Parents Another move up question :/

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Flounder

Proud Parent
My gymnast had a decent L4 year, placed at some meets, did well at states, etc. She has been training L5 this summer. Our competition season doesn't start until November, at the earliest. She's gained a lot of confidence on beam and can hit all the skills. She's had her clear hip for months, but they haven't started training on fly away. Her front tumbling is coming along nicely, too. Here's where we run into a problem. She doesn't have her connected back tumbling pass. She's done back tuck on tramp for months and months, but she's not executing it consistently enough on floor for the coaches to be comfortable. I don't watch practice, so I'm getting all my info from my gymnast and the coach.

I was told last week that they are considering moving her back to L4 because of this one skill. She had no idea this was a possibility. She said she thought she might scratch at the beginning, but didn't have any idea that they'd send her back down. We started the convo with our gymnast and she is crushed. She's been so proud of her new skills and hasn't stopped talking about them. The decision on the fall/winter season is not permanent, yet, but I'm not feeling good about the talk we had. The coaches have always told parents that kids can move up in the middle of the season, but I don't understand how that is possible if they aren't training those next skills. Our L4s weren't working on BT during the season.

If she'd been training with L4 all summer, I don't think the repeat would be a big deal, but it's really hard to swallow moving back after spending the summer with L5. She's a hard worker and has a great attitude, but I'm really worried about how this would affect her motivation. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?

**Of course, I don't want my gymnast doing something that could get her hurt, and I trust the coaches judgement, but I'm wondering if moving her back does more harm than scratching.......if that is even an option for her.
 
I hate this for her! Is there an option to do private lessons to work on this especially if it's this one skill? If not, there really isn't anything you can do. Each gym has their own rules about skills and moving up. I would ask if she can do privates to work on this.
 
Our gym has had some of the boys practice with a level higher than they competed at and it has worked for them. My son was one of them last summer and we had two other boys do this this summer. In the fall they continued to practice with the higher level but when it came time to compete, they competed at what they were ready for. Perhaps this is an option for your daugher. (I have no idea if the gym we are at does this with the girls teams - JO or elite. All the boys are at JO, if that makes any difference...)
 
We have our girls uptrain from April - August. There are some girls training for L5 that we already know will be repeating L4. There are some training L4 that we know will repeat L3.
I understand your daughter is upset by the possibility. Maybe it will give her the little extra kick to get that last skill. Maybe they will have her compete L4 until she is ready for L5… while continuing to train the L5 skills as well. Just because Last year L4s didn't work on back tucks doesn't mean that they won't let her this year.

I suggest talking to the coach and see what the options are.
 
I guess I don't understand why 1 skill is keeping her from moving up. She could get a spot, or scratch that event, or simply not do the skill, or just not connect the skill. Lack of continuity in connection is only a .2 deduction. Is it possible there are other reasons? Maybe a conference is in order if you haven't had one already to make sure you are all on the same page.
 
\Maybe they will have her compete L4 until she is ready for L5… while continuing to train the L5 skills as well. Just because Last year L4s didn't work on back tucks doesn't mean that they won't let her this year.

I suggest talking to the coach and see what the options are.

Not to be difficult, but I'm wondering how that's done. There have been girls repeating for the past two years (L3 & L4) and, after summer, they are working on their current level routines. If she's competing 4, she'd be working those routines. I'd love to think that she could move up if she gets the skills, but she would be so far behind with choreography. The L4 and L5 coaches are different, if that matters.

I guess I don't understand why 1 skill is keeping her from moving up. She could get a spot, or scratch that event, or simply not do the skill, or just not connect the skill. Lack of continuity in connection is only a .2 deduction. Is it possible there are other reasons? Maybe a conference is in order if you haven't had one already to make sure you are all on the same page.

A conference is where I got this information. ;)
 
I was told last week that they are considering moving her back to L4 because of this one skill.
So they are considering it, but it is not a done deal, even if she does not get the skill soon? At least that is what it sounds like?

My sons coaches sometimes tell the kids they have to get all the skills or they will not move up. (Even though historically, a missing skill or two alone would not prevent a gymnast from moving up.) I can only think this is done to light a fire under the rears of the ones who are not yet giving it their all. It bothers me, because they say it to all the kids even though my kids always try their hardest and the coaches know it, but that is aside the point, I can see that it might be an additional motivation, or at least why a coach might think this would be a helpful motivation.

I have two conflicting thoughts on move-ups. One is that if they really have her repeat the level over one skill (that she may get during the season and even by the first meet) rather than a multitude of issues, when she and you clearly want her to move up, I think that may indicate the gym is more interested in winning scores than in developing healthy and happy athletes who have a sportsmanship-like attitude and work hard but are not obsessed with scores and winning. Now some athletes may thrive in that kind of "winning" environment so I am not saying there is anything inherently wrong with it, I just think different gyms have different cultures and some are not going to fit all kids.

My other thought is that not once when my boys (or actually any other kids on the team) have repeated a level has it been a mistake, they always do better and are more confident for it, so based on our family and team experience, repeating levels, while the idea can be very frustrating at first, ends up being a good choice. But again, my kid's coaches seem to use multiple factors in move up decisions.

If you are not happy with the conference, I would suggest trying to have another one. If the conference was with your daughter present, maybe you can learn more in a private talk with the coach.
 
Not to be difficult, but I'm wondering how that's done. There have been girls repeating for the past two years (L3 & L4) and, after summer, they are working on their current level routines. If she's competing 4, she'd be working those routines. I'd love to think that she could move up if she gets the skills, but she would be so far behind with choreography. The L4 and L5 coaches are different, if that matters.
How that COULD work would be to have her practice with the L5s one or two days a week (depending on how many practices you have a week). She competed L4 last year. She KNOWS the routines. She doesn't need as much practice on them as the new L4s do. By working with the L5s, she could work to get the missing skill AND learn the choreo (not too much different than L4 by design).
 
This may be difficult to process, but the level she is training is more important than the level she competes. If she's going to stay with the L5s and continue to work L5 bars and beam skills, and begin doing drills for flipping vaults, she'll be fine in the long run. The tumbling will come in time. I would encourage you to help her to lower the stakes about the level decision for herself. If it is a huge big deal, and if the one thing holding her back is problems with back tumbling, you could set her up a for a block that could give her an utterly miserable year.

Seconding? Thirding? the advice not to go to another gym, especially not a cheer gym. If she is going to progress into the far more difficult tumbling in optional gymnastics, she needs a really good foundation, which she may not get from a cheer gym. Further, most gyms will frown on going elsewhere for training, and some gyms may even threaten to remove her from the team. This isn't as unreasonable as it sounds -- no gym wants to be responsible for checking out the quality and safety of training for every other gym in town to make judgment calls about where it is or is not OK to train, and no gym wants to set up a situation where their athletes may be poached.

How do competitions work in your state? When is the first meet? At my kids' gym, the kids who are on the cusp may not have levels decided until as late as a month out from the first meet. Closer in even than that for the boys.
 
@profmom "the level she is training is more important than the level she competes"

That quote right there was just what I myself needed to hear. DD is competing L3 again this year but luckily now we are a gym that is big on uptraininf, so she's definitely training L4 and has almost all her skills, which is awesome because her coach says potentially he can throw a kip into her bar routine at the end of the season if she's ready. I love the uptraining at this new gym. At the old gym, there was zero. Even if it was your 2nd year as a L3, you trained with the 4s but only worked on L3 skills. At the new gym, DD is working on L4 skills and beyond (coach even had her working on Giants last week!!!!!)
So I'm so much more reassured now that the level you're training is much more important than what you compete :)
 

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