Parents Optional level at minimal hours?

[Kcanflip]

So just curious if anyone knows of optional level girls that do minimal training hours. Maybe just to stay in the sport, or to allow flexibility in the teen years, etc.

I believe we have a level 6 at our gym who trains just twice a week (8 hours) and still competes USAG. It seems like this might be possible through level 7 but extremely tough for 8-10.

I have a gymmie that I doubt will ever do gym more than 12-15 hours per week. We do 11 right now as a level 4. This has peaked my curiosity. Guessing most of these kids change from USAG to Xcel or just stay at same level and maintain.

 

[Quadqueen]

Our old gym maxed out at 15 hours (and just a couple of years ago, it was 12 hours). Maybe some gymnasts can do fine in the upper optionals with those hours, but not at that gym. Most get stuck at L7....some move on to L8 but they are not competitive with the better gyms in the state.

 

[Lynn]

Until this summer, our optionals worked out about 20 hrs a week. Level 7-9 with our next level down from there level 4 at 16 hrs. Beginning this summer, new level 6/7's will work out 20 and former level 7's and up will go 25.

 

[cbifoja]

Our optional levels are pretty standard compared to other programs represented here on CB. When we competed Excel, they really didn't have what I would call a low amount of hours either. I think they trained maybe 3 hours less than what the L7s did.

I think this will be a hard question to answer because there are so many factors that would come into play like age, natural ability, efficiency of training, available equipment, overall fitness of the gymnast, etc.

 

[Quadqueen]

It is true that more efficient coaches/gyms can get a lot more done in fewer hours. However, at some point, there is a limit to how much a kid can advance with a lower number of hours and more difficult skills required for L8+.

 

[paige]

My just turned 8 year old daughter was just told she is moving to Excel, 12 hours. Our level 6 and 7's do 14 hours.
I'm really having a hard time understanding what Excel even is?

I always wonder how my daughter will balance so many hours with school, friends and everything else...

 

[profmom]

There's a gym near us with L8-10 USAG girls who practice about 15 hours a week. Their optional girls tend to be older than DD and her teammates, most likely because it takes them longer to get there with fewer hours per week.

 

[gracyomalley]

Our optionals practice 16-20 hours a week, with a few kids doing a bit less. Our team gets them to L10 this way, but I will say that there is little time for polish/dance/extra conditioning, etc even at 16-20 hours. The kids doing less clearly are stalling out about L7/L8....however, some of them are doing less BECAUSE they were stalling out ...and we have no excel option, so less keeps them in it longer. DD definitely need 20 hours to keep progressing at this point (L8) but she's not a "get it quick" kind of gymnast...

 

[LJL07]

Our gym also maxes out at 15/hrs week for the optional level girls

 

[vagymmomma]

Not sure what minimal hours are in your mind. Our L7s/L8s do 15 hours a week. Our L9s/10s do 18.5. We had a national champion on 2 events last year at L9 and a L8 that won AA regionals. It's probably not ideal, but it works well for the older girls who want to do HS gymnastics as well. Good coaching is critical with reduced hours.

 

[aerials]

Yes, we had one level 7/8 going 12 hours a week. The gym wanted her to go one more day but she refused because she was also doing volleyball and was only 13 years old. Now she is a level 9, maybe 10 next year, and is going the full optional schedule. She did by pure talent. I'm not sure other girls could of done this.

 

[Bajanswife]

My DD trained 10 hours/week as a Level 6 this past season. She only competed once, in our home meet, and didn't do too badly - AA score was over 35. She was very new to some of the skills as well - it's not like she was repeating or experienced in that level. It can be done. Just like anything in life, some people can pick up certain skills more quickly than others. DD could have been much better (especially in her form) if she had trained for the 16 hours/week that she was supposed to train, but it just couldn't happen this year. I would think that Level 8 and up would be much harder to do with only 9/10 hours per week.

 

[Kcanflip]

For the kids like mine that most likely won't pursue even the college path, I think it's good to know there can be an alternate route that doesn't involve 20+ hours a week. I really don't know how non home schooled kids do it all while keeping school and homework a priority as well as family time, friends, etc.

 

[MeetDirector]

Doing upper level optional gymnastics well requires a serious level of dedication, to the exclusion of most other non-academic pursuits. Our Lvl 7-10 team trains 24 hours a week during the season and adds about 4 hours a week to that during the summer for conditioning and dance. I can say with almost certainty that all of the girls are in the upper 10% of thier respective academic classes and only a few are home-schooled. Several go to very intense, high-level college prep high schools and do very well. It's all about prioritizing and time management.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

At our gym, L7/8 do 20 hours. L8s have the option of doing 25, which is what our L9 and nationals /pre-nationals do.

We have a "specialist" category (new this year) for L7 age 14+, where they can train and compete 2 events for 6 hours. About 6 girls opted for it.... All 16+. Definitely an option to keep them in the sport.

 

[iwannacoach]

.....I think this will be a hard question to answer because there are so many factors that would come into play like age, natural ability, efficiency of training, available equipment, overall fitness of the gymnast, etc.

Geography is another thing to factor into the answer. Some states, and at least one region, post "slightly" lower scores from the bottom on up to the few outstanding gymnasts at the top who are able to do kinda ok outside the region. So 15 hours combined with the right coach and training setting might be enough to compete on or above par with the rest of the state or region.

I guess you could say everything is relative, but if a kid wants to make it past regionals at level 10 the 15 hour week will only work if they get one of those spots because there was no one else to take it from them.

 

[BlairBob]

A fellow colleague told me she trained 8 hours in HS at L8 while competing in HS gymnastics. So there are probably some Xcel gymnasts who can do that who may be multisport or doing sports simultaneously.

Exception rather than the rule.