Parents Any advice greatly appreciated

[Natalia]

Get the heck out of Dodge.

 

[onebusymama]

I would have a talk with her coach. I would ask if she can train with the level 4 group & if she doesn't have all of her L4 skills by next season then she could compete L3. But you never know unless you get the opportunity to try. If he is adamant about her staying with the L3 & not uptrain, then I would let him know your DD will be going elsewhere.

 

[kandkfunk]

There is nothing wrong with kids repeating levels. My DD repeated every level except 6. It was good for her. It's what she needed for confidence and improved form. But, that was her unique situation. However, she was always given the opportunity to uptrain when staying back. It kept things exciting and helped her see why the skills she needed to work on mattered. To me, the biggest red flags in your situation are the poor communication and lack of up training. That sounds like a basic gym philosophy that I couldn't get behind. It's really hard to advance if you are only ever training to your level. How do the optionals ever attain the skills that can take months or even years to master?

 

[MeetDirector]

Simply put - LEAVE, NOW.

The only reason to repeat Lvl 3 is if you don't have Lvl 3 skills. This gym wants you to repeat because you are an open wallet to them.

The first required competitve level in USAG is Lvl 4; why on earth waste time on Lvl 3 skills that go nowhere; and then to repeat a year training them with no chance to uptrain? See the first line of this post.

Good Luck.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Our old gym did not up train at all until after states. During the season, it is routines only. We moved right after states last year (for work) and thankfully my daughter was able to learn the new skills she needed quickly, but that was literally a miracle. She was also way behind in strength. So I say switch.

 

[LJL07]

Simply put - LEAVE, NOW.

The only reason to repeat Lvl 3 is if you don't have Lvl 3 skills. This gym wants you to repeat because you are an open wallet to them.

The first required competitve level in USAG is Lvl 4; why on earth waste time on Lvl 3 skills that go nowhere; and then to repeat a year training them with no chance to uptrain? See the first line of this post.

Good Luck.

I thought the first required level is new level 3 since it's old 4. Is that wrong?

I don't like the idea of not being given the opportunity to learn the new skills and move up either. That sounds discouraging to have done well at state and then get shut out from moving up. I'd talk to the coach too, and if he's not willing to at least give her a chance, then explore other options.

 

[gracyomalley]

Old 4 was never required by USAG...although some gyms required girls to compete it. DD gym skipped it (started with old 5), but the girls at my boys gym are required to compete old 4/new3.

There seem to be arguments for and against both approaches - competing level 3 is "more fun" than just training L4 skills for some girls, and they do get experience competing...on the other hand many L3 skills can be completely skipped (mill circle, front hip circle, vault without the table...) in favor of training kips, FHS vaults, rear hip circles as a step to free hips and giants, etc...in general it seems to me that girls who compete a season of 3 are a little more polished initially than those whose first meets are at L4 (old5)....but getting "stuck" at this level when many of the skills are merely training exercises or things a girl will never do again is very unfortunate...and the polish comes quickly if fundamentals are attended to no matter what level...

 

[CoachTodd]

I really do not think private lessons are the answer. She needs to be with coaches who want her to be her very best as an individual. Working harder is not always the answer, working smarter is, but that is for the coaches to direct.

I have run into quite a few coaches that their bread and butter is private lessons. They do what they can to get them including holding kids back. I am not saying all coaches that do lessons are like this but I have had the misfortune of working with a few of them.

I hope all works out for you guys.

 

[curlygirls]

If after talking directly to the coach you confirm that she will not have the opportunity to uptrain, I would find a new gym if at all possible. This is ridiculous, especially at this level.

 

[sce]

If after talking directly to the coach you confirm that she will not have the opportunity to uptrain, I would find a new gym if at all possible. This is ridiculous, especially at this level.

I agree. My dd just joined the level 3 team and they are already working on kips.

 

[Muddlethru]

Our gym does not even do L4. Our first competitive level is 5. I agree with meetdirector. Repeating L3 serves no value to me. OP, your daughter should train L4 and if she does not have the skills by the beginning of the season, she just does not compete until she has them. I would speak with the coach. And as far as the coach not speaking with you ahead of time, that is not uncommon. Coaches rarely speak with the parents. My experience is they avoid parents at all cost.

 

[bookworm]

Your daughter is almost 10 yrs old and they want her to repeat a level that isn't required with no opportunity to train skills to move up? Not on my watch would this be happening....no way would my kid repeat level 3....

I think a gym change is in your future for a couple of reasons: first, the aforementioned debacle with your daughter and her subsequent lack of progression that will result from this and second, you no longer trust your coach to be making decisions that are in your daughter's best interests...trust YOUR gut and get her out of a place that doesn't seem to want her...

 

[Sasha]

Yep, have that polite-but-concerned conversation with the head coach. Inquire if there is a specific reason (beyond the gut feeling) that they feel your daughter cannot achieve L4 skills. Ask for raw honesty. For example, if they don't think she has a strong enough core to get the kip in time, or whatever. If there is a specific reason they state, inquire how that might be overcome, such as to add strengthening homework, an extra practice, etc. Insist she will do all extra work required, as this is her enormous passion. Unless there is a truly compelling reason they give about your daughter's abilities that convinces you otherwise, I'd say that if they won't work with you to let her uptrain and TRY for L4, it sounds like time to move elsewhere.

Maybe they only want X number of girls training 4 for efficiency/small group size, and she just missed the cutoff (being mid-pack score-wise). That would also be a reason to leave, imo, as it doesn't support the individual gymnast.

All our girls uptrain, regardless of scoring. That's probably why we have zero repeating L3 this year out of 20+ girls. Even the ones that never hit a 34. They have been 'uptraining' kips, FHS vault and beam cartwheel drills since pre-team, so half-way through L3 season, most girls had all or most L4 skills. Having lived this model, there is no way I'd put my DD in a gym that operates as you describe.

Hope it works out for her!

 

[iwannacoach]

I know it is very hard to deal with these disappointments especially for your daughter. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it will be the first of MANY because that is how gymnastics is.....
I suggest teaching your daughter to get through this. Be positive, work hard, and show the coaches she is ready to move OUT of level 3. Tell her to be focus on being the best in the group and show them she needs more challenge. No coach would leave a kid in a lower group just because. If she loves it, then she should continue doing it.
Leaving a gym is a very hard decision, and should not be taken lightly. You should first exhaust every avenue.
At the end of the day, how these problems are solved is what teaches children life lessons. You don't want to move gyms because she didn't get moved up.....
Hang in there.... I know it is hard. My dd missed a move up, was super upset, worked very hard, and moved up 2 weeks ago.....now it's a whole OTHER set of issues!!! LOL

A very good post with several well made arguments is favor of "hanging in there" that I agree with until I consider the level she's at. The skills at level 3 are too easy to require a second year be spent on them. I could only agree to a repeat if the goal was to spend 90% of the time up training.

Loyalty, commitment, and determination are values that shouldn't be expected solely from the gymnasts a coach coaches. If you ask me, the coach made the decision invite your child to the team, and doing so implies a commitment to train a willing and behaved team member to move along with their peers. Maybe the coach needs to become more determined to do what it take to move all these kids to the next level.

It's not rocket science. It takes a willing child who falls within gymnastic norms (in all respects) to move up a level each year until L7, and with few exceptions that's what a coach should strive for and build their program to do. Repeating with up training is fine, but the destination still should be reachable in the same time frame.

I'd be in complete agreement with Munchkin3 if a child was told she'd be repeating level 5 or any level that set aside more time for up training, but the op hasn't described the situation that way.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

As a coach I sometimes used to hold my group back because I felt there skills were not good enough for the next step. It never really worked - If they had a okay round-off, spending 15 minutes just doing round-off's and the same drills got very little long term improvement. While repetition and improvement of the basics is important, you do need to dangle the carrot. Now the group still practice their round-offs but if they have three good ones (individually determined of course) they get to move on to round off flips, and so forth. There is incentive to do it right. they are likely to do 3/3 or 3/4 of their best effort compared to 15 which it doesn't matter how hard you try because that is all you are doing anyway.

It would be a very highly motivated individual who could actually handle repeating the same thing day in day out over another year and apply maximum effort! Kids usually start gymnastics because they want to learn to cartwheel and swing and flip and fly, and when they can do that they want to move on to the next step they didn't know existed until they first flipped. Repeating the same skills at the low level makes gymnastics more like that job that you use to pay to bills while you scrimp and save to just pay the bills with no chance of a holiday in sight. This is your child's chosen activity and it should be enjoyable (most of the time).

I agree with the others, if they are simply practicing the level skills with no up training or skill extension I'd be finding a new gym. Your child will not improve that much by repeating the same skills because it is boring and the effort applied will probably be less. Obviously sometimes gymnastics is boring and repetitive, but this age and level it really shouldn't be very often. There are plenty of skills from the level ahead which need the foundations laid, and other skills that are not in the routine text but can provide a valuable experience for your child's movement memory bank.

 

[munchkin3]

Actually, my DD switched gyms in L2 because if being bored. I just never considered it a gym switch because it was L2.
At 6/7 she finished L2 and when they went back into practice, they split the group on size rather than age. DD was stuck with the 4-5 year olds working cartwheels and handstands. Her friends, the 7-8 yo, were now in a different group.
It wasn't such a clear, 'I want to quit because I didn't get moved up,' it was more of " gymnastics is boring".
We quit, with no other thought (she was 6). She took a month off, and then I convinced her to try DS gym. Which she did, and she has blossomed.

I agree that the kids need to be challenged. Some kids actually do better with the new set of skills. If there is no way for her to try new things, she will get bored and quit.

This is very tough. Although I believe in staying the course, I also think that if the facility and program gives no options, then there are no options!! Do what is best for your daughter.

 

[munchkin3]

Sorry, post locked me.....
Please don't think I am waffling it's just that there is a time to stay the course, or to make the decision to leave. Sometimes new skills can actually bring out a better gymnast. You just need to really weigh the pros and cons. If the pros are more than the cons, then a switch may be right for your DD, after all she is 9 and know what she wants, sort of.

I know you will make the right decision because you know your DD the best! (Coaches sometimes underestimate the value of parents in coaching.....).if you think she will do better somewhere else, then go for it. But DD needs to be prepared for more hours harder work and more general intensity....