Parents Had a nightmare about gymnastics, which leads me to a question...

[notthatmom]

I had a dream last night that I went to pick up DD from gymnastics and the head coach pulled me aside to talk to me, she said "DD won't be working out on bars yet because she's not ready for the work out"
I was frantic and didn't understand why, so she handed me some other coach's phone so I could read a text message explaining why she couldn't do the bar work out....I started to scroll thru the message, but then my alarm went off so I woke up. Yikes! Glad that wasn't real.


So my question is, in real life, in the parent meeting, they said some gymnasts won't compete certain events if the coaches feel they aren't ready yet. I see both sides of this as they don't want team girls to compete something they can't do yet, which would get them low scores....on the parent side of this I like it because I wouldn't want DD competing something where she could get hurt if she tries a skill she can't do yet. At the same time though, I feel that as a L3, she shouldn't be hindered from something just because the gym doesn't want to get low scores, higher levels I understand but L3?


What are your thoughts?


And I just have to say, I didn't think night mares about gymnastics would come so soon, but clearly that milestone came and went already. Chuckle chuckle.

 

[jjsmom]

Coaches are also worried about injury and not just scores so I'm certain most would not want gymnasts doing things they aren't ready for simply to keep them safe.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Don't waste time worrying about something you have no control over. As long as she is working on her skills that is what matters and when she is ready to compete them she will.

Your job is to pay the bill and get her to practice on time.

 

[GymDad9.9]

I guess it comes down to a gym/coaching philosophy. It sounds like they said certain gymnasts would not compete in certain events if they did not feel they were ready to do so, which speaks of a future possibility not a certainty. Could simply be a very clear attempt at motivating certain gymnasts to get their skills and routines down.

 

[notthatmom]

Don't waste time worrying about something you have no control over. As long as she is working on her skills that is what matters and when she is ready to compete them she will.

Your job is to pay the bill and get her to practice on time.

Oh I guess I'm not "worried" exactly, I just wasn't sure if that was the norm My gym seems to be more on the stricter side, so I wasn't sure. I'm actually relieved that this seems to be normal.

I actually haven't been to the gym in almost a month since her nanny takes her to practice, so perhaps I am having crazy dreams due to gym withdrawals lol

 

[scgymmom322]

Our new gym is pretty strict and does not allow girls to compete if they are not ready. We recently switched from a gym that competes in winter to a gym that competes fall, so my daughter lost about four months of practice time before she competes. Her coaches approached me the other day with concerns that she wouldn't be ready and suggested privates to get her caught up. I really appreciate that they talked to me now, when we can still get her caught up, instead of waiting until the last minute to tell me! Not sure if that is the norm or not, but I am thankful for the early, open communication!

 

[Sasha]

There have been lots of debates here on CB on this topic, with some strong opinions and emotions on both sides. Gyms vary widely in their approach as well.

In our experience, our gym will have a child 'scratch' an event if they are deemed not ready. "Not ready" could of course be for an injury or something, but also if a key skill is missing/very inconsistent, or form is very shaky on a number of skills. Roughly, if a child is not capable of getting about an 8.0, she may be scratched.

Our gym uses this to..
1) maximize safety
2) use readiness for competition as a motivational tool
3) avoid kids getting super low scores

Anecdotally, our first season (L3), there were two girls who were scratching at least 1 event due to missing skill (like BHS or front hip circle). At the first meet, the two families were expressing disappointment and some criticism of that choice. However, mid way through the season, after watching other teams send in kids who were doing very ugly, unsafe-looking, heavily spotted, or just generally un-prepared looking routines that scored 5's and 6's, the families became more approving of the logic to scratch. It was difficult to watch unprepared kids and see them get such low scores, as well as sometimes actually very scary to see the near neck-breaking, clearly-unprepared skill attempts

So we all chilled and feel better about our gym's stricter criteria for event competition.

 

[sandy]

I had a dream last night that I went to pick up DD from gymnastics and the head coach pulled me aside to talk to me, she said "DD won't be working out on bars yet because she's not ready for the work out"
I was frantic and didn't understand why, so she handed me some other coach's phone so I could read a text message explaining why she couldn't do the bar work out....I started to scroll thru the message, but then my alarm went off so I woke up. Yikes! Glad that wasn't real.


So my question is, in real life, in the parent meeting, they said some gymnasts won't compete certain events if the coaches feel they aren't ready yet. I see both sides of this as they don't want team girls to compete something they can't do yet, which would get them low scores....on the parent side of this I like it because I wouldn't want DD competing something where she could get hurt if she tries a skill she can't do yet. At the same time though, I feel that as a L3, she shouldn't be hindered from something just because the gym doesn't want to get low scores, higher levels I understand but L3?


What are your thoughts?


And I just have to say, I didn't think night mares about gymnastics would come so soon, but clearly that milestone came and went already. Chuckle chuckle.

It's bad enough when I'm awake, think I would be very worried if having nightmares about gymnastics

 

[Committed]

Lol about the dream/nightmare! I can't recall ever having one

As for your IRL question, you are at a more accommodating gym. At DDs gym, there is a spring cut off date for skills - for the fall season. If a gymmie does not have X skill, they will not compete that level. There is no scratching. That could be level 3, 8, or 10. Every level seems to have that gateway skill or apparatus.

I think you may be misunderstanding your gyms philosophy. You mentioned that the gym doesn't want low scores and (basically) low scores shouldn't matter for the L3 girls. I doubt it's keeping them up at night. It sounds like a safety issue. I can imagine that scratching an event would make them work a lot harder until they are able to compete it.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

^^^^ What committed said.

And our gym is the same way, if you don't have the skill you don't move.
Our kids need their skills by August. During the summer any one on the cusp is considered L3/4 ir L4/5 and in August the level is decided. No mill circle or BHS no L3, No kip, or CW on beam, no L4.

 

[AgingHippie]

Our gym has the same philosophy, if they are missing or muscling through a skill they will scratch on the event until ready. I think you will find that's pretty common.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Sorry about the nightmare, it's funny how our "worries" in real life invade our dreams!!

Our gym is fairly strict too. Our gymnasts will scratch an event if their skills are not up to par AND what our gym requires for that event. In compulsories, obviously that's fairly simple: if you cannot safely and somewhat satisfactory COMPLETE the compulsory routine for that event, you scratch. Missing your squat on in L4? No bars. Missing your RO-BHS? no floor in L3. Flyaway not ready? Scratch L5 bars. You get the idea. The entire routine must be safely performed. It doesn't have to be perfect, and we certainly don't sandbag (we have many gymnasts competing what they are just proficient in, not polished or perfect!), but it does have to be complete and safe. NO SPOTTING ever at meets!

For Optionals, it becomes a little trickier as what our gym requires isn't strictly required by USAG per level. But for instance, at our gym you don't get to compete bars for L7 without giants. End of story. And if you don't compete bars, you don't get to do your floor routine (using it as a carrot to get bars skills done!). If your other L7 skills are ready and you're almost there on completing OUR GYMS requirements for bars, you get to have your routine choreographed etc but you will scratch floor and bars until your skills are ready. If you're missing your series on beam (and it must be a series our HC approves and deems progressive, no CW-CW at our gym...) you scratch beam until it's there.

Our gym is big on competing fairly but not allowing kids to go out there and embarrass themselves either. Absolutely falls etc will happen but we're not going to send a kid out to fail right off the bat. I agree with the philosophy 100%! I have seen (other clubs) kids go out and compete incomplete, scary or heavily spotted skills and it feels awkward and embarrassing to watch

 

[raenndrops]

I had a dream last night that I went to pick up DD from gymnastics and the head coach pulled me aside to talk to me, she said "DD won't be working out on bars yet because she's not ready for the work out"
I was frantic and didn't understand why, so she handed me some other coach's phone so I could read a text message explaining why she couldn't do the bar work out....I started to scroll thru the message, but then my alarm went off so I woke up. Yikes! Glad that wasn't real.


So my question is, in real life, in the parent meeting, they said some gymnasts won't compete certain events if the coaches feel they aren't ready yet. I see both sides of this as they don't want team girls to compete something they can't do yet, which would get them low scores....on the parent side of this I like it because I wouldn't want DD competing something where she could get hurt if she tries a skill she can't do yet. At the same time though, I feel that as a L3, she shouldn't be hindered from something just because the gym doesn't want to get low scores, higher levels I understand but L3?


What are your thoughts?


And I just have to say, I didn't think night mares about gymnastics would come so soon, but clearly that milestone came and went already. Chuckle chuckle.

My take on this is that, providing they can compete bars safely, they should be allowed to compete the event. If the gym doesn't believe in spotting at meets, then the girl does her best on each skill and is helped back into position after each fall.
However, if it would be unsafe, then no competing the event.

 

[AgingHippie]

Raenndrops brings up a very good point. Some gyms allow spotting at meets and some do not. Our gym does not allow spots.

 

[LizzieLac]

Lol about the dream/nightmare! I can't recall ever having one

As for your IRL question, you are at a more accommodating gym. At DDs gym, there is a spring cut off date for skills - for the fall season. If a gymmie does not have X skill, they will not compete that level. There is no scratching. That could be level 3, 8, or 10. Every level seems to have that gateway skill or apparatus.

I think you may be misunderstanding your gyms philosophy. You mentioned that the gym doesn't want low scores and (basically) low scores shouldn't matter for the L3 girls. I doubt it's keeping them up at night. It sounds like a safety issue. I can imagine that scratching an event would make them work a lot harder until they are able to compete it.

That is our gym's approach. But the "cut-off" for deciding levels where a child can safely compete and meet the requirements of that level is mid-fall for a season that usually starts in late November/early December. Our coaches do not "spot" skills in competition as a means to get the gymnast to be able to complete the skill. I have wished as times that they were more lenient or would consider scratching one event if the gymnast had the other 3 events down...but I see that it creates strong all-around gymnasts doing what they do.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

So my question is, in real life, in the parent meeting, they said some gymnasts won't compete certain events if the coaches feel they aren't ready yet. I see both sides of this as they don't want team girls to compete something they can't do yet, which would get them low scores....on the parent side of this I like it because I wouldn't want DD competing something where she could get hurt if she tries a skill she can't do yet. At the same time though, I feel that as a L3, she shouldn't be hindered from something just because the gym doesn't want to get low scores, higher levels I understand but L3?


What are your thoughts?

DD's gym is similar to others on here. They train for the next level between December (after the state meet) and June. In June, they decide who is moving to the next level and who isn't. If certain key skills are missing, they won't move them up (i.e. the kip or ROBHSBHS for level 4). After move ups they will continue to train the skills, learn the routines, etc. They do not spot at meets and if a gymnast can't compete safely, I think they will scratch that event. Dd's gym does seem to care about how the gym is represented and I don't think they would allow someone to compete that they didn't think could earn at least an 8+ not counting accidental falls. We had some girls this year that they were hoping to skip level 3 and go to level 4, but they just decided that they weren't ready for level 4 year so they are going to 3 instead. They may have been able to compete level 4 (some don't have their kips yet though, so maybe not), but they wouldn't have scored very well in it and I'm sure that factored in to the gym's decision.

I will say that my dd is struggling a bit with the level 4 vault though. She is doing great in all the other events, but I'm not sure what is going to happen on vault. The head coach did say that he will not hold her back and make her repeat 3 because of it (phew!). It's not impossible that she will end up scratching vault in the first meet or two if something doesn't click soon. I'm hoping that doesn't happen, but right now she can't safely do an unspotted front handspring vault consistently and they won't let her attempt it if she could get hurt.