Another IDP question - height

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JessSyd

Proud Parent
Hi All, this is my first post, but I've been reading (and learning a lot) for a while. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with IDP and height. My daughter is in the IDP program at her gym. When she was first asked to join a little over a year ago, she was on about the 25th percentile. Since then she has had an extraordinary growth spurt and is now closer to the 60th with no sign of the growth spurt stopping. She has been working very hard and is doing very well. She's committed, loves the coaches, and loves the other girls in her tight knit group. She will be heartbroken if a couple of extra centremeters is the only reason she's tipped out of the IDP stream. It's something hard work and committment can't fix!
I understand that there's really no room in the IDP program for an extraordinarily tall gymnast so if/when it happens I'll help her be pragmatic about it. But I'm wondering how soon that is likely to be. Is there a height where they just can't keep a gymnast on anymore regardless of her talent? I have asked her coach who is a little cagey about it (and I can understand why). But I am interested because if it's likely to happen sooner rather than later I'd like to start preparing her a little bit.
 
I don't know anything about the Australian system, but I can't imagine they kick you out of the group if you hit a certain growth percentile?!! All I know is my DD has always been about 97th percentile for height, and for a couple of years she fell beyond the 100th percentile mark on the charts. It never occurred to me to run that by her coaches to see if it was ok. :eek:

Welcome to the CB, by the way!
 
Thanks Quadqueen! I like it here. I've learned a lot about a sport that really wasn't on my radar at all until my daughter got involved and have lost whole evenings immersed in threads about stuff like artistry in gymnastics.

It's my understanding that the IDP is Australia's 'elite' training strand. At my gym kids are sorted into the development program for it it as young as three (but usually four or five) if they have a combination of potential and an ideal body shape for gymnastics so it is definitely part of what they consider. There are certainly other training strands for tall gymnasts at the same gym. Just not with the same kids/coaches or with the same relatively rapid skill progression or very small coaching ratio.
 
I understand. I don't know how old your DD is, but if she is young, it would seem crazy to dismiss someone because of their height at an early age.

If it's a big concern to your DD's coaches, I'm sure they'll say something. I wouldn't be pointing it out to them. ;)
 
Well the fact that you are doing IDP at a club will help your DD, any HPC is likely to be picky on these things as they have limited spaces and like the look of the kid they saw at the trial last week (or what ever). What happens to the IDP kids in your club? do the majority end up moving the the national levels after IDP3-6? Often clubs use the IDP stream to push young talent kids along a bit quicker than they would in the national program. Clubs have to be mindful of group numbers too. Perhaps your DD should not be in the group based on some coaches ideals/beliefs. At the end of the day clubs need the numbers in the group for them to be financially viable to run, so if your child can keep up there should be no issue with her place in the group. It is a win for the club as they can offer a high level program that does not drain the club resources/pockets and a win for your daughter because she gets the benefits of great coaching (hopefully).
 
I can't answer your question but I remember at school I was always the smallest in my class, then when I got to high school I had a big growth spurt and ended up taller than some of the girls who had previously been taller than me. Some of those girls stopped growing earlier and ended up quite short. What I'm saying is kids grow at different times so just because she is growing now doesn't necessarily mean she will end up super tall. As long as she is keeping up I don't see why it should be a problem.
 
Just because she has had this major growth spurt, it does not mean that she will end up super tall. She just may be growing earlier than other kids, but she may not actually have that much growing left to do.

You can actually take her to the doctor and have her growth plates rayed and they can give you an indication of how much more growing she actually has.

But in all reality Quadaqueen, if she gets too tall they will kick her out. That is how IDP works.
 
Thank you all for your replies, I do appreciate the time taken to answer my question. (I thought I had already posted that ages ago, but must have failed to press the post button).

She's still little, only five. Her father and I are quite tall (although we have other close family members who are not), so realistically we expect her to get tall. But I noticed when she resumed training yesterday that all the little girls she powered past in the last quarter of last year are all taller than her again. It's like the entire group had a Spring growth spurt but my daughter just started and finished a little earlier. I guess that's what small children do! And I don't think she's grown at all since I measured her about a month before my first post, so she's dropped back below the 50th percentile again.
 
Hi Jess (I think we know each other lol) Im an IDP parent as well and the coach told me that its the 30th centile they are looking for
 

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