West. Normally for about 10 days per year. DD1 is a solid blue sloper and can do some "easy" blacks. DD2 is a solid; but cautious black slope skier. DS is a solid black slope and reliable on a double black, though sometimes his confidence outweighs his abilities (soooo different than his approach to gymnastics, where he is extremely cautious). I do know that if we lived somewhere that ski team were a possibility that DS would drop gymnastics for ski team in a heart beat. DDs would probably stick to recreational skiing and team gymnastics.

DS and DD2 both gave up swim team (year round) because they felt it was too much with gymnastics too. But they didn't love it. They said they were always too cold. DD1 and DD2 had to drop dance last year because the schedules didn't work and they had to pick gymnastics or dance. Gymnastics won. They were happy to go back to dance this year though.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Not anymore. Last year when she was in TOPs (which our gym uses as a kind if pre-team) she did dance and taekwondo. She had to quit both other activities because of time and cost.
She does do choir in school but misses some performances because of gym. She's 9yo, a L4 and is at the gym 15hrs/wk.
She was my kid that tried tons of stuff and didn't stick with anything... Until gymnastics. she would like to still do both her other activities if possible but it wasn't and she made the choice herself.

 

[cbifoja]

DD used to play soccer but gave it up once she hit optionals. She could return to it if this gymnastics gig doesn't work out as she's a pretty scrappy goalie for someone so small.

She had also given up school chorus (voice like a cat in heat), archery (too much standing around), and recently riding lessons. She does still have her personal mount but she is boarded over an hour away and five nights at the gym makes it difficult to get any real saddle time.

Outside play time with neighborhood friends happens infrequently now. most have stopped coming over to ask since she always "has gym". Most playtime now involves sleepovers with other gymnasts.

 

[Clover]

Like all gymmies my DD likes to be active. When DD was first starting competitive gym she did just about every other activity she could (although not all at once). There was swimming, diving, softball, track, basketball, dance, soccer. You get the picture. She loved it all (well, except for ballet - too slow for her she said). However, there did come a time when she had to choose. We just couldn't fit it all in anymore. I hope that exposing her to so many other sports early and the fact that she chose gym will allow her to have less regrets later.

 

[lhmom]

When DD was in compulsories, she played soccer and basketball. She has also been in the chess club, took a cooking class after school and took part in running 3 miles of a marathon with other classmates. This year is the first year she's been at gym five days a week so no after school stuff. Also, during the summer, she does some other sports camps for fun (something different from gym). I am glad that she has gotten a chance to do other activities, just because this sport has now become all-consuming!

 

[ac7179]

Does anyone else have a kid that needs a lot of time at home?

My 9 year old Level 3 had to do a gym switch bc the hours were just too much for her. She's now repeating three so we could cut back on hours and only going 2 nights a week. I know it's not much compared to other kids but even now she will get overwhelmed and l will have to pull her early occasionally or there are a lot of tears when it's time to get up in the morning. She goes to an academically rigorous school, so lots of homework, but we manage to get most of that done on the weekend!

 

[seoulmama]

I think it depends on the kids and the gym-not necessarily the level of gymnastics that they are at. My dd is 10 and a level 5-she is at the gym 5 days a week. 2 years ago, when she went to 4 days a week she quit dance. She needed to have that extra day at home. She doesn't like to be overscheduled and rushed. Some of her former team mates are now in the Excell program because they wanted to continue other interests.

 

[IreneKa]

DD tried a lot of different activities before deciding to concentrate on gymnastics - ballroom dance, hip hop, taekwondo, soccer. Then when she was accepted onto the competitive team, she quit everything else. She is only level 2 now, practicing 8 hours a week, but I know it's going to get worse, so what's the point of starting something now, if she is just going to have to quit it later.
They do have chorus and band at school, that practices during school hours, I hope she'll be able to join next year. We also go skiing every year for winter vacations, so she does get to ski.

 

[Quadqueen]

My DD is 10 and L7. She tried lots of activities when she was younger. These days, she is at the gym 19 hours a week, and also still does Girl Scouts (not a big time commitment) and plays an instrument. She is in two school bands, which practice for an hour each before/after school. She used to dance do school chorus, and has asked to do other things, but there's just not a lot of time anymore.

She is one of those kids who is not good with "down time," unlike my son, who likes having absolutely nothing to do!

 

[wnl256]

Our 10-year-old level 7 is in the gym 16 hours a week (4 x 4). She tried several different things before gymnastics, but none of them clicked like this sport. She was taking piano the summer before starting on pre-team. We would like to put her back in to something musical: piano or voice. We tried a local studio for voice but didn't like the instructor. Realistically, between gym and all the math homework the school piles on to her, there isn't time for anything else during the week. She is very outgoing and still has lots of non-gym friends and a few former teammates who have left the sport.

 

[Granny Smith]

When dd was young (and on team), she tried everything she wanted to. She did dance, girl scouts, horseback riding and soccer. Most of those activities tapered off, but she continued doing competitive soccer through L7 (it helped that her father was the soccer coach and could make practice on days that worked with the gym schedule). Once she was finished competing L7, her gymnastics coach made her chose between soccer and gymnastics. It really wasn't a choice... From L8 and on, she is currently L10, she has only done gym.

 

[mommyof1]

My pre-teamer (5 hours/week) does Girl Scouts, ballet, and piano. She has some type of activity going on a minimum of 5 days per week, plus daily piano practice at home. She is one of those kids who is happy when she's constantly on the go, as long as she gets a few minutes of downtime at the end of each day and at least half a day at home on the weekend. From a parental perspective, we are completely maxed out time-wise and are lucky that her teacher this year gives relatively little homework. On the other hand, if she didn't have to attend an after-school program because I work, she would have two or three hours of free time every afternoon even with all of her activities.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

My DD does after school choir and will probably continue with that through high school. She has never really wanted to do any other sport. She tried soccer in 3rd grade but didn't like it...in fact she was doing cartwheels during a game so that was a good indicator that she was not into it at all! She did cheer for the first 2 years of middle school but didn't want to this year. She says she would like to do High School Cheer but we'll see.

 

[Becauseisaid]

Like most of the responses, DD(9) is mostly in the gym. She practices 16.5 hrs per week (L3) though Saturday is optional and I've told her she does not have to go.

Summer is generally the only time she/we have time to add a sport to her activity list. This past summer she did a hip-hop class. Summer prior she did baseball. Your guess is as good as mine for next summer.

DD has elite choir as her only other weekday activity though she is also active in our church. My child has also never met a stranger and has a LOT of friends in and out of the gym. It's getting harder, but we try to do slumber parties so she can stay connected.

 

[Dka]

My dd started competing in September of 2010 at level 4. At that time she played travel soccer and basketball as well. She continued playing those sports until last year. She stopped playing basketball in 2011 and then stopped playing soccer in Dec of 2012. She made those decisions. Now she only does gymnastics and is competing level 8. I think they should play as many sports as possible until they are ready to make the decision as to what they like best. I think her early experienced helped her. She was a low scoring (32-34,35) level 4 and 5... and during her level 6 season she decided she only wanted to focus on gymnastics and has really improved!!!

 

[Oldgymmom]

I wish! School, gym, homework and dinner (repeat daily). Where do you find the time????

 

[thefellowsmom]

Mine has always wanted all gym all the time. We tried lots of different sports when she was younger and she would say "that was fun, when can i go back to gym". She really doesn't want to do anything else and at 9 yo and in the gym about 18 hours a week and with schoolwork she is just happy to have some downtime.

She has friends from school that she sees and we have a large group of very close friends where the kids are all like cousins (and of course the girls from the gym) and we do everything we can to help her explore things that are interesting or intriguing to her. She loves music and singing and is learning slowly how to play the piano and guitar, no time for lessons but I play and am teaching her when she asks for it. We are also looking into private singing lessons and she has done a few musical theater camps during school breaks. She writes her own music and loves to play Pokemon with her brother and watch tv.

On her off days she spends quite a bit of time stretching and working on kicks and her turnout these days as she knows her leaps and jumps need to improve a lot.

In the summer she swims every week day. She does the race classes at our local swim club with the team but has no desire to race. She just says she likes the additional morning workout in the summer.

Admittedly though, she is pretty hard core about the gym and most everything she does is framed in how it affects gym. This is all her, nobody is pushing that. She is a force.

 

[Flossyduck]

My dd is one of those girls who throws herself at everything. She's roughly level 7 and trains 20 hours a week, but luckily (?) training starts quite late so she can do the clubs they have at school - rounders, cooking club, film club. She can also represent the school when they take part in one off local sports competitions like cross country and tag rugby as they are usually straight from school and finish at about 4.30, which gives us time to get to gym.

I'm conscious that she has one evening a week plus one day at the weekend without activities and quite a lot of that time is spent doing homework, but the school clubs are precious time she gets to spend with school friends and broaden her horizons and be a part of the school 'team' too so it's a constant balancing act.

Thankfully she hasn't a musical note in her body so I have no problem refusing her requests to learn an instrument!