Parents Help first time gym mum!

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Tinytill

Proud Parent
Hi! My daughter is 6 and has been on the competition squad of our local gym club for a year. However this year was filled with lockdowns and the stopping and starting of the gym. Recently she’s been reluctant to go to training particularly on a Saturday where the hours are 1-5.15. So after much deliberation we decided it was best to move her back to the development squad.

However I feel totally gutted about it. She’s happy which is the main thing but I feel like her talent is not shining through as she almost taking a step back with her training. Her coaches have said that it will be harder to move back to comp squad as the gap between the other girls will get bigger.

I don’t really know what I’m asking really. Has anyone managed to work their way back over to competition squad? I feel like she’s not mature enough to know what she wants if that makes sense ! She loves gymnastics and has a natural ability. I am totally clueless about it all ! Thanks
 
4.25 hours is a really long practice, especially every Saturday, especially for a six year old. The main goal of gymnastics, especially before the optional level is to have fun. She will have a better chance of getting on the competitive team later if she continues to be active, weather it’s gymnastics, dance, swimming, soccer or any one of a hundred things. Many many gymnasts join competitive teams at 8, 9 or even older. The biggest issue is that if she isn’t all in, then she won’t succeed at gymnastics.
 
At that age, my daughter went back and forth between rec classes and pre-team… start and stop… quit and restart. Then at
8 1/2, she was invited to team and was now all-in. She has worked her way up to level 5/6 at 11 with relative ease. There is no way she would still be doing gymnastics if I had encouraged competitive team even a year before. She did all kinds of sports between the ages of 6-8 and so she can confidently say this is her true love (for now).
 
Thank you! Her total hours was 8 1/2 and she’s been doing that since she was 5 ! We are in northern England so I don’t know if other parts of the uk are like that.

She swims and because we are now free on a Saturday she is starting dance which I think she will love.

I was just conscious that the training has taken a big step down so all the skills she’s learnt will be lost.
Thank you for your replies
 
If your gym is the flexible type, maybe they would let her continue to train with the team but for less hours, rather than changing groups? (Either leave early or for less days a week.) It might mean she would need to wait an extra season to be ready to compete, but she doesn’t get competiton on her current plan either and at least training with the team would let her keep up some skills until the time is right. However if it was the style/environment of team practice rather than the length of time that became a negative for her, it sounds like it’s best to continue the current plan of developmental and try other things. I wouldn’t worry about keeping up with the other girls… she is young and has time! My daughter started on the later end but it was perfect timing for her. Like Tmacs I’m pretty sure if she had started earlier it would have been too much, but now she is all in.
 
I think the UK system is different to the US system - you’re better off reposting this with UK in the title so international members take a peek. If I’m not mistaken, the UK systems levels work by age specifically so she will struggle going back to the competitive track later on as she gets older because the each age group has a specific set of skills and the skill difference between her and that level will be very different.

There’s a few threads here about challenges with the UK club and level system. We have a similar system where I’m from but I’m not totally familiar with England’s one.
 
At that age and level (and at almost any level other than "National team member currently training for a major upcoming meet" -- and maybe even then), there is far more to be lost from too many training hours than from too few. Building a passion for the sport is FAR more important to long-term development than number of hours trained at young age and low level.

If she's passionate about the sport, she'll be able to catch up, probably sooner than you think. If she comes to resent the sport, then nothing you or anybody else can do will get her to achieve her full potential.
 

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