Parents Coach wants to move her back

[Sandyk81]

My daughter had surgery a year ago and recovery has been amazing. Before her surgery she competed level 5 and started training to compete 7, however she was registered as level 6 for last season and due to the surgery, did not compete. She is registered for this season as a level 5 and when she started back at the gym after surgery because you can move freely between level 5 and 6, her coach discussed with us that she wants her to compete level 5 again, instead of trying to push her to fast to get her more advanced skills and learn new routines. It took a lot of time for my daughter to be emotionally accepting of not training with her friends/team mates anymore. She currently has a different coach while her regular coach is on leave. The coach she has at the moment called me the other night and said that my daughter won’t be competing level 5. She said she doesn’t have her back tuck on floor yet, but also admitted she hasn’t let her try it. I have seen her do it and she does have it. I’m confused as to why she wouldn’t let her do it though, but does let her do her back handspring on high beam. But anyway, she said my daughter can compete level 4, excel gold but doing level 4 routines to level 4 music (which makes no sense to me) or sit out another season. My daughter has already missed 1 season and doesn’t want to sit out another. From what am am understanding, a gymnast can only move back a level if the do not make State qualifying score for that level, do not compete state or other reason such as injury but it would need to be prior to the cut of date for that season if if injury was after the cut off date, prior to next season. My daughters surgery was before the season began and they did not petition last season to move her back. She did not compete state or score state qualification score as she did not compete so I understand they can move her to level 5, but from what I am understanding, they can’t move her back to level 4, am I correct?

 

[MILgymFAM]

They would need to petition to move her to L4. With everything going on in the world today, why not just train until she’s ready to compete 5, 6, or 7? What’s the point of going backwards?

 

[M2Abi]

I would not be okay with that decision. If all she is missing is her back tuck (if that), then she could scratch floor, or just not do it. I would also potentially look at other gyms, if you have that option. I would never have my daughter compete something that is unsafe, but I also won't stay at a gym that is unreasonably holding her back.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

That’s bizarre to me. Although our coaches make decisions around levels that don’t make sense to me either. Have you already met with the coach to discuss? When do competitions start? How are her skills on the other events?

 

[GYM0M]

Not sure what I would do in this situation. Could you maybe talk to the coach about getting a private for choreography and tweaking her level 6 routine with the skills she has for xcel gold with the opportunity to add lvl 5/6/7 skills as the season progresses if she gets those skills?

 

[MuggleMom]

I agree with what others have said if the Back Tuck is truly the only missing skill this makes no sense. You could compete level 6 without a back tuck we had a girl who developed a mental block and this is what she did. Her Floor routine did not score bad either (high 8s) but I still think that is better than moving so far backwards as to go to level 4.

In the interest of full disclosure I hated complusories I understand their importance but I would not be at a gym where they spend forever in levels 3/4. My DD was never going to be a 37AA compulsory kid and being left behind would have been worse for her mentally than only being "okay" in level 6. She is hitting her stride in optionals too scoring much higher than she did in levels 3/4 on every event (but Vault hahaha but her vault has improved a ton this year)

 

[coachmolly]

I would not go for her competing 4 again, she could compete 5 and scratch floor or just not compete and train for 6/7. I'm not sure I would even have her compete 5 again. Level 5 & 6 are super similar and 6 can even be more flexible in some ways. You can compete level 6 without a tuck, I know a few kids who had terrible mental blocks with back tumbling and managed to score out of 5 (some managed a tuck for one meet, some just took the deduction) and then competed 6 with ro-bhs-bhs for their back pass and scored pretty well. But I also know some gyms have much stricter requirements for moving kids to optionals than the last gym I was at. I think it would be very reasonable for you to ask questions.

 

[Amanda]

She definitely doesn’t need a back tuck for level six. My daughter didn’t do any back tumbling for level six and scored high 8s, low 9’s. Her main tumbling pass was Fhs So Fhs So RO. I never saw anyone else with it but it didn’t seem to hold her back. There’s no way I would have wanted her to go back to level four because of back tumbling issues. I was super thankful she made it to level six before her mental block.

 

[gymgal]

You need more information regarding this decision. I would request a meeting with the coach as to why her path has changed again. Something is not adding up. How old is she? If the gym is inflexible, I would be looking for another gym. As for whether she COULD compete 4 again, I know that petitions to compete down a level are available for upper optionals (due to injury usually). I would think there is something for all the levels - gymnasts often have trouble getting skills back, making it difficult to compete safely at their former level.