My gymnast had a decent L4 year, placed at some meets, did well at states, etc. She has been training L5 this summer. Our competition season doesn't start until November, at the earliest. She's gained a lot of confidence on beam and can hit all the skills. She's had her clear hip for months, but they haven't started training on fly away. Her front tumbling is coming along nicely, too. Here's where we run into a problem. She doesn't have her connected back tumbling pass. She's done back tuck on tramp for months and months, but she's not executing it consistently enough on floor for the coaches to be comfortable. I don't watch practice, so I'm getting all my info from my gymnast and the coach.
I was told last week that they are considering moving her back to L4 because of this one skill. She had no idea this was a possibility. She said she thought she might scratch at the beginning, but didn't have any idea that they'd send her back down. We started the convo with our gymnast and she is crushed. She's been so proud of her new skills and hasn't stopped talking about them. The decision on the fall/winter season is not permanent, yet, but I'm not feeling good about the talk we had. The coaches have always told parents that kids can move up in the middle of the season, but I don't understand how that is possible if they aren't training those next skills. Our L4s weren't working on BT during the season.
If she'd been training with L4 all summer, I don't think the repeat would be a big deal, but it's really hard to swallow moving back after spending the summer with L5. She's a hard worker and has a great attitude, but I'm really worried about how this would affect her motivation. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?
**Of course, I don't want my gymnast doing something that could get her hurt, and I trust the coaches judgement, but I'm wondering if moving her back does more harm than scratching.......if that is even an option for her.
I was told last week that they are considering moving her back to L4 because of this one skill. She had no idea this was a possibility. She said she thought she might scratch at the beginning, but didn't have any idea that they'd send her back down. We started the convo with our gymnast and she is crushed. She's been so proud of her new skills and hasn't stopped talking about them. The decision on the fall/winter season is not permanent, yet, but I'm not feeling good about the talk we had. The coaches have always told parents that kids can move up in the middle of the season, but I don't understand how that is possible if they aren't training those next skills. Our L4s weren't working on BT during the season.
If she'd been training with L4 all summer, I don't think the repeat would be a big deal, but it's really hard to swallow moving back after spending the summer with L5. She's a hard worker and has a great attitude, but I'm really worried about how this would affect her motivation. Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?
**Of course, I don't want my gymnast doing something that could get her hurt, and I trust the coaches judgement, but I'm wondering if moving her back does more harm than scratching.......if that is even an option for her.