Anon Compulsories wearing graduation year leos

[Anonymous (5484)]

Image added by ChalkBucket​

There seems to be a new trend with some of the level 3s and 4s at our gym wearing leos with their graduation year on the back (2032! 2033!) I don't think the coaches like this much. I think those parents are crazy and putting way too much pressure on young kids. Thoughts?

 

[Anonymous (c0ac)]

Forget 3/4 and 2032/33. At our gym, it’s all about having the highest level combined with the furthest away graduation year. Anyone with a “standard” grad year/level combo is sort of expected to stay quiet about it while the others are given tacit permission to go crazy with their tinygymnast or level3traininglevel7 hashtags. Our coaches are quite conflicted it. They talk publicly about steady improvement, pacing and valuing each gymnast’s journey. When push comes to shove, they’re caught up in the class years and young optionals girls like the rest of the gymternet. They repost 6 year olds’ Instagram and leo sponsor posts and have created fast track and daytime/homeschool programs for those girls’ parents.

My 2nd grader has no idea when she graduates (2033) or how recruiting works. I assume most of these girls are in the same boat. Plus they don’t have credit cards or the ability to order class year leos…so I blame the parents for pushing this stuff and trying to bask in the resulting attention.

 

[Anonymous (5484)]

Our gym is not a fast track type of place and I think the coaches aren't quite sure how to handle the instagymmies. They have a history of steady progress that has quite often led to college gymnastics, but these parents hawking their kids is something else. I know CGMs aren't new, but the social media drive to get more followers and more "ambassadorships" seems to ramp things up at even earlier ages.

 

[Anonymous (dc28)]

Forget 3/4 and 2032/33. At our gym, it’s all about having the highest level combined with the furthest away graduation year. Anyone with a “standard” grad year/level combo is sort of expected to stay quiet about it while the others are given tacit permission to go crazy with their tinygymnast or level3traininglevel7 hashtags. Our coaches are quite conflicted it. They talk publicly about steady improvement, pacing and valuing each gymnast’s journey. When push comes to shove, they’re caught up in the class years and young optionals girls like the rest of the gymternet. They repost 6 year olds’ Instagram and leo sponsor posts and have created fast track and daytime/homeschool programs for those girls’ parents.

My 2nd grader has no idea when she graduates (2033) or how recruiting works. I assume most of these girls are in the same boat. Plus they don’t have credit cards or the ability to order class year leos…so I blame the parents for pushing this stuff and trying to bask in the resulting attention.

The gym we left was doing this with all its young "super stars" which really translated to young parents with high hopes for their 5 year olds. These kids were doing 2 a day practices. Doing home school rather than kindergarten, have Instagymmie accounts with "thisis5" or 5yearoldgymnast or age 6 level 8... One of the girls was so young she couldn't even compete optionals, but her mother was all about posting her skill videos of optional skills. She is sponsored by Drybands, a headband company, at least 1 company, and I think a snack food.

The atmosphere is the gym changed dramatically when these kids started getting fast tracked. They covered the gym's instagram account and none of the other kids were on it. The baby gymnasts were getting all the coaching, all the spotting, and girls who had "aged out" were being left to coach themselves. When we left we kept in contact with several families. All have since gone. Only the super stars and those the head coach is taking junior elite are still there. The optional program used to have close to 50 kids. Now its 3 level 10s, 1 level 9, 3 level 8s, a handful of level 7s that all competed in the child category, and a bunch of barely old enough level 6s. The girls who started there with my daughter (she is 14 now and started there at 7) are all gone. They were all ignored long enough to never progress past level 7. My daughter is at another gym and now training 8 with uptraining to level 9. Best move we ever made.

 

[Anonymous (ab74)]

I think its bizarre, but probably a tend that will end when they realize those personalized leotards have no resale value at all.

 

[Anonymous (46de)]

There seems to be a new trend with some of the level 3s and 4s at our gym wearing leos with their graduation year on the back (2032! 2033!) I don't think the coaches like this much. I think those parents are crazy and putting way too much pressure on young kids. Thoughts?

I don't think that is happening at our gym (I don't often go inside), but that sounds like bizarre. I can't stand the whole instagymmies/leotard ambassadors/etc trend. We had one at our gym, but her family moved luckily. I wish the coaches/owners wouldn't encourage it all personally, but unfortunately that's not up to me.

 

[Anonymous (4f0f)]

Yikes, this all sounds awful.

 

[Anonymous (26fd)]

It’s not happening at our gym at all, I just see it on social media and think it’s a bit crazy. I don’t understand the point of the leotards unless you’re a level 10 attending a camp where college coaches will be.

 

[gym_dad32608]

Meh, I suspect that with the passage of time and knowledge and experience those parents will probably sheepishly be embarrassed by that. If its the gym's work then its a crazy gym. Most serious gyms do not allow graduation year on competition leo even for the seniors. If its just a practice leo, who cares, silly, but who cares?

 

[Anonymous (26fd)]

They are also being sold by Chalkwarrior, which is known for being exclusive; they make limited numbers and sell out super fast. Parents are willing to buy anything with the CW logo on it. I actually saw someone trying to resale a CW leo for $285 on Facebook this week, not a camp leo, but still.

 

[JBS]

There seems to be a new trend with some of the level 3s and 4s at our gym wearing leos with their graduation year on the back (2032! 2033!) I don't think the coaches like this much. I think those parents are crazy and putting way too much pressure on young kids. Thoughts?

It's crazy. We are not seeing any of this at our gym... but I see it online. It's definitely only created by the coaches / parents... not something the kids create on their own.

I have to say that I have only ever seen one Chalk Warrior leo at our gym.

Maybe ChalkBucket should start to sell this type of stuff? $100 t-shirts to crazy parents???

 

[MuggleMom]

Maybe ChalkBucket should start to sell this type of stuff?

I think it would be so fun to create some funny Gym parent shirts. There are some Gym mom stuff out there but I love a little bit of snark so I would buy a snarky shirt if we could come up withe some good phrases.

 

[Rookie Gym Coach]

I think it would be so fun to create some funny Gym parent shirts. There are some Gym mom stuff out there but I love a little bit of snark so I would buy a snarky shirt if we could come up withe some good phrases.

That would be so fun and great gifts to give parents from their gymmie

 

[Aussie_coach]

I’ve never seen anything like that, as we don’t have College gymnastics here. But I don’t think it’s a big problem.

A fun personalised leotard idea for little ones with big dreams.

 

[Anonymous (3ba6)]

For some reason, the gymnasts at my daughter’s gym think that qualifying to regionals (levels 6-8) means that they will skip a level now. There are level 7s (just finished season) who think they’re going to level 9, level 4s who think they’re scoring out of level 5 and going to 7 when they still can’t Kip without muscling it up, even level 6s who think they’re going level 8 or 9! It’s not the coaches, it’s coming from the parents (I’ve heard them talking) and the girls themselves. And they aren’t older girls, they’re ages 10-12. I don’t know what’s going on this year, it’s never been like this before. It has never been a thing that qualifying to regionals means skipping the next level. Why can’t they all just enjoy the level they’re training and get good at those skills first?

 

[Anonymous (3ba6)]

They are also being sold by Chalkwarrior, which is known for being exclusive; they make limited numbers and sell out super fast. Parents are willing to buy anything with the CW logo on it. I actually saw someone trying to resale a CW leo for $285 on Facebook this week, not a camp leo, but still.

I don’t get the hype for those leos. They’re just ozone leos with sequins and hand prints. Little Stars are prettier, so are Sylvia P. Plum is more comfortable, and GK has plenty of gorgeous, blinged out leos. All of the above are reasonably priced, too.

 

[Anonymous (c0ac)]

For some reason, the gymnasts at my daughter’s gym think that qualifying to regionals (levels 6-8) means that they will skip a level now. There are level 7s (just finished season) who think they’re going to level 9, level 4s who think they’re scoring out of level 5 and going to 7 when they still can’t Kip without muscling it up, even level 6s who think they’re going level 8 or 9! It’s not the coaches, it’s coming from the parents (I’ve heard them talking) and the girls themselves. And they aren’t older girls, they’re ages 10-12. I don’t know what’s going on this year, it’s never been like this before. It has never been a thing that qualifying to regionals means skipping the next level. Why can’t they all just enjoy the level they’re training and get good at those skills first?

I’m not sure if you meant to post here or on the level skipping thread, but it’s relevant to both. The pressure to skip levels or be young for a level is so strong and I think parents are the ones pushing the class year + level combo. The idea that regionals=precocious talent worth of skipping a level is wild! I think everything was so chaotic and paused during Covid- in gymnastics and in life- that parents are clinging to any outside metric that can show progress.

Slightly related: my spouse came home the other day with the news that his colleague’s child had joined my daughter’s team, and the colleague described her as “just 8 and she’s joining the team after skipping 3 levels.” When we asked our daughter who the new girl on the team was, she had no idea who we were talking about, so I figured that she is maybe doing the daytime optionals fast track program. I even started to feel a little badly for my daughter and questioned why she is going through compulsories so slowly in comparison to this new girl.

I have now vowed to never let myself get caught up in comparing my daughter’s level to other girls’ levels. Why? It turns out that the girl is indeed 8 but the 3 levels she is skipping are rec 1, 2 and 3 and after tryouts the coaches decided that she is ready to join pre-pre-team.

Hopefully her parents have ordered her grad year leo in time for summer…

 

[Anonymous (46de)]

I’ve never seen anything like that, as we don’t have College gymnastics here. But I don’t think it’s a big problem.

A fun personalised leotard idea for little ones with big dreams.

I don't think the leotard alone is what people are talking about. It did sound strange to me, but the poster who linked to the chalk warriors camp collection I think explained why they exist. So I agree that that may just be a fun leotard from a popular leo brand.

But I do agree with some of the others that I think what is happening in some gyms with the push by parents to train huge hours, skip levels, gain followers etc mainly for social media fame, and with coaches and gyms encouraging or, at least, not discouraging, it is a big problem. I really try and stay out of it because it truly doesn't affect me. I don't tend to comment on posts often, I almost never go in the gym anymore, I don't engage with other parents about any of this stuff. But my feelings are that it's really kind of insane out there and I think 99% of the time, it's the parents.

And from a personal standpoint, my daughter who is a level 10 now, does not speak favorably about the ones I know about at our gym that are young, ambassadors for leotards, have lots of followers, the mom is always in the gym recording, etc. My daughter says they tend to think very highly of themselves and can be really obnoxious and disrespectful. She's a level 10 and has had some compulsory level gymnasts tell her to get out of their way, to imply that they are better than her and to roll their eyes and say rude things to her if she asks them to, for example, move off the vault runway when she is about to vault. Now I know you can't stereotype an entire group based on her interactions, but it's been pretty upsetting for her. I laugh when I read about people saying the little ones look up to the older ones and worship them. Not at our gym.. instead some of the younger ones say how they are going to reach level 10 younger and do better than the ones already there.. to their face. And I think, as others here have said, it's in large part caused by the parents who are encouraging this culture with their kids. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Anonymous (fe6b)]

If I was a college coach and saw a kid with a "2032" graduating year Leo I would immediately write them off. It is ridiculous that people would buy, never mind wear, a Leo like that. Younger kids disrespecting older Level 10's is a huge red flag for me. The coaches need to control that behavior in my opinion. But I think most of these so-called hot shots will flair out quickly. As soon as they hit a rough patch, which they will at some point, they will quit. Every L10 hits a rough patch, and you have to determination to get through it, not attitude.

 

[Anonymous (47dd)]

I’ve never seen anything like that, as we don’t have College gymnastics here. But I don’t think it’s a big problem.

A fun personalised leotard idea for little ones with big dreams.

I agree. We have some at our gym but they are from a specific leotard company our gym works with, designed specifically for our gym in our gym colors. The lower levels and xcel were all offered the opportunity to purchase if their daughter wanted one. The ones that did love matching the level 10’s. It’s for fun at our gym.