Parents Are many hours really necessary at a young age?

[floppycat]

I really think the changes will be beneficial for those already on the elite track and have been injured, or struggle on one or two skills and hopefully more girls will continue ipfor longer. I'm not sure it will help late starters, it depends on the gym. When my DD was trialling for squads she was 6 and considered too old by one gym and wouldn't get strong enough quick enough. Only one gym of the 5 within a hour drive of my house would look at girls of age 7 and possibly develop them, there are just not enough resources/coaches in the other gyms and they are putting their time into girls they have nurtured themselves from age 5. It's tricky for late starters but not impossible you find the right coach. My DD caught up training 15 hours a week over the summer hols.

 

[Frase]

It's a really relevant subject for my dd as she is in exactly that situation. She passed compulsory 4 last year (to be fair she only finished bottom half of the results) but a series of injuries have meant this year she is grading national 8.

I hadn't realized until reading on here this week that you couldn't skip levels from level 3 down so it's nice to have a bit of hope that there is potentially still some way back for her should she be up to it.

 

[Ex member]

I think it is sad that you are considered too old at 7 in some clubs to get considered for anything other than Rec. Maybe dd is lucky in her gym that girls older then 4-6 gets the oppertunity to move beyond Rec. My dd is 7 but she is only in year 2 - her team mates are in school years 4-6, dd has her birthday near the end of the year, if she had been born in January then maybe she would be on a different path.

I am still trying to understand the British Gymnastics system and how my dd could progress. What opertunities are there for girls that are not picked for "elite" development at 4-6 years old? I can really see no benefit for those classes as nearly all of the one who start at around 4-5 have dropped out with the exeption of one or two.

I am also wondering what the benefit if Advanced Rec is except intoducing them to conditioning and form as well as strength and flexibility, Advanced Rec in dd's group meet once a week for 1-2 hours depending on age and ability, where does Advanced Rec lead? The same goes for dd's group, they only meet once a week for 2 1/2 hours and the group does a lot of conditioning as well as the skills I listed above, where does all that lead? The gym does/did have a floor and vault group that took part in County Grades on 4 pieces as well as Range and Conditioning (Similar to Grade 14 but simpler), The only competitive groups are the ones that train the County Grades I mentioned above and Groups that train Grade 14 and beyond.
There has been some restructering of the groups in dd 's gym with new advanced rec groups being created, so it seems that they are trying to give opertunities to more children (they do both boys and girls advanced rec and above) who are not selected for elitie type training as soon as they start school.

 

[Ex member]

Had to split my post in two due to errors in this site

What is the average structure / pathway of the gyms your children attend? It is clear to see the pathway of the girls who are slected at a young age (something that I don't agree with as who can tell at the age of 4 who will make it), I don't understand the pathway from Rec to Advanced Rec and beyond, where does it go from there?

 

[floppycat]

Frase will she aim for level 3 in the voluntaries in the autumn? Injuries at such a young age is tough I hope she does well in her national grade. I do worry about burn out, one very talented 7 year old looks like she is having a very big wobble at the moment but the stress of the spring comps is getting to us all. I do think the hours required is very tough, although I wished I hadn't read a piece of research which showed that the main factor for success in gym was the number of hours you trained.

 

[emorymom]

I think the issue is not the hours at gym alone but how stressful do they find the rest of their lives. Do they have to use an alarm clock to get up for school? Do they thrive in a classroom or is it stressful?

 

[Rapunzel]

Maybe with the advanced rec group, thats just it, that's a new level where the system has evolved. Children that need more advanced coaching than rec but perhaps aren't right (for various reasons) for the elite route or the grades route.
Gymnastics seems more popular than ever with more local competitions going on for gymnasts that don't do grades - I think there's room for everyone.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

As mentioned previously it does also depend very much on the clubs philosophy. My child didn't start rec til 6 and was competing 2 piece at 7, 4 at 8, but at a local level again she has an "unlucky" birthday at the end of the year but thems the rules and there has to be a cut off somewhere. I tell her if she sticks it out til 15 it wont make a blind bit of difference.

 

[IreneKa]

Tiny Dancer, I've been following your story for a while now, and I read post after post of you trying to figure out where your DD is and where she is heading. And I totally understand you wanting to know, I would want to know too! It just seems so weird to me that you are trying to figure this out on your own, instead of the gym administrators\coaches explaining this to you. Have you talked to them? What are they saying? There has to be someone at the gym who can explain you the process and the plan for your DD.

 

[Flossyduck]

I agree with floppycat, that another big advantage of the change in the rules is that is will also help ease pressure on girls already doing compulsories. There are a couple of compulsory girls at our gym who are carrying injuries, or who have had injuries of the sort which made it difficult to train certain events or skills in the run up to the comps. There has definitely been discussion about a more sensible return to fitness programme and less pressure on them.

In our region it has never been possible to do compulsories out of age before, I didn't realise that was possible anywhere tbh. So they either had to be fit for the re-take in september or they were off the elite track. That always seemed very harsh on girls who are clearly very talented and capable of competing elite and it did lead to some difficult decisions and probably some return to training earlier than you would otherwise wish for.

There are also a couple of girls who had not been on the elite track but showed the right attitude and progress and you can tell that they are now being trained in compulsory skills for a year out of age. Really great for them and maybe having been given a chance they thought they wouldn't have, along with a less battered body will be advantage for them.

I'm really happy to see the new rules are being used at our gym. I wasn't sure they would be, as the existing system has served them so well, but I think it's exciting to see what will come out of it. Interestingly, whilst the coaches are adapting, it will take longer for the attitude of some of the parents to change. One or two are still ultra snobby and think even a year out of age is a waste of time. I'm looking at the girls being prepared for out of age and I'm not so sure...

And my dd was 7 when she started in rec. She was at an age where she took instruction well, was prepared to work hard and she looked at the girls who had started earlier and set out to catch up with some determination. So I don't think 7 is a late starter either!

 

[Frase]

Frase will she aim for level 3 in the voluntaries in the autumn? Injuries at such a young age is tough I hope she does well in her national grade. I do worry about burn out, one very talented 7 year old looks like she is having a very big wobble at the moment but the stress of the spring comps is getting to us all. I do think the hours required is very tough, although I wished I hadn't read a piece of research which showed that the main factor for success in gym was the number of hours you trained.

I hope so floppycat. That said the coaches are very mindful of her mental attitude. She had a big big wobble this year and they don't want to push her too far and risk her quitting. Im looking forward to the next 2 weeks being over (alpha and grades) then seeing how she handles learning new skills.

 

[Flossyduck]

Tiny Dancer I don't think the British Gymnastics system is what you are struggling to understand. I think you are struggling to understand what the different groups in your club work towards and that is not something that anyone outside of your club can help you with. I agree with IreneKa that you are trying to work this out by yourself on this forum, but only the club can tell you.

Advanced rec in one club will be completely different to advanced rec in another club (our advanced rec girls compete, in our previous club they didn't) and the clubs will all call the classes different things, so your description of an 'intermediate' class or 'development' group will not exist in some clubs and will be different things in others.

The British Gymnastics competitive 'system' is pretty standardised, but the way clubs train, divide and name their classes varies widely.

I sense your frustration in every post and I think you need to ask for a progress meeting and ask them what the group is working towards and what they have in mind for your daughter.

 

[Faith]

I do think the hours required is very tough, although I wished I hadn't read a piece of research which showed that the main factor for success in gym was the number of hours you trained.

I think that's largely been disproved now, the 10,000 hours thing. Not saying you don't need to put in the hours, especially in gymnastic where it's muscle memory, but I do think excessive hours are actually counter-productive.

Even if it *were* true; lets say a gymnast starts age 5, and wants to reach elite by age 16. 10,000 hours over 11 years = 18 hours a week, taking two weeks off/year. My schedule would be (because I like to play with numbers ;

Junior elite (2 years) 30 hours/week = 3000 hours
Espoir (2 years) 25 hours/week= 2500 hours
Compulsory 2- 22 hours/week= 1100
compulsory 3- 18 hours/week = 900
compulsory 4- 16 hours/week= 800

= 8300 hours between the ages of 9 and 16

leaving 1700 hours in total under the age of 9. If a child starts at 5, They have 4 years to complete those hours- so 8 hours a week. If the same child starts at 7, starting on 12-16 hours a week they should be at compulsory 4 standard on target.

Which, actually, to me, looks like a nice progressive schedule. Yes it's still a lot of hours, but not so near burn out . Under-7's really don't need the high hours

 

[Faith]

TD what does your club look like overall? DO they produce elites? Good grade/club gymnasts? What is it you want for your DD?

I think if your club have produced children on a regular basis that achieve what they are capable of, there is a good chance they can do that with your DD too.

 

[5birds]

I don't think you can just base it on age. The hours they go depends more on their competing level. My dd is a level 4 and goes 16 hours a week. She is 7 but she needs to go those hours to keep up with her skills. She loves being at the gym and would go more hours if she could.

 

[Ex member]

Tiny Dancer I don't think the British Gymnastics system is what you are struggling to understand. I think you are struggling to understand what the different groups in your club work towards and that is not something that anyone outside of your club can help you with. I agree with IreneKa that you are trying to work this out by yourself on this forum, but only the club can tell you.

I sense your frustration in every post and I think you need to ask for a progress meeting and ask them what the group is working towards and what they have in mind for your daughter.

Yes I will admit that I am fraustrated with the lack if basic info that was given when dd moved out of Rec except times and price no other info was given.

TD what does your club look like overall? DO they produce elites? Good grade/club gymnasts? What is it you want for your DD?

I think if your club have produced children on a regular basis that achieve what they are capable of, there is a good chance they can do that with your DD too.

The club that dd goes to seems great (have no other experience of other clubs), the club has/is producing both girls and boys that compete around the Country and as far as I know have had one or two compete Espoir (not sure of spelling) in the past and have had Gymnasts in the Regional Squad at Junior/ Senior level.

 

[IreneKa]

Yes I will admit that I am fraustrated with the lack if basic info that was given when dd moved out of Rec except times and price no other info was given.

I would schedule a meeting with the HC (I remember there was a nice HC that you talked to a few months ago), or whoever is in charge of the program, and ask them all your questions.

 

[shelovestoflip]

My daughter did not start team until she was 8! No pre team...only weekly rec before. At 8, she went 6 hours a week. She is now 14 and a Level 9, made States at the first meet and is hoping to qualify to Regionals. I started her slow/'late' on purpose as I didn't want her out late when she was so young! I wanted her in bed early! I also didn't want her body 'worn out' too soon! So, while I know the majority start pre team etc very young, I want to point out that it's not the only way.

 

[xpink-princessx]

My daughter started gymnastics on her 6th birthday back in September, she was moved straight into an intermediate group and trains 10.5hrs a week (3.5hr x 3) which she seems to cope with fine but then she doesn't normally go to bed until 9pm anyway (we get home at 8.20pm on the nights she trains)

 

[Ex member]

I would schedule a meeting with the HC (I remember there was a nice HC that you talked to a few months ago), or whoever is in charge of the program, and ask them all your questions.

Hi, there has been a "possible" update since my dd's last lesson, according to my dd her coach told the group at their usual end of lesson chat/feedback that she is organising a parents question and answer meeting, they will be getting an extra day and they will be given "Homework diaries" to do conditioning etc at home, they have also been told that if they don't already do things like splits etc at home they had to start (my dd already does chin ups and splits at home). I am not taking this information too seriously until we get the offical word but things do sound more promising if true, I think the extra day is a going to happen as this has been mentioned before, once the coach told me that she didn't want the girls doing Grades or Competitions on one day a week as she didn't think it was fair competing against others who do more hours and days.

Watch this space ...