Parents 3 hour practices for 5 year old

[newbie504]

My daughter will find out if she made level 2 team soon. The practices are 3 hours long. If anyone had a kindergarten child with 3 hour practices, how did they do? She is currently doing 2 hours but that additional hour scares me although she says its fine.

 

[JBS]

Parent and coach here...

As a parent... my girls did 3 hour practices towards the end of age 5 and as 6 year olds... neither of them had any issues. There was an adjustment period... that's all. They needed to eat well and get good sleep too... any changes to the usually could make the day harder... but they loved gymnastics... so they were fine.

As a coach... we are lowering our workouts for that age to 2 ½ hours due to the parents... not the kids. The kids all seem to do just fine after the adjustment period of 2 to 3 weeks. The parents are all scared of the length of workout so they just wait a year or two to join team. In the gym the kids all do fine as long as they want to do team in the first place.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

My daughter started 3 hr proctices at 5, and she adjusted fine. She, however, is homeschooled so is able to have a break between school and gym. The kids I saw have trouble were mainly the young kids still getting used to a full day of school then having to go from school directly to gym, especially in the fall at the start of the school year. However, most eventually adjusted.
I will add that my Gym has since switched the level 2 practices to be two hours long, which seems to be working well for them.

 

[AlexandraU16]

My daughter started three hour practices at five and there was a bit of a transition period with some tears getting used to all the conditioning and me not staying for practice. It took a month or two and then she mostly adjusted. A huge leap in maturity seemed to happen right around her sixth birthday.
Sending tons of snacks for her to nibble at water breaks helped- she wasn’t used to working that hard for that long without eating.
I try to keep the rest of the day low key on practice days and that helps as well.
Good luck!

 

[AlexandraU16]

My daughter started three hour practices at five and there was a bit of a transition period with some tears getting used to all the conditioning and me not staying for practice. It took a month or two and then she mostly adjusted. A huge leap in maturity seemed to happen right around her sixth birthday.
Sending tons of snacks for her to nibble at water breaks helped- she wasn’t used to working that hard for that long without eating.
I try to keep the rest of the day low key on practice days and that helps as well.
Good luck!

I should add we homeschool as well like previous poster so we aren’t also adjusting to long kindergarten days

 

[newbie504]

Thanks everyone. This is making me feel a little better. Well see if she even gets invited but i am planning on letting her try and seeing how she does.

 

[skschlag]

How many hours total a week will she be doing?

 

[newbie504]

How many hours total a week will she be doing?

Not 100% sure. Level 2 is 6-9 but she is also doing TOPS in addition to her current class. Idk how TOPS is added to level 2 or if they will continue her TOPS training

 

[AlexandraU16]

Interesting. I’ve never really heard of TOPS training for kids who aren’t already on team but my guess would be it would continue if/when she’s invited

 

[skschlag]

Not 100% sure. Level 2 is 6-9 but she is also doing TOPS in addition to her current class. Idk how TOPS is added to level 2 or if they will continue her TOPS training

I think I would be more concerned about total hours. 6 would be good, 9+ is getting up there for a 5 year old.

 

[newbie504]

I think I would be more concerned about total hours. 6 would be good, 9+ is getting up there for a 5 year old.

Shes currently doing 5.5 hours. I agree 9 is a lot but they slowly increase their hours. I will definitely have to talk to the coaches but I'm sure they will be understanding that she may leave early somedays. She's the youngest in her class currently.

 

[newbie504]

Interesting. I’ve never really heard of TOPS training for kids who aren’t already on team but my guess would be it would continue if/when she’s invited

I guess everywhere is different. Here they start that style training as early as 4.

 

[AlexandraU16]

I guess everywhere is different. Here they start that style training as early as 4.

Well I would assume that if they have her in TOPS they are absolutely intending for her to be invited to their level 2 team. Personally I feel like 6 hours is absolute max at this age. My DD is a young 6 and my biggest concern with a level move up is the increased hours. She seems to be in that sweet spot of enough hours to be growing and improving but not so many as to be burnt out. I would definitely caution against a five year old doing nine hours a week especially if she’s also doing other after school activities.
Then again every kid is unique and it may be just fine for your particular gymnast.