Anon Qualities of Compulsory Gymnasts that Predict Successful Level 10/Collegiate Careers

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Are there things you look for in a L2/L3 gymnast that indicate she might be successful in making it to L10 or college? We had a coach tell us that she thought my daughter had what it took to make it to L10 and onto a collegiate career. Our gym does send several girls to college for gymnastics each year, but I don't really know how accurate her estimate is, or what determines that. Obviously a lot could change between now and then, I was just curious to learn more.
 
I’ve always been told that lower level performance is rarely predictive of long term success. I have now actually seen this firsthand with my own kids. My older one picked up skills super quickly and was an optional gymnast by the third grade and by all predictions from her coaches, she was slated to be a level 10 by 6th grade. But then developed a ton of fears from being pushed so hard so quickly and ended up leaving the sport by the sixth grade. Meanwhile, my younger one was slow to pick up form corrections and a very low scoring gymnast early on but is doing quite well as an optional. She was moved pretty slowly through levels because she never never really stood out, but in the end I think she may actually end up going much further. So I guess all that say that you just really can’t tell.
 
In the old days? Having small and fit parent.

I’m 5’7.5 and about 145 LBs of muscle and my wife is 5’0 and thin but muscular. Some of the old school coaches that I’ve met take a look at us and immediately decide our daughter “has what it takes.”

Is that true? Possibly on the margin but the number 1 indicator for success in any sport is just durability. Some people’s joints are simply much more durable than others. A kid who lacks durability is going to have a terrible time making a college team in any sport, and probably shouldn’t — training that hard is bad for their long term health.
 
We've been told this by our gym about our daughter but I think it's questionable and perhaps just a marketing tool by the gym. Yes, she picks up skills super fast but so many stars have to align for her to make it to L10 and then on to college. Mainly - she has to want it, and as a 3rd grader, she doesn't know what her favorite color will be next year. She definitely can't possibly predict how much of her childhood she'll want to dedicate to this sport. For what it's worth, the star of her team last year (scoring high 9's on every event, great form, strong, flexible, etc) developed severe mental blocks this year and quit. And everyone had all the predictions about her...
 
I think coachability. A young gymnast that can take what the coach says and apply the corrections will usually make it far.

Desire is huge! This sport is brutal!

My kiddo should not be able to do what he does. He was told early on that he did not have the body type. He is more slow twitch. But that kid has persevered to the college level. He was a decent compulsary gymnast.
 
. For what it's worth, the star of her team last year (scoring high 9's on every event, great form, strong, flexible, etc) developed severe mental blocks this year and quit. And everyone had all the predictions about her...
I saw the exact same thing. The first, and so far only, kid who was clearly obviously better than my daughter — similar coaching, similar effort, similar age — my daughter did a level that season and this girl did three, and still managed to score higher than my daughters best for the season at every meet.

That girl had a screaming fight with the coach after she couldn’t get a skill, moved gyms, and now seems to be a middle of the pack upper optional gymnast.
 
No, I really don’t think so.

You can’t predict mental blocks, injuries, and what puberty will do to her body and her skills. Those middle school years wreak havoc on everything.

One very bad fall is all it takes sometimes to develop a block and you can never predict that (Sometimes a block from nothing at all). But my kid was totally fearless, even after breaking her arm. She jumped 3 levels and they wanted to skip her again to level 8, I said no I don’t think she can handle it and low and behold - one bad fall on beam and every day is a slow battle with the series. Our upper optional group was huge and now…. Not so much
 
I don't think you can tell much. I have seen some 39 scoring level 3s who tanked in optionals. They just didn't have the speed or power. And then as someone else said, it is impossible to predict mental blocks, injuries, life in general, etc.

I agree though that speed and power often translates into better optionals. Those kids are not always the best compulsory gymnasts. None of the top of the podium level 2-4 gymnasts my kids used to compete against are in the sport anymore.
 
What does fast muscle twitches mean?
There are two kinds of muscle fibers that all humans have: fast versus slow twitch

They're designed for different things (think sprint versus marathon running) and the proportion of one to the other is determined by genetics.

Regardless of genetics, you can improve the function of your fast twitch muscles by training in a particular way. Basically, using explosive type movements.
 
I agree with the others that I don't think you can really predict. My daughter is the only one from her preteam/level 2/level 3 team left. And there is only one other from levels 4/5. She was honestly barely selected for preteam at her gym. I think the only reason they chose her was because they loved her toes. lol. She had a great toe point for a 4/5 year old and she also could spread her toes really wide which they were fascinated with. Level 2 was not the best, but she started doing well in level 3 and by level 5 was doing great. Level 7 was really good. Then came the injuries, covid shutdowns, puberty, more injuries. She's level 10 now, but I don't know what the future holds anymore.

Most of her teammates that left in the compulsory levels were because of the time commitment and they just weren't passionate about it anymore. Most in the early optionals left because they were having mental blocks or weren't able to perform the skills they needed. Most that left in level 9/10 are because of injuries or because they have felt like it's not worth it anymore and/or that they just aren't enjoying it anymore. I agree with a previous poster too that I think being durable is a huge thing (but rather hard to predict). Anyone that is constantly getting injured is going to have a hard time being successful in the sport unfortunately.

And, too, look at all the amazing young gymnasts you see all over instagram.. How many actually make it to level 10? They don't lack talent or opportunity or the right body type or fast twitch muscles or whatever. Usually it's burn out or injuries that take them out of the sport. Actually, let me add another predicator of success... not having an overbearing parent! just kidding.. kind of. :)
 
There are two kinds of muscle fibers that all humans have: fast versus slow twitch

They're designed for different things (think sprint versus marathon running) and the proportion of one to the other is determined by genetics.

Regardless of genetics, you can improve the function of your fast twitch muscles by training in a particular way. Basically, using explosive type movements.
Thanks. This is really interesting. We've always been told she's incredibly strong. She has a ton of power vaulting and flipping and she also does really well on bars with her upper body and core strength.
 
I think it’s too hard to predict with most. In level 3, my daughter competed against the top ranked level 3 in the country at states. She scored in the high 39s in AA. A few years later at DD’s first L6 meet, she ended up competing against her again. This was this girl’s second year of 6 and she was really struggling on bars. She left the sport after that season.

DD was not a great compulsory gymnast, usually middle of the pack. We were told she probably wouldn’t make it beyond compulsory. She has turned out to be much more suited for optionals and is now a L8.
 
The lowest scoring compulsory gymnast in my daughters group as in the lowest scoring at every meet of all gymnasts now 10 years later signed to a top 10 D1 team and was a multi year level 10.

From our years in this sport I think it is next to impossible to predict future success (not counting the obvious phenoms) of most gymnasts. just way way too many variables. As other have said the puberty years are very tough, fears, injuries, high school, boys, teammates who quit, coaches who change and so on all play a part and you can’t predict that looking at an 8 year old.
 
Thanks. This is really interesting. We've always been told she's incredibly strong. She has a ton of power vaulting and flipping and she also does really well on bars with her upper body and core strength.
The other thing that factors into functional strength is the length of your muscle insertions. Body builders love short insertions because it creates a lot of muscle volume. However, strength grows in proportion to the cross section of your muscle fibers, so the extra volume created by short insertions adds weight with no additional strength.
maxresdefault.jpg


The bicep on the right is probably just as strong as the one on the right, but it probably weighs 30% less.

Additionally, some studies have looked at the differing amounts of leverage created by different muscle head attachment points. Two people with identical muscle development can be very different in functional strength due to differing leverage ratios.

This explains it pretty well:
article
 
It’s a lot easier to tell who *won’t* be able to reach a high level in the sport than who will be able to do so.
Agreed. There was always a few gymnasts at each level that we knew were gonna drop out for various reasons. Some of them lasted longer than expected due to parental pressure
 
Are there things you look for in a L2/L3 gymnast that indicate she might be successful in making it to L10 or college?

Not really... I would say there is a better chance in predicting this after L4 as they are moving towards L7/8 type gymnastics.
 
As an anecdote, when Dd was a L2 our gym told us she'd never make it to L3 and if she wanted to keep competing she should do XB and maybe she'd make it to silver one day if she was lucky.

We took her to be evaluated by another gym where they immediately offered her a spot on the L3 team. She went on to compete L4 and chose to move to XG after covid. She's a platinum now and consistently makes the podium.

Sometimes coaches are really wrong in predicting level of success.
 

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