Hi Everyone,
In light of the many threads inquiring whether or not to skip levels, I wanted to share my daughter's story. Her gymnastics "career" has been very difficult. I'd like to share where she started and the decisions that were made in her progression. If I could turn back time I would have made VERY different decisions for her.
August 2006 - (Gym A) Started gymnastics 1 month before her 5th birthday.
September 2006 - Invited to Invite Only Class - we let her do it and it was too much and by...
April 2007 - she started crying and not wanting to go to gym. I thought the problem was the gym and really didn't talk to her coach, the director or anyone, I just pulled her out and put her in a developmental program at a neighboring gym.
April - June 2007 - (Gym B) Stayed in same developmental level but was told she would move to level 3 in September (rest of team moved in June, but she was new and this was perfectly understandable). In September they moved her buddy and not her. She was regularly being screamed at by one coach and the other coach would say very negative things to her. She was 5.
May 2008 - Moved to third gym. (Gym C) By June she had learned a ton of skills so instead of staying in the developmental program she could go to level 4, she didn't have all her skills, but she only needed a few skills and competition season was a whole 6 months away so I figured, "why not, she'll get those few skills by then. I had KNOW idea how long it can take a kid to learn a FEW SKILLS... Heck I didn't even know what a FEW SKILLS was.
Here are the skills she did NOT have for level 4:
Vault - no amplitude, no run, no punch piked where feet were level of her eyes - no kidding
Bars - shoot though, mill circle, glide was crummy, underswing dismount, Front hip circle.
Beam - pretty good, but leaps were reeeeeaaaaaalllllyyyyy tiny.
Floor - Back hollow roll, ROBHS, Heck, she didn't even have a good RO.
I'm sure there are skills I'm forgetting, but clearly she was NOT ready.
Had a terrible level 4 season; her and 1 other kid on team didn't qualify for states. Other kid was on vacation for states, My DD went to cheer on her team, but it was really hard. By the end of level 4 season she still did not have her vault, mill circle, underswing dismount, leaps on beam still reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy tiny; still didn't have back hollow roll, ROBHS (she could pull it off, but it was SCARY BAD). I chose to have her repeat level 4, her coach agreed.
June 2009 - All set to repeat level 4, same coach says "No, have her stay with the 5's over the summer and we'll see where she's at in September." September came and they we were STRONGLY DISCOURAGED to let her go back to 4 even though she was still missing some level 4 skills.
Fall 2009 - Now the fear sets in; Balked cartwheel on beam for 2-3 months; ROBHSBHS - HORRIBLE; FHS - Never got it the whole season, Dive roll - Kinda scary, back ext roll - barely; Vault - Just got worse and worse; baby steps - not going over the table; Just horrible; Got kip on bars; but no connections, no amp on tap swings; her body language screamed FEAR and a total lack of confidence. She no longer pointed her toes; just always looked defeated.
Scores in the 7's & 8's with occasional 9's on beam; Vault 5-7 (with spots for most of season); Came in dead last regularly in meets. Always dead last on vault.
Awards in Level 4, 1 - 9th place on Beam; Level 5, 1 - 6th place on Beam & 1 - 13th AA.
Due to coaching issues that will not be aired publicly repeating level 5 at the same gym was NOT an option so it was on to level 6 She got hurt doing a fly away on bars; skills got worse instead of better over the summer. FEAR became all encompassing. Me - "How was gymnastics?" DD - "SCARY." It was the same answer every day. She started to develop fears of other things, like fireworks, thunder, getting her face in the water while swimming, anything new. By August we were more than done. Clearly, we wanted her to quit gymnastics - but she became hysterical when we brought it up.
We've now come FULL CIRCLE & are back at (Gym A). Along with going back to GYM A; I enrolled her in private swimming lessons to help her with her new fear of water. I also enrolled her in dance in the fall so that she now had other activities in her life so she wouldn't feel like gymnastics is all that she has.
In 2.5 months, she and her wonderful new coaches have corrected her balking issue on vault - her vault will still not gain her any high scores, but she is running the whole way punching and vaulting. This took many, many vaults and taking the table out of equation for awhile before bringing it back in. Oh and get this, they do mental training at her new gym. It is amazing to see what happens when a child is helped through their fears rather than ignoring them.
She is now doing a lovely ROBHSBHS. She is doing a lovely FHS. Bars, she is fixing her bent arms on her kips, but mostly is getting the conditioning and strength she needs for that event. She's SKINNY.
The transition to the new gym has been very difficult. She went from not doing much work to working very, very hard. She has wanted to quit, but decided to stick it out until the end of the Level 5 season. I wish she didn't have to go through so much at such a young age.
Many of you may think, we made a LOT of bad decisions and we did. But, we thought we were making the best decisions for her at the time.
My point is that if you rush them when they are not ready you will do emotional, psychological, and possibly physical damage. It is just NOT WORTH IT.
On a happier note; she is no longer afraid of water and is a level 3/4 swimmer. LOVES swimming. Has all strokes but butterfly. She's still afraid of fireworks.
In light of the many threads inquiring whether or not to skip levels, I wanted to share my daughter's story. Her gymnastics "career" has been very difficult. I'd like to share where she started and the decisions that were made in her progression. If I could turn back time I would have made VERY different decisions for her.
August 2006 - (Gym A) Started gymnastics 1 month before her 5th birthday.
September 2006 - Invited to Invite Only Class - we let her do it and it was too much and by...
April 2007 - she started crying and not wanting to go to gym. I thought the problem was the gym and really didn't talk to her coach, the director or anyone, I just pulled her out and put her in a developmental program at a neighboring gym.
April - June 2007 - (Gym B) Stayed in same developmental level but was told she would move to level 3 in September (rest of team moved in June, but she was new and this was perfectly understandable). In September they moved her buddy and not her. She was regularly being screamed at by one coach and the other coach would say very negative things to her. She was 5.
May 2008 - Moved to third gym. (Gym C) By June she had learned a ton of skills so instead of staying in the developmental program she could go to level 4, she didn't have all her skills, but she only needed a few skills and competition season was a whole 6 months away so I figured, "why not, she'll get those few skills by then. I had KNOW idea how long it can take a kid to learn a FEW SKILLS... Heck I didn't even know what a FEW SKILLS was.
Here are the skills she did NOT have for level 4:
Vault - no amplitude, no run, no punch piked where feet were level of her eyes - no kidding
Bars - shoot though, mill circle, glide was crummy, underswing dismount, Front hip circle.
Beam - pretty good, but leaps were reeeeeaaaaaalllllyyyyy tiny.
Floor - Back hollow roll, ROBHS, Heck, she didn't even have a good RO.
I'm sure there are skills I'm forgetting, but clearly she was NOT ready.
Had a terrible level 4 season; her and 1 other kid on team didn't qualify for states. Other kid was on vacation for states, My DD went to cheer on her team, but it was really hard. By the end of level 4 season she still did not have her vault, mill circle, underswing dismount, leaps on beam still reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy tiny; still didn't have back hollow roll, ROBHS (she could pull it off, but it was SCARY BAD). I chose to have her repeat level 4, her coach agreed.
June 2009 - All set to repeat level 4, same coach says "No, have her stay with the 5's over the summer and we'll see where she's at in September." September came and they we were STRONGLY DISCOURAGED to let her go back to 4 even though she was still missing some level 4 skills.
Fall 2009 - Now the fear sets in; Balked cartwheel on beam for 2-3 months; ROBHSBHS - HORRIBLE; FHS - Never got it the whole season, Dive roll - Kinda scary, back ext roll - barely; Vault - Just got worse and worse; baby steps - not going over the table; Just horrible; Got kip on bars; but no connections, no amp on tap swings; her body language screamed FEAR and a total lack of confidence. She no longer pointed her toes; just always looked defeated.
Scores in the 7's & 8's with occasional 9's on beam; Vault 5-7 (with spots for most of season); Came in dead last regularly in meets. Always dead last on vault.
Awards in Level 4, 1 - 9th place on Beam; Level 5, 1 - 6th place on Beam & 1 - 13th AA.
Due to coaching issues that will not be aired publicly repeating level 5 at the same gym was NOT an option so it was on to level 6 She got hurt doing a fly away on bars; skills got worse instead of better over the summer. FEAR became all encompassing. Me - "How was gymnastics?" DD - "SCARY." It was the same answer every day. She started to develop fears of other things, like fireworks, thunder, getting her face in the water while swimming, anything new. By August we were more than done. Clearly, we wanted her to quit gymnastics - but she became hysterical when we brought it up.
We've now come FULL CIRCLE & are back at (Gym A). Along with going back to GYM A; I enrolled her in private swimming lessons to help her with her new fear of water. I also enrolled her in dance in the fall so that she now had other activities in her life so she wouldn't feel like gymnastics is all that she has.
In 2.5 months, she and her wonderful new coaches have corrected her balking issue on vault - her vault will still not gain her any high scores, but she is running the whole way punching and vaulting. This took many, many vaults and taking the table out of equation for awhile before bringing it back in. Oh and get this, they do mental training at her new gym. It is amazing to see what happens when a child is helped through their fears rather than ignoring them.
She is now doing a lovely ROBHSBHS. She is doing a lovely FHS. Bars, she is fixing her bent arms on her kips, but mostly is getting the conditioning and strength she needs for that event. She's SKINNY.
The transition to the new gym has been very difficult. She went from not doing much work to working very, very hard. She has wanted to quit, but decided to stick it out until the end of the Level 5 season. I wish she didn't have to go through so much at such a young age.
Many of you may think, we made a LOT of bad decisions and we did. But, we thought we were making the best decisions for her at the time.
My point is that if you rush them when they are not ready you will do emotional, psychological, and possibly physical damage. It is just NOT WORTH IT.
On a happier note; she is no longer afraid of water and is a level 3/4 swimmer. LOVES swimming. Has all strokes but butterfly. She's still afraid of fireworks.
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