WAG Eleven year olds

[AgingHippie]

Is it just my DD or is this an extremely frustrating age for gymnasts? She always upset about one skill or another. I'm so sick of hearing it the last few weeks. It's taking everything I have not to just tell her to quit already.

Sorry, mom rant.

 

[Tigtimes]

Yes, yes, yes, yes !!!!!! It's a season of consistently inconsistent.. a roller coaster of lost then found skills across all events Mental, mental, mental. Coaches favorite phrase to mine is relax. Is it horrible to pray it ends at states this year, don't think I can survive regionals this year. Oh and 10 months more till 12

 

[AgingHippie]

Yes, yes, yes, yes !!!!!! It's a season of consistently inconsistent.. a roller coaster of lost then found skills across all events Mental, mental, mental. Coaches favorite phrase to mine is relax. Is it horrible to pray it ends at states this year, don't think I can survive regionals this year. Oh and 10 months more till 12

I'm sorry you are going through this too but I admit it makes me feel a little better to hear others say it's common.

 

[ayyyrial]

Yes, and it happens in other sports too. In both figure skating and gymnastics I noticed around age 11-12 is when girls start to be afraid of skills, both old things and new things. I guess some of it might have to do with growth spurt/body changes but it also just seems to be an increased understanding of all the ways you could get hurt.

 

[AgingHippie]

Yes, and it happens in other sports too. In both figure skating and gymnastics I noticed around age 11-12 is when girls start to be afraid of skills, both old things and new things. I guess some of it might have to do with growth spurt/body changes but it also just seems to be an increased understanding of all the ways you could get hurt.

Do they just get past is eventually or is this the new normal?

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Do they just get past is eventually or is this the new normal?

Get past it

 

[Jeanne Foster]

It's so hard! My girl Pam's biggest problem around 13 was mental blocks. She didn't have too bad an attitude, but the girls just realize the sport is scary at a certain age, which makes EVERYTHING more difficult, especially if your coach (like ours....) isn't used to coaching through mental blocks. We ended up bringing Pam to a specialized coach to help with this because ours honestly just became neglectful to her. Older girls and younger girls need different coaching methods!

 

[MILgymFAM]

Age 13/14 is the hard time in our house. Hit my ODD like a truck, and now it's knocked my YDD down too. The mental blocks are just so all consuming to them, and there isn't a darn thing anyone can do to help them. Luckily, they have a good attitude about it, but it wears them down. Luckily ODD snapped out of it before my YDD got there. I don't think I could handle both at once!

 

[beachgirl]

I have an 11 year old too, so much drama.

 

[z2akids]

Mine is 11 going on 17. But, seriously, we have plenty of drama from time to time, but the big blocks and major issues havent quite caught up to us yet. I dread when they do

 

[e'smum]

mine just turned 10 but she had issues learning the flyaway and the cast flyaway. oh the tears. in level 4 it was the leap from low to high bar . mind you, after the tears and drama with the cast flyaway, she almost immediately was able to do a cast handstand flyaway (vertical). took only a couple of weeks, if that. . however it took most of the summer for the flyaway and almost up to the first meet for the cast flyaway.

if 11 is worse, i'll need an IV bag full of martini to get me through it.

 

[duyetanh]

mine just turned 10 but she had issues learning the flyaway and the cast flyaway. oh the tears. in level 4 it was the leap from low to high bar . mind you, after the tears and drama with the cast flyaway, she almost immediately was able to do a cast handstand flyaway (vertical). took only a couple of weeks, if that. . however it took most of the summer for the flyaway and almost up to the first meet for the cast flyaway.

if 11 is worse, i'll need an IV bag full of martini to get me through it.

Word! Mine is 9 going on 14 easily....and oh, the drama. When she turns double digits, I might run away from home. But I can't, darn it...who would drive her to gym?

 

[txgymfan]

Mine is almost 11. "What Ever " is a pretty common statement. Ugh!

 

[lhmom]

It's not unusual at all. Mine went through it last year (and it turned out to be her final year in gymnastics). They already have so many other things going on emotionally and physically. On top of that, my DD was also experiencing alot of pain due to growth issues (severs and tendinitis) so it made that last season alot of fun. I think it's around this age, you see girls either commit to getting through it all (pain, fear) because they just love gymnastics or decide there are other things out there they want to do. That's what happened with mine. Good luck to her and hugs to both of you!

 

[NY Dad]

We ended up bringing Pam to a specialized coach to help with this

What kind of coach?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Not only is it a tough time em tally but it is also a tough time physically. Kids are goi g through their major growth spurt and it can lead to frequent injuries.

 

[gymbeam]

Mine will be 12 soon, no issues yet but guess its coming eventually.

 

[GymMom4]

It is so true. Mine is 11 and it's been a time of fears and lost and found skills. Of course she probably started with the fears in level 5 when she was 9/10.

 

[ayyyrial]

Do they just get past is eventually or is this the new normal?

In my experience, it gets better over time but some people will always be prone to fears. For me, I kept having new fears come up on different new skills, and I had to work through the fears each time. However, I got more experienced at working through the fears so it wasn't as devastating when a new fear came up. Other gymnasts I know are pretty fearless even as adults, and will throw things they haven't practiced in a long time without batting an eye.

 

[Jeanne Foster]

What kind of coach?

You know I don't remember exactly because it was two years ago, but it was a tumbling coach who gave private lessons, and I heard from another mom that she had been very successful in working girls through mental blocks. I believe Pam went to 4 or 5 classes. She received a lot of instruction on how to crowd out the scary thoughts with positive ones, and how to allow muscle memory speak more loudly then fear. Pam was at the point where she would even balk on round offs. It was getting ridiculous and all her coach knew how to do was yell and pile on more repetitions as punishment. Sometimes the girls just need someone who will acknowledge that what they are doing is scary, but they are strong enough and well trained enough to do everything safely.