WAG New and would like advice for 5 year old daughter

[mouey77]

well...don't you trust the decision your parents made in sending your sister there or what your sister might have to say about this. she is only 5. your "thinking out loud" sounds just a bit over the top to me, and maybe me only.

Initially yes, but my sister is now almost 34, and I am pushing 40, so that was a lonnnng time ago. And no, I do not agree with all of my parents' decisions. And yes, totally agree she is only 5, which is why I was seeking advice from people with more expertise in this area. Honestly, I am not very interested in her competing in meets right now--just being in a better placement. Sister's opinion is that we will really not like the "high power" gym. She described it as semi-herding cattle, not nurturing, and out for $$$ both back then and now. I do trust her there. It is almost $70/month for the one class an hour a week, and it's just $$ if she's starting to lose interest due to boredom. 6 is a ways off, but we can stick it out if that's best, and she loves her coaches.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

listen to your sister. sounds like she knows what she is talking about. never left gymnastics, right? good for her. i know that the boredom thing can become an issue, and maybe you can find an alternate program...maybe something in between to get her to age 6 or 7. if not, leave her where she's at. you might have to do a little more work to get her in the car but the alternative may not be as good or productive. understand?

 

[mouey77]

LOL! Are you at the gym we currently attend? How did you know we lately have been fighting to get into the car? This sounds like reasonable advice. Thanks, all.

 

[krisnkids]

I don't know about trusting your sister on her opinion of the other gym. Competing gyms in the same town the kids tend to talk trash about the other one and have a bad opinion of it. Check things out for yourself and see what you think, talk to other parents there, observe team, people-watch. Form your own opinion of what they have to offer.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

her sister "speaks" the language. she's old. my experience is that at her age she doesn't harbor any ill thoughts about anyone's gym.

 

[mouey77]

One caution is the trampoline and the at home gymnastics. Kids can get hurt easily on trampoline as well as teach themselves bad form/habits that would need to be corrected.

Unless I missed it, not sure how the gym's JO program. Did you mention it? I would look at that as an indicator of a few things. 1) their coaching 2) their philosophy of what age works in what program 3) the pace at which they move kids up.

If you are happy with the gym based on the above, then waiting it out until she is 6 is not a big deal - it will be here before you know it. I understand what you are sayin about spending money on a class that she may be too advanced for. Have you asked if there are any other options besides this class for her until she turns 6?

I think it is fine to do privates if you can afford it, but I honestly don't see the value in terms of advancing a 5 year old. There will plenty of time for that kind of spending down the road and she is still in need to learning so many basics, and really there shoudl be a class that fits her age and development. I would ask the gym about the bars and beam training. And don't feel guilty about looking at another gym at this point! Good luck!

What is the JO program? How do I find out about this?

 

[Foxy's Leos]

The evaluation sounds like the way to go. They sound like they have the experience, and not only will it be an evaluation from them, but an evaluation for both you and your daughter to see if the grass is greener on the other side. In the meantime, I would really sit with the idea of how much time and money you are willing to dedicate to this sport. Gymnastics is more than just a sport, it is a lifestyle, and if the answer is "yes", I am ready, then by all means go for it! If the answers turns out to be "no", then just take your time and go slow. Either way, have fun, and check in that you and your daughter are on the same page good luck!

 

[Kiwi]

If you decide to stick with the current gym, maybe talk to the coaches about how they could provide more challenge for her. Even within the current class format, there might be ways they could extend or adapt the activities to provide more challenge for her.

 

[Gymmommy71]

See, that's the other issue. She is amazing on floor, but not as strong on the other events because frankly they don't do that much with them on the other events.

Sounds like how my DD started out...and exactly why I regret it , my DD went from a 5.5YO w/ a BHS to a 7YO w/ a ROBHSBT and every other L5 floor skill, that couldn't do the L5 bar routine to save her life because she was behind a least a full year on bars. Then she had to spend all this time in a situation where her floor practices were boring (cause she was reduced to *only* working on backhandsprings) and her bar practices were awful for her because she was behind all the other girls and felt defeated. She eventually got evened out (luckily beam came pretty easy for her), but I feel all of it delayed her overall progress at least a year to six months.

With a BHS (the hardest L4 floor skill), your DD should be working her front and back hip circles on bars (if she doesn't have these now she is already behind, same thing w/ a pullover w/ the bar pretty high above her head) and she should be working *towards* her kip and squat on (like learing how to glide for the kip and how to cast well for the squat on). That mill circle is a L4 move, so if she going to compete L4 (new L3) I think she'll need that too (but see my note above about how I'm very pro "not competing until L5" ). And all of this assumes she has enough natural upper body strength to do all these bar skills, and doesn't need to build that up w/ lots of exercizing like my DD did.

Oh, and on beam she should be getting tons of exposure to being on the high beam. She's going to need to at least be able to do a handstand on it to go along w/ her backhandspring, and that can be really scary for some girls if they are not used to being up there.

Good luck and let us know how the evaluation at the other gym goes .

 

[LizzieLac]

What is the JO program? How do I find out about this?

Junior Olympic - the competitive program of levels 1-10. My point is that looking how they approach their team development, i.e.e moving kids to pre-team an then level 3 or 4 to compete can tell you a lot. Also, if you think she has the ability, skill, desire, or whatever, to compete then considering some of these things at 5 yrs old makes sense.

 

[wallflower]

Based on your posts it doesn't sound like it's the gyms fault or a weakness in their coaching that she is ahead on floor and behind on bars. You said she learned more advanced skills at home. Perhaps the gym didn't want her to learn those skills yet? Not a good idea to be learning skills at home in general. As a parent I wouldn't allow it. Unfortunately early gymnastics doesn't always look like gymnastics if it's a lot of conditioning and body shaping.

 

[momofthreegirls]

It seems strange to me that your gym doesn't have another class option for her - all the gyms in my area offer different levels of preschool classes, and most also have preteam programs for 4 and 5 year olds. Maybe because it's a small gym they don't have enough enrollment or coaches to offer more classes?

Some kids thrive when they start team young. My middle DD started in a preteam program at age 4.5, and was moved to level 4 (practicing 15 hrs a week) at age 5.5. We had four girls on our level 4 team that were not quite age 6. They all have turned six in the past few months, and are doing quite well. Though, the majority of our L4 team is 8-9 years old. If your daughter has to wait a few years to get to the competitive team, by no means will she be "too old". I would just watch for boredom. I know from my oldest DD that boredom in class leads to goofing off.

Also, I coach rec. classes (preschool being one of them) and we expose the 3-5 year olds to as much equipment as possible, including the high beams. Some are timid and need their hand held, but they are getting up there and trying it.

I agree with others - cheer gyms aren't usually the best choice for learning good strong basics on floor.

Good luck - I hope you find a class that is appropriate and fun for your DD.

 

[mouey77]

I'm glad I started this thread because I will scratch the cheerleading option. I didn't mean to make it sound like the coaching is weak. I think her coaches are great. One of them was a level 10 gymnast and the other was level 8 or 9. They do a great job of managing the little ones, and they are teaching them important developmental skills. it's more the lack of an inbetween placement. She's not weak on bars. She seems like she has decent potential. It's beam and vault that seem iffy to me because they don't do much of it. The majority of kids in her group are 3 and 4 and just starting. They split about 15-16 kids between the two coaches. There is a developmental class of 6+ at the same time, and this actually would be a better fit, but they won't let her do it due to her age. As far as not teaching herself stuff at home and on the playground, I do my best, but I have 3 kids and realistically I can't sit on her. She has been very active and a little daredevil since birth.

 

[krstew29]

That seems like a very big class! At my gym last year when dd was doing rec, they would have 2-3 classes going at the same time and split up the kids according to ability regardless of age.

 

[wallflower]

Just be prepared mouey77 that learning skills at home like tumbling on a trampoline is likely going to slow down her progress. I can't tell you how many girls I've encountered pesonally, not to mention stories on here, that "teach" themselves stuff at home and it's all wrong and full of bad habits. At DD's gym there was girl who had all these advanced tumbling skills in level 4 and I was like wow wish my kid could do that. She learned them on tramp at home. She's so ahead we all thought! Now that she is actually at the level to use those skills she has major issues. The coaches have tried for over a year to "fix" her back tuck and the poor thing has struggled. She is frustrated, the coaches are frustrated. She is the one behind now while our girls are doing lay-outs and starting to twist.

 

[Committed]

My 5yo is on a level 3 team this season. I couldn't imagine her doing the minimum. She was always
moved up before the posted age level. The only L4 skills she doesnt have is forward hip circle nor the beam dismount. Before she started team, she was board to tears in the regular rec class, and the next level up was for 8+ year olds. She is loving team where she is, but we probably won't continue at her gym. They just dont have much room for growth at her current gym.
I have to make sure I'm looking out for her future best interests.

I think the other gym assessment is the way to go.

 

[mouey77]

Updated after evaluation

I took DD to the evaluation after her regular gymnastics class this evening. The coach at the new gym said she is about at a level 3 and offered her a spot on a combined level 2/3 group. They practice two days/week for 3 hours at a time, so that would be a huge leap from gymnastics class one day week for one hour. The coach who evaluated her said that our current gym (and other gyms in the area) are moving away from competition for the little kids and the emphasis is more on fun, with competition being for the older girls (higher levels).

I was talking to a few of the other moms at our current gym during class this evening, and there are at least two girls in the older developmental group (same time as preschool group) who were 5 when they moved into the older group. They are not team or pre team--just in the older developmental group. I and the other mothers are confused because those girls do not appear to have more or better skills than DD. I had only asked for DD to move into the older group, and her current coaches are the ones who offered the preteam level 2 when she turns 6.

Here is what I observed her preschool group do this evening:
Warm-up/stretching
Trampoline (tuck jumps and straddle jumps)
Low balance beam (walk forwards and backwards, front roll)
Floor (back rolls on the wedge--she can do back rolls without a wedge no problem??)
No bars today

Sorry if I sound "over the top" to some, but this has been going on for quite a while (even after I have talked to them very nicely twice), and this seems like a waste. At the same time, going to twice a week (6 hours total) sounds like A LOT for a 5 year old. Is there really no happy medium? Although maybe if she went for 6 hours/week she would be too tired to do stunts on the trampoline.

 

[Committed]

I took DD to the evaluation after her regular gymnastics class this evening. The coach at the new gym said she is about at a level 3 and offered her a spot on a combined level 2/3 group. They practice two days/week for 3 hours at a time, so that would be a huge leap from gymnastics class one day week for one hour. The coach who evaluated her said that our current gym (and other gyms in the area) are moving away from competition for the little kids and the emphasis is more on fun, with competition being for the older girls (higher levels).

I was talking to a few of the other moms at our current gym during class this evening, and there are at least two girls in the older developmental group (same time as preschool group) who were 5 when they moved into the older group. They are not team or pre team--just in the older developmental group. I and the other mothers are confused because those girls do not appear to have more or better skills than DD. I had only asked for DD to move into the older group, and her current coaches are the ones who offered the preteam level 2 when she turns 6.

Here is what I observed her preschool group do this evening:
Warm-up/stretching
Trampoline (tuck jumps and straddle jumps)
Low balance beam (walk forwards and backwards, front roll)
Floor (back rolls on the wedge--she can do back rolls without a wedge no problem??)
No bars today

Sorry if I sound "over the top" to some, but this has been going on for quite a while (even after I have talked to them very nicely twice), and this seems like a waste. At the same time, going to twice a week (6 hours total) sounds like A LOT for a 5 year old. Is there really no happy medium? Although maybe if she went for 6 hours/week she would be too tired to do stunts on the trampoline.

Going from 1 hour to 6 is a huge jump!! I would definitely look for an alternative, but there just might not be one.You could try your current gym one more time and mention what happened with the assessment. Odds are that they would rather keep your business and move your child up than lose her to another team.

I've made a deal with my DDs gym. They added an extra two hour "optional" class for team, which all girls added (so 6 hours a week). But I felt it was a little too much for DD since she does ballet and another sport. Anyway, she will be doing 1/2 of the "optional" class (biweekly). It's only for pertaining, so she's not missing team practice.

 

[krisnkids]

I agree that going from 1 hour a week to 3 hours twice a week would be a huge jump but why not leave it up to gymmie to decide? Call the new gym and ask if she do a trial class w/ the 2/3 group. She may absolutely fall in love with the group and the challenge they present. Or she may just say, "mom, I really like my fun group." In the end its the gymmie that has to put out the effort of the class, if you are comfortable with either option then let her decide.

 

[bogwoppit]

Most gyms will allow you some flexibility when transitioning to a new program. Maybe ask if she can go once a week for a few weeks? Most keen five year old have no issues with 6 hours a week. Though it does seem like a lot of hours for L2/3.

But in reality the issue is coaching, a large group and not coaching the kids as individuals. My girls were always in mixed ability, age and level gym groups as it was such a small gym. The coaches always had each girl working at her own pace. Often there were girls between L4 and L7 in their groups and it worked. The biggest issue was high school and elementary school girls together, but the coach worked that out too.