Parents Is this a positive sign?

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Busymum

Proud Parent
Hello all.

I am new to this forum and this is my post so hi to you all!

I have a little girl who has fallen in love with gymnastics! She is only 5 and has only been going since the end of July but she loves it! At the moment she is doing a 1 hour recreational level but loves to watch the squad in action when she is there!

She keeps saying that she wants to be like them and do flips and so I tell her to keep working hard and enjoy herself and maybe one day she'll be able to do it too. I'd love for her to make the squad if that is what she wants to do. Last week she mentioned it to her coach and she (her coach) told me that they have been keeping an eye on her since her first day and that she is coming on well :)

Anyway, today, I noticed that one of the coaches took my daughter and one other girl of the same age to one side (the others were all working on floor skills like backwards rolls and things at the time) and took them over to the bars. She worked with them both for around 10 mins getting them to do different things and then they came back to join the others.

Afterwards, Millie told me that her coach had wanted to see if she could do a chin up?? Then got her to hang and lift her feet up to bar/her head. Oh and a little competition to see how long they could hang from the bar. She only did this with he two of them so I was just wondering if this is a positive sign that they may be checking her out for the development squad at some stage in the future?

Or am I just being hopeful?

Thank you for any thoughts :)
 
sounds like they might well be assessing her for moving up. You have done the right thing by indicating her desire to the coach, however each gym has a different move up policy so don't hold you breath for immediate action.

If she is interested in competitive gymnastics, have a look at the sticky thread (full spin on beam) in the UK section for a potted history on the GB system, and read through the forum - it will give you lots of hints and tips on how this may well go.

Oh and hello :)
 
Thank you!

I'm fine with it taking a while as she is loving her rec class and learning lots. Just hoping that is an option to her if she wants it!

Off to have a nosey at the thread you suggested!

Thanks, again!
 
I think you can safely take that as a good sign. You have to be 6+ for our squad - do you know if your squad takes 5 year olds? They could be assessing her, or just keeping an eye on how her strength is developing, but either way it's rarely a bad thing when coaches take an interest :)
 
Thanks, Flossyduck.

I don't really know too much about the squad but the youngest girls look maybe 6 to 7 so could be inline with yours! I hope she gets the opportunity one day as she really wants too!
 
They do this at my dd's group from time to time if they see anyone with potential. At the moment the whole of the recreation groups are doing this as part of regular physical abilities testing, I guess if they see anyone who has made great progress from their past test or does extremely well on their first test then then get invited to move out of rec for a trial period. At our gym there seems to be no age limit and just recently we had a new girl move up from rec to join my youngest dd's group and this girl is 13.

We have many competition paths (I still don't know what path youngest dd is on ).

There is the following:

Development class (4-7 year olds)
Development class (6-8 year olds)
Development class (7+ year olds)
Development class (7+ year olds) - more elite training.
Advanced rec class (5+ year olds)
 
Thank you for that Tiny Dancer! I really don't know what age our development classes start -- there doesn't seem to be information about it readily available.
 
There isn't any info at our gym, just info I have gathered along the way. Any news on your dd?
 
Welcome....it's always good to have new UK members. I'd say it is a good sign they're considering her. Don't underestimate the value of her desire for a squad place....my DD used to look at the squad girls with awe when she was in rec....would say "I'm going to work hard until I get into squad"...it took her a few months (having been at another rec gym for about a year beforehand) but eventually that hard work payed off and she is now in a squad.

If there is no move for her this time it might be worth asking if there's anything in particular she needs to work on. For my DD it was her splits/bridge. Once told this she massively improved both within 6 weeks because she knew that's what they expected before she could get a place in a squad.
 
Thanks guys!
No more news yet on her moving up but I have been told she is very flexible and that she has a really good bridge for a beginner. She has only been going since August. They also said that she needs to build her arm strength some more and so lots of play in the park -- they had 'hung' her on the bars to see if she could do a chin up. She couldn't! But she could lift her feet/legs up.

She is only tiny though. She'll be 6 in January and the same height as the 4 year olds! Not sure if that has anything to do with her not being too strong, yet.
 
Also, her rec class is for 4 - 7 year olds and I just wondered how long is 'usual' before being moved up -- if they have potential.
 
Same as our gym, rec class for 4-7 years old and 7+. My dd only spend 2 months in the 7+ rec class before getting invited to trial. in a competition group. What area of the uk are you from (not too specific - just region ). We are in the East of England.
 

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