Parents Story of your 6yo making team

[Pip Beans]

I would love to hear everyone’s story about their 6 year old making team. Good and bad. Did they thrive? Did they burn out? Did you have hesitations but let them try anyway?

 

[Coach Kate]

I was the 6 year old on team. Technically I started training level 4 (more comparable to current level 3) at 5 because my birthday is in August and the team invites happened late spring. I had a great experience - I did level 4 twice because I had a kip but not a strong backhandsprings, level 5, scored out of 6, 7, did 8 twice because vault was so hard for me, 9, and then 1.5 years of 10 before I quit and decided to be a pole vaulter. Not sure what you're looking to know, but overall it was great.

 

[skschlag]

My son started at 6. It was a great experience as his gym took things nice and slow. He moved up as appropriate, and is now a college gymnast

 

[rjb123]

My daughter started at five, turned six and began competing. That was 12 years ago. lol! She is still in the sport and committed to college gymnastics. It has been a long road, but she was one who just could never get enough of gym. She is still like that today. She can't get enough. That said, her entire level four team was young- ages 6-7 and Only she and one other are still at it. One is a college gymnast and then my DD. I don't think it was the age or hours though- this sport is just a lot, and its not the "fit" for every kid. Many of her former teammates moved on to successful careers in other sports- diving, track, swimming, cheer, etc, with a lot of them doing it on the D1 level.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My daughter also started preteam at 5 and competed level 2 at 6. She did one level a season and competed all of them except level 6. She's now 15 and will be competing her 3rd year of level 10. I think the slow and steady approach worked well for her and the hours increased gradually, and topped off at 22. So it all has worked out well for her. That being said, like the pp mentioned, she's the only one left from her training group/level 2/level 3 team. I think maybe there is one left from level 4/5. Her team is large because they've picked up gymnasts from other gyms/out of state, but still interesting the drop offs over the years.

 

[Dahlia]

My Dd started team (L2) at 6. She was the youngest on her team at the time. She had a blast, but really struggled with form. Part of it was age, but part was coaching issues. We moved to another gym for L3 where she improved a ton, but still needed 2 years at 3 and 4 (covid shutdowns cut short the first year of 4). She moved to xcel gold and just took off improvement wise and did one year each at gold and platinum (placing a top 3 AA at state both years) and now is diamond. If I had to do it again I would have given her one more year on preteam and I would have moved her to xcel sooner (after her first year of 4). I also would have moved gyms sooner! There are very few gymnast that were on that L2 team with her that are still in gymnastics. Same with L3 as well. It just depends on the child.

 

[CuriousCate]

I think the slow and steady approach worked well for her and the hours increased gradually, and topped off at 22. So it all has worked out well for her. That being said, like the pp mentioned, she's the only one left from her training group/level 2/level 3 team. I think maybe there is one left from level 4/5. Her team is large because they've picked up gymnasts from other gyms/out of state, but still interesting the drop offs over the years.

Our gym does a combo of Xcel levels early on and then DP levels. Both of mine competed XB at age 5, XS at age 6.

The older one then moved to level 4 at age 7, level 5 and 6 at age 8, level 7 at age 9 and was done by age 11 as a level 8/9. She was training 16 hours by 2nd grade, 20 by 3rd grade, and 23 hours (our gym's max for DP) by 4th grade. She was miserable and burnt out.

The younger one repeated two levels (one of which was solely because of a coaching shortage during COVID, but still repeated) and didn't hit 20+ hours and level 6 until 5th grade. She is still going strong at level 7/8 (still undecided). Like @mom2newgymnast said, slow and steady has worked well for her.

Building the hours and required strength and conditions gradually seems to be key to longevity for most kids we've met.