WAG Bunches of Questions

[z2akids]

We have been involved in gymnastics for 19 months now, but I still feel very lost in many of the terms and elements of gymnastics. Is there a thread that explains all of the basics?

TOPs - what exactly is that? Are they USAG? Are they a separate track? Should I expect that there are TOPs girls competing against our girls at local competitions or do they compete differently?
What is HOPES?
In our gym, our whole team competes at each meet (obviously barring injury, etc.). It reads in many posts that some teams don't take their full compliment of Level XYZ to each meet.
Our gym competes USAG L3-optionals from December - April. It sounds like this may not be entirely typical.

I have been reading several posts with kids competing L2 who have their BWO and cartwheel on beam as well as other skills that seem far above the level. Is this typical. If my DD's gym has not spent a great deal of time on these skills at old and new L3, is that an indication that she may be receiving inadequate training in competition levels? Granted, it seems like it is more difficult to determine what level a rec class is because they seem to do skills in a different order (and my DD only did a few weeks of rec before joining a team).

I have no expectation of my DD making it to college or beyond gymnastics. The odds, time, dedication, skill, etc. of any one girl getting that far are astronomical. In fact, I never expected her to be competing - sort of snuck up on us and she adored it so, what do you do. Anyway, her gym has never produced a scholarship gymnast or as far as I know, even an L10. It seems to be a good fit for her at this point - lots of focus on strength and perfecting skills. But, I am a person who dislikes change and I just wonder whether it is easier/better to switch gyms now to one that is more of a scholarship factory in case she continues with her goal of competing in college (oh, and being a gymnastics coach while she teaches junior high math - I love the dreams of 9 year olds).

 

[MILgymFAM]

I really can't answer most of your questions, but I can say this: what I see on CB really doesn't mirror what I see in real life.

Also, one of our coaches is a lawyer, and one a substitute teacher. Dreams are awesome!

 

[z2akids]

Thanks for the response MILgymFAM. Honestly, we have some wonderful role models coaching our girls. One of our coaches is leaving this summer to go to medical school, another just graduated magna cum laude from her college program, another is taking a leave after competition season to do mission work in a 3rd world country. I think it is wonderful for the girls to see the dedication and aspirations of young women who coach them. The life lessons are invaluable.

Oh, and what is a rod floor and a tumble track?

 

[LJL07]

I really can't answer most of your questions, but I can say this: what I see on CB really doesn't mirror what I see in real life.

Also, one of our coaches is a lawyer, and one a substitute teacher. Dreams are awesome!

Sammmme here. I think this is a select subset of the gymnastics population on CB. We live in a mid-size city, and there is no TOPs program anywhere around here. I think maybe only one in the entire state. I'm not sure what HOPES is? I think some kind of pre-elite talent identification thing? Surely someone will chime in with answers.

 

[LJL07]

Tumble trak is the long trampoline thing they practice tumbling passes on. Rod floor? No clue! Lol!

 

[z2akids]

Hmm, we have a long tramp, well, long enough for my tiny 9 year old to do bhs bhs, but not one that is more like floor length.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

http://usagym.org/pages/women/pages/overview_elite.html

http://usagym.org/pages/women/pages/overview_tops.html

http://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/ElitePre-Elite/13elitechart.pdf

tumbl trak= a 5 foot wide, and however long you want to attach sections long trampoline with a black 'dead bed' as the trampoline surface/mat. this device is used to practice tumbling. http://www.tumbltrak.com/equipment/tumbl:trak:18/tumbl-trak.html

rod floor= a steel frame on each side (curbs) that has holes in it from beginning to end. 1 inch or more (whatever you specify) in diameter fiberglas rods (like snow skis but round) are affixed from a hole on one side to a hole corresponding on the other side. you place scrim on top of the rods and then a carpet bonded foam roll on top of that. this device is used to practice tumbling and is used in tumbling competitions. https://www.google.com/search?q=rod...0M4uvyAS5poCoDQ&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=677

 

[paige]

I having nothing to add other than to say that I am equally confused!

My 8 year old is moving to Excel, and I honestly don't think she loves competing...she just loves learning new things...

 

[gymgal]

I didn't realize rod floors were used in tumbling competitions. I thought they were just regular spring tumble strips. That helps to explain how some of the little itty bitty kids have so much power.

 

[GYM0M]

TOPs is a training and development program. It stands for Talent Opportunity Program. Yes it is USAG. It's for girls 7-10 years old. Yes, many of these girls compete JO levels and it is not uncommon to compete against them since TOPs testing is held in June & July. HOPES is a program for 10-12 year olds for pre-elite.

 

[MeetDirector]

So, your dd is a 9 year old Lvl 3, correct? You say that you have no expectation that she will do college gymnastics, but frankly, you don't know that at this point. She could very easily realize that she has a passion for this sport and wants to reach for that rung of the gymnastics ladder. So with that thought in mind, I would sit down and look at your options. I am a firm believer in not creating or building artificial limits into your life. You say your current gym has never had a level 10; do they have any upper level optionals? Do they have the facilities to train upper level optionals (appropriate pits, harnesses, coaches that know how to spot, etc)? If not, then maybe its time to assess whether or not there are better facilities to let her passion grow in. My point is, while things might be hunky-dory now if a spark lights in her a year from now you want to be someplace where the spark can be nurtured and fed.

The odds of getting to the upper optional levels are not astronomical, as you say. I was at Level 9 Westerns a few weeks ago and there were quite a few girls that had made it to that level; it is very possible with the right amount of dedication, good coaching, and proper facilities. You don't need to find a "scholarship factory" as you put it; that will take care of itself with the three items above.

Good Luck.

 

[z2akids]

http://usagym.org/pages/women/pages/overview_elite.html

http://usagym.org/pages/women/pages/overview_tops.html

http://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/ElitePre-Elite/13elitechart.pdf

tumbl trak= a 5 foot wide, and however long you want to attach sections long trampoline with a black 'dead bed' as the trampoline surface/mat. this device is used to practice tumbling. http://www.tumbltrak.com/equipment/tumbl:trak:18/tumbl-trak.html

rod floor= a steel frame on each side (curbs) that has holes in it from beginning to end. 1 inch or more (whatever you specify) in diameter fiberglas rods (like snow skis but round) are affixed from a hole on one side to a hole corresponding on the other side. you place scrim on top of the rods and then a carpet bonded foam roll on top of that. this device is used to practice tumbling and is used in tumbling competitions. https://www.google.com/search?q=rod floor&client=firefox-a&hs=krW&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5Bp-U-y0M4uvyAS5poCoDQ&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=677

Thanks so much for all of the info.

 

[z2akids]

So, your dd is a 9 year old Lvl 3, correct? You say that you have no expectation that she will do college gymnastics, but frankly, you don't know that at this point. She could very easily realize that she has a passion for this sport and wants to reach for that rung of the gymnastics ladder. So with that thought in mind, I would sit down and look at your options. I am a firm believer in not creating or building artificial limits into your life. You say your current gym has never had a level 10; do they have any upper level optionals? Do they have the facilities to train upper level optionals (appropriate pits, harnesses, coaches that know how to spot, etc)? If not, then maybe its time to assess whether or not there are better facilities to let her passion grow in. My point is, while things might be hunky-dory now if a spark lights in her a year from now you want to be someplace where the spark can be nurtured and fed.

The odds of getting to the upper optional levels are not astronomical, as you say. I was at Level 9 Westerns a few weeks ago and there were quite a few girls that had made it to that level; it is very possible with the right amount of dedication, good coaching, and proper facilities. You don't need to find a "scholarship factory" as you put it; that will take care of itself with the three items above.

Good Luck.

You are right. I don't know if she will make it that far. But, just looking at the number of L3s compared with the L10s in my state looks like approximately 1 in 12 make it that far, and assume that even fewer make it healthy enough and with the commitment to continue to college. I definitely don't want to do something that will stifle her potential. At the same time, I want her to have fun in a fairly relaxed atmosphere in order to keep things fun for her so that she will want to continue. I don't want to add an hour to our roundtrip commute for a gym that is "more" competitive if it makes gymnastics less fun for her.

We do have 1 who competed L8 last year and is training L9 this summer. A couple training L8 and about 7 who are training L7. We have had girls who continued past L8 or L9, but they tend to leave around those levels for some of the other local gyms. We live in a major metro area in Region 5 and have a couple of gyms that have larger programs. We don't have pits. Our coaches seem competent. Our optionals program practices together (10ish girls with 2 coaches - one a former college gymnast and the other a longtime coach, well respected in the community). Our L8s have gone to regionals the last few years and done moderately well (top 1/3rd) in their age divisions. Our coaches are mostly former college gymnasts.

They have brought my daughter along quickly. She started gymnastics 18 months ago unable to do a cartwheel or forward roll and this April finished 4th on Bars in States. She is staying L3 for a 2nd season, but is uptraining this summer on L4 skills and slowly becoming consistent in some of them. No kip yet, but they have only been working on it for a short time. (she didn't really uptrain on that at all last season because she was playing catch up on her L3 skills). My impression is that they want to hold her at L3 for next season for a couple of reasons - to give her a chance to be more competitive in her age group (not chasing skills like she has been since she started), to make sure that she has some of those basic skills perfected and to make sure that next year she can step into L4 without having to chase those skills for a season. I don't think they are holding her back, but rather trying to groom her in a way that will benefit her long term.

 

[iwannacoach]

So, your dd is a 9 year old Lvl 3, correct? You say that you have no expectation that she will do college gymnastics, but frankly, you don't know that at this point. She could very easily realize that she has a passion for this sport and wants to reach for that rung of the gymnastics ladder. So with that thought in mind, I would sit down and look at your options. I am a firm believer in not creating or building artificial limits into your life. You say your current gym has never had a level 10; do they have any upper level optionals? Do they have the facilities to train upper level optionals (appropriate pits, harnesses, coaches that know how to spot, etc)? If not, then maybe its time to assess whether or not there are better facilities to let her passion grow in. My point is, while things might be hunky-dory now if a spark lights in her a year from now you want to be someplace where the spark can be nurtured and fed.

The odds of getting to the upper optional levels are not astronomical, as you say. I was at Level 9 Westerns a few weeks ago and there were quite a few girls that had made it to that level; it is very possible with the right amount of dedication, good coaching, and proper facilities. You don't need to find a "scholarship factory" as you put it; that will take care of itself with the three items above.

Good Luck.

With all MeetDirector said.......

I'd like to add a concern that looking for that "next program" can do some harm if it results in switching gyms before your child is able to appreciate the value in the new gym. Let's say your dd is happy where she is and is making progress that can be seen and appreciated every three months. That alone may be satisfying and all she wants for now, but as her parent you can see the limit MeetDirector refers to.

The problem with a gym switch to provide for the future comes into play when your child isn't as serious about the sport as her new surroundings. Some kids respond to that challenge by throwing themselves, with heart and soul, into the sport and the new club's culture. I think a slight majority of kids will respond with positive energy but the remaining kids won't, at least not immediately. So try to figure out if your child is close to being emotionally ready for the "scholarship mill" before making that commitment.