Parents Not moving up levels due to other sports

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ilgymmom

Proud Parent
My daughter is a level 8 training level 9 gymnast. Her coaches have come out with a new rule that if you are participating in any other sports you cannot move past level 8. No matter what sport it is, softball, soccer, cheerleading, swimming, etc. Even if the practices don't interfere with gymnastics and you don't miss practices. The reason they said is by level 8 they only want girls who want to do college gymnastics and don't want to waste their time with everyone else! I was shocked! My daughter does not go to a gym that has produced hardly any college gymnasts and certainly no elites. And it has definitely changed how my daughter thinks of her coaches as they have told the girls they only want girls who want to be college gymnasts by level 8 or they should quit. My daughter is 13 and right now does not want to do college gymnastics but still enjoys it. I was just wondering if this was common at other gyms? If a girl had her skills why wouldn't they want to move her up regardless of what she wants to do in the future?
 
Well kudos to your daughter for being able to keep up with another sport while doing Level 8 gymnastics.

I could see where the coaches were coming from if the athlete in question was missing a lot of workouts. My daughter had a few teammates who tried to juggle 2 competitive sports up through level 6 and all of them ended up having to take numerous privates because of the missed gym time.

Another reason I could see coaches having this problem is injuries from other sports. Soccer, basketball, hockey, anything with any amount of contact. I know my daughter's old coach had a "no skiing or ice skating" policy. Of course some ignored it, but it was all about potential injuries.

However if the athlete is doing this entirely on her out of gym hours, is healthy, able and prepared for gym, I don't see the problem. A well rounded athlete is NEVER a bad thing.
 
Our gym was similar. DD did two sports for a while, and even though she only missed two practices in 10 months (one for regionals, one for nationals) It got to the point where they said she couldn't keep it up , and had to choose.

They are a high hours gym though, so I can kind of understand. Another sport on top of a 20 hour training schedule is too much. And DD was only Level 5 (with some level 6 skills). We don't have college, so it's not even as if they have that to aim for, and it's not an elite gym.



So DD chose, and gave up gym. SInce then another team-mate has been told time off for another sport is not allowed, although they wan't make her give it up if it doesn't interfere.

I know a swimming club that won't let you join if you train another sport too.
 
Our gym does not have that rule however after 10 years in the gym 9 or which my DD has been on team I can tell you after Level 8 to do more than one sport successfully is tough. It takes a toll on the gymnasts and on her teammates. While I do not think it impossible I do feel the coaching staff has a right to decide what they want of their optional gymnasts. I do know this is common for most level 9 & 10's in this area to be a sport kid. We had a team gymnast this past year compete as a 2nd year level 8 and she had a terrible year in the gym but a great hockey season, She surprisingly has taken the summer off from gym and probably will quit. Up until this year she was very successful at both sports. At some point to compete both how she wanted it just did not work. I am sure HC sees this and has made a choice unfortunately it is at the expense of your DD. I would ask if you have not what the rational for this is. Usually they have a good reason for deciding this. Good luck!!
 
I can completely understand the"no other sport" rule for the upper levels, regardless of where the child can fit in all the practices. Its just too tiring and time consuming in the long run. Eventually, she will burn out. Are there exceptions? Probably, but the job of the owner/coach is to make rules to protect her gymnasts. The only possible exception I could see that might be fine would be a summer-only sport that works out very little (summer swim league) because the gymnast still has plenty of time in the day to rest and have some chill time vs during the school year where the schedule is full with school, home work and 20 hr's of training.

However, I really don't like the rest - that they will only train those interested in college gymnastics. There are many girls who have no clue at 10, 11, 12 yrs old what they want to do in terms of college gym. But they do know that they love gymnastics and have a goal to get to 10. On the flip, many older girls know they definitely don't want college gym because they are looking to do a strenuous academic program. But.... At least the coaches are being upfront. Just as a gymnast has her goals, so do the coaches. If it doesn't fit the gymnasts, a move is in order.
 
I don't like this rule at all! I completely understand if the child is missing too many practices or meets and trying to keep the commitment equal, but this should be on a case-by-case basis.
Honestly, what if a girl is interested in college cheerleading? There is a good chance of getting a scholarship due to her solid tumbling.
Plus, only wanting to train college gymnast hopefuls?!? :eek:
 
That is tough - we have a girl in our gym who played in Junior Wimbledon this year - she is a better tennis player than gymnast, no one has a problem with it.
 
My daughter is a level 8 training level 9 gymnast. Her coaches have come out with a new rule that if you are participating in any other sports you cannot move past level 8. No matter what sport it is, softball, soccer, cheerleading, swimming, etc. Even if the practices don't interfere with gymnastics and you don't miss practices. The reason they said is by level 8 they only want girls who want to do college gymnastics and don't want to waste their time with everyone else! I was shocked! My daughter does not go to a gym that has produced hardly any college gymnasts and certainly no elites. And it has definitely changed how my daughter thinks of her coaches as they have told the girls they only want girls who want to be college gymnasts by level 8 or they should quit. My daughter is 13 and right now does not want to do college gymnastics but still enjoys it. I was just wondering if this was common at other gyms? If a girl had her skills why wouldn't they want to move her up regardless of what she wants to do in the future?

and they never will unless they put their foot down. yes, it is the rule in all gyms that have 10's and elites. and if your daughter decides that she does want college gymnastics, and she should start thinking about that now, she'll regret that she didn't commit to gymnastics sooner and she'll regret not getting good enough to be collegiate material. it is what it is.
 
I have heard that my gym has that rule. Many, many girls do more than just gymnastics, but now that I think about it - none of them are above a level 8. I have often wondered how a gymnast can really commit to gymnastics when they are off playing softball or running track.

I struggle with wanting my kids to at least try other things at some point and making sure they are fully committed. So far we have done nothing that conflicts with any gymnastics, so my kids haven't had the opportunity to try much else. Once you reach level 8 and above it just requires so much dedication and commitment - not just the time in the gym, but the mindset, and the physical commitment as well.

Luckily my older dd has never really wanted to do much else. My younger dd though has a list a mile long. So I took this summer to sign her up for a couple of summer camps that did not conflict with gym. She gets to try those other sports without a big commitment. I figure at this point it is a win-win for everyone.
 
I've seen some girls at L9 do multi sports but they constantly were missing parts of practices. I can understand not wanting to foster that culture in a gym. We were a small city gym though. We had optionals and they were good but we weren't a powerhouse. Said girls were probably not going to be strong L9's anyways, not in our program.

I know a lot of young guys can do it but at that age they also tend to just be physical phenoms. It could be done possibly with seasonal sports but the trend nowadays is for all sports to be roughly year round if they are serious about a sport rather than fall-winter-spring sports unless they are sports that work together like X-country and long distance or Football and track.
 
Wow. My dd never would have made it as far as she has with a no other sports policy at her gym. She's doing gymnastics and travel softball this year. Plus, she's tried all of the sports offered for girls through the CYO sports program at our church. I think if I had only limited her to gymnastics a while back that she probably would have been out of the sport a long time ago. Besides I felt it important for her to try other things so that she can see what she has a passion for. The softball thing has been a bit difficult this year because during the fall and spring season she'd end up missing some Saturday morning gym practices due to tournaments. I do think her time of doing 2 year round sports is limited and come next summer she'll probably have to make some choices about what she wants to focus on. There have been some L9's and 10's at her gym who've also done a high school sport such as track and field, cross country or cheer. Although now that I think about it, most of those who did eventually ended up quitting gymnastics and finishing up their high school career with the school sport.
 
Our gym doesn't have that rule, but outside sports are discouraged, especially in Optionals. Every year, the parents get a lecture about girls coming to practice after another sports practice all tired out and how gymnastics will suffer for that.
 
If it doesn't interfere with practice or competition times, how would your gym even know if she was doing other sports?

And what about school sport, in Australia its compulsary for the kids to do sport at school.
 
Probably the only sport I'd give a nod to is Track&Field. Specifically any sprint, jump, or throwing event. It can be trained with minimal time compared to other sports. Maybe polevault (technically a sprint then jump).
 
Our gym has that as a general guideline, but they've never kicked anyone out of the gym for doing another sport. I don't have a problem with the rule though--by level 8 they should know whether they have a passion for the sport or not and the coaches probably want to have girls that are committed to being at practice every day Maybe they're tired of having half the team missing throughout the summer due to other sports (just speculating). With the skills the girls are doing at this level, they really do need to be at practice consistently--just to be safe.

If it doesn't interfere with gymnastics practice or meets, as someone else said--how will the gym know if she's doing something else??
 
If it doesn't interfere with gymnastics practice or meets, as someone else said--how will the gym know if she's doing something else??

Well, if you live in a completely different county from anyone else at the gym ... otherwise how would you get away with it? Make it a rule, someone will tattle.
 
If it doesn't interfere with practice or competition times, how would your gym even know if she was doing other sports?

And what about school sport, in Australia its compulsary for the kids to do sport at school.
in the US, you usually only see compulsory sports in private schools. Most public schools have their sports right after school and are try out based. It really would be difficult to work it in with high level gymnasts. As for people knowing. Nothing stays a secret long. We have very few girls attending a school where no one else attends. And even then, it would still get around. Article in the paper, one school playing another. It would get out soon enough. Private sport teams (club sports) are a little different and you might get away with it for a while. Something like swimming or softball, where it wouldn't necessarily intefer with gymnastics training or competitions. But like I said before, I can't see how this can be done long term and have the gymnasts feel confident in both sports. Something would have to give.
 
Oh, In Australia the kids actually play sport during school hours. One afternoon a week, the lessons after lunch are cancelled and all the kids participate in sports and go on buses to other schools to play against them, and are back at school by the end of the normal school day.

If the kids are not on a sporting team representing the school then they have to choose from a sport or physical activity that is offered at the school for the afternoon. So its a part of the curriculum.

But also if you were part of a sporting team outside of school here you could easily get away with it, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of sports and activities offered in all areas. The odds of seeing a team mate there or even a member of the gym would be very low. Especially if you were a few suburbs away.

The big thing is swimming, everyone in my part of Australia swims. It is a compulsory subject at school but most also do it out of school. Parents look at you like you have two heads if you question swimming, ad campaigns on television have done a good job of convincing parents they are negligent parents if they don't make their child swim. So we have a lot who swim every morning and do gym every evening.
 
My daughter is 14 training Level 9 (though will most likely compete Level 8 a second year this season). I cannot imagine that she would have time for a second sport after 20 or so hours at the gym, HW and sleep, lol!

Her gym doesn't have a rule however they do have a well established PrepOp team as well as the USAG team and I know that girls who want to do two sports/activities tend to do PrepOp, often making the switch around Optionals or Middle School!

So while her gym doesn't have a rule, they provide options for the girls who want more than one sport.
 

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