Parents Best age to start

[gymch34]

Each kid is different, each gym is different. I try to have younger kids do preteam and L4, just beacuse that is what most gyms do around here 6/7/8 years old on L4- I do like to also have "older" kids 9/10 if they are the right fit.

Its a crapshoot, no matter what. Some young kids are more coordianted and strong- so they make great compulsory kids. As to whether they make it in optionals/ elite level, there are so many factors- desire, fear factor, willingness to commit, coachability, parent support, and some luck w/ limited injuries. Some kids fill into their bodies later, or mature later- and while they may have been ok at compulsories they are great optionals. Desire and coachability are huge factors in a kid's success- I have seen kids with limited talent perform beyond where they should "be" just because they really want it!

As far as hours go, no 4 or 5 year old should be in the gym more than 3 or 4 hours/ week. I look at a kid that age, and can tell if they are coordinated and strong- no way to tell if its "talent" yet! Then hours can progress, for L4 and 5 10-12 hours TOTAL is more than enough for most kids.

Thats my opinion! You have to do what is right for you and your family!

 

[starmaker]

My dd started gym at 3.5 years old. She competed Level 2 at 4 years old doing 6 hours wk. And now she 5 years old competing Level 3 and does 9 hrs week. She does not feel pushed, pressured etc. In fact, I feel if dd had to wait till she was six to compete she would of not been happy. I have anxiously been waiting for competition to start because dd has started complaining about L3 rountines and asking for new routines. She loves to perform for an audience. Instead of getting nervous she does better. And falls in love with the sport all over again.

I agree with Shawn. Every kids is different and that needs to be considered.
I guess it all depends on the child. As mothers(fathers) we know our children well enough to make the best decision for them.

L2 (6) ages 5-8
L3 (9) ages 7-12 and (1) 5 year old
L4 (4) ages 8-10
L5 (2) both 8
L6 (2) ages 10-12

Optional girls are all between 10-18 years.

 

[Billy]

Oh, I didn't think of posting the ages of our team. I only know about L4. There are 12 of them- two are six, the rest are 8-12 with the majority being 9 or 10.

 

[Mom2Gymgirls]

Our gym does fewer practice hours than many, but our owner's philosophy is that extra hours don't necessarily make a better gymnast. Her main goal is keeping kids in the gym with the goal of getting a college scholorship not producing elite level gymnasts.

There is a training team, but this is mainly for younger, talented kids (4-8). Older kids have to work their way up the rec levels before they are invited to level 4 team. Therefore we have a mix of younger kids as well as kids 9-13 in L4. My older DD started in kindergarten and went the route of rec levels. She started L4 when she was almost 8 years old and did 2 years of 4, one year of L5 and then went to Prep-opt this year. Younger DD started a pre-school class at age 3. She was moved to Hot shots (adv. Pre-school class) at age 4 and 3 months later went to training team. She did 2 years of training team and is in level 4 this year at age 6. She would have been in L4 last year but due to her birthday she would have missed the first 3 meets of last season so she spent another year at training team.

Training team/L3 - 1.5 hrs for twice a week
L4 - 2 hrs, 3x/week
L5 - 3 hrs, 3x/week
L6 & 7 - 3.5 hrs, 3x/week

I'm not sure on optionals, but I don't believe there is any level exceeding 20 hrs/week total. Therefore, compared to other places I wouldn’t say that our hours are too much of a burden on the kids. Most of the younger kids train no more than 9 hrs/week, at the most. Although we did have one 8 year old last year who jumped from L6 to L8. She is really amazing, although I'm not sure why they are pushing her so fast. She is definitely the exception at our gym.

 

[LemonLime]

I really don't think there is any appropriate age to start competing or to train particular hours. If you want a college scholarship, it's a great idea to be a L10 by your freshman or sophomore year of high school. That's about the only rule of thumb.

Even if you wish for your child to be on an elite track, the age they start certain levels isn't very important. Although I'm sure there are some, there are almost no gyms with children who have successfully tested international elites that also have gymnasts that compete L2 and L3. At most of those gyms, they have very large L4 and/or L5 teams and the kids are not the youngest around, but more like 7yo L4s and 8yo L5s. Young, but not exceptionally so. Children tend to accelerate their skills when they are around 10yo and that's when hours and level changes may occur. In a tops gym, kids tend to have Level 7 skills the year they turn 9yo, but again, that's only one measure for one small category of kids.

As for hours, most optionals train 16-20 hours per week. Most elites train 28-36 hours per week. The most variety of training hours in the country is with COMPULSORIES, with some kids training 4 all the way up to 20. Wow!

As for injuries, strength to weight ratio, flexibility, hard landings (most elite gyms do hard landings perhaps as little as only 1/4 of the year), repetition numbers, etc. have as much bearing on injury rates as do hours.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I think it varies on the child. My daughter competed last year at 7 on level 4 after doing 1/2 year preschool and 2 years of preteam, she started at a recreational tumbling at 4 then moved to her gym at 41/2. There were other kids who were as young as 6 and some of them did better than her There were the ones that went through all the recreational levels and developmental classes and they were older 9 and 10. The older girls scored really well at the meets and were more prepared so I sometimes feel if she had a couple extra years to move through the levels she would have had an easier first year of competition. But my daughter is still at her gym on the team where many of the younger 6 year olds have left or went to other gyms where the training is not as intense. I think even if you start them out early it does not necessarly mean they will stick with the sport I am surprised with the kids who have quit (many I would have never quessed) and the ones who have continued (If you would have asked me last spring if my daughter would still be doing this I would have said probally not ). Now that my daughter is 8 she knows what she wants to do and she definitlely loves the sport and she also understands the sacrifices, sometimes missing birthday parties and giving up other activities. She did do soccor , noncompetive cheerleading, swimming t ball and dance. Luckily she did these things when she was younger before her hours at the gym increased. I think the problem with starting out at a young age with too many hours is they can not explore other activities. The good thing is that if they quit gymnastics so are in such good physical shape they will be able to do well at other sports.

 

[TeamDad]

Thanks everyone. This thread has been interesting. I appreciate everyone's point of view. It has really made me consider and examine what my daughter's, and ultimately as parents, long term goals should be. I would like to add that since my daughter has other commitments beyond gymnastics, she misses some practice every week. This hasn't held her back, so I truly feel that it's not how much time we spend in the gym, but rather how that time is spent that is most important.

 

[coveredinchalk]

At our gym

there is no set "age" that is right. They look at the whole individual taking into consideration physical ability, attitude, and overall happiness.

My own DD started in rec pre-school class at 41/2 but was moved to pre-team (that was 6 hours each week) just before she turned five. She is now six and on the level 4 team with 9 hours plus 2 more hours of TOPs for 11 hours total.

Now, my kiddo is a gymnastics nut. I am not worrried about her being too physical too young or putting in too many hours because for her, she is VERY active and would be pushing herself whether she were in a gym or not. I am very grateful for the outlet so she can burn some of her energy. Even after gym, she goes home and can't stop with the handstands (actually it is very annoying, LOL!).

Now all that being said, we watch her attitude very closely and so do the coaches. We make sure she is happy and having fun. She is the youngest on her team. I think there are several other young girls who have plenty of ability but they truly wouldn't be happy spending so much time doing only gymnastics and I think that is the key. It is not for everybody regardless of age!

As for injuries... it can and should be expected with any sport. My sons are in tackle football and I think I worry about them more than my daughter at the moment, anyway!

 

[TeamDad]

This year, all of the pre-school classes were already filled. The director said they could try out our 4 (five next month) son in hot shots. It's one day a week for 1+1/2 hour. He apparently did well enough that they haven't told us not to come back until next year (we had a long talk about listening skills before the class). Can someone tell me what hot shots is all about?

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

I am in the minority here I think. DD was in an invitiation class of 2.5 hours a week at age 3 which was about 11+ hours a month. Then she moved to Pre-team when she was 4 and she trained 4 hours a week 17 hours a month (plus privates and open gym so say 20 hours a month) Now at age 5 she is training level 4 / 10-12 hours a week /45 hours a month. In the summer months they train much more 12+ a week. These are just rough numbers.

I have one of those DD that would live at the gym if I would allow her. She wants to do the extra practices, and be there. It is fun for her to go and be there. Even after 3 hours of practice she is still wanting to work on things and they coaches have to tell her to LEAVE. Last week she was at the gym 4 days by her choice. I am not too worried about her not exploring other things. If she decides that she wants to explore something we will make it work within reason.

I have to say the gym is DD's second home she has been going there since she was 2.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

I just want to clarify that at age six, we are talking about kids who have just started their first year of Kindergarten for the most part which is also their first all day experience away from home. I find athletics at that age extremely healthy for the mind and body...also to burn off that excess energy, but if we're talking spending an additional 15hrs a week in the gym at that age plus the rigors of a competitive team...WOW!

DD just started Kindergarten this year and we have had an adjustment pd this month. I have to say I was very happy for the long gym hours this summer to help build her endurance. We had some tears at the beginning of the month because she was tired from school but she is now into the grove and it is all working out. The only killer is one night we practice till 8:30 and DD's bedtime is 8pm so we are still working with that. She looks like she is sleep walking during cooldown/conditioning

 

[greyhoundrescue]

This is also my girl's first year of kindergarten (it's half-day here). They used to spend up to an 1.5 hours a day Mon-Sat in the gym, but their coach wants them to get some time to work on their more advanced skills, so they are now up to 2 hours. I would have a problem with this if they didn't have a snack/juice break and a break or two for "free play". These breaks keep it from feeling like drudgery. Their brothers are on a swim team and practice 3-4 days a week for about 1.25 hours each time. But, we have a pool at home and they probably spend more like 2-3 hours a day in the pool, whether it's horsing around or swimming laps. All of my kids have a 30 minute piano lesson once a week and DH is teaching them to horseback ride. So, that's what, up to 13 semi-structured non-school hours a week? They're busy, but we make sure they have plenty of time to just play and be kids and we'd never keep them in an activity they didn't enjoy.