Parents Just curious: Goals

[Deleted member 18037]

Fitness, work ethic, have fun.................

 

[mariposa]

My daughter won't be doing college or elite gymnastics either. She's a 14 year old level 8 who has repeated levels all along the way. She's hoping to compete 9 this year. She most likely won't make it to L10, or if she does it will be as an event specialist.

She does gymnastics because she loves it. I keep paying for it because it makes her happy. Though I admit to trying to get her to do other things, mostly because of the mental and physical toll it can have on them.

 

[dancingimmie]

My dd is 9, she's been seriously doing gymnastics for almost 2 years. She is currently training levels 7/8 and loving every second. I know she has goals of being an elite and competing for the National team. I want her to be happy, healthy and safe and to feel supported by her family for the entire journey, no matter where it takes her.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I asked my dd and she said her goal is to have fun and get stronger. I think she is on a college track (definitely no elite/Olympic dreams or aspirations) at her gym. Only time will tell if she makes it that far though..

 

[tuckfull]

No big goals here. College on a gymnastics scholarship, no. College on an academic scholarship...hopefully! DD does gymnastics just for the love of the sport. She's always said her goal with gymnastics is to have fun, and that she'll quit when its not fun anymore. But, she thinks tough conditioning and 5 hour practices are "fun" so her definition is definitely not the same as mine! She loves the hours of training, loves competing and doesn't seem to care about levels. Which is great, since she's looking at repeating again this year since her new gym has strict requirements for Level 8 vault and she's missing quite a few weeks of training this summer. Coach's goal is level 10 by sophomore year but that's years away, so who knows. I just want to raise a happy, confident and well-rounded kid who knows how to balance academics, family, friends and gymnastics.

 

[MAmom]

My ds begged me to sign him up for gymnastics when he was 4 years old so he could learn a backflip "like they do in my Lego Star Wars game." It took a year and a half to get me to do that and now he is 10.5 years old and doing way more than that. He is passionate about the sport and has goals he sets for himself, including coaching when he is too old to compete so I just stay out of the way and drive him to his practices and competitions.

I have no idea if his goals will change or not over the years but I love his coaches and team and his abundant energy is being channeled in a positive way.

 

[EGPtriumph]

I love seeing all the different responses on this topic and am so glad that it was posted. In our short time in the sport (18 months), it seems that, too often, some parents only have college or Olympic hopes for their child. I've even heard some parents being overly critical of other girls and their skills. I have no idea how far my daughter will go in the sport but my goal is that she will gain confidence, a good work ethic, be proud of herself, and be a supportive teammate. So far (after a gym switch), she is in a great gym with great coaches who promote that as well. [emoji4]

 

[gymmutti]

My goal is for DD to be happy and healthy. DD's verbalized goal is to compete through high school and no more major injuries. Back when she was 12 and had just won regionals for L7, her goal was college gymnastics. Life, however, sometimes has different plans. She will be 15 next season and has still not competed a full meet since 12 due to injuries that would have had many gymnasts throw in the towel. The perseverance she has shown has blown me away, and whether or not she makes it to L10 before graduating, she's showing that she is winning the game of life.

 

[LGnyc]

I love seeing all the different responses on this topic and am so glad that it was posted. In our short time in the sport (18 months), it seems that, too often, some parents only have college or Olympic hopes for their child. I've even heard some parents being overly critical of other girls and their skills. I have no idea how far my daughter will go in the sport but my goal is that she will gain confidence, a good work ethic, be proud of herself, and be a supportive teammate. So far (after a gym switch), she is in a great gym with great coaches who promote that as well. [emoji4]

Thank you for saying all this. I'm the one who posted because I read all these threads about super serious gyms or training, and I wondered if we were the only ones doing it without long terms "achievement" goals. My daughter started out quite young, and very fragile. The least little thing would make her unhappy or send her into tears. Beyond anything, she has learned resilience and a host of other life lessons I could NEVER have given her in our little bubble. But the sacrifices are significant. We do not ever get a family dinner during the week. She doesn't get home til 9:45. And I wonder all the time if it's worth it, and if others think it's worth it. But then I look at how she has matured, and how that will carry her in life, and I say again and again, Yes.

 

[Sasha]

Let's see...

Girl: she has college hopes (Of course eyes Div 1, but I know realistically might shoot more for Div 2/3 - she just wants to be on a team).

Boy: he's still young enough he wants to go to the Olympics (like every other kid his age).. AND reach the top of Mt Midoriyama. And also go to Mars. So I think gymnastics can help with at least 2 of these 3 goals.

My goals for both of them are to grow up with the self-confidence that being fit and strong provides. To have a life-long love of fitness, and enjoy the wonderful body control and awareness that comes from gymnastics. As well, to internalize the journey from hard-fought efforts and many failures and hard times, to that feeling of sweet success when efforts finally pay off.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

My dd at 6 initially wanted to do gym bc her dance classes were too boring for her. She didn't know what the Olympics were and didn't care. Just wanted to flip around. Now 8 years later she's trying to get all her skills to go 10 bc she plans on taking over the gym from her coach/owner when he's ready to retire and she figures it looks good to parents to have been a level 10. (He's even told her he'll stay on and coach for awhile for her, lol) She really isn't interested in college gym. Just business management

My gymnast ds only started gym bc his little sister was getting strong and he wanted to do the conditioning for baseball...his great love. Well, after he made team and juggled both sports for a couple years, he needed to pick one (he was getting really good at both and he really didn't have time to do both at that level of commitment) To my absolute astonishment, he picked gymnastics!

He was going to compete level 10 this past season but is recovering from elbow surgery and has been out for about 5 months. He's coaching. He says he's not done, wants to end on his terms and is waiting to be Dr cleared to go back to full training. I think he also just wants to make 10, not elite or college, bc he also wants to be an airline pilot. Gymnastics has certainly made him a tough kid!

Off topic, but I must say I'm very proud of him for sticking with it-he's had a very difficult road. Very nasty situation with a verbally/mentally abusive coach in the level 5/6 days while he was going through terrible illness and diagnosis of Crohn's disease when he was 13. We got him healthy and to a great coach...and then the elbow. But he's still going. He's 16.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Make it to HOPES championship, make the national team and her ultimate goal is to compete in college, her dream school is Oklahoma. One day at a time!!

 

[Lilou]

My daughter (soon to be 7) says she wants to go to the Olympics but I know she doesn't understands what that means in real-life to get there. She also says she wants to go to the Ranch so she can do her favorite things: see animals and gymnastics. She's also seen the 90 year old woman still doing gymnastics on YouTube videos and says she wants to be just like her. She can dream big! So whatever happens, I just hope she stays as healthy as possible, learns other life skills that gymnastics can teacher her, and enjoys herself. We'll provide her the best resources we are able to to go as far as she can, whether that means she finishes out at Level 4-5 or she is able to achieve Elite or somewhere in between. It's her journey with our support.

 

[mommyof1]

My 10-year-old's current short-term goal is to get through L4 without repeating. Her long-term goals are to make it to L10, to learn cool skills especially on bars, to coach part-time when she is old enough, and to find a gym near her college so she can continue to compete JO while studying to become a scientist for NASA.

My goals for her are to keep her engaged in a positive, supervised activity after school, to build fitness, confidence, and perseverance, to have the experience of seriously pursuing something she loves to do, to avoid injury, and to stay on the JO path throughout high school or as long as that remains her preference.

 

[crystallions]

DD says she wants to go as far as she can as a gymnast and that some day in the future she wants to be a gymnastic coach. She says that as long as she gets to spend as much time as possible in the gym she is happy.

I am happy to watch her pursue something she loves, and that she is learning so many life skills. Some things I have noticed her work on since starting gymnastics are prioritizing, setting goals and working hard to reach them, encouraging and supporting her teammates, getting up and trying again every time she falls (both literally and figuratively)... I am sure there are more things that I am not thinking of right now...

 

[profmom]

My DD, at almost 16, just enjoys doing gymnastics. She has no desire to compete in college. She will be switching over to XCel next year for the additional flexibility in routine construction -- long-term back issues have made it impossible for her to continue to progress beyond L8 in JO. She has overcome a great deal of adversity and pain to stay with the sport because she loves it. She's learned through this that anything you really, really want is worth fighting for.

My DS, headed into his second year of L9, dearly desires to be a college gymnast. He knows that athletic scholarships are impossible in the highly competitive climate of MAG, but he wants to get good enough that some coaches will be willing to take a look at him. He's very realistic and recognizes that this will be hard (he's a late maturing 13 year old now who started kindergarten at age 4, so he may not get his man strength in time to be a standout L10 when coaches are looking).

 

[SuperMama]

My daughter is young so not sure that she has a goal beyond having fun. Our goal is to keep her physically active doing something that she loves, to teach her the value of working hard, and to keep her an activity that was consistent/familiar when we moved across states.

 

[duyetanh]

On my kids mirror are her goals:
To get all my level 8 skills.
She is a realist. One year at a time. To be sure she dreams of college. But she knows anything can happen.
I too have one goal:
Please God, keep her healthy.

 

[caligymdad]

We got both of our kids involved in gymnastics super early (18 months with 'mom and me' classes) because I thought it was an amazing foundational sport. My DD, now 9, loved it from the beginning and still does. When she was like 3 or 4 we took her out and had her do only ballet before she came and asked us when was she going back to gym. My wife really wanted her to do ballet and asked her if she wanted to do both since previously I had said no to doing both at such a young age and at such a cost! My DD told us she wanted to go back to gymnastics and that "she would do ballet if her mommie wanted her too." 2 years ago at a meet, a reporter covering the meet interviewed her and asked her if she wanted to go to the Olympics to which she replied, "No! I want to win a gold medal at the Olympics!" She went on to make Diamond team that year, made it to the ranch for testing last year, and continues to eat, sleep, and drink gymnastics. I guess for us we just want to support whatever her goals are at this point. I really try to focus on the life lessons the sport teaches. Work ethic, commitment, fortitude, toughness, goal setting are just a few of the valuable intangibles this sport enstills and I love it for those and the many others.