WAG Keeping a child back to have teammates

[wgymmom]

Experienced moms, coaches, owners... would your gym hold an individual gymnast back in order to keep her with a group of girls at a certain level and therefore have a "team"? We have a strange situation where there are no L6/7's at our gym right now. One girl has to score out of 8 and she will move up to 9 with 3 other girls. I think we have 2 10's. Last year there were no 5/6's and the score-out girl did a couple of meets at 7 and moved to 8. So it seems like she was sent solo to a few meets? We have six girls in a training group that will do L5 this whole season. Three did L3 last year, will score out of 4 in one meet, and finish as 5's. Three have been through old 4, new 4, and will spend the whole season at 5 this year instead of scoring out and finishing at 6 in the spring as was told the parents 7 months ago. They said that they wanted to keep the girls together since 5 and 6 are practically the same. I have no idea why they are set on girls competing 6. I saw in the other thread that kids might be held back if there is no room in an upper group - do you also hold kids back so they can stay with a certain training group if other levels are empty? How does this work out for the individual gymnast? If you're trying to get an older girl/late starter to NCAA, wouldn't that hurt her?

 

[wsg13]

I would let her move up I have always been by myself and never had a team since like level 6 now 9. It has been fine and it means you make more fiends with other clubs gymnasts

 

[Deleted member 14190]

No that is a poor life lesson

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

My DD had 2 teammates at level 5-6 (but basically "alone" because of age difference) then alone for 7 and 8, she survived.

 

[Seeker]

It is hard to compete alone. Yes, they'll survive, but it is not the same. The bigger issue for the gym and parents is the coaching fees (and time) associated with having 1 gymnast at a level. Can be difficult from both a cost and staffing perspective.

 

[gymjunkie]

Technically, they are not holding anyone back if they are competing 5 instead of 6. 5 & 6 are considered the same skill level according to USAG. A gymnast can go from 5 to 7 or they can move from 6 to 7, so what you are describing doesn't have to hold anyone back. For what sounds like a small team, there may be a plus side to what they're doing, because it will save the parents money to keep the kids in one group (less sessions to have to cover coaches' fees at meets). It will also save them since they can escape choreography fees for a year. These items may have been part of the decision-making process.

It's also possible that they are frowning on L6 after last year's experiences. I've seen a lot of gyms switch their game plan regarding Level 6, since they have seen the pros and cons of this new level now that the first year is out of the way. I know some gyms that skipped 6 last year, but changed their mind for this year and are adding it. I know gyms that competed 6 last year, but decided against it for this coming season.

 

[cassafrass]

For what it's worth, my DD repeated old level 4 because she was given the choice to move on and compete alone or repeat with a full team. She really liked the girls and chose the team. She was very successful and happy with her choice. But she was on the bubble with the old level 5 skills at the time she made the decision.

 

[JBS]

Experienced moms, coaches, owners... would your gym hold an individual gymnast back in order to keep her with a group of girls at a certain level and therefore have a "team"?

No

 

[Aussie_coach]

Gyms are usually a business, it's not always what is best for the individual child that has to happen.

The gym must pay full wages for a coach to attend competitions with one child, I don't know how judges work in the US but our gyms would also have to provide a judge for that child or pay a $250 proxy fee.

 

[OzZee]

@Aussie_coach - how much do you pay judges up your way? Its only $100 proxy fee down here, lol

 

[cbifoja]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "holds back". It is likely that our L8 team next season will only have 2 girls (and if someone doesn't get her dang pirouette back she might not even go to L8). If that is the case, our HC is considering having both girls compete L7 again but working toward L8 for a mid-season change. As long as they aren't just getting bogged down on L7 drills and skills, I would have no problem.

But a good coach is going to be working kids above and beyond what level they are competing. To me, skill acquisition and improvement are way more relevant than the level number on a program.

 

[profmom]

The girls' team is big enough that this is never an issue, but occasionally a boy who has not been quite ready for optionals has been held back to compete with a team rather than alone. The whole year is spent much more on acquiring optional skills than perfecting routines at the level he's competing if that happens. This year, there are two guys who probably could compete L7 competently, but they'll do 6 and then most likely jump to 8 next year. I agree with Cbifoja -- what they're working is more important than what they're competing.

 

[lhmom]

When the optional team at DD's gym was smaller, there were several occasions where there would be one girl at a level. The coaches though worked to get that girl up to the next level to be with the other optional girls. That way, the optional parents weren't having to pay for coaches to be with one girl in a session. The optional team has gotten bigger so I haven't seen that so much lately.

 

[JBS]

No

Ok...I guess there could be some possible reasons for this to happen...but it would have to be considered in an individual basis.

Very young advanced gymnasts sometimes need a season to fully integrate with their older teammates.

Very rarely have we ever considered what gymnasts the athlete will be training with...after all...they are all on the same team.

 

[Gymsanity]

Yes. There are times when that is the best option, especially in compulsories. Once the girls get to the same level, they can then move as a team. I've found that they actually progress faster that way, and clearly have more fun than competing alone. I don't know of many coaches that would want to slow down a child's overall progress. I think it may be more of not being able to see the big picture at this point. Good luck.

 

[Aussie_coach]

@Aussie_coach - how much do you pay judges up your way? Its only $100 proxy fee down here, lol

Judges are generally paid $20-$40 per hour depending on their ability level. The fee was raised to $250 a few years ago. My guess is to really deter gyms from not providing judges.

 

[Natasha]

It seems a lot of gyms are choosing to compete 5 or 6, so I don't see that as slowing anyone down, or "holding them back." And actually, competing 5 and then 6 in the same season may actually slow them down because in the middle of the season they will need to learn and practice new routines. By doing 5 the whole year, they can focus more time on up training skills and be more prepared for next season. So as long as they are continuing to train them to their abilities, I would not classify what they are doing as holding gymnasts back.
The other reason that could be playing a part is you would have 3 girls at each level which makes team competition difficult as you have to count every score on every event and if you have a girl get injured or weak on just one event it hurts your team, this way with 6 you can have the possibility of a strong team rather than 2 weak teams. My dd has had 3 girls on her level for a couple different years and it was difficult. Also frustrating to pay the $50 team fee, only to have one girl not compete or scratch an event.