MAG Coordination

[Flip4funmom]

Is it normal for my son to do well at individual skills but lack an ounce of coordination? (Ok maybe I'm being hard on him) he's still young, 5 in 3 weeks but has been doing rec gym for awhile and is now on pre team. He does great with individual skills. Rings and high bar is his current favorite. He can't seem to connect skills very well on his own though. The worst is his run onto the tramp onto the mat. (I'm assuming it prepares them for vault?) He gets incredibly frustrated since he hasn't been able to go from run to jump to flip (or whatever he's asked to do) it's starting to hurt his confidence.

Normal? Tips?

 

[sce]

He is very young. He may well just developmentally not be able to connect multiple step like that yet. Running and hurdling onto a board/tramp is actually more complicated than it looks. That is quite young for a boy for pre-team. He can't compete until he is 6yo, so not next season but the following season. If he is already frustrated I would look into making a change (lower class level, different gym?) as this sport should first and foremost be fun. He won't stick with it unless it stays fun.

 

[Jenny]

Just a sign of his age. It will come but make sure it stays fun for him and not too serious at this point . He won't last 2 years til competing otherwise. Coaches should recognise this and adjust his training to make it more age appropriate for him. Maybe even drop a session of pre team and add a fun rec session for a while.

 

[CoachTodd]

haven't seen a lot of 4 year olds that can run and hurdle up onto something without putting in a little time. To make it fun, I tell them to jump over the creek and squish a giant bug. I'm sure his coach has something for him. I do agree that if he isn't having fun, you may need to mention it to the coach.

 

[profmom]

It will come in time as long as he's having fun! A little frustration isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it's not putting him off entirely.

 

[skschlag]

Not to sound like a broken record, but at 4/5 this should be fun. He has a full year left before he can compete, so he has plenty of time to get the skills. In fact, his first vault will be a run down the vault runway wtih a hurdle and a straight jump onto a mat No flip.

Hopefully his coach is playing games and keeping it fun, otherwise, he runs the risk of burning him out. Another year on preteam is a loooooong time, and lots of repetition of lots of basic skills. With the repetition, and some physical maturity, he will get it.

 

[Tumbellina82]

Running and then jumping on two feet is hard for kids that age. Doing it onto a trampette is even harder because the height of the trampette is significant in relation to the child's leg length. It is also hard because it is a fixed target so you have to pace your run so you end up with your dominant foot taking the last step at the right position to jump onto the tramp. That involves a level of forwards planning and adjusting your stride length as you run. Kids will often run-stop-jump, or end up with the wrong foot in front, or end up with the last pace too far or close from the trampette. In fact if you were to try you it there is a good chance you'd find yourself affected by one of the last two issues on occasion because timing a run up correctly is hard and in my experience most adults with no training can't do it reliably at first.

Perhaps you could play some hopscotch at home to help him get used to the basic transition between one and two feet. You don't need to point up that it is gym related at all. If he wants to do any practise at home he could also do run three steps then jump on two feet, which removes the fixed target issue. Then he could do run and jump to land on a target that is flat on the floor, like a chalk shape or in a hoop, which introduces the requirement to time the run to hit a fixed target but without the added obstacle of jumping up. He could then do run, jump on target, straight jump off. Don't push him at all to practise this stuff though, you just can make it an option if he wants. Either way he'll get there in the end and there is really no rush with such a young kid.

 

[Tumbellina82]

Also, re connecting skills, that is in a sense a skill all of its own, and I suspect the problem is not really coordination, or not in the sense you think. It is more likely a mental processing challenge. Linking skills is hard because you have to think about what you are doing AND what you are going to be doing. That's quite tough even with quite simple movements. Try an aerobics class or take a beginner dance lesson, assuming that isn't the sort of thing you usually do, and I bet you'll see what I mean!

To an extent this is where drilling and muscle memory come into play. The more familiar the skills, the less you have to think about them and the more you can think about linking and what's coming next.

The ability to hold several things in your head at once also develops with age, but I actually think this is one gymnastics skill that really can benefit from training at home. Good ways to do this could be things like pelmanism, the shopping list game, even simple card games and dominoes because you get an advantage if you can remember what's been played to work out your opponent's hand.

 

[Popcorn]

I love Tumbellina's posts because they remind parents that many of the basic things we watch the kids do, we couldn't do ourselves!
I like to do a drop in once a year or so and try a muscle up.....I hang there pedaling my legs in the air and realize that this stuff takes a crazy amount of work and energy and perseverance. It helps me stay a cheerleader instead of a critic.

My tip: take off all pressure always. Say nothing more than "oh, how frustrating! But I know you will get it because you can do xyz and that was hard too. Want to play Uno?" It's his sport. Even at 5 years old.

 

[gymyogimom]

Just a sign of his age. It will come but make sure it stays fun for him and not too serious at this point . He won't last 2 years til competing otherwise. Coaches should recognise this and adjust his training to make it more age appropriate for him. Maybe even drop a session of pre team and add a fun rec session for a while.

He is very young. He may well just developmentally not be able to connect multiple step like that yet. Running and hurdling onto a board/tramp is actually more complicated than it looks. That is quite young for a boy for pre-team. He can't compete until he is 6yo, so not next season but the following season. If he is already frustrated I would look into making a change (lower class level, different gym?) as this sport should first and foremost be fun. He won't stick with it unless it stays fun.

I believe it is age as of May 31, so he would be considered 6 next competition season.

 

[skschlag]

I believe it is age as of May 31, so he would be considered 6 next competition season.

Yes, that is true. However you cannot even start competing until you are actually 6. So even if you are turning 6 during the season, and before the cut off date, you have to actually BE 6 to compete.

 

[gymyogimom]

So considering states for many (most? All?) Are before May 31, there aren't actual 6 year olds competing? Makes so much sense to roll back the ages then, right?

 

[M2Abi]

So considering states for many (most? All?) Are before May 31, there aren't actual 6 year olds competing? Makes so much sense to roll back the ages then, right?

There are 6 year olds competing, but only the ones that turn 6 before the season or I guess at least one meet before states. My DS is turning 6 in September and the plan is for him to compete.

 

[acam1103]

At most meets we went to this year there were only a handful of 6-year olds competing as 6 year olds. My son competed at chronological age 6 the first part of the year but as a "7-year old" because his bday was before May.

My little guy (4) is one of the luck summer birthday kids. He will join pre team this year at 5 and if he spends only a year there will get to be in the small group of competing 6-year olds the following year (that's a big "if" though )

 

[gymyogimom]

At most meets we went to this year there were only a handful of 6-year olds competing as 6 year olds. My son competed at chronological age 6 the first part of the year but as a "7-year old" because his bday was before May.

My little guy (4) is one of the luck summer birthday kids. He will join pre team this year at 5 and if he spends only a year there will get to be in the small group of competing 6-year olds the following year (that's a big "if" though )

I get the age thing and I don't. Soccer is based on birth year. Adjusting for may 31 for age and age group means there are few competing as their actual age. At least in WAG they adjust it based on bands of ages so the groups are even-ish for awards.

 

[acam1103]

I get the age thing and I don't. Soccer is based on birth year. Adjusting for may 31 for age and age group means there are few competing as their actual age. At least in WAG they adjust it based on bands of ages so the groups are even-ish for awards.

I hated the change because it felt like my boys all "lost" a year but no matter when the date is there are kids who won't be the age they compete. i do wish they could figure out a better way.

It was especially hard this year when my little 6-year old was grouped with kids who were already chronologically 8 because they combined the 7s and 8s. There were a fair number of first year 6year olds competing against second year 8 year olds. Harsh!

 

[skschlag]

They did this initially because kids at nationals were winning age groups and were not that age. So, the kiddo winning L9 13 yo was actually 14. So they did this to help make sure kids were in the same age they were at nationals. Unfortunately, someone will always be the youngest. until the age change, my ds always competed against kids older than him. So he competed L8 12 yo, and most of the kids winning were 13, as their birthday was after Sept 1st.

There is talk of going to birth years in the next quad, so all of, say, 2005, will compete against each other. But there will be issues with that as well. There is no optimal way to do it.

But yes, you have to turn 6 before you compete. So if you turn 6 anytime between June 1st and the last meet before state (say March 1) you can compete as a 6 yo L4. Otherwise, you wait....and compete as a 7yo the next season.

 

[samsmama]

At least in WAG they adjust it based on bands of ages so the groups are even-ish for awards.

Many of the boys' meets do this as well, though the groups are generally not as small as WAG award groups! But you will see some meets with, for example, 6 yr-olds in one group at L4, and maybe 2 groups for 7-yr-olds since there are more of them. Or you'll see "child A", "child B," etc. Those might be broken up by actual birthdate so that the groups are more even. Every meet does it differently.