Parents What age does the ups and downs start?

[NGL780309]

I was reading another thread about dealing with the ups and downs of gymnastics and wanted to start a new thread as not to hijack that one.

I'm really curious what age did you start to see kids having ups and downs? We haven't experienced it yet and I'm wondering if DD is just too young to have reached that point yet. Just to be clear, she absolutely has days where she is a little off. She won't make any vaults and you can tell she's just going through the motions. She's had trouble doing her ROBHSBHS lately. She is never down though. She acts like it doesn't bother her in the least. She runs to the next event with childlike glee despite whatever just happenned on the previous event. She bounces out at the end of the night and is always happy.

Her teammates will have bad nights and cry. They get frustrated and scared. I'm thinkng either a) DD is too young to let it bother her yet b) she has a super positive personality or c) she doesn't really care.

She's my oldest so I didn't know if this was something that hits at a certain age or what. The other moms will come in and tell me that their child is having an emotional day and I just haven't seen it from DD yet. I do have to say that I'm a very positive, laidback person who isn't prone to bad days. Maybe I passed one good thing on!

 

[flipper's fan]

At 7 there started to be some agitation about interpersonal stuff and sleeping and crying on the way home. Age 8 was a real challenge, although again it was all about interpersonal stuff. At 9 the interpersonal stuff waned and the performance related stuff started to pick up. Now, age 11/12 not hardly any interpersonal, only performance realted ups and downs.

 

[MaryA]

My daughter is 9 and we're just starting to have some fear issues. Up until recently, she was fearless. Some of it may just be that she is truly doing scarrier stuff, but really, she's developed some fear of the vault that she didn't have even this summer, and that's without having any vault-related injuries or anything.

 

[MdGymMom01]

For my dd her "ups and downs" started at age 8. This was the year that fear and doubt started to set in. When she was 9 and 10 the interpersonal stuff started to come to a head (bullying by other teammates and lack of self-esteem issues that was probably fueled by the fear and the bullying--all such a vicous cycle). Now that she is 11 she has grown stronger (mentally, emotionally and physically) and handles the social situations and moments of lack of motivation a lot better than when she was younger. She still has her off days, and the hormones and moodiness do show up every so often, but she usually handles it well enough. In other words, she snaps out of her cranky mood pretty quickly .

 

[bogwoppit]

Really when they started competing, so around 9, as that is also when they understood that they needed certain skills for certain times. It is pressure. I just try hard to stay out of it, but it isn't easy.

My youngest, 11, is going through it now. She has her first meet in three weeks and has gone up a level. SOme of her skills that she has had for years are giving her trouble and she hates beam after being a star in it last year. He tumbling is all of a sudden driving her nuts and she says she has lost her bounce, last year she was the provincial champ in tumbling????

Ups and downs are common, but a lot depends on the kid and the coaching style.

 

[Megley]

I agree with Bog - right around the time they start competing. Of course it probably depends on the child, but mine is a perfectionist who expects a lot from herself. I didn't notice it as much at age 6 when she was a Level 4, but definitely at age 7 and Level 5. We are going through a bit of it now with needing some big bar skills for Level 7 and feeling the pressure of the first meet coming up.

 

[lilgymmie7]

Ups and downs are common, but a lot depends on the kid and the coaching style.

I find this is very true. Some kids will probably never have serious ups and downs. Their personalities are not prone to that. They tend to let things role off especially if the coaches and parents are there as support systems. I hope younger DD will be like this. I see this kid do so much in the gym and at school that she just basically figures out on her own. I am a teacher, but because she is my last, I feel I have somehow neglected her. Yet she is reading and writing coherently. As a 6 yo, she has better penmanship than I do! Where did this come from? I did not enforce this neither did her teachers.
Older DD however started her ups and downs by age 11. Eventually a year later she was down way to long and I had to pull her from the sport. I valued sanity more than I did gymnastics at this time for this child. I don't know if I did the right thing however.
Gymnasts will have ups and downs for the most part. I do find however like Bog said it depends on the kid and their coaches. Some parents only add to the downs however. I may have been one with older DD because I wasn't always there for her. I also valued the coaches words more than my own child. I won't make this same mistake again. I hope I haven't gone off on a tangent.

 

[gymnut1]

I think they mostly start around 8. When they start isn't so important as how they are dealt with.

 

[Ingwe]

For my dd it started last year at age 10 and level 7. It was mainly related to getting those big bar skills. There wasn't much crying, but a lot of frustration. This year it's the L8 vault that is causing angst. She goes from having a great week in practice to melting down about it. I never know what to expect when she walks in the door.

 

[MdGymMom01]

I think they mostly start around 8. When they start isn't so important as how they are dealt with.

Exactly!!! With my dd, slow and steady is the key, and also focussing on her strengths and showcasing those, while still working on the "fear" skills a little every practice. She needs lots of repetition and a variety of drills that reinforce the skills. And also, there needs to be some "letting go" and just letting her have fun with what she does. Some kids will never be elite or even get past Level 5 or 6, and that's still ok.

 

[cathiann]

Beth didn't really start until level 7--age 10 or 11. Before that she'd just shrug things off and move on. Maybe it's the coaches too--she got the Optional coaches at level 7 and they stress perfection more!

 

[Kiwi]

My DD has a perfectionistic streak and gets very down on herself if she can't do something. I think she has always had it but she is 7 now and it is becoming more evident as she gets older. I try to combat this with heaps of praise and encouragement. I don't think pulling her out of gym would be the answer as life will always have challenges and I'd like her to learn how to handle them effectively. In that way I think gym will be teaching her valuable life skills.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

My daughter has had ups and downs pretty much all along but this year has been the worst she is 10. I think they feel more pressure and skills get harder. She has also had many ups and downs with girls she has gotten close to who have left the gym. If your daughter is fine I would not worry. The best advice I could give is when she is do see if it will pass it usually does if they really like the sport. I think gymnastics is a tough sport but girls who really love it are very passionate about it I think that accounts for a lot of the ups and downs.

 

[Granny Smith]

I'm the one that wrote about my dd having a block with twisting and it has taken 2.5 yrs for her to get over it.

It is not a fear, she clearly was trying to do it (until coaches stopped her for safety reasons). The coaches stripped down all back stumbling and started over. She was 11 when is started and she had just finished Level 7 and was training 8 at the time. I think for my dd it was her own personal pressure that she placed on herself. Like others have said, she also is a perfectionist and needs to be in control. She was just coming off of her Level 7 season where she had just earned the AA State Title and I think she did herself in with her own personal pressure.

Like gymnut said, it's how they deal with it. Coaches saw the problem and obviously dd knew there was a problem. By stripping the back tumbling, she had no pressure. They (coaches) slowly added the RO, to the RO-BHS then the RO-BHS-BT then BLO. This was major because her problem had spilled over to her BLO. She would try to do a BLO and she did this crazy arabian looking thing. It purely became a safety issue.

He first yr at L8, she did absolutely no twisting, but she more than made up for it with other tumbling passes. She placed 1st several times on floor even without the twisting, but I do think she got dinged for it at States even though she had 2 double salto passes.

She ended up doing a 2nd yr of 8 and by this time she had a half, still no full, but she did a half-punch front. She was planning to add the full into her routine when she fell and broke her foot and was out the remainder of the season.

Now at the age of 14 she is heading into her 1st yr of 9 and she can easily do a half-punch pike (bonus), a full and just last night she was so excited because she did a 1.5 from a power hurdle. She is hoping to compete a 1.5-punch pike in her routine. I'll also throw out there that she is pretty close on the front full too, so she has really come full circle with both directions of twisting.

You never know what skill it's going to be that gets your gymmie, but I can not stress what gymnut said, it's all about how you deal with it that makes the difference.

 

[LizzieLac]

Like others have said, she also is a perfectionist and needs to be in control. She was just coming off of her Level 7 season where she had just earned the AA State Title and I think she did herself in with her own personal pressure.


You never know what skill it's going to be that gets your gymmie, but I can not stress what gymnut said, it's all about how you deal with it that makes the difference.

I think this is the key - the perfectionist personality and the pressure the gymmie puts on herself.

My DD competed Prep Opt last year - it was her first competing at all as a 9 year old, coming from rec classes and only one in-house competition. She had a great year, always scored well, almost always placed well, and won AA at States. We had no real ups and downs - but I think that is because of the "ignorance is bliss" aspect (I mentioned this in the other thread).

Now, she is 10 and understands the sport much better, knows what is expected, sees that not everything will come easy. She wants to have a good season as she did last year AND she has always been hard on herself. Has always had high expectations of herself in school, even at age 5! The difference is these "ups and downs" really kicked in this year becuase she is now feeling the pressure of performing well.

 

[Galadriel]

totally agree with above post, and the more my dd acheives the more she feels the pressure! her coach says that doing well should give her more confidence to perform better the next time, but it seems to make her more nervous!!

 

[MdGymMom01]

totally agree with above post, and the more my dd acheives the more she feels the pressure! her coach says that doing well should give her more confidence to perform better the next time, but it seems to make her more nervous!!

Ahhhh, yes--the fear of success...

Here is a good article I found on this:

The Fear of Success - Sports Psychology Coaching Article by Bill Cole

 

[NGL780309]

So basically it's coming soon.


After I wrote this post yesterday, DD has a terrible night at gym. Probably the worst night she's ever had. On floor she has been doing RO 2 BHS fine for months. Then last week her 2nd BHS started looking more like a whipback. Her one BHS had been still fine. Well last night she did a really bad 1st BHS and landed on her face. I was freaking out. I was the one who was scared. She just got up and they spotted her on few standing BHS and showed her what she was doing wrong. She went 2 more times after that and was still struggling a bit. It's like she is jumping up rather than back all of the sudden and her BHS looks more like an whipback. Her hands weren't even touching the ground. She doesn't have gym again until Monday and she's totally fine, meanwhile I'm the one who's afraid. I didn't mention it to her. I just asked her how practice was and she was like "Did you see my really weird BHS?". She has a carpet burn on her nose from landing on her face, but she was excited because she looks like rudolph. She has never had any problems with her ROBHS and then now this weirdness. I think I might hate this sport!

 

[bogwoppit]

Which is why, now dd is older, I rarely watch. Seeing some of the stuff that happens at gym would either bore me silly or scare me silly! Also I don't have to see her bad days, of course I don't see her good days either, but we are both happier this way.

I think I would be happier if she did gym and didn't compete. Less stress all around. She could still have lovely leo's and pretty hair though.

Hope the Rudolph nose heals fast!

 

[MaryA]

For her first two years in gymnastics (level 3) my DD just did O.K. Her first year, she didn't even compete all 4 events until the last meet. But she was six and cute and just happy to have been invited to the party. Her next year at level 3 she did better, getting the occasional medal, but certainly not blowing anyone out of the water. Last year she had a great level 4 season, even finishing first at states, and I know it gave her a taste for winning. And of course, as she gets older, she understands more about how it all works. She's no longer just in it for the sparkly leo, the gift bag at the end, and the ice cream sundae on the way home.

Tomorrow is her first level 5 meet and I'm thinking she probably will have to "scratch" on bars. The skills are coming, but they aren't there yet. I am anxious to see how she deals with it. I hope my snaggle-tooth (but still cute) 9-year-old will cheer her bar-competing teammates on with the same enthusiasm as her former cute 6-year-old self, but we will see. I think she has the potential to do really well on beam and floor (and maybe vault... she looks beautiful... everything straight and pointed... when she makes it over, but that doesn't always happen) and if she does place in at least one event, I think that will help.

We'll see... deep breath... fingers crossed... big "proud-mama" smile on my face no matter what happens!