Parents Choosing to stay L3 and not move up...

[curlymop]

boys and girls gymnastics are completely different. Girls peak earlier than boys and therefore need the intense training earlier. Girls are pretty much done with the sport before boys are even reaching their peak. You don't want the boys to go lots of hours early on b/c they have so many more years to endure in the sport if they want to be at the top.

Oh I understand the reasoning, and it does make sense to a certain extent. Boys can't even do a lot of the higher level stuff until after puberty. But I question whether it is really necessary even for girls to train so much so young. Certainly it makes them more competitive at a younger age, but would fewer hours earlier on really preclude them from moving up as long as they did increase the hours as they got older? Chances are my son will drop out before puberty and certainly before college. But in the meantime he gets to compete in a lower pressure environment while still keeping his options open for future advancement should he decide to continue. I do think it would be possible for the girls to have that chance as well.

 

[LJL07]

I don't think ANYONE thinks that she is hurting other kids. We just all want to leave early too!

I think they should make the age limits even higher personally. I know there are some phenoms out there, but it is so much so soon. We live in an area where levels 1&2 are a big deal. Even talented ones start at that level. Maybe this is a good thing bc it allows the little kids to ease into it instead of being 7 or 8 and suddenly competing level 7!

 

[kayjaybe]

If the coaches are OK with it, then you should do what is best for your child.

Now, I will say, depending on what happens at the end of practice, that might build resentment in some kids. Our team does all their general conditioning at the end of practice - for the last 15-30 minutes. Plus, they have duties at the end of practice to reset equipment (move mats, crank the beams, empty the garbage, etc) when practice ends. I would see kids (mine included) getting annoyed that 1 child is getting out of those tasks and it could affect her relationship with her team members, if it was something like that. She got to do all the "fun" stuff but doesn't have to do the boring/hard stuff.