Anon If you could go backwards and start your child’s gymnastics career over

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Anonymous (9c63)

For those of you who have daughters who have been in the gym for awhile, if you could go back and start your daughters gymnastics career over, would you choose xcel or JO? My daughter is currently xcel but has an opportunity to go JO level 4 or go platinum. For reference, she is 9 years old. She loves uptraining and doesn’t have aspirations for college gymnastics-she is only nine and realistically college gymnastics probably isn’t in the cards for her with level 5-6 skills at age nine. She just wants to have fun, enjoy her friends, and win some medals. I see so many parents want JO for their girls and talk about how they need to be a certain JO level by a certain age and how xcel is lesser than JO. If you could go back, would you still pick the route you took for your daughter, excluding the parents whose daughters are going elite or college bound. Would you choose the more structured JO route if you could do it all over or the xcel route and why?
 
As a former level 10, a former dev coach, a former low hours Xcel coach, and a new mom to a three month old daughter, if she likes gymnastics, I will encourage Xcel. I love the sport, but I think I would have been happier and less stressed in an Xcel program with less hours and pressure. I did cross country and track at a small private division three school and had an amazing time with my teammates, improving my personal bests, and competing, but also feeling like I had a real balance in my life. I have seen so many anxious, stressed tweens and teens leave dev and come into Xcel and suddenly they're just kids again, having fun, getting stronger, and truly enjoying themselves. I have really fallen in love with the Xcel program and think it's a great place for a lot of kids.
 
100% with Coach Kate on this one.
My daughter started at 5YO in preteam and then we pulled her out for whatever reason (probably money) and put her back at 8YO. At that point it was Xcel or nothing.
If I could go back, I would have kept her in gymnastics between 5 and 8, but for sure would have chosen the Xcel program. These kids work HARD but it's a lot more easy going. They have their own routines from early on (or modified to suit them) and are personally invested in their own progress, at their own pace.
If your kid needs to be in JO/DP, the coaches will see that and talk to you about moving her over.
 
Just want to start by saying your daughter is not too old to consider college gymnastics so if she has the passion and you think she will keep that passion, I would put move her to DP at some point. My dd competed platinum as an 11yr old, did one year each of levels 7-9 and did 4 years of level 10.

Now, as for whether xcel or dp is the way to go, I think it really depends on the child and family and it's important to re-evaluate each year. We didn't have a choice between the two b/c in our area, it was common to compete xcel (prep-op when she first started) and then transfer to level 7 so that's what she did. Looking back, I am not sure she would have stayed as excited about gymnastics if she had to do compulsories so this path really worked for her. Do I wish we could have stayed xcel? Not for my dd as I saw the stars in her eyes when she watched the older girls and their big skills. Even though she didn't admit it until she was in high school, I knew she had hopes of level 10 and college gymnastics. If she had been interested in other sports and the passion wasn't all encompassing for gymnastics, then yes I would have searched out all xcel programs because it is definitely allows for a more balanced life
 
I also think it depends on the child. My daughter competed Xcel Silver in 5th grade then was invited to L4 DP starting in 6th grade. My daughter was all in with gymnastics and for her DP made more sense. She wanted to be in the gym ALL THE TIME. Because she started gymnastics late, she had already tried other sports/activities and gymnastics was really the only one that truly excited her. If your daughter has other interests, Xcel may be a better fit. The other thing to consider is the hours as before you know it she will be in the gym 20+ hours a week. Having a kid with this kind of schedule impacts the entire family. Also, you can always try DP and then move back to Xcel at any point but the older she gets, the more difficult it will be to transition over (unless your gym allows girls to transfer to L7). I'd just consider your DD's overall enthusiasm and passion for the sport to help guide your decision. She has plenty of time to reach L10 and even college gymnastics. My DD didn't reach L10 but was on a D3 team for a couple of years (till an injury forced retirement).
 
I am happy we went the DP route. It fits my daughter and her intensity. I'm not sure she will make it to college gym but it's still a goal and she's in the right track to have time. That said, part of me really wants her to try other sports. She's amazing at basketball and oh, it would be nice to watch her compete without so much pressure.
 
This is such an open question, one that is very personalized to the respondent. Everyone is going to have different experiences that are not only influenced by themselves but the environment and community that they are in. There is no right or wrong answer. Compound that with the fact that most of us are speaking for our children, so we already are interjecting our own biases in the response. The OP in their description is obviously showing their bias.

I can't speak to both since my daughter never did excel. I can say that in JO or DP she has certainly had fun with her friends and won some medals to paraphrase the OP. If I had to do it all over, knowing what I know about my child I would have sought even more competitive and structured JO programs. It is what she loves, it is where she excels. I feel she has missed out on developing so much potential that she has if she had started earlier with coaches that had that level of experience.
In the context of the OP posts, I have seen enough DP programs that have all the same environment that Excel does. In my opinion it depends on the gym that you find yourself in. Again, everyone has their own journey to follow and there is no right or wrong path.
 
So after 11 years on the DP competitive side to put is it simply the DP side is just more, more of everything, more hours, more time on your end, more money, more skills, more stress.…….and so on forever lol.

As a parent I would look at your particular gym. Hours as they progress just get more and more till most top out around 18-20 hours a week. Summer schedules can be brutal if you are a working parent, hours increase and offen practices are durning the day all summer long. It literally took a village to get my daughter through many summers. There is more stress as they progress, gymnastics is just hard mentally and physically and it is a long bumpy ride at times once you hit upper optionals. That stress can bleed into the whole families life as well.

Time on your end is more and more. Until they can drive themselves you are the means, so 4 trips a day 5-6 days a week cause sitting through a 3+ hour a day practice was not reality for me. So on average I put 480 miles a week on my car. Then meets, at DP the meets are usually farther and more of them, again depends on your gym.

Cost, again just becomes more. Fancier Leos, bigger meets, massage therapists to keep their body alive, monthly tuitions will be more in DP, the list is long. So you need to decide if you are in for the cost side. I added it up recently and you will have spent at least a full year of college tuition at a private college when all said and done and we were not at a super expensive gym.

My daughter made it to level 10, had college thoughts for about one year but we did not head that direction. She ended her career on her terms and said she did not regret anything, they sacrifice a lot socially especially once they reach high school. Would I do it again knowing everything I know not I am not too sure.
 
This question also depends on how your gym uses XCEL...my daughter's gym has mobility back and forth throughout their 'career'. My daughter as done a season of bronze, silver, three, then last season she did both gold and 4. Will probably do gold again next season then decide which path works best.
 
Based on the time and place when DD started, I would keep the same path. When she first did DP, Xcel was pretty new and not as well developed as it is now. Because of this and her passion, DP was a good fit for her. She developed great form in all her foundational skills. She moved to Xcel Gold after 2 years of L4 (the last season was after the covid closure year) and Xcel has been a great fit for her since then. She did one year at Gold, this past year at Platinum, and she's on the cusp of Diamond for next year (she might also stay Platinum, depends on if she gets the couple of skills she still needs). DD has been super happy in Xcel, has made huge amounts of progress, and likes having time for other interests.

Our gym takes Xcel seriously and they have great coaches, so were she to start now would I do DP or Xcel? It would depend on my child at this point in time. But I would definitely look for a gym where mobility between the two is allowed and where Xcel is treated as a real team and not a second tier program for kids who can't make it in DP.
 
For those of you who have daughters who have been in the gym for awhile, if you could go back and start your daughters gymnastics career over, would you choose xcel or JO? My daughter is currently xcel but has an opportunity to go JO level 4 or go platinum. For reference, she is 9 years old. She loves uptraining and doesn’t have aspirations for college gymnastics-she is only nine and realistically college gymnastics probably isn’t in the cards for her with level 5-6 skills at age nine. She just wants to have fun, enjoy her friends, and win some medals. I see so many parents want JO for their girls and talk about how they need to be a certain JO level by a certain age and how xcel is lesser than JO. If you could go back, would you still pick the route you took for your daughter, excluding the parents whose daughters are going elite or college bound. Would you choose the more structured JO route if you could do it all over or the xcel route and why?
Well first of all level 5/6 skills at 9 is still very much on track for level 10/college. Not sure why you think she is too old for that track?

Anyway, I've thought about this many times, and I don't know my answer any more. When my daughter was just starting out, our gym didn't have xcel. After training group, it was between level 2 and a rec team. We chose JO thinking well she could always change if she didn't like it. Of course she did like it, did well, and then you get sucked in. She's been doing it for so long now that I don't think she can imagine herself as anything but a gymnast, despite her struggles. I definitely think about who she would have been otherwise (and how much more money we would have had!). Yes, she had some really good experiences, learned some great life lessons, made some friends, etc. But there has been a lot of suckiness about it all too. Being excluded, gym drama, being injured, missing out on things, etc. I have regrets. But I don't think my daughter would have chosen otherwise.

And our gym did later add xcel, but she was too far down the rabbit hole by then. Even now, I've mentioned the idea a couple of times, but she adamantly refuses. Shrug. I do think she might try high school gymnastics next year along with level 10, so I'm hoping that will be a good experience at least.
 
Retired gymnast chiming in. I grew up in the early 2000s (pre-XCEL, pre-social media). My parents and I were very confused about my gymnastics education, mostly due to lack of information. I grew up in a rec program where I was a clear outlier (both in terms of talent and enthusiasm for gymnastics), but we didn't learn about competitive gymnastics until age 10. By age 11, I was competing level 4, and by age 16 I was competing level 9.

Being a "late bloomer" in gymnastics won't get you famous, but you can get a lot done in a short period of time if you love the sport. I had a very fulfilling gymnastics career overall.

If you could go back, would you still pick the route you took for your daughter

If you ask my parents, they will say that they wish they did more research about gymnastics earlier in my career. They were unaware of the progressional nature of the sport and the importance of developing strong technical foundations early on. I am grateful for Chalkbucket and similar online communities for helping newcomers traverse the gymnastics-verse.

If you could go back, would you still pick the route you took for your daughter

If you ask me, I will say that I wish I quit a "bad fit" gym sooner. L4-L7 was a confusing time in my gymnastics career because I was finally in a program that served my goals, but the coaching culture was extremely toxic. This caused a lot of emotional distress which ultimately stunted my progress. When I finally moved to a different gym, I felt like I was waking up from a nightmare. The bad gym nightmare feels real and inescapable until you wake up—at which point you ask yourself: Why didn't I wake up sooner?
 
I agree with the people saying that it depends on the child. My child thrives in the more intense environment so I do believe that JO/DP was the right choice for her. I do wish we had found a more technical gym earlier for her. Now we are at the point of strongly considering the elite route and I think my daughter will love and thrive in that structure even more than the JO/DP.

My daughter would rather be at the gym doing boring drills or strength conditioning than at school or participating in another sport any day. But that is just how my daughter is. She is very single minded and gymnastics in her main focus.

I do think xcel is a great option for a child that prefers to be involved in other things. I'm glad that there are different options for different personalities.
 
If I were a parent ( aka what is sort of wish my parents did) is choose a gym with a strong upper optionals team and also recognizes excel as a team and not just competitive rec. also one that has good coaches for both team programs. also allows fluent movement between the two. If my daughter wanted competitive then I would do levels 1 and 2 and maybe 3 for good foundations and basics. Then move to excel for possibly silver, then gold, maybe platinum, then give the choice of moving to optionals or staying in excel. No skipping levels if my child would not be Sufficient at the next one. Meaning, skipping level 4 but not even making one foot on the beam for the backwalkover. Only skipping if my child is not being challenged at their current level. Only being held back for good form on foundational skills at a low level or for not having sufficient skills/strength for next level. On a side note I would only buy as many Leo’s as practices she has a week plus one, to alternate through. So if she has practice 3 days a week, I will buy her 4 Leo’s that are enough to function properly. The only time she is getting one those ‘designed by simone biles’ ones or whatever with the signature is if she needs one and it is on sale for a normal Leo price, or special occasion aka birthday xmas etc. or if she pays with allowance. Also, privates only if she misses practice for a reason that I make her miss( like making her miss practice to go to grandma’s birthday) or for a specific skill, or if she is nervous about an event before regionals or new routine.
 
This is a REALLY hard question to answer. My daughter started in Jr. Tops after rec coaches recognized her "talent" at an early age (age 4), but it was very soon clear that the TOPS program wasn't for her. She was getting stomach aches before practice, it was conditioning with no skills (I don't think I knew what TOPS really was at that point). I pulled her out after 7 months in the program and she "quit" gymnastics. She was missing it and at 7 could tell me why she missed it. I took her back to a different gym and put her in rec. Immediately she was recruited to level 3 team. I had serious reservations, but put her in anyway. Levels 3-5 were actually really good. Coaches were supportive and she learned a lot of fundamentals. She wasn't a podium kid, but she was progressing and still loved the sport.
Fast forward to level 6 and level 7. Head coach/gym owner was trying to build a small army of really young level 10s. My daughter was one he was pushing and he started comparing her to others. Why don't you have this skill yet? So and so had it at 9? You're 11, what's the problem? When we went with concerns, we were told our daughter was lazy and maybe gymnastics wasn't for her. We left went to a different gym where a back injury kept her out for a lengthy period of time. She came back from the injury and switched to XCEL Diamond. Less hours, less stress, still the ability to learn new skills and progress, but in a much less rigid way. I think she did well because her form is strong from the years of compulsory AND her body can heal and stay strong with the fewer hours. The level 8s do 20 hours a week. She is doing all level 8 skills at 12 hours a week. It is much better for her and her body. She has found the love of gymnastics again and has no intention of quitting any time soon (she is in 8th grade). I think I would stay in compulsory and then switch to XCEL rather than doing Optionals.
 
If I were a parent ( aka what is sort of wish my parents did) is choose a gym with a strong upper optionals team and also recognizes excel as a team and not just competitive rec. also one that has good coaches for both team programs. also allows fluent movement between the two. If my daughter wanted competitive then I would do levels 1 and 2 and maybe 3 for good foundations and basics. Then move to excel for possibly silver, then gold, maybe platinum, then give the choice of moving to optionals or staying in excel. No skipping levels if my child would not be Sufficient at the next one. Meaning, skipping level 4 but not even making one foot on the beam for the backwalkover. Only skipping if my child is not being challenged at their current level. Only being held back for good form on foundational skills at a low level or for not having sufficient skills/strength for next level. On a side note I would only buy as many Leo’s as practices she has a week plus one, to alternate through. So if she has practice 3 days a week, I will buy her 4 Leo’s that are enough to function properly. The only time she is getting one those ‘designed by simone biles’ ones or whatever with the signature is if she needs one and it is on sale for a normal Leo price, or special occasion aka birthday xmas etc. or if she pays with allowance. Also, privates only if she misses practice for a reason that I make her miss( like making her miss practice to go to grandma’s birthday) or for a specific skill, or if she is nervous about an event before regionals or new routine.
I have set limits like this and it's worked well. I force a day off each week or every 2 weeks. I don't do privates except as makeups. We said no to travel meets in L2-3, we traveled for a whole summer, she misses a few weeks of practice a year. All of these choices are ensuring that 1) her identity is not wrapped up in gymnastics, 2) God and family are still the priority, 3)And this has been huge... she truly believes that time off makes her better! Every time she has come back after a few days off, she has had amazing practices or meets. She gets jealous of all the time others spend in the gym but I keep pointing out how healthy, well-rested, and injury free she continues to be... hoping to always hold on to this balance as she progresses thru optionals.
The leotards... well... I am a little excessive on this one but nowhere near most of the girls. :)
 
For me, as a gymnast, I wish I would've just stuck with it both times I quit (then came back). I had talent and a love, but no real goals that coaches helped me with or that I wanted to accomplish myself. If I wouldn't have quit twice I probably would have made it a lot farther, maybe level 10 instead of 9 and I still regret that decision heavily. I quit because the going got tough and eventually because I wanted to try other things too. I just shouldn't have.

In addition I would tell little me that went from preteam to level 4, you are crazy girl. That is just asking for mental blocks and burnout. Lastly, I would be more assertive for what I want in my career, regarding skills I wanted to learn and take to level 10, hours, harder conditioning, etc.
 

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