Hi, long time lurker. My dd7 is an ectomorph. I have read every thread that mentions ectomorph on here. She is training level 3 right now and struggles with her round off back handspring. The other girls in her group don’t share the same body type. They seem to pick up tumbling with ease. My question is does back tumbling eventually come to ectomorphs or are they pushed more towards the Xcel route or out of gymnastics completely? She dearly loves gymnastics and we will keep supporting her but I don’t really know what to expect as she moves forward or have other parents whose children share the same struggles to talk to. Any advice or stories would be appreciated. Thank you
For Parents Ectomorph and tumbling
- Thread starter Eyeofthegymnast
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What I noticed in L3 and L4 was that, as long as they could stay tight, the ectomorphs tended to score better than the bouncier kids. Those long, perfectly straight legs score very well in compulsories.
Parent of two long skinny girls: my older one retired after two seasons on level 9 at 5'8". younger one is level 8/9 and 5'6" and still growing. Both are very lean. They were/are never going to get double back on floor, but held their own otherwise. Older one did need to relearn some bars skills during period of extreme growth. Don't read too much into body type.
IME ectomorphs can make better gymnasts in the long run. The long lines and flexibility that doesn't go away as they mature pays off if they are willing to work harder at strength when they are younger. The problem is a lack of coaches who know how to coach an ectomorph. They tend to give up on these kids and pay more attention to the kids who are easier to coach as youngsters (or they are just trying to find the next Simone).
Gymnasts come in all body types. I don’t think any athlete is predisposed to a particular route based on body type. Sure there can be hurdles with any body type but proper coaching, nutrition and hard work can overcome all that. Your ectomorph might be stronger in bars and beam. Very few are good in all events anyway. Even college coaches are aware of that. They look at two strong events and realize getting an athlete to excel in all events is rare. When you look at college teams, the top teams usually only have 3-4 all arounders and often times the lower ranked teams have 1-2 and sometimes none. As your ectomorph goes up through the levels, she will have more skill options to work on. I would certainly not sign her off just yet.
I have also coached ectos who were "beam and bar kids" until age 15 or 16 and then suddenly they were all-arounders.
This has always been our hope for our petite ectomorph beam and bar kid—once she hits her mid-teens and develops some muscle mass, she will have the power to be more successful at tumbling and vault. Alas, thanks to COVID-19 we may never know.
My daughters are both ectomorphs. One is short and one is pretty average height. The taller daughter has beautiful lines on bars and beam. I don’t think the build matters. You can find elite gymnasts that are ectomorphs and mesomorphs or some combo of the two.
I'm not talking about actual event specialists in JO, I'm talking about kids who were very good at bars and beam but weak on floor and vault.
They score better in optionals too if they are coached well!
It will come to her. If she keeps working hard, she is sure to eventually get it. There is NO REASON for her to have to quit gymnastics. There are plenty of elite ectomorph gymnasts, she will get there!
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