M
msl529
Hi. I posted a few months ago on the Q & A Forum about moving to a new gym, from CA to FL. We moved, & I reported back that my dd loved her new gym here, & all was well. She's just been moved up to L6, after competing 2 yrs in L5 (she was state champ in CA on bars & beam last Fall-had a GREAT season). Now she is saying she wants to quit. She is 12, ending 6th grade, & in the full throes of all those wonderful hormone changes. I see several reasons why she may be wanting to quit: #1 Although this new gym is very nice, there are not as many girls in her level as there were at her gym in CA. Here, some girls are nice, some are a bit 'catty'. In CA they were ALL nice and VERY supportive of each other. Just not the same atmosphere. #2: She says she feels like she is missing out on a ''life", although she hasn't really made many new friends here yet, just gym friends. #3: Had her back walkover on beam, now has lost it, beam coach is 'mad' at her group, because most of them lost it and they are getting speeches about how they will not compete beam in Fall if they don't do the skill soon. SO...She has gone thru what I call 'gym slumps' before (she's been in it since 3rd grade), and often her 'slumps' come in the Spring. Normally, she LOVES to compete, and really thrives on that. She often scores better than teammates who are 'better' than her, simply becasue she can keep her cool & have fun up there in front of the judges. I simply mention this because I feel her slumps are due to boredom, and she always gets better as competition season approaches. My approach has always been to make her stick it out for a while, and she always gets better. I told her she has to stay in it through the end of the Fall competition season (which is 6 months from now), and we can re-visit this again then. My question is this: Do you think that is too long to make her wait? I don't want to force her to stay if this sport is just reaching its natural end for her, YET the past has always proven that making her stick was right. However, I've never seen her this bored, apathetic, or adamant about quitting. Maybe she is just more hormonal this year than last year? Help!!