Women Age of change

[Aussie_coach]

Questions for parents and gymnasts. Just doing a little of my own personal research and looking for patterns.

Two questions?

1. At what age did you see the change when your gymnast started to really get into their training, the age you started to see it change from fun to that point where they wanted to be in the gym all the time, started to be driven, learned new skills at a rapid pace etc.

2. At what age did you see that next change where it didn’t go so smoothly anymore. More fear, mental blocks, injuries, days when they would rather stay home etc?

 

[trampolinemom]

1. At what age did you see the change when your gymnast started to really get into their training, the age you started to see it change from fun to that point where they wanted to be in the gym all the time, started to be driven, learned new skills at a rapid pace etc.


2. At what age did you see that next change where it didn’t go so smoothly anymore. More fear, mental blocks, injuries, days when they would rather stay home etc?

DS started trampolining at 7. At 9 he started training with the elite training group where he was the youngest. He picked up skills crazy fast. The training group consists of a couple of youth but mostly junior and senior FIG level elites. From the age of 10 he was in the highest national level and competed international FIG.

He had one year where everything went well. He won almost every competition he entered and learned so quickly. Then started having trouble at 11 with mental blocks and growth / overuse injury. He is now 12 and still taking it easy and building basics Although blockes and injuries were and are at times severe ( he had to completely stop trampolining for a few months becauae of his injury and is very slowly coming back) he always wants to go to training.

Very interesting to see if there is a patern.

 

[trampolinemom]

Oh sorry I now see this is posted in WAG. I can't remove my post anymore.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Oh sorry I now see this is posted in WAG. I can't remove my post anymore.

Love to hear from other disciplines as well. I coach predominantly WAG, which is the reason it’s of the most interest.

 

[raenndrops]

We are not an intense gym and there are no "more hours" to get once a gymnast makes it to team, except those rare times when HC can open up an extra day for an optional practice.

1. In our gym, once they get a taste for winning (and then DON'T one meet because of too much fun in practice and not enough training), they start to take it more seriously ... often in Level 3, which in our gym typically ranges from 7-11 years old. We had one girl at our home meet who was upset because she finished off the podium for the first time (4th place AA). At practice this past Monday, she worked much harder and she even worked hard at the Christmas Party / Open gym Tuesday.

2. The mental blocks start around 10-13 age range, especially in L5+. We had 2 of our 3 L5s suffer mental blocks on their flyaway at the same time and neither has ever gotten hurt on a flyaway. The one wouldn't even let go with the coach right there spotting her! We had to go back to drills and basics. The one wouldn't even let go with the coach right there spotting her!

Specifically for my gymmies:
1. OG - When she was 9. She told her mom that she NEEDED to go to practice all 3 days so she could get better. And then again when she was 11 and came back after 3 months off gym. Xcel was new and she wanted to figure out how to do better than she was. The next year, she killed it.
YG - When she was 10. She had just moved to Xcel Gold and wanted to do well, knowing that she would be competing against much older girls. And when she came back again after 8 months off gym. She re-dedicated herself to working hard.

2. OG - first mental blocks AND injuries hit when she was 10 (flyaway and Back tuck). The blocks + family pressure to do "flippy" skills led to her losing confidence in herself. At the end of the competition season, she dropped down to 1-2 days a week. Three days after she signed her team paperwork for the next season, she "needed a break" which ended up lasting 3 months. She missed it too much. She was willing to compete and be terrible, but she said she NEEDED gym. The Back tuck took 18 months to come back. The flyaway still hasn't returned.
YG - She currently has a mild "i need someone who can spot to stand there for my first one" mental block on connecting her back tuck to her bhs. On air track, she can do a standing back tuck with no spotter, but she can't connect without one. She has had knee and ankle and wrist pain on occasion, but never bad enough to be considered an "injury" ... and those started about 3 years ago. Mostly, she just deals with frustrations. Not enough spotting coaches (we have a few coaches with injuries so they can't spot at the moment), not enough coaches (big team, hard when 3+ coaches all call off the same day), she is the "worst gymnast ever" (when she falls off beam on a skill more than once in practice, when she can't hit her beam acro on the low beam, when she misses her high bar kip), not enough time (because we usually have to leave 30 minutes early). Occasionally, she talks about quitting, but at the same time, she is also talking about next year's floor music and who she will be competing against, etc. etc.

 

[NutterButter]

1. At what age did you see the change when your gymnast started to really get into their training, the age you started to see it change from fun to that point where they wanted to be in the gym all the time, started to be driven, learned new skills at a rapid pace etc. My DD had a different pathway into the sport from most. No preteam. She started rec at age 8 and then went straight into Xcel at age 10 before moving to JO the next year. Although the commitment to Xcel was totally different than JO, she was driven and wanted to be in the gym 24/7. She strongly identified as a gymnast at 10.

2. At what age did you see that next change where it didn’t go so smoothly anymore. More fear, mental blocks, injuries, days when they would rather stay home etc? Well, there are never days when she would rather stay home...even when she is really struggling. For my DD, there was never this next change. She has ALWAYS struggled with fears and blocks, even when she was in Xcel. She doesn't really have days when she would rather stay home maybe because she is almost always struggling with something so it's part of her norm.

 

[M2Abi]

From the time DD was moved up to Level 3 at age 8, she was very serious about gymnastics and wanted to be at the gym all the time.

When she started her back handspring on beam at age 10, she started having fear issues. About 4 months ago at 11, she was diagnosed with Osgood Schlatters and is in pain a lot and gymnastics is no longer fun at all. We're just trying to get through the competition season at this point.

 

[Gymmamabear]

1. My daughter was always driven to learn new skills and wanted to spend all her time in the gym! She just always had that fire in her and that led to her skipping several levels.

2. Age 13, level 9/10. She got injured, the skills were very hard to get back, frustration set in, rapid growth, that sort of thing. It just isn't as fun at the upper levels she says. So much pressure.

 

[MBJ974]

I have two daughters that have pretty much followed similar paths as far as your questions go. They are 20 months apart in age.

1. OG- got bit by the "gymnastics bug" after we moved from a rec gym to a competitive gym. I'd say that she was about 5-6 years old at that point.
YD- was also about 5-6 years old when it seemed liked she got a new skill every week and wanted to be like (or better than) her older sister.

2. OG- has been doing gymnastics for 11 years now and has been through the thick and thin of it all. She will tell anyone who will listen that her best year, so far, was level 7. I would say her hardest years started when she began training for level 8. She was 11 years old then. She is now 14 and seems to have weathered through the storm. I would say that so much of the gymnastics storm, in this age range, is due to a changing body and mind.
YG- is getting toward the end of weathering her "storm" (I hope, based on her sister). I would say that she, too, was about 11 and at the start of training level 8 when she hit her brick wall. She is now 13 and is just beginning to show signs of weathering her storm.

 

[Musicmama]

My dd was 7, nearly 8, when she first decided she wanted to become a competitive gymnast and she started off very seriously -- first at home and then in the gym.

She's now 11 and has yet to move out of the very serious wants to be at the gym every day phase. Moving from Xcel to JO was difficult at first (when she was nearly 9) because her hours in the gym more than doubled, but she's adapted since then.

She hasn't hit a rough patch yet, but she also hasn't had her growth spurt yet either. I would expect that those two things often go along together.

 

[Dahlia]

1. DD was 4 when she became hyper focused on gymnastics. She moved to preteam around that age as well. I remember her in tears one practice because she was trying to master a turn on the low beam and it was time to move on. She was frustrated she couldn't keep working on that turn until she got it.

2. She's 9 now. Hasn't happened yet. A bit of fear over BHS, but she was determined and worked through it and it was never a negative thing for her. She has never not wanted to go to gym and gets upset when there is a legitimate reason (i.e. illness) when she can't go. Never had a serious injury (knock on wood). Still in compulsories, so we'll see what happens when she gets to those bigger skills in optionals.

 

[gymmutti]

ODD - decided she was serious and wanted to be a "real" (ie., competitive) gymnast at 7.5 and was very serious about gym from that moment onward. She hit the injuries stage right after turning 13 and the next several years were very rough with injuries and growth but she never once asked to not go to gym - even if all she could do was PT. She is currently 16 and it is still tough with skills no longer coming easily but she continues to plug away at it.
YDD thought practice was all fun and games, but wasn't really seriously in love with gym ever. She was very talented though and flew through compulsories and lower optionals, performing well but never liking competition. However, when she began having fears at L8 and then injuries and it wasn't fun. She quit at 11 years old and has not regretted it. She has sworn off any sports or competition (which I think is sad).

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Mine isn’t either. It’s work but it’s fun.

She has never wanted to be in the gym all the time. That’s why we are at the gym we are at.

She doesn’t have “huge” fear/block issues. She just slow and cautious pretty much all the time.

L5/6 seemed to be hardest for her that was when she tried to convince me she wanted to do more music. Except she never practices. I knew it was frustration. That summer something clicked and she was in a much better head space. So that was maybe she 11.

She has had a few injuries, nothing that involved huge rehab and time off. That I think would be a I’m done thing for her

 

[2gymkids]

1. At what age did you see the change when your gymnast started to really get into their training, the age you started to see it change from fun to that point where they wanted to be in the gym all the time, started to be driven, learned new skills at a rapid pace etc.

Somewhere around 6, as she was transitioning from advanced rec into pre-team. It was always fun, but there was an additional layer of wanting to work hard to improve, be in the gym, upset when she had to miss because of being sick, etc.

2. At what age did you see that next change where it didn’t go so smoothly anymore. More fear, mental blocks, injuries, days when they would rather stay home etc?

We started with the fears and mental blocks at 9 1/2 but she still absolutely loved to be at the gym. The fears and mental blocks stemmed from a less than stellar coach (after losing two great coaches) and a series of illnesses, then being pushed too hard before her body was back to strength. So, there were good reasons that time, and they were short lived and once the skills were back, they were 100% immediately. The real fears and mental blocks for no reason started a year later at 10 1/2, along with starting to not want to be at the gym as much and then really at all. She stopped gymnastics about 4-5 months after that bout started and hasn't looked back.

 

[JessSyd]

My daughter has just turned 10 and is training Australian level six, with the usual amount of uptraining that implies.

The answer to both questions seems to be not yet.

She takes her gymnastics very seriously, but she also mostly leaves it at the gym. When she is at the gym she is 100% focussed. But when she is not at gym she does music practice and play dates and even another sport once a week. She does not really talk about gymnastics at school, except in the usual beginning of the year ‘about me’ essays. She emphatically does not want less time in the gym, but she also does not want more.

She gets scared and admits to being scared but pushes through it so she has yet to encounter a block. I give some credit for this to the coach who is incredibly understanding and encouraging, and allows them to be scared because when she actually knows they are scared she can work with that.

In terms of seriousness, she has always taken it very seriously. From her first session in the development squad at age four. Before that even, in the recreational class that she was chosen out of. But that is her personality as she has always seemed to think that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing with all your heart and soul.

 

[coachmolly]

Thanks for starting this thread! As a coach, it's really interesting to see all of the different stories.
I'm currently coaching 10-12 year old level 5s and this seems to be a rough year for so many of them. Growth spurts, growth related injuries, the introduction of new/harder/scarier skills and the fear that comes with them- it has been a rough road for a lot of them. Kids who weren't afraid of things before starting to get scared of things, kids who have always been fearful becoming even more fearful. Plus the frustration of watching the teammates who haven't quite hit those road blocks yet racing ahead.
I think at this level the seriousness is there for some of them and not quite there yet for others. Obviously they all love it, they wouldn't have stuck it out this long if they didn't, but that super focused commitment and passion is probably only there for about 50% of them at this point. But I think it's becoming more clear who is willing to put up a fight and those who are falling away. I do have one kid who was pretty ambivalent for most of the summer and it was only when she started struggling a bit in the fall (growth spurt and growth related knee pain) that a fire really got lit inside of her and she became much more committed and motivated which has been really fun to watch. I'm not sure that change would have happened if it weren't for the struggles. On the other hand, the most talented kid in my group who things always come easily for is probably one of the least committed.

 

[John]

DD 11 will be 12 is two weeks. Started gym at 5 USAIGC it was rec and only for fun. Was asked to join team year and a half later. Did the novice team for a year. Age 7 gymnastics became all she did, home and at the gym. She is a shy girl but has little fear at this point and lives for the next skill. She cares very little about refinement. The lack of refinement holds her back at meets but she does not seem to mind. Level 8 this year and up training for her has begun in earnest. I noticed at her first meet this year she was serious about her performances and that is something I will need to watch this year.

Something to consider is skill acquisition. As a parent looking in and DD having some outlier coaching along her journey, I think the early acquisition of skills is something coaches should consider. The trend here seems to indicate athletes seem to become fearful in their teens. DD has had coaches in her past that preached as many skills as she can learn prior to her teen years. I think as her father this has helped her gain confidence and body awareness keeping her fears inline with her desires. The more advanced skills do not have to be competed but trained and worked for future use. Of course, this all depends on the goal of each gymnast.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My daughter has just turned 10 and is training Australian level six, with the usual amount of uptraining that implies.

The answer to both questions seems to be not yet.

She takes her gymnastics very seriously, but she also mostly leaves it at the gym. When she is at the gym she is 100% focussed. But when she is not at gym she does music practice and play dates and even another sport once a week. She does not really talk about gymnastics at school, except in the usual beginning of the year ‘about me’ essays. She emphatically does not want less time in the gym, but she also does not want more.

She gets scared and admits to being scared but pushes through it so she has yet to encounter a block. I give some credit for this to the coach who is incredibly understanding and encouraging, and allows them to be scared because when she actually knows they are scared she can work with that.

In terms of seriousness, she has always taken it very seriously. From her first session in the development squad at age four. Before that even, in the recreational class that she was chosen out of. But that is her personality as she has always seemed to think that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing with all your heart and soul.

This is a lot like my daughter. She is 10, turning 11 next month, and level 7. She has been in gymnastics since she was 4 and has done preteam and level 2-5 and is about to start her level 7 season all at the same gym. Her hours have increased steadily and she does very well at practice and meets. She says she loves gymnastics and she is definitely committed and a very hard worker. But she has other interests and doesn't want to be defined only by gymnastics. Her friends know she is a gymnast, but she is not obsessed with it and does not dream of going to the Olympics or spending every hour at the gym. She's also not dreaming of quitting and she is not experiencing blocks or extreme fears. She is just happily plugging along as of right now.

 

[trampolinemom]

Something to consider is skill acquisition. As a parent looking in and DD having some outlier coaching along her journey, I think the early acquisition of skills is something coaches should consider. The trend here seems to indicate athletes seem to become fearful in their teens. DD has had coaches in her past that preached as many skills as she can learn prior to her teen years. I think as her father this has helped her gain confidence and body awareness keeping her fears inline with her desires. The more advanced skills do not have to be competed but trained and worked for future use. Of course, this all depends on the goal of each gymnast.

Ok different gender and different sport but this to me is an interesting comment since I was just recently thinking something a bit opposite from this line of thinking. Namely what if my DS would not have been uptraining these hard skills from so early on but just build basics a couple of years longer, just like the other kids who have been training basics but are now learning the same skills confidently he learned 2 years ago. Wouldn't he be much more confident now ? And did the skill level in combination to his high hours at a young age contribute to his overuse/ growth injuries?

 

[Aussie_coach]

DD 11 will be 12 is two weeks. Started gym at 5 USAIGC it was rec and only for fun. Was asked to join team year and a half later. Did the novice team for a year. Age 7 gymnastics became all she did, home and at the gym. She is a shy girl but has little fear at this point and lives for the next skill. She cares very little about refinement. The lack of refinement holds her back at meets but she does not seem to mind. Level 8 this year and up training for her has begun in earnest. I noticed at her first meet this year she was serious about her performances and that is something I will need to watch this year.

Something to consider is skill acquisition. As a parent looking in and DD having some outlier coaching along her journey, I think the early acquisition of skills is something coaches should consider. The trend here seems to indicate athletes seem to become fearful in their teens. DD has had coaches in her past that preached as many skills as she can learn prior to her teen years. I think as her father this has helped her gain confidence and body awareness keeping her fears inline with her desires. The more advanced skills do not have to be competed but trained and worked for future use. Of course, this all depends on the goal of each gymnast.

It’s not just fear. Younger kids (6-10) are wired to learn and gain skills, their major developmental goal is skill acquisition in many areas of their lives. It is the ideal time to teach as many skills as possible, once gymnasts reach adolescence their life developmental goals change, they are still wired to develop skills but their brains are undergoing many more complex developmental tasks, they are developmentally wired to socialise, judge themselves and others more, refine previously learned skills and they are working through an abundance of physical, emotional and hormonal changes. Their thinkingmmatures and they think a lot more deeply which leads to fear, doubts etc.

As coaches we do our gymnasts a disservice by not understanding this, as you point out early skill acquisition is very important. Teaching higher level skills early, when kids are more wired for skill acquisition will usually result in them getting a lot further in the sport. Wasting time in the lower levels on excessive routines, repeating levels to get high scores etc is not helpful. Failing to significantly uptrain young gymnasts is very detrimental to their development.

When they are teens they are in a better position to develop strength, polish, dance etc.