Recent content by GymDad00

We are going on vacation to my hometown this summer for a few weeks. I recently discovered a high-performing and well known gym exists a few miles from my childhood home and would love for my training Level 8 gymnast daughter to visit and ideally practice a day or two with their team girls this...

That's an extremely young gym across the board. For reference at our States....Level 7 for the YOUNGEST age group at states the average age was probably 10. Maybe a few 9 year olds.. and the cutoff was just shy of 11. And that was only the absolute bottom age group... so the other 95% or 220+...

I don’t think you should focus on falls and obvious mistakes post meet. But specifically pointing out visually where they got their deductions can be very helpful and some kids are visual learners. Think of it this way NFL players review tape every Monday and screen game footage and strategize...

Personally I think they should spend Mondays after a meet reviewing videos and scores of prior meets and have an open discussion about what needs improved upon. Or course that doesn’t happen. Just vague critics like.. do better, work harder. As if these 9–11 year old optional gymnasts...

My kids a fairly picky eater. Doesn’t like sauce on anything. So fast food is usually a plain hamburger… or plain chicken nuggets. With a small side of fries. Most kids I know whose parents ban or avoid all fast food end up with kids who over-indulge the first chance they get when their...

I allow my picky eating 9 year old optional gymnast to eat whatever they want. I just be sure to give them a multivitamin, fresh fruit, and sneak in vegetables as much as I can. We also allow McDonald's and other fast food a few times a week. My kid has abs and hardly any body fat eating...

Oh my gosh, it's getting so much worse. Every morning she wakes up it's crack, crack crack... it's now starting with the knuckles, ankles, back... nails on chalkboard yes! Hopefully it passes soon! She finds it amusing.. but it's driving me up the wall and I try not snapping at her to stop.

4 hour round trip? Wow, that's 20-24 hours in the car a week ... basically approaching your daugther's training hours in commute time? Is that a temporary plan until your daughter seems happy at the gym, or are you planning on making a relocation to be closer to the gym.

Gotcha, but in an ideal scenario, a healthy talented 10-11 year-old training level 7….who is 3 months out from competition season. What would be your ideal number of reps to be proficient without overuse injuries creeping in? Would only doing drills and barely any actual yurchenko timers be a...

Yeah, i remember reading it causing arthritis was false.... but i know personally, having TMJ, if i manually pop my jaw as a habit it can get really sore and painful and becoming a feedback loop where I feel the need to crack it more. I'm seeing the same habit forming with my daughter and the...

I hate the gaslighting some gyms do about level advancement. I truly think it's usually an organizational money grab due to lack of coaching resources in many cases as to why some gyms hold girls back. THAT SAID, I'm curious how old your gymnast is and where they are at with bars? I've seen...

My daughter age 10 is competing level 7 and training approximately 20 hours a week. This is the first season where she wakes up in the morning and bends / manipulates her knees to pop them in the morning. She's not doing anything odd to make them crack.. but just bends pulls them toward her...

Just curious, from a coaches perspective... What's your ideal number of reps an optional gymnast competing level 7 and 8 should be getting in per week doing the Yurchenko vault? I know it can be hard on gymnasts bodies, so is there a max number of reps you like to limit it to? Do you ramp up...

Seems like USAG doesn't want anyone competing Level 5 anymore with all the rule changes. I mean, it's notoriously known as a humbling level for scoring. I've seen a lot of level 4s drop a full 2 points in AA moving up to 5. Lot's of small text deductions for the judges to have a field day...

What is the history of doing a gap year for young athletes to get an extra year of club gymnastics L10 training before going to college? My DD is very young for her grade… just missed public school cut off. Due to the pandemic year where a lot of compulsory gymnasts quit the sport, I’m seeing...