Parents Could TOPS training be hurting my gymnast?

[raenndrops]

I assume she is home schooled? When does this fit into her schedule? I'm not judging, just curious as she spends nearly the whole day at gym and then runs around the neighborhood in the afternoons.

I don't know about OP, but I work with 2 boys that do "school" from 8 am - 10 am and then again from 1 pm to 3 pm ... So, OP's DD could do something similar with morning and evening hours.

 

[GymLife]

This is her 2nd straight season of TOPS. No one in our area has had a girl make the tops team. So the 3 gyms in our area all say tops training but no results. Also the 1 girl on our team that has tested is DD's age but literally the size of a 6 yr old and she failed everything but rope climb, beam and floor.

I guess I just worry her being the biggest, that she will fall behind if she isn't training the extra hours. View attachment 6696

DD next to her teammate the same age.

I assume she is home schooled? When does this fit into her schedule? I'm not judging, just curious as she spends nearly the whole day at gym and then runs around the neighborhood in the afternoons.

She is in a cottage school Tue/Wed/Thu from 8-10:45. Mon/Fri we school at home until 10:30. Training 11-3 then TOPs Mon/Tue/Thu 3-4 Same schedule she's had for 2 seasons, just about 1 hour earlier due to her coach moving the girls to a new gym. She is a 4th grader doing 4/5/6 grade in her cottage school.

 

[CoachTodd]

in my humble opinion, more than 20 hours a week is too much either way.
I have never really been a big fan of TOPs either.

 

[gymnastics24.7]

I have two daughters in the TOPs program. A 7 and 9 yo. They both started at 5. And they are levels 7 and 9. My 11 yo doesn't do TOPs and she is level 6. I think that it helps them a lot and they both to very well at testing. You should talk to your daughter about whether she likes to or not. Let her decide, there wouldn't be a negative affect, only positive.

 

[GymLife]

Thank you everyone for your replies. We have stopped TOPS and started a new gym for summer training. DD finishes up her last week with her team and after a week of vacation out of state she will start her new gym! They do not have tops and they train 16-18 hours a week, going to 20 in the summer. She loved her week trial and can not wait to go back.