Parents A few Questions from parent of young gymnast

[newgymom]

1.DD is in the 2nd of 3 pre-team classes that lead to level 3. She's the youngest out there (will be 6 in mid January) so she doesn't quite get the body control or gratefulness.

She adores gymnastics but now also wants to do dance. I won't do it until next year as this is her first year of kindergarten plus 2.5 hours of gymnastics practice over 2 days (though I see they're on the much lower end and I wish they'd work on form a bit more...and before anyone says anything, she wants to do gymnastics 7 days a week.)

She wants to do hip-hop primarily. The coaches are recommending ballet. Which should I take? Or do one and then the other? She isn't against ballet either, just prefers hip-hop.

2.Also, has your younger child tended to do better without the coach around? I saw my dd do 2 bhc but when the coach is around she will fall into their arms, and kill her momentum on the first one, if that makes sense. It applies to other skills as well.

3. When did you know your kid was good?

 

[gym_dad32608]

1. Let her take whatever class she enjoys most. Yes, there is some symbiosis between taking ballet along gymnastics (toe point, flexibility, etc) but it is not that important at this age and at this level, and the benefit is marginal. She could go through her whole gymnastics career without taking ballet and still be quite successful.
2. Sure, "stage fright" happens when coaches are around. But it will always be around in this sport, girls are always going to be evaluated, coaches, judges, other gymnasts are always watching. As she becomes more proficient, she will be fine with whatever skill and will learn to get comfortable when a coach is there.
3. You never really know, until they are about maybe 12ish range (at least for 95% of the population, the other 5% are the elites/Olympians and would be identified pretty early by coaches). Plenty of kids trudge along until about 12-13 when they are hitting upper-level optionals and then blossom, other kids crush it through compulsories and then flatten out in optionals, still others are consistently good through both compulsories and optionals. Finally, even if your child is "good" plenty of factors outside anyone's control can derail future dreams: injuries, coaches leaving, family move or change, change in interest, puberty, etc. You never know, that's why I would advise all parents of young gymnasts, to just enjoy the ride. Yes, there are "signs" but again, just because one "sign" exists, it is not a 100% predictor. Some "signs" (and these are more predictive the older the child is, and higher level so 6yo is not very predictive) winning state-level competitions, winning regional level, winning national level, making TOPS national team.

 

[gymgal]

As gymdad said, let her choose the dance class she wants. Hip hop actually is really good for rhythm for later floor routines. Yes, ballet is good but only if your dd is invested and motivated.

I would not worry about her performing differently around the coach at this age. It could be lots of reasons. Honestly, she may be getting better form development by by having the coach spot her throughout the skills and that's a good thing.

I wouldn't think about whether she is "good" at gymnastics. If she is having fun, progressing through the levels and coaches are not expressing concern, I would just roll with it. Just by being on a preteam track, she has shown potential and is ahead of most kiddos who try rec gymnastics classes

 

[NutterButter]

1. Let her take hip hop and any other activity she's interested in. Be thankful for the low hours as they will increase before you know it and in a few short years (yes, it goes by fast in this sport) you will find that she has no time for additional activities. Any dance will be good for coordination and movement. Also, 5 hours a week for pre-team is plenty.

2. Totally normal to flub in front of authority figures. I still do this. I play a musical instrument and had a rehearsal yesterday for a new group I'm in. I was seated next to a very accomplished musician who I'm a little in awe of and of course I made tons of uncharacteristic mistakes. It happens.

3. This one is tough to answer as 'good' is hard to define. Early success in the sport is not necessarily a predictor of later success just as not doing well in levels 3-5 is not a predictor of long term success. Gymnastics gets very difficult L9/L10 and anyone who gets to L9 and beyond is talented. Attrition in gymnastics is very high. In my daughters L4 cohort there were 16. 4 of them lasted in the sport until graduation. 1 of the 4 ended up on a college team for a couple years and she was not the most decorated/talented of the group (this was my daughter and her body was healthy and she happened to have the skills on events that were in demand by college coaches). Part of what makes kids 'good' in the sport involves other traits such as how well they can apply corrections, high level of patience, how they manage fears, are they willing to miss out on a lot of the normal social experiences of middle school, etc. A lot of athletically talented kids skate by until L8 and then face a shock when they actually start to struggle with skills or develop fears that they never had before and if they don't have the innate personality traits to work through these setbacks that every upper level gymnast faces, they won't be happy in the upper levels.

 

[CuriousCate]

1.DD is in the 2nd of 3 pre-team classes that lead to level 3. She's the youngest out there (will be 6 in mid January) so she doesn't quite get the body control or gratefulness.

She wants to do hip-hop primarily. The coaches are recommending ballet. Which should I take? Or do one and then the other? She isn't against ballet either, just prefers hip-hop.

2.Also, has your younger child tended to do better without the coach around? I saw my dd do 2 bhc but when the coach is around she will fall into their arms, and kill her momentum on the first one, if that makes sense. It applies to other skills as well.

3. When did you know your kid was good?

1. Definitely let her do hip hop. If she is not specifically interested in ballet, putting her in a ballet class may drive her away from dance altogether. Also, I think it's awesome that at age 6 she already verbalizes that she wants to learn hip hop! Gym coaches frequently recommend ballet training or even do it at gym as part of training as the girls get older and have more training hours, but personally, I think taking hip hop really helped my kids understand rhythm and improved their coordination while 5/6 year old ballet classes didn't add a lot at all.

2. One of my kids did better without a coach around on certain skills where she felt the coach was very critical of her execution (connecting RO-BHS-BT), but otherwise, having a coach nearby seemed to help my kids do better since they felt safer. It is possible that the coach is instructing her to correct something or change her technique making it harder for her to do the skill which is why she is unable to complete it when the coach is there. KWIM? Like on her own she may be doing it but with improper form, but when the coach is nearby and correcting it, it is harder to execute?

3. I knew my older one was good pretty early on. She was a level 4 at age 7 and a level 7 at age 9 and could pick up skills very quickly. She was also pushed too hard too fast because of this and quit at age 11. My younger one is 11 now and is a level 7. She is a kid who was always in the bottom 1/3 at every meet due to bad form and seemed to little potential. Because of that, no one really pushed her at all. In the end a few years ago she started to push herself and is now a consistent 37-38 scorer...but being honest, it took two years of her scoring that way for me to realize that she was "good"...not sure if it took me longer because she was older at each level than my ODD or what...