Parents The right words..?

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

P

ProudMomOfAlani

My dd has recently joined a new gym due to the old one having some coaching issues and her skills have taken off! She's in pre-team currently, alike the old gym, and wants to get to team. This gyms rules are a little weird about getting in the team though. The head coach, and only the HC, alike the old gym, has preteam, and when she sees someone who she thinks would be good to go on the team, she picks them, and there are girls doing those straight bodied tucks and back tucks dismounts on the bar, I believe they are called flyoffs or most likely flyawyas, who and aren't on the team, but I don't know. Currently DD's working on back tuck dismounts on beam, and she is just terrified of miscalculating or something, then hitting her head on the beam. I have no idea how its possible to do that, but it's her who's on the end of that beam, not me. I know my daughter has talent. The assistant coaches tell me that she learns very quickly (started 2 years ago) and is never afraid to try something new. In fact, this new coach told me she asked to try a round-off hand tuck. And she did it well on the first try! But this back tuck on the beam, we don't know what's happened. I feel as if my daughter is pushing herself to get as many skills as possible to get on the team because she's joined gym as a early teen so I just have a feeling she thinks shes behind for her age. I don't want to be those moms who push their daughters and make them miserable, but she seems miserable already not being able to do it. It's never been like this before and I don't know what to tell her. I don't want to put any pressure at all on her. All I want is for her to believe in herself. I just need to find the right words to let her know she is an incredible gymnast already, or that she shouldn't be so hard on herself or that she doesn't need to be accepted into some team to validate her as being "good enough". What do I say? I would also, really, really appreciate any tips that you could possibly have for the back tuck dismount because I know how she is. She won't stop until she gets it and I don't want her to hurt herself by overworking and get even more frustrated.
 
I think, if I were in your situation, I would ask the coach for a meeting with you and your daughter. That way you can discuss you and your daughter's hopes for the future and get some real direction from the coach.
 
Some gyms will not take a teen onto team
Under any circumstances. So I second the idea of having a meeting with the gym to let them know that this is her goal and to find out what would be required to make it happen.

If they won’t take her it’s better to know now, rather than later.

Skills may not be the key. When I invite kids to Team. I wouldn’t take the kid with the most skills. I look for potential. Things like Strength, determination, effort, flexibility, technique, speed and commitment.
 
Some gyms will not take a teen onto team
Under any circumstances. So I second the idea of having a meeting with the gym to let them know that this is her goal and to find out what would be required to make it happen.

If they won’t take her it’s better to know now, rather than later.

Skills may not be the key. When I invite kids to Team. I wouldn’t take the kid with the most skills. I look for potential. Things like Strength, determination, effort, flexibility, technique, speed and commitment.
Thanks for the response, and I apologize for not specifying more.
We did have a meeting with the coach before joining, and we did talk about her hopes of team.
Anyone who is accepted into pre-team is on some sort of "trial" to getting on the team.
Here are some qualities I know she has, because I make sure to always watch the class because of the coaching issues from the old gym
-I don't really know if this is team level strength, but at parks she always finds a bar like thing and does pull-ups, record about 18
-determination and effort I know
-all splits, has a chest stand and a teardrop bridge etc
-speed
I know you didn't exactly ask for these qualities, so apologies, I hope you have an amazing day, and thanks for the suggestions.
 
I think, if I were in your situation, I would ask the coach for a meeting with you and your daughter. That way you can discuss you and your daughter's hopes for the future and get some real direction from the coach.
Thanks for the response and apologies for not specifying more,
We did have a meeting with the coach before we joined the class, but I will try to schedule another for more direction!
 
Has your DD ever done a backflip off a diving board into a pool? Back Tuck off the beam is very similar. Its really just like any other back tuck you do you are just going to go a little backwards in your set...not straight back you still want to go up but that little bit of backwards momentum will take you away from the beam so you dont hit the end of it. If your gym has a pit that the beam or the vault line up to thats a great place to start. Try doing it off the beam into the pit. Or learning how to stand on the vault and do a back flip off gives you that same feeling but may be less intimidating that doing a backflip off the end of the beam.
 
-I don't really know if this is team level strength, but at parks she always finds a bar like thing and does pull-ups, record about 18
I don't know how old your daughter is, but 18 strict forward grip full extension pull ups with good form is a very very very high number.

Ultimately, some gyms don't want older kids on team because youth is fetishized in American gymnastics. Even being a year older than the "on schedule" kids can stop you getting on some gym's teams. You need to figure out what sort of gym you're at and see if it fits your daughter's goals.
 

New Posts

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

New Posts

Back