WAG Younger age vs. older advantage/disadvantage

[Muddlethru]

Do you think it is an advantage or disadvantage to be young for your grade in gymnastics? Coaches look at the graduation year but the ages of the girls vary. I know age mattered for my son when he played football in junior high and even fencing through high school. He played against larger, more developed and mature athletes. Some athletes were almost 2 yeas older (and a foot taller!). Some parents hold their children back and some parents put their children ahead creating a 2 year age gap in some instances.

There is a thread here that talked about college coaches looking for prepubescent gymnasts. But I too wondered if a slightly older gymnast may also have an advantage with regards to maturity, muscle development, polish, etc. I feel it is a general consensus that younger gymnasts can get skills more quickly, are lighter on their feet and tend to be stronger (i.e., thread on press to handstands and many other threads stating their daughter has now reached puberty and it seems to have adversely affected their gymnastics). But once these girls hit their senior year, is there any difference between say a 16 year old or 17 or 18 year old or even in some instances a 19 year old on a purely biological standpoint?

 

[Quadqueen]

I don't know the answer to your question, but the part about coaches looking for prepubescent gymnasts is interesting. I mean, they're going to be past puberty by the time they're in college. Wouldn't it be better to see what they can do, post-puberty, than to look at a prepubescent kid when it's not clear how they'll "turn out" after puberty??

 

[Aussie_coach]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

If the child is young for their level they are often more able to develop flexibility and as they are lighter it is easier to develop a good strength to body weight ratio. As kids are smaller and lighter they are easier to spot so many skills may come faster. It also helps for them to learn as many skills as possible before puberty as for a lot of kids skill learning gets harder at this age. Fear also can come into it less (but some kids are the other way and get braver when they are older).

If the child is older for their level they may be better able to understand what the coach is trying to get across. they may be closer to developing their adult strength. Often they have a longer attention span and are better able to work longer without getting bored and are better able to focus on long term goals. They can also work out longer hours and there can be more flexibility of having later practices. Often older gymnasts have a stronger sense of style and are better able to pay attention to the technical details of the skill and most are better dancers.

 

[gymgal]

I would think the big difference in 16, 17, 18 would be the number of years they have spent at the higher levels, thus increasing injury risk - either outright or through the more frequent nagging milder ones. Maybe I am naive, but I really can't imagine there being a big difference in ability, skill level and scoring among college gymnasts who had 3yrs vs 4 yrs vs 5 yrs at Level 10 - obviously, given they have been properly trained and belonged at that level for all those years.

The problem that arises is that the big time colleges are looking at the girls at younger ages, which almost "forces" the girls to get to 10 as early as possible so they look their best by the time recruiting time comes for them. So the girls making it to L10 (and are competitive) in 9th grade, theoretically have an advantage over first year 10th and 11th graders because they will look better in terms of training, polish, confidence during early recruiting (8-11th grade)

 

[gymgal]

BTW, I do think having an early birthday for your grade probably does help in terms of other aspects of college - maturity, decision making, living independently, etc - when compared to girls with late birthdays. This, of course, is a generalization and there will always be younger girls who are more than ready and older girls who need more time to mature.

I don't think you would see much "being held back" in grade, middle, or high school to gain an advantage, like you see in football and other sports but even in any given year, with all the different birthday cutoffs in this country (july 1 all the way to dec 31), you are naturally going to have a one+ year range in age across the country's graduating class. A child with a 1/1 birthday, living in a state with a dec 31 cutoff would be the oldest in her state but across the country, there will be girls in her graduating class who are 6months older than her (states with Jul 1 cut-off). At the same time a girl with a 12/27 birthday will be 1.5 yrs younger...