Parents Trying to Manage DD's Expectations.... And a little brag :)

[Gymmonkeymomma]

As a small gymnast, DD has had her struggles with vault over the years. A tiny 6 yr old Level 4, she did "ok" but never great. Levels 5-6 saw alot of scores in the 6-7 range. Eventually by L7 she had grown a little to start doing well at the FHS. Fast forward...now she is 12 years old, L9, measuring at 4'9" and 90lbs. I think her growth and weight increase over the past 2 years has really helped her.

Last weekend, we were at a big meet in a different part of the country, so I had no ideas of what to expect in terms of placement. DD announced at the breakfast table (with teammates and parents) that she was going to "win" vault. I was floored...and a bit embarrassed. In the 6 years that she has been competing she has never mentioned "winning" before (although she has won vault 2 other times this season). So I tried to reel her in a bit and say "why don't we focus less on winning and set different goals". So she says, ok I'm going to hit all 4 events. That seems better, but in my superstitious mind, once her original words were out, she had jinxed herself, LMAO.

First up was bars. She does a good routine, small improvement in her baile form (still a work in progress), gets a score consistent with other meets. Then beam. Warmups were a diaster and one teammate crashed had to be carried off (poor girl now out for the season). DD takes a fall and also loses a connection...probably her worse beam routine of the season so far. Floor is next and judging is tough but fair (ended up in 3rd place).

We go to vault warmup. This was a gym that had an upper level where you could walk around and look over the vault table. Her warmups were very good but other girls looked good as well. Little Monkey does her yurchenko layout and all of our team parents and other teammates not competing were going wild cheering. Even the judges smiled. We waited forever for the score to flash and when it does, it was B-I-G - 9.675! Not only did she win her age group, not only did she have the highest vault score for all the age groups, she also had the highest score for all the events in her session!

Little Monkey was so excited about her vault! One of the dads whose DD is now competing NCAA told me that she does well because she is confident. OK, well one thing to be confident, but shouldn't be overconfident??? Where does one draw the line? I actually felt guilty, because now, does she think I don't believe in her? We have another meet this weekend, in another region that we've never competed in before... BTW, DD did have FUN even though she did not hit 4 events

 

[gymmomtoo]

Sounds like she's doing awesome! You are right to be proud of her, but also right to make sure her goals are things she can control. Love that she's peaking on vault now--if she can do well at level 9 vault, she's doing awesome! My oldest daughter was the opposite--did great on vault as a compulsory, but struggling with flipping a vault (my middle daughter does okay with each, but nothing spectacular). Oh--we have a girl on our team like your daughter! Not a great vaulter as a compulsory, but phenomenal now (she wins vault at most meets we're at).

Love your daughter's confidence--but good to keep him a little more humble too Congrats to her!

 

[iwannacoach]

Well!!! I hope you learned your lesson. You gotta watch out, because if you don't let her define herself as a gymnast, somebody else will...... and that'd be a shame, as it seems she's doing a pretty good job of it. Pat yourself on the back for doing a great job of guiding her, and for questioning yourself about which way to go.......

Just my own humble advice.........

Get your hands off the tiller and let her choose the course while she takes you along to keep her company, lest she jumps ship and leaves you to your thoughts and an empty ship..... if you get what I mean.....

 

[GymnastJoy]

Congrats to your dd on an amazing vault!

 

[iwannacoach]

^^^^^^^ Whoopsie^^^^^^^ I meant to say that too. I wish I was there to see it