WAG Keeping it fun....training L8-10 with 12-14yo.

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munchkin3

Proud Parent
trying to get some ideas on how to keep high level training interesting for the tricky teen girls.
What are some strategies your gym uses with the older girls to keep them engaged and motivated?
What is your daughters favorite 'day' or challenge during the summer months?
Injured?? What does your coach do to keep them IN?
 
My daughter is in this age group and level. I will say what keeps her "in" isn't so much anything with training. She loves to train. I would say the more important thing is to try and somewhat shelter the 11-13 year olds from the drama of the older girls. I notice if something overly dramatic is happening amongst the older teens they will try to group the younger ones together or will move their group for a day. Sheltering them from the say 15 year olds that would rather be at school function or who are butting heads with the coaches complaining about the sport. Keep their love alive and them in a bubble. I can't think of a specific thing that is done. I feel like by age 16 they either want to be there or they don't but 14-15 there seems to be a LOT who are considering quitting and very moody. I'm not sure how to keep them engaged as it seems to be outside factors that lead them to leave. (Wanting free time, skills getting hard, realizing they are too old/ not college material so what is the point?)
 
trying to get some ideas on how to keep high level training interesting for the tricky teen girls.
What are some strategies your gym uses with the older girls to keep them engaged and motivated?
What is your daughters favorite 'day' or challenge during the summer months?
Injured?? What does your coach do to keep them IN?

I'm kinda puzzled by this post...what kept my daughters "IN" was them and their interest in doing the sport and training...if you are having to rely on the coach to keep them engaged and motivated, then the problem is that they are not engaged and motivated from within themselves. By this age and level, gymnasts are in this sport because they want to be there...and if they don't, in my opinion, it's too labor intensive and costly to do it and they generally move on to other things.
 
trying to get some ideas on how to keep high level training interesting for the tricky teen girls.
What are some strategies your gym uses with the older girls to keep them engaged and motivated?
What is your daughters favorite 'day' or challenge during the summer months?
Injured?? What does your coach do to keep them IN?
Team bonding, (the girls do stuff together), we play games constantly (they compete for things), I give away things, we have a spirit week, we do a giant water balloon fight each year, sometimes twice... the older kids have a buddy on the compulsory team (little buddy), we talk we laugh, we pick each other up when we fall, , bashing each other is forbidden , we have a captain who makes sure that no one is bad mouthing anyone.... We still lose a lot of kids but we seem to retain more than most teams. It's a hard sport so I respect that you are asking. Injuries are tough, give them stuff to do but don't destroy them. You can't make it totally enjoyable being injured or you will have a lot of injuries. If it's a long term injury I shorten the day for them, come in for 2-3 hours do conditioning some even stuff then go home. We also talk a lot about depression that accompanies long term injury.
 
I'm kinda puzzled by this post...what kept my daughters "IN" was them and their interest in doing the sport and training...if you are having to rely on the coach to keep them engaged and motivated, then the problem is that they are not engaged and motivated from within themselves. By this age and level, gymnasts are in this sport because they want to be there...and if they don't, in my opinion, it's too labor intensive and costly to do it and they generally move on to other things.
Puzzled? based on what experience? your two kids? don't forget the other 20,000
 
Puzzled? based on what experience? your two kids? don't forget the other 20,000

...more than "my 2 kids" had experiences similar to ours...if I have to hope that my kid can continue in a sport with things like you describe, then we reevaluate why we are doing the sport...
 
As a mom, I would second the protecting the younger girls from the older drama comment. I have a younger one in these higher levels and it can be difficult being the youngest. Lots of drama that she doesn't need to hear at her age is over heard. On one hand it is good conversations for us to have at home, but on the other, it does make things a bit more tricky at times. I think on the whole the coaches do a good job of keeping this at a minimum, but it is something to keep in mind. I also think team bonding is important, and having "fun" in the workouts (whatever the definition might be in your situation!!) is great. My DD loves contests during conditioning, etc.
 
As a mom, I would second the protecting the younger girls from the older drama comment. I have a younger one in these higher levels and it can be difficult being the youngest. Lots of drama that she doesn't need to hear at her age is over heard. On one hand it is good conversations for us to have at home, but on the other, it does make things a bit more tricky at times. I think on the whole the coaches do a good job of keeping this at a minimum, but it is something to keep in mind. I also think team bonding is important, and having "fun" in the workouts (whatever the definition might be in your situation!!) is great. My DD loves contests during conditioning, etc.

It is funny because it seems like there is a lot more drama among the younger kids on our team than the older ones. Someone feeling left out, hurt feelings, competitiveness between girls, etc. By the time they get older and the higher levels, they are just trying to stay uninjured, they are more secure in their friendships, and don’t compare themselves to each other as much.
 
...more than "my 2 kids" had experiences similar to ours...if I have to hope that my kid can continue in a sport with things like you describe, then we reevaluate why we are doing the sport...
Now Your grasping at straws.
 
I beleive everyone has good points here. I do see the drama about life from the older girls as well as teenage speak. My daughter has come home with questions about things she has overheard that we had to discuss.:) I also agree that by 16 it seems the girls who are in and IN. They know what they want and do what it takes to continue. An example I can present is seeing girls knowing when to stop a certain skill and move on to conditioning.

The younger ones tend to be competitive and like to "discuss" who is better. I would hope they learn that being teammates and helping each other, picking each other up, is so important to longevity in this or anything is life.

The last thing I have noticed is when the two groups come together, young up and comers and older girls, that sometimes there may be an older gymnast threatened by advanced young girls. I understand their feelings but it does make the combination hard as the young ones don't understand that their skills are advanced and usually are looking up to the older girls. Those younger ones are just looking to be accepted by the girls they have watched and looked up to, possibly for a long time.

For these reasons, I think this is a great thread and was a great question.
Just my two cents
 
Now Your grasping at straws.

My point was they should either want to do the sport without needing to be enticed to do so, or not. If you need to be pushed by others ( such as your coach) to continue on, it is time to evaluate whether you wish to continue the sport at all....no straws
 
My point was they should either want to do the sport without needing to be enticed to do so, or not. If you need to be pushed by others ( such as your coach) to continue on, it is time to evaluate whether you wish to continue the sport at all....no straws
How is the topic of making it fun somehow equated to being pushed ? Again you are reaching
 
And you speak from very little experience. sorry but one child and parents experience does not equate to all. I can't even believe I am actually debating having fun in workout .
 
It's ok to try to make practice more fun. It's especially important to keep the injured engaged and "in", feeling like they are still part of the team. Try to have the injured participate in regular rotations with their teammates whenever it's possible instead of just off on their own doing stuff(with modifications lower body injuries can usually participate in ub/bb, upper body injuries on fx/vt) Coachp gave some great suggestions.
 
I realize I didn’t answer the question about keeping it fun in my earlier response!

Our gym does little contests, often mixing levels. They have fun team building events & outings, like going to an amusement park in the summer or tie-dying shirts, having “theme” days, doing prizes for completing assignments. Even the 16-17 year olds get excited to win a popsicle or piece of candy. :)

If someone is truly miserable, that kind of stuff isn’t going to keep them in gym, but it is nice to break things up once in a while.
 
Team bonding, (the girls do stuff together), we play games constantly (they compete for things), I give away things, we have a spirit week, we do a giant water balloon fight each year, sometimes twice... the older kids have a buddy on the compulsory team (little buddy), we talk we laugh, we pick each other up when we fall, , bashing each other is forbidden , we have a captain who makes sure that no one is bad mouthing anyone.... We still lose a lot of kids but we seem to retain more than most teams. It's a hard sport so I respect that you are asking. Injuries are tough, give them stuff to do but don't destroy them. You can't make it totally enjoyable being injured or you will have a lot of injuries. If it's a long term injury I shorten the day for them, come in for 2-3 hours do conditioning some even stuff then go home. We also talk a lot about depression that accompanies long term injury.
 
The idea that by the mid teens all the girls should be highly self motivated and work hard because they want to be there, and not need to be pushed by their coaches sounds lovely but isn't really accurate.

The world is full of adults who want to do things but still need external motivation in order to do it, why would we expect all teen girls to be more mature than these adults.

Lots of high school aged kids have done this their whole lives, gymnastics is their sport, their social circuit and their home away from home. Many will continue on, even if they don't have incredibly strong goals driving them.

I also second the idea that there is often a lot more drama amongst the 12-14 age bracket, that in the 15 plus age group. The early teen years can be very tough puberty, bullying, increased pressure from school, extreme vulnerability to peer pressure, dealing with new hormones and so on.

As for the original topic - keeping it fun.

Kids at this age are strongly inclined to be social. Their peers are their world and we can use this in the gym - partner work, group work, team building activities and so on. Social activities outside the gym are also incredibly powerful in building a strong team, such as team sleepovers, dinners etc.
 
Team bonding, (the girls do stuff together), we play games constantly (they compete for things), I give away things, we have a spirit week, we do a giant water balloon fight each year, sometimes twice... the older kids have a buddy on the compulsory team (little buddy), we talk we laugh, we pick each other up when we fall, , bashing each other is forbidden , we have a captain who makes sure that no one is bad mouthing anyone.... We still lose a lot of kids but we seem to retain more than most teams. It's a hard sport so I respect that you are asking. Injuries are tough, give them stuff to do but don't destroy them. You can't make it totally enjoyable being injured or you will have a lot of injuries. If it's a long term injury I shorten the day for them, come in for 2-3 hours do conditioning some even stuff then go home. We also talk a lot about depression that accompanies long term injury.
Thank God we have coaches like this!
 
As a mom, I would second the protecting the younger girls from the older drama comment. I have a younger one in these higher levels and it can be difficult being the youngest. Lots of drama that she doesn't need to hear at her age is over heard. On one hand it is good conversations for us to have at home, but on the other, it does make things a bit more tricky at times. I think on the whole the coaches do a good job of keeping this at a minimum, but it is something to keep in mind. I also think team bonding is important, and having "fun" in the workouts (whatever the definition might be in your situation!!) is great. My DD loves contests during conditioning, etc.
Both OG and YG were the youngest on the team at one point.
With OG, she was 6 and the oldest on team were 12-13. The others in her level were only 7-11. There were only 10 girls on the entire team, lol.
When YG moved to team at 6, there were 22 in her level (ages 6-14) and about 40 on team. By the time she was 10, she was with the optionals - and the others were 12-15. It was actually funny, but we had to make sure she stayed away from a couple of the more sheltered 12 year olds, lol. With older siblings up to 8 years older, she knew far more than she should have and had been dealing with teenage girl drama since she was 5. :(
 

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