I have a girl and a boy doing gymnastics. My daughter has always been super focused and structured and has excelled in gymnastics. My son loves it but the progress is totally different and even though he is on a team path, I have no idea how long it will last or whether he will ever truly engage with it. For now he is enjoying himself and asking for more so we let him have fun.
I was actually talking to his coach about this very thing the other day. When my daughter was my son's age she was already in the gym nine hours a week and fully enveloped in the competitive gymnastics world.
My son is six and on preteam and goes two hours a week and watching his class I just shake my head. How are they ever supposed to get to a point where they could be on team?
His coach assures me that this is totally normal for boys and that the progression is looked at in a different way for them as they are just not the girls and they develop mentally, emotionally and physically on a different trajectory. Yes, there are some exceptions and some very young ones that are especially focused and talented but that certainly doesn't seem to be the norm at our gym. Most of them are silly and distracted, just like you would expect a six year old little boy to be.
With that said, gym has done wonders for his attention and ability to stop moving all the time. It is also the only thing I have found where he comes out tired and sweaty and it actually affects his mood for the rest of the week (he goes twice a week). We have tried lots of other sports with not nearly the results as far as helping him to keep calm and focus in the rest of his life.
Yet again I must say Yay Gymnastics!
His coaches are very happy with his progression and say he is right on track to move to team this summer. That just blows my mind as my whole reference is girls gymnastics with their almost military focus and discipline. Just being in the rec/boys gym unsettles me, such chaos.
And I am really trying to ignore that I will have two on team soon and all that comes with that. La La La, not thinking about that
I assure you that the coaches are very prepared for silly little boys and that they know this is the norm and not the exception. Go for it!