Extra Practice time

[serenity's Momma]

I am trying to figure out a way for my daughter to get extra practice this summer. She currently practices 2 day s a week. On Friday for 2 hours and Monday for an hour. She has the option of going to Open Gym every Friday which is an extra 3 hours of practice and fun mixed into one. currently though our gym doesn't offer day time classes for the lower levels during the summer. We can pay for camp for her to go but she doesn't seem to get much out of the camp situations because they tend to just work on the current level skills and not the ones she is needing. My beautiful little girl is currently a level 2 with hopes of moving to level 4. We need some serious bar work. She already has most of her level 4 skills on floor, vault, and beam. How many kids do you know who could do a level 4 beam dismount at level 1? But her bars skills are horrendous. She sometimes has her pull over, rarely has her back hip circle, can barely make it over the bar in her mill circle, but she has the dismounts fr level 2 and 3 down pat. I was wondering what would be the best thing for me to do for her so she can advance and not be stuck at level 2 again next year with all of these other skills so strong?

 

[emorymom]

Privates. Esp. as she is very uneven.

 

[serenity's Momma]

I was planning on a few privates closer to the time they evaluate. She does not like the one on one attention. Very shy child. She is going to camp this summer away from her gym so with different coaches we are hoping she may get those bars skills she needs.

 

[Allieonbeam]

I am a little confused. You are saying that you have an option to put her in camp at your gym, but they would work on current skills with her. Then you said that you would put her in camp somewhere else, do you know for a fact that they would work on level 4 bars with her? Are the coaches better at that other place?
I would generally recommend to address your concerns with the gym you are at, maybe bringing to their attention (if they haven't noticed it yet) that your DD has all the skills for level 4 on all other events and working on a plan to bring her up to speed on bars. From watching similar situations with kids who had all but bars skills at level 4 I have to point out that a few privates may not do it, it can takes a few months before they can do a passable level 4 bar routine, so I would jump on it as soon as possible if the hope is to move to level 4.

 

[bookworm]

I wouldn't worry about it too much...she's level 2 or 3 and hoping to go 4 so I would hope the coaches would be focusing on the skills they know the girls need to progress. I think the camp sounds like a good idea but unless it's a really focused camp, don't expect her to come out of it with new skills galore as most camps are geared towards introducing, but not necessarily mastering, different skills, and having fun of course!

 

[serenity's Momma]

She is working all summer with her current coach and her coach is really good. She works the dickens out of a few of these girls. The one's that have their skills, my daughter being one of them. I can send her to camp at her current gym and I am sure that If I talk to the head coach she will allow her to go with the higher level team girls to get in some extra practice. Poor Serenity has the upper body strength of a kitten. She knows how to do the skills. Actually had some of them down until recently on bars but for some reason she just has trouble with them. I am not so worried about which level she advances to as long as she isn't still in level 2. Her coach says she isn't worried either but she also keeps telling her to work her bar skills. As for the camp she is going to this summer it is Karolyi's. All the girls at the gym are going and they love it. Plus I am close enough I can go get her if I need to. Just a few hours away. I am not expecting her to come back knowing a bunch of new skills. Just having perfected the ones that she has and maybe a new coach can shed some light on what she needs to work on to get the ones she doesn't have.

 

[GymnastJoy]

Depends...how old is she? Seems like a lot of hours already with team practices, open gym, gym camp, and Karolyi's camp.

 

[serenity's Momma]

She is 9. Her team practice is only 2 hours once a week and she has a power tumbling class for an hour once a week. On separate days. This is why I was waiting to do privates til the end of July beginning of August. I want to see how she progresses over the summer before I spend $40/hour for a private lesson. But I also want her to stay occupied over the summer. She tends to gain a lot of weight over the summer because it is so hot here and she either stays inside all day or if she is at my dad's house they are always baking and eating junk. So if I can keep her busy there is less time for sweets and more time for conditioning.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Just an idea, but maybe you can ask her coach for a list of conditioning skills she could do at home. That's if they can't get her in the gym any more hours. Bars require a lot of upper body strength. My dd is also 9, and I think at that age, she can determine if gym is something she really wants to do, then it's going to require effort on her part.

 

[gym law mom]

Sounds like alot of the problem is developing the upper body strength to do bars and that won't happen in 2-3 hours of practice/week. I agree with azgymmiemom on asking for some exercises she can do at home to work on her core and upper body strength. Privates won't be of much help if she's lacking the strength since you said she knows how to do the skills. I also agree with bookworm that camp at Karolyis will be fun, but again don't expect her to come home with L4 bar skills after 5 days. At age 9-10, many girls also hit the 1st of several growth spurts which could also play havoc with her gymnastics.