The oldest girl on my team is thirteen years old. She started on my team a few months before her thirteenth birthday, and only had tumbling experience, as well as some cheerleading experience. Her tumbling skills were mediocre. Within less than a year's time, she is competing this season at the Xcel Gold level, and she is a beautiful gymnast. She has fantastic lines and artistry, and really knows how to perform. She excels on floor (highest score so far being a 9.7), and is also quite good on beam and vault. Her bars are a bit weak, but she's really increased her skill level on the apparatus since starting. This is a girl with zero experience on every event besides floor.
Her personality is even more impressive. Even though the rest of the girls on the team are a bit younger than her, she still gets along with all of them and hangs out with them outside the gym occasionally. She's a great pep talker when there's an upset team member, and she's very mature and focused for her age. There is no typical teenage drama or attitude with her. Another great thing about her is that she was the one who came up and asked me about being on my team. She expressed interest in it. I generally do not accept girls older than 10 on to team if they're just starting, but she had been a student in rec classes with me for years, way before I started coaching a competitive team, and she did seemed genuinely interested, so I made an exception.
She's a fantastic role model, too. Here's a story: at a meet last Sunday, she was practicing her full pirouette on beam during the timed warm up. During the spin, her foot spun off the side of the beam and she fell down hard, directly on to her rib cage. Doubled over, uncontrollable wheezing sound, inability to breathe; I instantly knew she had knocked the wind out of herself. I told her to lay down to open her lungs up and try to breathe. She started to get restless, her pupils were dilated, and then she went motionless. I realized she had blacked out. She came to like a second later, and flailed around a little, and then she immediately sat up and got her bearings. Very scary. She looked dazed, but I knew she was all right. I told her she passed out after the temporary loss of oxygen to her brain. We got her some water and I went up to her and gave her two options: you can compete if you wish, or you can scratch this event. I said she will go last so she can have time to think about it. I went up to the judge and mentioned that she may choose to scratch. All the other girls completed their routines, and I went up to her and asked what she wanted to do. She said, "I want to compete." I told her that she was being an incredible role model for every girl on this team right now, and that I believed in her. She performed her routine, and it was pretty darn good. She even did the full turn without falling, and only with a slight wobble. Right after her salute she came over and gave me a super tight hug. It was a pretty significant moment for both of us. I was amazed at her mental fortitude and composure, and she learned in that moment how strong she really was. She went on to compete the rest of the meet even though she was pretty sore, and she did great. I was very proud. Amazed, really.
I know, I know, that was a pretty long story, but it was to prove a point. My point is that you should definitely give an older tumbler a chance. You never know how much she might excel.
PS - As an update, she competed this Friday in Atlantic City and did very well. No bruising and no broken ribs, so all is well.
This is the route I went through and now I am 15 and a level 6/7 so I really believe it's a good option.
