Typical Progress levels

[xxStumpyxx]

Typically how much progress should there be for gymnastics who train 3 days a week.
My daughter is 9 and trains 3 days a week in at a Country Recreational Grade level, she has been in her group for around 11 months and in development for 2 1/2 years.

My daughter is in a group with 7 other girls around her age, they do a lot of conditioning (which I would imagine is a big plus), progress has been made in strength over the time she has been with her coach, progress has been made on beam, forwards rolls, cartwheels, working back walkovers (seems all good there). The rarely do vault, they do wooden bars (straddle undershorts, back hip circles, they did do squat on bars when they joined the group 11 months ago, but since adding new girls to the group 5 months ago they stopped working in them. They don't do floor very often and the highest skill is a round off.

How much progress do these lower level groups usually make over a year? Is working on front or back handspring dills or walkovers too much to expect at their level, is working floor once a week too much to expect? They used to do floor basics, but they haven't done that in a while.

 

[Gymbee06]

I don't know about typical or usual progress I will say my dd was 8 training 15 hours a week when she got her back flic but they always did every piece every session it was lots and lots of drills and she didn't really work on it much between 6 and 8 when she did get it they had been working on them a couple if weeks I will add that she was the youngest and smallest at her gym

 

[Gymbee06]

I will also add that we have recently moved gyms and dropped from 5 days to 3 days a week total of 9 hours she is making much more progress in the gym with less hours as for vault previous gyms coaching vault consisted of run faster new gym have spent months going right back to basics and drills

 

[xxStumpyxx]

I will also add that we have recently moved gyms and dropped from 5 days to 3 days a week total of 9 hours she is making much more progress in the gym with less hours as for vault previous gyms coaching vault consisted of run faster new gym have spent months going right back to basics and drills

Sounds like a great move, I agree with basics, you need good strong basic skills. I understand that you cannot rush things and you need a lot of conditioning to reduce and try and prevent injury. With drills you can see where things are going, there seems no forward progress in my daughters group, they don't work seem progress drills, or if they do they are very very slow at it. Space is an issue at my daughters gym, floor time is hard to come by.

I was asking about progress as I don't want to expect too much, my daughter turns 10 this year and joined a two day development group the year she turned 7, moving to three days last April along with a few other girls, groups were shuffled around again and my daughter and two other girls remained and were joined by 5 new girls (October last year from rec and other groups, meaning they needed to catch up, they have now done so while my daughter and two original team mates made no progress skill wise). Is this normal to hold others back for 5 months?

 

[gymdog]

What are th skills for the grade she's on and when do the tests or competitions end? I would assume they will learn new skills more so than the routines they're currently one when they move up or in the time between the seasons. So if back handspring isn't on their level, they will probably focus in perfecting the skills of their level. A roundoff may seem simple but many movie gymnasts are not performing them perfectly or even competently.

If your daughter isn't making progress skill wise she likely wasn't ready for the skills that she was working on before and was probably grouped with these girls because right now her gymnastics skills and abilities are closer to theirs than the next group. Just having more experience doesn't necessarily mean those girls didn't have a similar ability level. Everyone has different natural strength, flexibility, and coordination levels so for some it might take longer to progress through levels but with training and effort they WILL improve. In these situations, you will typically see the new girls "catch up" because ability wise they are similar and might have to learn a few techniques, but typically will be ready for what the group is doing without too much effort.

The fact that the coach is focusing on strength and flexibility above skills now suggests to me that area needs to be improved before safely or effectively working on more skills. This is common prior to learning novice intermediate skills like a roundoff back handspring. They may be strong enough to do a back walkover, and may be strong enough to throw a back handspring but if their core is not strong, etc over time they will develop injuries with that kind of tumbling. So it's not really unusual to see that kids will have a roundoff and walkover and for a year will seem to not learn much new in tumbling while preparing for handsprings. In the U.S., this is typically the preteam or level 2 year before level 3. Most kids enter that year already having walkovers and roundoffs, but may not learn much more until the summer before level 3. This is because the skills and strength need to be refined first.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

What are th skills for the grade she's on and when do the tests or competitions end? I would assume they will learn new skills more so than the routines they're currently one when they move up or in the time between the seasons. So if back handspring isn't on their level, they will probably focus in perfecting the skills of their level. A roundoff may seem simple but many movie gymnasts are not performing them perfectly or even competently.

If your daughter isn't making progress skill wise she likely wasn't ready for the skills that she was working on before and was probably grouped with these girls because right now her gymnastics skills and abilities are closer to theirs than the next group. Just having more experience doesn't necessarily mean those girls didn't have a similar ability level. Everyone has different natural strength, flexibility, and coordination levels so for some it might take longer to progress through levels but with training and effort they WILL improve. In these situations, you will typically see the new girls "catch up" because ability wise they are similar and might have to learn a few techniques, but typically will be ready for what the group is doing without too much effort.

The fact that the coach is focusing on strength and flexibility above skills now suggests to me that area needs to be improved before safely or effectively working on more skills. This is common prior to learning novice intermediate skills like a roundoff back handspring. They may be strong enough to do a back walkover, and may be strong enough to throw a back handspring but if their core is not strong, etc over time they will develop injuries with that kind of tumbling. So it's not really unusual to see that kids will have a roundoff and walkover and for a year will seem to not learn much new in tumbling while preparing for handsprings. In the U.S., this is typically the preteam or level 2 year before level 3. Most kids enter that year already having walkovers and roundoffs, but may not learn much more until the summer before level 3. This is because the skills and strength need to be refined first.

Thank you, you make pefect sense, I am glad to hear she is on the right track and it sounds like she is getting good foundations which is very important. My daughter is more than likely the equivelant of a USA level 2/3