Parents Advice on whether to encourage quitting?

[momofgymnast424]

My daughter is a 14 year old second year, level 8 gymnasts. Her competition season was so-so, mainly struggling to flip vault and inconsistent on bars. She finished the season with a lower State meet score this year than last and everything that could go wrong did. Although she is a good student, I can see that the hours at gym can effect her performance at school at times and she will be starting high school next year where grades will matter most.

My question is, when/whether to encourage her to considering moving on? Let's face it, this sport is a huge family commitment of time and money, not to mention I don't want her to regret missing out on the social aspects and activities of her high school years. She still loves the sport and shows no signs of wanting to give it up, but she's also not as realistic (she'd say pessimistic) as her parents.

I don't want to discourage her dreams, but then again there is much we could do with that extra time and money if she's reached her potential. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Unless it's a true hardship- and I mean that in the literal sense of the word, I wouldn't make her quit. The time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, commitment, and courage that she has poured into the sport for all these years earned her the ability to leave on her terms, in her time.

I have a 13 yo going into high school too, and she will be an L4, L5, or maaaybe a L6 next fall. Obviously she won't be "going anywhere" with the sport, but she wouldn't be with other extra curriculars either. She certainly wouldn't be going anywhere special by using the gym time for boys and clothes shopping and normal teen stuff. To me that's what gym is- an extra curricular activity with a bonus (no boys). It's for fun and exercise and for passion, and that's enough.

 

[gracyomalley]

Part of the issue would be (assuming she's not too discouraged or interested in trying other things) where she was in growth/muscle development/puberty this year. Girls tend to have a couple of rough years where their body is changing, energy requirements different, etc between 11-14, and for many gymnasts that point hits right when they are hitting L8-10, so lots of new skills/harder skills. Hard to learn the new/complicated stuff when your body changes every 6 weeks....and your height to weight ratio, center of gravity, etc change also with puberty for girls (boys too, but it HELPS them).

DD has really stuggled with this at age 12 - but when we watched a L10 meet recently she realized most of the girls looked more like her than like her image of a gymnast (based upon what she USED to look like and what some of her friends still look like). So now she at least knows that for some girls they do get past it. This may not be an issue for your DD, but the age and timing made me wonder if that is part of why her second year didn't seem "better".

Really depends upon whether she loves doing gymnastics....it does keep them busy!

 

[ZJsMom]

She hasn't maxed out her potential at 14. There can be some rough spots dealing with growth/puberty, but girls can keep learning new skills and progressing up to 18 and beyond.

Provided you can afford it without the family suffering, I would let her take the lead. Gymnastics teaches a lot of lessons. If she's still enjoying it, I'd say leave well enough alone.