WAG ADHD gymnasts and staying tight/sticking stuff?

[wheezy]

Does she have fun with the actual competition? Does she like showing off??
As she gets older she will get into the 'zone' once the skills are harder....

 

[LJL07]

My DD has adhd as well. We moved across the country a couple of months ago, so she is new to her gym. I really want her to have the experience of competitive team for at least one season, but she can't seen to get off preteam. The coaches say she has talent (and tightness has never been an issue). I'm starting to wonder if she is just not getting anywhere because of her adh, and I'm not sure if it's her messing around or coaches getting frustrated with her. Her gym does Xcel instead of JO compulsory, and she could totally compete bronze. It is frustrating for us both, but I don't want to be the CGM. I hate to say this but I suspect her coaches find her annoying once they get past the initial good impression, but that is probably the mama bear being worried about her cub. Adhd kids can have such a struggle with the social skills.

How old is she? They had my daughter wait an extra year before putting her on team because she was so "active."

 

[LJL07]

Does she have fun with the actual competition? Does she like showing off??
As she gets older she will get into the 'zone' once the skills are harder....

Showing off?? ask her sisters! Showing off might be an understatement. She does love the meets. Before we finally started her on medicine, she was way too distracted at meets. You could literally see her looking all around as she ran towards the vault. It was hilarious. For better or worse, we can see a HUGE difference on medication in terms of focus.

 

[purpleleomom]

Mine is 8. She seemed to have a knack for picking up skills when she first started, but now it just seems so slow. It's starting to feel like a kid will never make team unless they start very young. That has been my personal observation with JO, but I hoped there might be more opportunity with Xcel. I guess if they are using it in place of compulsory that may not be the case.

 

[LJL07]

Mine is 8. She seemed to have a knack for picking up skills when she first started, but now it just seems so slow. It's starting to feel like a kid will never make team unless they start very young. That has been my personal observation with JO, but I hoped there might be more opportunity with Xcel. I guess if they are using it in place of compulsory that may not be the case.

Honestly I do not think it's CGM to ask what it would take for her to move on to the xcel team. I don't see much point in hanging around on preteam at age 8. All of these gyms seem to handle team so differently that it's hard to give good advice, but in your case, I would think this is a reasonable question.

 

[purpleleomom]

The tone of this question might seem strange, but are you suggesting if a child doesn't get moved from preteam to team by this age (8.5 to be exact) that she probably won't ever make team? Sincere question because I'm still a new gym mom. I hope this is not the case, but I hate to pump more money into this sport if she doesn't have a shot. FWIW, I liked the feel of the gym we chose because it is not highly competitive. I say that because even their upper level girls practice fewer hours than other gyms I've seen. The girls look happy and healthy.

 

[LJL07]

The tone of this question might seem strange, but are you suggesting if a child doesn't get moved from preteam to team by this age (8.5 to be exact) that she probably won't ever make team? Sincere question because I'm still a new gym mom. I hope this is not the case, but I hate to pump more money into this sport if she doesn't have a shot. FWIW, I liked the feel of the gym we chose because it is not highly competitive. I say that because even their upper level girls practice fewer hours than other gyms I've seen. The girls look happy and healthy.

I completely agree about the pumping more money and time into the sport, and that is why I would ask. I mean, based on half the threads I read, yes, she's approaching too old, but it all depends on the gym and the region. 6 year olds are simply not competing level 3 and 4 around here, but they do other places. We have two 8 year olds on our current level 2 team right now. And we had two 9 year olds on our old gym's level 1 team. I can't remember what the equivalent of xcel bronze is in JO. Is it level 3? If so, then definitely not too old, but I just would really want to ask how the gym progresses the kids and what they are looking for in terms of team kids.

 

[purpleleomom]

Bronze is equivalent to levels 1-3 I think. In any event, I talked to the owner/coach, and she said she just needs to work on listening, but skill wise, she can move up in a few months. I guess they move kids up misdeason if appropriate, which is nice. So maybe December.

 

[Anna's_Mom]

My 11 YO DD has ADHD. While each child is different, and each family makes different choices, she would simply never have made the preteam "team" if we had not started her on medications. She couldn't pay attention enough to either hear/respond to the coaches or to hold her concentration through a skill. And it was very scary to realize she was going to let her eyes and attention wander as she was half-way through a tumbling pass. Now on the competitive team, and we monitor medication levels very closely, always making sure she has time for it to kick in before a morning comp time and always giving an end-of-day "boost" short-acting med for evening practices. I'm not sure how we will navigate this going forward because these meds are going to show up on drug tests and such -- though I assume there is a protocol for this. For now though, this has worked really well for her.

 

[LJL07]

Great news, purpleleomom!

I know what you mean Anna's_Mom. Mine isn't doing complex tumbling passes yet, but that's what I was talking about with her vaults at the meets last year (and in practice). She was looking all over the place. Same here with the medicine making a huge difference. I really hope as mine gets older she develops more coping skills and maybe we can one day wean off the medication.

 

[purpleleomom]

We are still somewhat new to meds and working on finding that right one and the right dose. It's hard.

 

[LJL07]

We are still somewhat new to meds and working on finding that right one and the right dose. It's hard.

I know. It can really be trial and error. And then some of them have unpleasant side effects. Hang in there! And so glad she has a chance to do the team.

 

[Anna's_Mom]

We are still somewhat new to meds and working on finding that right one and the right dose. It's hard.

It is hard and it can take several tries. We were very lucky that it didn't take too long for us to get it right.

 

[Committed]

Forgive me for my ignorance here; I'm not very knowledgable of ADHD and the struggles that go with it.

But aren't the "little steps" and wobbles part of being 7yo? My DD is the same age and only notices her steps when watching videos.
Bars are her best event- no feet!

 

[LJL07]

Forgive me for my ignorance here; I'm not very knowledgable of ADHD and the struggles that go with it.

But aren't the "little steps" and wobbles part of being 7yo? My DD is the same age and only notices her steps when watching videos.
Bars are her best event- no feet!

Absolutely! But it's more keeping the body tight that's the issue with some ADHD kids. And when they aren't tight they tend to have even less "body control" and more wobble.

 

[Crazy on]

My DD does not have ADHD but is super flexible and struggled staying tight until age 9 Now there is no issue. At age 9 kids are better learners in general, and the balance, coordination, and ability to control the body in general is so much better. Give her time!!

 

[aerials]

This is more than maturity...I am now convinced of it. My dd is 10 has ADHD and still has problems with staying tight, unless she can really focus. She looks horrible (just with tightness) at practice and was told many times last year "how you practice is how you compete". She really does try. However in a competition, when she is all alone on the apparatus, she does very well. You wouldn't believe she was the same child. She had the highest AA on her team all year and is the state beam champion.

There is a big difference how she looks when she is in class with a thousand distractions and when she is alone competing.