Parents What to do with a kid who wants to train more?

[RTT2]

DD (9) is on Xcel Bronze and really wants more training time. She goes 3x a week for a total of 7 hours, but asks all the time for more training. She's done plenty of other sports, but really loves gymnastics and wants to spend her time there, but our gym doesn't have any additional training available for Xcel Bronze. She's even asked me if she could join a second team so she can train more, which I'd consider but I'm not sure if a kid is even allowed to compete for two different gyms. Any ideas? She has done ballet and hated it, tried diving and wasn't interested at this point.

 

[bogwoppit]

No gym would let a kid compete for another gym. Have you looked at other gyms that might do USAG JO programs as they tend to train longer hours. You could also look for T&T, or trampoline and tumbling, most gymmies love that.

 

[RTT2]

I figured they probably wouldn't allow her to compete for another gym, but she was sure it was a great way to get in more training time. T&T is a good suggestion, and I'll look into that. Bars and vault are her favorites and her strengths, but she does like tumbling.

 

[sce]

I always told my dd to work hard and move up to the next level, then she will get more hours.

 

[RTT2]

Silver does the exact same hours.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

7 hours is really good for bronze, I think you will see that a lot of gyms have even less hours for bronze. As a general rule, as she moves up in levels, the training time will also go up, for instance if she competed silver next year she would probably have slightly more hours. If she were to switch to a JO program and compete say Level 3, you would probably see that they train more hours than in Xcel. Xcel is designed to be a lower hours, lower commitment program. However more and more gyms, especially in our region are even having their JO girls do a season of Xcel bronze as kind of a introduction to competition before they start competing L3 and gives them some time to get those tougher L3 skills. For her age and level, 7 hours sounds completely normal. Too much too soon can lead to burnout and overuse injuries.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Silver does the exact same hours.

I just saw this, yes it can be possible for bronze and silver to have the same hours, even at our gym there is only a half hour increase between bronze and silver, they have a pretty big jump in hours in gold though.

 

[RTT2]

I just saw this, yes it can be possible for bronze and silver to have the same hours, even at our gym there is only a half hour increase between bronze and silver, they have a pretty big jump in hours in gold though.

How many hours does your gym do for Gold?

 

[gymgal]

This is exactly where you want her to be - itching for more hours. Just keep telling her that higher levels will bring increased hours (even if silver does not). In the mean time, keep her interested in other sports or activities. BTW, 7 hours for bronze sounds like a lot for a traditional xcel program. Are you in a gym where the girls transition to JO later?

 

[txgymfan]

You might try a kids yoga or Pilates class to get in some fun cross training. A fun dance class could also be an option, hip hop, or jazz maybe.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

How many hours does your gym do for Gold?

Ours does 6 for bronze, 6.5 for silver, 9 for gold....I know of other gyms that do 12 for gold.

 

[notthatmom]

This is exactly where you want her to be - itching for more hours. Just keep telling her that higher levels will bring increased hours (even if silver does not).

Exactly!! My DD always asks to go more (she's at 9 hrs right now) I figure as long as she's asking for more, and she's excited to go every day, I know she's doing something she loves.

 

[CTMOM]

My YDD(7) is the same way. She does 9 right now and gets annoyed on no gym days....LOL! She was bronze last year and her gym only did 4, but the coach allowed her to add a level 3 night so she did 7.

 

[Jenny]

put her in a decent ballet class. It will really help her poise and presentation.

 

[notthatmom]

put her in a decent ballet class. It will really help her poise and presentation.

That a great idea! OP your DD is at the point where two activities won't kill her, so see if there's another activity like ballet (or anything else really) that strikes her interest!