Parents New here with questions

[dinkalina]

Hello!
I posted a message into the intro forum but I will reiterate that I a very new gym mom of an 8 year old girl, BeeBee Loo. I have 4 children total - 3 of which have historically been in dance. My 13 year old son has danced for almost 9 years now, my two girls for 4 and 3 years. All 3 have been involved in tumbling/acro through dance and taken tumbling clinics and summer classes at 2 of our local gyms. BeeBee Loo decided tumbling at dance was not challenging enough/too slow so she switched to gymnastics this school year. The gym we are at has produced a recent Olympian. I know absolutely zero about gymnastics and have been surprised by the culture shock of it all.

In the past 6 months we have had problems with appropriate class placement, being sufficiently challenged, and endured some major office politics. She is in an intermediate tumbling class (1 hour) and a general rec gymnastics class (just switched to 2 hours this week). The tumbling class is her favorite by far with the general gymnastics class being the the major source of the pre-mentioned problems.

So my questions are this:
1. What's normal as far as progression? BeeBee Loo started out in a beginner level of her general gymnastics class because of her lack of equipment exposure. 3 weeks into it the coach says she needs to move. 4 months of the coach fighting with the office, she finally moves. 1 week in the level 2 beginner gymnastics class, her tumbling coach sticks his neck out and says the advance beginner gymnastics class is definitely NOT the right level for her she needs to skip the next level and move to the advance level. 3 weeks later, bless his persistant heart, he accomplishes that move for her. Props to her tumbling coach - they have been so kind to BeeBee Loo and have really looked out for her.

2. Are the politics of level movement always this way? Such drama it borders on the ridiculous!

3. Can you continue advance in skills if you don't have any interest in competing? For BeeBee Loo, learning new skills is completely fun and games. She has no interest in competing. However, competing seems like the "end all be all". From listening to parents at the gym talk and reading posts here, it seems like competing is completely expected and you are perhaps abnormal if you don't dig it. She's danced on stage in front of hundreds of people and plays piano recitals - she is not shy nor does she get nervous ever. She just doesn't see why anyone needs to judge her fun times.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Hi there, and welcome. If she doesn't want to compete, there's no problem with that! Let her have fun! I think that the reason the classes in rec don't go much higher than a level "4" or intermediate/advanced tumbling is because of the time commitment involved...I mean, coaches...can you step in and explain it better? The strength and conditioning required to pull off harder skills means long hours in the gym (maybe not crazy hours, but certainly more than 1 to 3 hrs a week) and I think that's why those kids that put in that time compete...I mean, why else would you make that kind of commitment in time, effort and money and then NOT compete?

I would guess that most gyms just don't have rec programs that require more than 4 hrs of commitment a week. Hope this helps.

 

[flipper's fan]

There are only a few gyms around here that offer advanced rec classes and even fewer for older kids wanting to do advanced rec. There are some rec leagues in some states, that compete on a more relaxed and fun level. By and far the largest number of gyms train for competition from level 4 or 5 up.

 

[gymjoy]

Welcome to CB. I'm happy to here your dd enjoys gymnastics and has coaches that support her.
To answer your queries -

First, I do not think there is a normal progression. Each child is different and learns the skills at different rates. Your dd is obviously coming into gymnastics with other training and skills through dance and tumbling experience that would place her ahead of most beginner gymnast. Her progression will be different because of that experience.

As for moving through levels, it is often fraught with politics and emotions. It probably makes a difference that your dd is not interested in competing. Gymnastics is a competitive sport, and most gyms are set up to have good gymnast compete. For better or worse, most gyms and coaches might feel it a was a waste of their time to coach a non-competitive gymnast. Likewise, many of the other gymnast parents might feel the non-competing gymnast was taking valuable practice time away from their competitive gymnast. ( Most gymnast I don't think would have trouble with this.) I'm not saying this is right or good, I disagree with those attitudes, but they exist

And not all gyms are like that - dd's old gym had a show team. It was for girls like your dd - loved gymnastics, wanted to learn bigger skills, but did not want to compete. Instead they did exhibitions and shows. They would go to local festivals or parades to do little shows and such. They had there own practice times - more then rec, less then team. It worked great. A few of those girls eventually moved over to compete.

Good luck.