Age Limits Again!!

[ACPRgymnast17]

Ok so i just moved FINALLY to a new gym where i didn't get put on a team because of my age.Really rediculous.So just asking....Should in gymnastics i know like you should sometimes be too young for a team but in gymnastics...Do you think it's right for somebody to tell you that you are too OLD for a gymnastics team?

 

[Itstrueimagymnast]

That is not right at all! Did you even get to try out? I would talk to the HC and ask for a tryout.

 

[ACPRgymnast17]

For the team i wanted to try out ofr a my other gym i did not get to try out with the team i wanted to be on because they kept telling me that it was pre-team or no team.It was rediculous.And i was on rec and then moved up to a level that was right before Level 4 and the strength they did was rediculous!And we did no strength in rec what so ever!So i had to try out with a team that did crazy strength.Which for me was like moving from middle school to college basically!It was rediculoud!But no.I got to try out with the team i didn't want to get on instead of trying out for the one i wanted to because they wouldn't let me. So then i had to move to a new gym where there is no age limit thank god!

 

[Aussie_coach]

There is no age limit for gymnastics and there is no age limit to be a competitive gymnast. But sometimes a gym does need to have an age limit for a team. Lets say for example all the girls on a team were aged 4-17 it wouldn't make sense for a 12 year old to be in that class. The way you teach young kids is very different to the way you would need to teach an older child.

When you do join a team you will find the strength difficult but don't stress, its normal to struggle for the first few months. Just keep at it and do the best you can and it will become easier. Set small goals. Lets say one day you can do 5 chin ups, the next day aim for 6, when you achieve that go for 7 and so on. Don't just do as much as you think you can and then stop. Do as much as you think you can and then try to do one more. It will be hard and it will hurt. But it will also make you into a fantastic gymnast.

 

[ACPRgymnast17]

Ok thank you!But one thing.At my other gym they didn't have age groups either.That's why i'm saying that i really didn't get that at all.

 

[flip out]

Hi and yes the "too old for team" theme is in most gyms if you are 12 or older and have never competed. It is a very sad thing to me...these girls of the 12 and up really WANT this and are so willing to work hard for it, compared to the 6 and 7 year olds that are many times being forced to do it and goof around a lot and lose focus easily, play in the chalk bucket etc.

Coaches, please speak up. Why DO you discourage the older girl level 4ish gymnast from competing? Why is 12 "over the hill" ??

 

[Aussie_coach]

Every gym is different, some gyms will have age limits and others will not.

flip out its a good question. We don't discourage older kids to compete but we don't encourage it either. One of the main reasons I stated above is that the majority of the class are of a different age. Coaching younger kids and coaching older kids is very different, also for most older kids self esteem they don't want to be in a class with kids half their age.

The other problem is often the time commitment. The average time per week training for level 4 here would be about 13 hours a week. We find it difficult to have kids in High school commit to this training schedule (High school in Australia starts at age 12). Many tend to prefer to spend a lot of time with friends and social acceptance and popularity are more important to them than their sport, others want to study more and as they get older things like boyfriends and part time jobs get in the way.

We definitely encourage older gymnasts to do high level gymnastics but don't always push them in the way of competition. We will often do straight tumbling classes where they can learn all the exciting skills without being in the gym 5 nights a week. Or we have pure apparatus classes where they can learn all the advanced level skills but not compete. These kids learn the apparatus skills very fast because they aren't spending 6 months of the year perfecting routines for competition.

If they want to compete we steer them to more group type competition like cheerleading. many seem to feel more comfortable performing with a group than on their own.

Having said that if we have a kid who starts gymnastics at an older age, has the ability and is willing to put in the hours and doesn't mind being with the younger kids of course we allow them to compete. We have had adults in the past who trained and competed with the team and they often made the best students because they really wanted to be there and understood when we explained body positioning so learned faster.

 

[BCGgymnast17]

Well see in the gym i moved to now...the coaches purposely put little and big kids in the level 3 level 4 range together because the older kids encourage the younger kids and they help them do better.That's why i don't understand it.It really shouldn't matter what age you are because gymnastics is a sport that kids are going to to have fun and do flips and really cool tricks and to be in competitions so why should it matter what age you are?I really don't approve of that what so ever in gymnastics.I'm on my other account but it's still ACPRgymnast17.This is my old account.

 

[ACPRgymnast17]

Yeah and i'v seen in that gym also 10 year old girls get put down!!They don't get on a team because for them 10 is too old too.And it's rediculous.

 

[flip out]

Thanks for your detaied reply. I do agree with most of what you said. However the time commitment issue is NOT usually the problem in terms of high school sports. Most require a minimum of 10 hours per week in ANY high school sport.

I have observed this age issue for while now. IF coaches were more encouraging, more older girls WOULD commit to doing a level 4 team, and more older girls WOULD compete, the numbers would go up and with more older girls, more older girls would commit.

Where we live, most high schools do not offer a gymnastics team....but those that DO have a league with competitive gymnastics, guess what level they compete?? Starts at JV with the equivlent of level 4. They re having a blast doing a sport that they enjoy...as "older girls"...just too bad there are not many high schools around that offer these programs.

 

[ACPRgymnast17]

Yeah that is crazy too!Where i live like you said there is no high school i think in the whole state that has a gymnastics team!!So that's way different for us too!

 

[gymchick10]

im sorry i agree that's jank u should never be told ur too old for a team!

 

[ACPRgymnast17]

I know right??I so hated it!And so happy now that i'm finally on a team even though i'm the oldest!!