Tumbling and Trampoline question

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DD competed at a big invitational in the spring that had several things going on at once and tumbling and trampline was set up right next to her meet. She was amazed and totally in awe. I had never seen this sport live either and it was really amazing. Her gym does not have T&T and I told her sorry no more driving or time for us.

Well this week I was driving and saw that I new trampoline and tumbling gym has just opened close to our house. What are the chances of that? I checked it out online and it's not a gymnastics place, just tramp and tumbling. It's been open a few months already according to the website and has a team. I'm guessing this is probably a coach that left a gym and took athletes with him since there would not have been time to develop a team in a few months.

So DD is interested in going and taking a class and I'm undecided. Would her gymnastics coaches care? I know nothing about T&T. I would not want to take her somewhere that they teach something differently and it negatively impact her gymnastics wise. I know there was a girl on our team at DD's old gym that was a cheerleader and had a high level of tumbling ability, but she was just throwing the skills and they were a mess. The coaches told her mother she needed to quit cheer.

I feel like DD is so young at 6 for me to say she can't do something because of gymnastics. I would like her to have the choice of what she wants to do.
 
I don't see anything wrong with doing both, especially if they are coached well. I know gymnasts that do both, but it is at the same gym, with either the same coaches or coaches that teach the tumbling the same. Not sure if technique for the tumbling is different though. And I would think you would need to ask your DDs coaches their opinion. Your DD is young and being taught to tumble 2 different ways could be confusing.

I think the only issue I would have at your daughters age is that it would be ON TOP of what she is already doing. And unless she is at a gym that does minimal hours (like 6 hours a week), I would think it would be too much. Kids need time to be kids! Too much structured time (in school all day, then all these activities one after the other after school), when can they JUST be a kid?! I mean, she probably already does gym 3 days a week (maybe 4 since I remember you are in a state that seems to do everything big, even practice times!), doing TnT will probably add at least one day a week, though I know our lower level TnT kids do 2 days a week, less hours per day, but still!

And I am all for kids being able to make choices and don't think they should miss out on normal childhood things because of gym (birthday parties, slumber parties, family vacations, etc), but if they want to do gym, they probably can't do everything. So in my house, she could choose to do gym OR TnT, but not both, especially not at a highly competitive level. We have a TnT team at my DDs gym and she gets to train with the TnT coach sometimes. She has said how fun it would be to do compete TnT, but I told her she can't do both. She chooses gymnastics for now. She loves vault, bars and beam too much to just do tumbling and flips. :) She made her choice. :)

Keep in mind, this opinion comes from a parent that things that our kids lives today tend to be over scheduled and that they don't have enough downtime. Lots of people see an advantage to having kids busy every minute of their lives and I am sure you will get that side from them, too. :) I also have another kid to consider and she shouldn't have her whole life revolving around getting her sister a million other activities. Gym takes up so much of my time, just getting her to and from and my youngest gets tired of it. LOL. I don't blame her. ;)
 
Hmm, really depends on the individual situation. I know people who have done both, at different gyms with different coaches. But some coaches/gyms probably would care and might flat out say you can't, or it would become one of those issues of resentment or whatever.

One girl I know did it until she was mobilizing elite in tumbling and looking at L10 artistic...she's since focused on artistic. I have seen a couple people make these choices later on in high school, due to the opportunities in artistic at the college level. And some who have gone the other way and left artistic to specialize in tramp or tumbling.

It is a very different world than cheer tumbling overall. Strong ties to gymnastics, slower progressions with end skills and combinations that are more "gymnastics" than cheer. It is really an extension of gymnastics tumbling skills. Much more like gymnastics. But some coaches won't like any outside activities too close to gymnastics, particularly at the higher levels. In level 5, they may let it go, but may tell you later on she has to choose (though in a lot of situations this could apply to any sport). For example, a lot of gyms don't like girls to participate in high school gymnastics. Few encourage it, most discourage it, and many outright don't allow it, in my experience. On the other hand the coaching in club tramp and tumbling is generally much higher quality than HS gym, so I have seen at least one gym that didn't allow HS but let a girl do tramp/tumbling in another program.

So, to move forward on this, I would contact the tumbling program, and talk to your daughter's coaches and see what they think. You may want to get some info on the program first without committing, before you talk to the artistic coaches, just so you can present it right. I wouldn't take your daughter for any tryout until you talk to the coaches, although stopping by to just look in or talk to the people at the tumbling gym would be all right.
 
We have both at our gym and it's definitley possible to take a T&T class and be on the gymnastics competitive team- virtually impossible to be on both teams- not one kid at the gym does it. Teams for both have meets and never at the same place at the same time. And the training hours would be virtually impossible trying to get enough in for both teams.

Since she is so young and just starting out I am sure your gym will have no problem with her taking a class there- heck she may just end up liking T&T better it looks like a lot of fun!
 
I was definitely not talking about DD doing competitive T&T! We do not have the time or the money to do 2 competitive sports. I was thinking more of a one hour class for strictly fun and just for the summer. I don't like to overschedule either, mostly because it makes me tired. I do like to expose her to many things though, especially during the summer when we have lots of free time. I want her to grow up feeling like she had the chance to try many things. She knows she can't do everything and has to make choices. Gymnastics is so time consuming from a very young age that I don't want her to wake-up one day when she's 10 and feel like she's missed out. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, she hasn't really wanted to do anything else. It's usually me pushing her to try something new. So far she's done Tball (too hot she said), skating (too cold she said) and gymnastics (perfect temperature I guess!).

After I posted that I actually called to get some info on classes because they don't have that info on their website. I talked to the owner and coach and he said if DD can already tumble that the only thing they could offer would be team. Their rec classes are for complete beginners. And they don't have seperate trampoline classes, which is what DD was really interested in. The classes are combination. He said the lower levels of T&T team only practice 3 hours per week, 1.5 hours 2 days per week. He told me he used to coach gymnastics and tumbling wise she would probably be on par with his Level 5 tumblers working towards level 6 for next competitive season starting next January. Though she would be a beginner on trampoline and double mini, he said most gymnasts can pick that up pretty quickly. So basically there is nothing but team which I'm not interested in. He said if she wanted to come try a little in the summer to give them a call back. He asked what gym she went to and he knows her coach and they used to coach together he said.
 
After I posted that I actually called to get some info on classes because they don't have that info on their website. I talked to the owner and coach and he said if DD can already tumble that the only thing they could offer would be team. Their rec classes are for complete beginners. And they don't have seperate trampoline classes, which is what DD was really interested in. The classes are combination. He said the lower levels of T&T team only practice 3 hours per week, 1.5 hours 2 days per week. He told me he used to coach gymnastics and tumbling wise she would probably be on par with his Level 5 tumblers working towards level 6 for next competitive season starting next January. Though she would be a beginner on trampoline and double mini, he said most gymnasts can pick that up pretty quickly. So basically there is nothing but team which I'm not interested in. He said if she wanted to come try a little in the summer to give them a call back. He asked what gym she went to and he knows her coach and they used to coach together he said.

Sounds like fun actually. I would say you can't commit to team now but she would like to learn the fundamentals of the sport, and since she is too advanced for the classes could she sign up for one day a week of team practices. If they are trying to a build a team and just get kids in the gym, chances are they could be accomodating to such a request. As a coach I prefer to have a couple of kids to one or two kids, it's more fun for the kids I think and I just like the dynamic better (gives a little break, they don't feel so much pressure). Additionally it would be nice to have some kids with experience working on harder combinations so beginners and parents of beginners can see the possibilities. So if I were in that position I would probably welcome a kid who wanted to start but not go all the way yet.

Plus, even if she doesn't start competing now, if she learns the fundamental skills and combinations, there is a chance tumbling could be her strength and in the future she would look to compete it (as an older kid). So if I were a tumbling coach I'd be keeping that in mind. If he said she could try some in the summer it sounds like he probably would let you sign up for one day of team classes. 1.5 hours a week doesn't sound bad, sounds like it will be pretty laid back so maybe she'll think of it as more of a fun outlet than practice.
 
Personally, I don't know if I could ever commit to more running time for any of my kids at this point. But, I do know of two gymmies who do both competitive gym and Competitive T & T. Both of these girls are AWESOME gymnasts!
One is at DD's previous gym. This kid started late and is a 12 yo level 5/6, but she just Won 1st place at states and won by a landslide! Her tumbling is impeccable. The other is at DD's new gym and ironically trains T & T with the other girl I just mentioned. Again, This gymmie has the cleanest tumbling I have ever seen. She is a 9 yo and will skip level 6 and move to level 7 artistic. She also posted a very high AA at level 5 state; I believe she placed 4th or 5th. Both parents speak very positively about doing both AG and T & T. I'm sure it isn't for everyone, but here are two who have found a way to make it work.
Both also won their perspective age and level in T & T and made it to Nationals! I don't comment to DD about all of this in fear that she will ask me to try, and I too could never negate her the opportunity. But I fear going insane if any of my kids want to do anymore! I fear, seriously that one day I will forget to pick one up and I get a phone call, " Mom, where are YOU?!"
 

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