- Nov 21, 2010
- 162
- 22
I came across this and I started thinking about it. my gym has a p2 (progressive 2) class and its similar to pre-competitive and we have some very young ones in that class. the youngest was 3 when she started but before the year was over she had turned 4. This class meets a total of 4 hours a week but they give them a break part way through and they make the class fun by playing games with them like they did in the pre-school class. They get a break in the p2 class like the higher levels get in 4 hr practices. This helps them re-focus and they think it is cool because the "big girls" do it. If any of the kids don't want to stay then they are allowed to leave, but most of them enjoy the time that they spend in the gym.
About Tops, Our gym just started training some girls on it, and our gym has never done anything like it before, but ith our new coach she wants some girls to be on that path. Most of them who are doing TOPS at this point are still doing competitive also and currently only a few are training. The p2 class works only on getting the tops skills (so learning how to do a pull-up or how you should run) and the girls in lvl 4 and up work on actually doing the skills and making them look good. in the competitive group we only have 3 maybe 4 girls doing TOPS right now and they are all lvl 5 and above. Our youngest is 7 and a level 7 and the oldes is 9 and a level 5 (but very strong!) they don't train any extra hours during the week then what there class meets for but some do a private lesson twice a month to work on the skills. The 7 year old is doing TOPS testing this year, she will be the first one to do so from our gym and I think that will decide if we keep doing it on how well our new coach likes the testing. (she did something like TOPS but it was called something different)
Overall I think 3 is kinda young to do 4 hours, ive seen it happen and the little girl had to be pulled out of the gym, but I felt like they had to keep a lot of attention on her to make sure she was safe and not hurting herself, or putting any of the other girls in harms way. The only difference is at our gym you are aloud to stay and watch, although once the gymnast starts going 9-20 hours a week the parents end of leaving during practis, the only parent that stays whos daughter stays that long is the 7 year olds.
This is coming from a gymnasts perspective. I hope this helps some and good-luck to you and your daughter in any path you end up taking.
About Tops, Our gym just started training some girls on it, and our gym has never done anything like it before, but ith our new coach she wants some girls to be on that path. Most of them who are doing TOPS at this point are still doing competitive also and currently only a few are training. The p2 class works only on getting the tops skills (so learning how to do a pull-up or how you should run) and the girls in lvl 4 and up work on actually doing the skills and making them look good. in the competitive group we only have 3 maybe 4 girls doing TOPS right now and they are all lvl 5 and above. Our youngest is 7 and a level 7 and the oldes is 9 and a level 5 (but very strong!) they don't train any extra hours during the week then what there class meets for but some do a private lesson twice a month to work on the skills. The 7 year old is doing TOPS testing this year, she will be the first one to do so from our gym and I think that will decide if we keep doing it on how well our new coach likes the testing. (she did something like TOPS but it was called something different)
Overall I think 3 is kinda young to do 4 hours, ive seen it happen and the little girl had to be pulled out of the gym, but I felt like they had to keep a lot of attention on her to make sure she was safe and not hurting herself, or putting any of the other girls in harms way. The only difference is at our gym you are aloud to stay and watch, although once the gymnast starts going 9-20 hours a week the parents end of leaving during practis, the only parent that stays whos daughter stays that long is the 7 year olds.
This is coming from a gymnasts perspective. I hope this helps some and good-luck to you and your daughter in any path you end up taking.
