Is this the end of the line? LONG

[aimee]

I'm going into freshman year of high school next year and it's really time for me to decide if staying with gymnastics is a realistic thing to do
There are so many complications that recently I've just put off thinking about it and it's really nagging at me.
Ok, so background: I do rhythmic gymnastics and have for two years now after I stopped rec artistic gymnastics. Last year I skipped a level and went to 7, but a couple weeks before my first meet of the season, they upped the difficulty from 3.0 to 4.0 which I couldn't even get close to. I made it to nationals as an All-Star (top 8 in the region make Regional Team, next 2 make All-Star) but placed nearly at the bottom all-around. Before nationals, I had been pretty set on that being my last year. Now I don't know! I feel like next year, repeating level 7, I could be closer to the 4.0 and do really well. The thing is, practice is really tough and the gym is 45 minutes away from our house with traffic. My dad is going to be abroad next year, so it's just my Mom to manage everything. On top of that, I've been having trouble keeping my flexibility and high school is going to be really tough because I'm taking a sophmore spanish class, double-language classes, and advanced math and science.
I managed to balance school, almost 15 hours a week of gymnastics, 3 hours of ballet, and 1.75 hours of piano a week with some difficulty, but keeping A's in 8th grade. In 9th, though, I want to join school clubs and be able to spend time with friends. How could I manage all of that on my plate?
My options as I see them: 1: gymnastics and quit everything else.
2: quit gymnastics, and do dance (I've been looking into lyrical dance and it's really pretty and my flexibility would help) and piano and school clubs.
3: see if I can skip one day a week of gymnastics so I could take one hour a week of dance and have more time for HW.
furthur complications: -I don't know if I really love gymnastics, or I only want to do it next year because I think I can do better in competitions and the like. (I know this is huge but both are actually really important to me and I can't give myself an answer no matter how much I think about it.)
-I don't have a really great relationship with my coach.
-I'd be one of the older gymnasts in level 7 which is a disadvantage.
-People who repeat levels sometimes do worse the second year.
-I absolutely know I'm going to stop gymnastics in sophmore year.
-If I quit everything else then I would have no sports in sophmore year.
-My coach says I'm too straight up-and-down in my routines, which isn't good for artistry points. I watched a video and she's right, but being loose is a huge part of dance. So I thought taking gymnastics would help my dance but taking dance would help my gymnastics.
-One day off is a pretty big deal because we have 4 practices a week (last year was 5) so it's a big percentage of the time spent at practice.
-The events are switched up so that I'd have to learn to handle two new pieces of equipment, one of which I know absolutely nothing about.
If you're still reading, thanks so much for listening and please offer any advice you possibly can! I'd appreciate it so much, I'm desperately lost right now

 

[cher062]

OH MY!! You have a lot on your plate for a freshman. I know if I were your mom I would sit down with you an re-think some of the courses you've planned on taking. Yes you may have the smarts to take a double language and advanced math and science but I think I would get rid f the double language at least. Freshman year is a big adjustment and I know when my straight "A" son went into high school 4 years ago he wanted to take courses like you are. I had him take some advanced coursed but didn't allow the sophmore spanish and no double anything. It really ended up the best thing for him as it left time in his day to do those extra clubs, socialize, and continue doing gymnastics instead of homework all the time. Also it gave him plenaty of time to adjust to this HUGE change called High School. Give yourself a break that first year and make it a little easier on yourself so you do have time for a social life too. Grades are important but it's not the only thing that you need in those High School years.

As for the gymnastics. Is there any gym that is closer than the 45 min one? Does the High School have a Gymnastic Team?

For me I would drive 45 min for my kids to do gymnastics if they really wanted to, but we live in a more rural area and 30 min is an average drive to most things around so 45 min isn't that much more. You really should voice all these concerns to your parents. I know you don't think they will understand but really they will and they can help you sort things out and put things in perspecitve. You really have more options available to you than you think you do but you really need to have mom and dad on board with your decision process. They love you and I don't know of a parent out there that wouldn't sacrafice time or anything for their children and their childrens dreams.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I don't know much about how rhythmic gymnastics works in terms of age, repeating levels, etc, but if I were you I wouldn't judge whether I should stick with it by "I want to join clubs" or "I want to do well in school" - I judge by how much I like practice! If I enjoy practicing and working hard and I make progress - not necessarily a lot, but some - and almost always feel good after practice, then it's worthwhile. If I dread practice (sometimes I dread practice even though once I start practice I feel fine), I suffer through our workouts, and I don't want to work hard, then it's time to see if I should quit or take time off.

I wouldn't judge whether to quit or not by how hard it is - i.e.
*I'm older - it's a disadvantage......no matter how old you are you can enjoy it and you CAN improve.
*I'll have 2 new events......it's like switching it up! A change of pace! Something fun and new to try.
*I'm not naturally artistic......you can work on it and focus on your strengths - plus, if people only did stuff because they were good at it, lots of us would be stuck doing things that bored us.

Things that worry me:
*You don't have a good relationship with your coach......that might not change and makes practice less enjoyable.
*You don't see yourself continuing for more than one year.......it sounds like you're "sticking it out" not doing it because you love it, though a lot CAN change in a year.
*It sounds like you feel the time and work commitment is too much, which means you probably want to pursue other things.

For me, it's always been "Oh that club looks fun...too bad I can't do it cause of gym. Oh well. *happily trots off to gym practice*" I've never thought "Ugh, I can't do anything because of gym! I hate it!" which would be a sign to me that either I was in a rut and I should try switching stuff up a little, or that it was really time to quit. How long have you been thinking about quitting? Is it a recent frustration or based on the fact that you think you'll want to do other stuff in high school? I though I did too, but it turned out high school wasn't that interesting. If it is because of these reasons, I'd give it more time. If it's because you don't like your coach or you've been stagnant and frustrated for a long time, or because you really do want to try other stuff, I would think about quitting or doing it gradually - taking a day off.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Learning to prioritize is something we all have to do at some stage of our lives, its good that you have the chance to learn this early on in your life. It will make life decisions easier for you as you get older.

First off I would like to say that success at school comes from organization and motivation not from having a lot of free time. Have a look around at your fellow classmate, no doubt a lot of them do little to know activities outside of school but often struggle with their school work and don't do well. have a look at fellow team mates at the gym who are very busy? The odds are most of them do well at school. Being involved in a sport like gymnastics improves your concentration and learning abilities. You will find school work improves as does memory.

Also busy kids tend to get things done better because they are forced to be highly organized. Kids with oodles of free time tend to feel like they have forever to complete tasks and leave it to the last minute. Busy kids know they have limited time and tend to get it done in the time they have.

have a look at your schedule and see where you could fit in school work. I would recommend taking advantage of the 45 minute car trip. Thats 1 1/2 hours every day you could use for homework and study that would be otherwise wasted. Your Mom will be there in the car for you to ask for help if you need and you won't have any distractions like the television to take you away from your work.

However, you must decide whether or not you really want to do gymnastics. Don't worry about you age, there are as many advantages to being older than disadvantages. You will be better able to understand your coaches instructions and visualize what your body needs to do that the younger gymnasts. You will be past your main growth spurt which can cause many problems with skills and strength for the 11-12 year old gymnasts. You will be older so develop your strength more quickly and easily as you develop your adult strength. There are lots of great reasons to be older, you may also find your age division is less competitive than younger divisions and you place more often.

Repeating a level should not turn you off either. I think you'll find most people do repeat a level at some point. Here is Australia it happens so often that no one would ever even use the term "repeating" a level, because its just rather normal they just see it as "doing a level for 2 years". It is not common for people who do a second year of a level to do worse in their second year, in most cases they do much better.

 

[emorymom]

You don't want to continue after next year. You aren't sure you are psyched about it now. Getting to practice will be hard on Mom. Yes, I think you should focus on dance this year, that you can enjoy through college +. It's not quitting. It's retirement.

 

[cher062]

You don't want to continue after next year. You aren't sure you are psyched about it now. Getting to practice will be hard on Mom. Yes, I think you should focus on dance this year, that you can enjoy through college +. It's not quitting. It's retirement.

I love the retirement phrase!! LOL

Just an FYI many colleges do have gymnastic teams too and you can do gymnastics through college too.

 

[gym law mom]

Take school out of the equation for minute and just focus on your concerns regarding gymnastics for next season. What would your answer be to doing 1 more year just evaluating what is going on with gymnastics, coach and practice. Do you still have a love of the sport? How would you feel without gym in your life this year? Certainly school complicates the picture, but I get the feeling you really don't want to continue in gymnastics and taking alot of advanced classes gives you a reason to stop.

You don't need alot of other reasons to "retire." If you feel this is no longer somethng you want to do, then look at dance and other school related activities. Bottom line is you have to be happy and if doing 1 more year of gym doesn't feel right, then leave and try somethng new.

GL with high school.

 

[babbygurl]

im just starting my freshmen year in high school as well.. and i train up to 20 hours in the gym b/c i love gymnastics so much and it helps me releve any stress i have from the day. i have re-done each level (im at a level 5 right now) and ive noticed it acctuly helped me go back and re-think things through and correct anything that i have messed up in the passed season. i dont get straight A's in school but i do manage to get B honors and maintain my friendships and balance school work,friends,family and "me time". i wouldnt advice you to be involved in alot of things in school or out of school if you want gymnastics to be a main goal for yourself but having dance can really help you with your gymnastics too. ive taken 5 years of dance it really helped my with my posture and gracefullness. if you dont have the best relationship with your coach that can trigger alot of stress in the gym and outside of the gym,(ive had several coaches i didnt get along with).. you just need to find another coach thats in the gym(if its possible) and go to them for training. also cutting back on your busy week and makeing time to just relax and catch up on school work can be a HUGE stress relever because your not worrying about anything else. i also suggest having a night out on the town every once in a while or even a trip to the spa with some of your closest friends can be very relaxing. hope this helps somewhat.. and good luck with ur freshmen year