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Hi
My daughter just tanked at States. She’s 11, L4 scored 8.6, 8.5, 8.5 & an 8.0. She had 1 or 2 nice meets this season and the rest was way below average. Shouldn’t her coaches be improving her? In my mind they should. She’s devastated. I don’t know what to do. She’s a lot better in practice.
 
Hi
My daughter just tanked at States. She’s 11, L4 scored 8.6, 8.5, 8.5 & an 8.0. She had 1 or 2 nice meets this season and the rest was way below average. Shouldn’t her coaches be improving her? In my mind they should. She’s devastated. I don’t know what to do. She’s a lot better in practice.
Progress is not linear, and meet results at low levels are inconsequential.

Your frustration is understandable, but please please PLEASE do not express this frustration to your daughter.
 
8s are not horrible. They may not be the best scores, perhaps especially for her, but it could be a lot worse. Scores do not equal progress. Competition jitters can do a lot.

Level 4 is early on. Better to focus on getting the right basics and fostering love for the sport than winning everyday.

Remind her that she is strong. Meets, nor gymnastics, is everything. If she wants to get better at gymnastics she will If she keeps trying, she will. In the end gymnastics is about having fun. She should enjoy it for the gymnastics, not the scores. That can be hard, but keep trying!
 
I suppose it depends on your gym and their expectations but in general, 8.5s are not "tanking" a meet. Those scores show that she has the skills, that she likely just needs to clean them up and/or there was a fall. Some gymnasts do really well in practice and then get really nervous at meets and that affects their performance. Hang in there. Schedule a meeting with the coaching staff to get an idea of their thoughts on your daughter's progression and whether they are concerned
 
Making it to level 4 itself is not easy. Only a small percentage of kids who ever start gymnastics will make it to level 4. Nothing at all below average about that!

It is completely normal to not do as well in competition as practice. Nerves do affect things, the more she competes, the better she will get at managing it. But it takes time, enjoy the journey.
 
Take a look at the scores of her team-mates and other gymnasts who have made it to higher levels from your gym. If they rarely have gymnasts cracking 9s I would consider a move. I don’t know if this was a one-off from your daughter, if this is how your DD and her team-mates are regularly scoring they are either inconsistent, or huge form breaks. Just my two-cents!
 
My 11 year old Level 7 kid missed her squat-on on bars, which she never does, and her connection on beam, which she never does, and scored way lower than she should have on those two events. That was at Regionals. If she hadn't made those "newbie" mistakes, she would have placed. But we were still enormously proud of her for getting there and for finishing those routines despite the mistakes. We've been working on the mental aspect of the sport all year, because it's become clear that she can physically master the sport, but her brain has to buy into it. When it does, she's spectacular. When it doesn't, well...

Meets are stressful. If you think about it, you're asking a kid to go out and be observed for about 5 minutes total and have her performance be judged by perfect strangers. Practices are different. No one is judging you on one 30 second bar routine. You get feedback in the moment, and you get to do it over.

I'd focus less on the actual scores, especially if you know she has the skills, and more on helping her with her mental game. And I echo everyone else in hoping you gave her a thumbs up and a hug when she finished. Making it to States is an accomplishment in itself.
 
As for her doing better in practice, is it nerves? Is the equipment feel different to at practice? Agree with advice everyone has given, and 8s seem alright to me!
 

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