WAG DD is interested in following Elite path...

[myeyeson_u]

@Natalia A communication barrier would probably be a better choice of words. My dd's old coach said that we have to learn to trust one another. And I think that's what the issue is. I trust him, but sometimes I feel like I don't. And maybe he doesn't trust me because I keep inquiring about things that to him may seem about his coaching abilities. But then I see her at practice at times learning new skills. For instance, I got to her gym maybe 10 mins before practice was over on Wednesday. And she was learning to do a front layout. I didn't know what it was until she told me. But it was beautiful. He's good at what he does. If I felt otherwise, she wouldn't have lasted as long as she has at the gym.

And she's 9. Not old at all. She's in a level and at an age where it appears she should be younger for the level. However, she doesn't belong in the level she's in. She'd never competed, and that's why she was placed there. But only time will tell where her next placement will be

 

[bogwoppit]

Repeating a level is normal. Many girls do it who end up going very far in the sport. Even Elites repeat sometimes.

TOPs is not the only route to Elite, HOPEs is not the only route to Elite. When I say Elite I mean the National team, junior or senior. There are hundreds of elite hopefuls, they are not Elites. There are girls who became Elite after being L10 and being older.

Being bored with repetition is normal, gymnastics is all about repetition. The time between getting a skill and perfecting a skill can be years. The very basics skills need to be perfect in order not to get big deductions down the road. Leaps, jumps, handstands and basic body shapes. Good gyms spend massive amounts of time on those things before they let girls progress.

Your DD definitely has big skills, but she does need someone to work on her basics. Good body shapes are the basis of great skills and without them it gets harder to progress in gymnastics.

If she was mine I would want a coach that was picky, picky about all the basics and who drilled the boring basics at every practice. Then I would worry about her skipping levels and Elite. If your coaches have trained to L10 and beyond they know what they are looking for, they will not look over a child who they feel has what it takes to go Elite.

 

[myeyeson_u]

But you're a coach. So you know what to look for. I'm a mom who's not at every practice. So I go based off of some of the practices I'm able to sit through. And her meets and the scores. And her coach, to me, is picky. Before they began practicing for the meet season, I always found the coach pressing her back down on bars. And it was ALL the time. I'd ask her, "why does coach always press down on your back". He's picky enough, to me at least. I feel like he's always picking on her on bars, ALWAYS. People say it's a good thing. I don't fuss about it though because she doesn't come home from practice distraught. He's the same w/ vault. But that's the type of coach he is. And I think him being that way, is the reason my dd is where she's at now. She still has some ways to go, yes. But she's come a VERY long way. And I'd rather them to be that way then not. At least I know it matters to them. Her beam and floor coach is the same w/ them, too.

As far as her skipping levels, I'm concerned w/ that now because she doesn't belong in the level she's in. He even said she could compete a level higher than where she's at now.

 

[bogwoppit]

She has the skills, but they need perfecting. That takes time and repetition. I agree that classical ballet would be very good for her extension and leaps and jumps.

Do remember that lots of kids you see at meets have skills way above the level they compete. This is very, very normal. Yes, they may "have" the skills for L6 but they are not really meet ready or they are very strong on floor and weak on bars etc.

Do stop the back tuck at home, she will need to relearn it properly and often doing a back tuck out of a round off instead of a back handspring is confusing.

Also remember the xcel scoring is nothing like USAG JO scoring. It is a system in place to allow all gymnasts to compete and enjoy an optional system. The JO system is just more rigorous. Doing very well in xcel is not an indicator of being able to do very well in JO.

I am glad your coach is picky, if he knows what he wants from your dd, he will know how to get her there.

 

[myeyeson_u]

First sentence, I agree. She took a ballet class prior to moving to where I'm at now. But that didn't last long. But it's something I can revisit.

And the back tucks have ceased. I mentioned it to her coach back in December and he told me the same thing.

Second to last sentence, thanks for that info. And I figured such since xcel requires less skills on events. I definitely know about the JO system as we went to meets from her L4 team and home. And saw what they did. She went through the practice process w/ the old L4 system. She just didn't compete (came into the team late).

 

[gracyomalley]

Your daughter looks talented, and like she loves gymnastics. She looks like tons of 9 year old level 4-5s in the JO system -some advanced skills, some form issues, still a little girl. Sounds like your present coaches have the experience to make a pathway unique to her - and it doesn't sound like they are a "one size fits all gym", which is what I would avoid with a kid like yours (or most any kid for that matter...). Most likely they are working with her to see how much her form/strength can improve with consistent coaching, and what her long term drive will be....my now 11 year old DD went from doing 2 levels a year at age 9 (old 5 and 6) to now doing 2 years at level 7....and she has friends who will hit level 9 at age 11....and friends who looked like your daughter as pre-teamers (really, same skills) who quit team after 3 months....coaches have seen all this if they have coaches upper level gymnasts often.

Do the ballet, encourage your daughter to work her hardest at making the corrections they are asking, take advantage of any "optional" work outs coaches offer, and see what happens over the next 6-12 months....and enjoy the path, not just the goal!

 

[LizzieLac]

Just a few comments and wishes for success.

1) At 9 years old, I am not sure your DD (and perhaps not you) know what it means to train elite. I don't know, really, either other than what I have read on Chalkbucket an on other online sites. When my DD was 9-10 she kept saying she wanted to do gymnastics in college. I thought is was great she had long terms goals for competing, but as far as doing it in college I knew that was a long road AND she had no idea what the college experience entailed, let alone competing in college.
2) There are a lot of steps and long journey from where your DD is now and even "training" to be elite, let alone making to an elite level competition. So, I think you should look at goals and progress you want to track on her way to the bigger (or biggest goal). For example, should she be at level 8 in JO by the time she is 12 (I think might be the minimum you would set). But then, look at how she gets there. What skills she needs, how many hours of training, cost, etc.

My point is that she has passion and talent - that's great, but the road is long. So I suggest you map out some intermediary goals (ones which are probably more realistic to hit) that she would need anyway on the journey. Hitting those goals over the next few years will tell you if being an elite gymnast is realistic.

Good luck!

 

[profmom]

The boys are a little bit different, but I have learned a few really important things over the last year with a DS who is competing a full level under what he is capable of doing skillwise. The level at which a child is competing is far less important than the level at which a child is training, and time refining and perfecting the basic skills until the form is excellent and the shapes are perfect is never wasted as long as the child sees that s/he is progressing. He'll get to level 8 slower than some of the current hotshots, but his fundamentals will be much stronger, and he'll be much more ready to move quickly once he gets there. (He dreams of doing gymnastics in college.)

Yes, the girls have a shorter time frame to reach their peaks, but spending the time to get those fundamentals as solid as possible, even while doing some uptraining but not yet competing everything she's capable of competing, seems to me like a better way of moving a girl toward a potential elite career. I don't know as much about TOPS, but with Future Stars, the emphasis is not on doing crazy advanced skills (though they're somewhat advanced). Rather, it's on showing perfect form. I suspect these systems wouldn't be set up this way if the USAG folks didn't believe that this is the best way to build great elites.

Anyway, it seems like your DD is in a good place, so if elite gymnastics is indeed her path, they should be able to walk her down that road at the best pace for her.

 

[cbifoja]

I also have a 9 year old interested in elite. I'm not sure if that is realistic or not, as we are still trying to figure out if she has the work ethic/potential/flexibility. I have also been told by several coaches about her natural talent, etc. but there are so many other factors. She will begin competing L7 in February. Her skills are pretty close to those in the video posted except for the switch leap on beam and the front tumbling pass with two different saltos not being as clean. Unfortunately though, our gym has no elite gymnasts and doesn't do TOPS training.

Remember that you still have the big wall of puberty to contend with. Personally, puberty scares the hell out of me. I worry about injuries, boys, middle school, etc. and how she will make good decisions in light of all the things to distract her from gym. So many girls, even the great ones who breathe the sport 24/7, end up leaving around the middle school mark.

Most of the girls in competitive gymnastics, especially the young ones, will tell you they want to go to the Olympics/become elite. It's pretty normal and I LOVE their spirit even if all the odds are against them! It just isn't that unusual for these girls to want to live in the gym and practice at home and everything is all about gymnastics. I wish that passion was enough but so many things can happen and passion can fizzle. I would just be positive and supportive and let her know that you believe in her no matter what!

There is a lot of good advice here and some amazing and helpful coaches. Dunno and IWC have been so amazing with their advice and experience and they are some good voices to listen to. If they are familiar with your daughter's skills, they by all means, listen to them!!!! I speak from personal experience!

 

[myeyeson_u]

I did not anticipate getting all of this feedback. But it is welcomed and appreciated.

*gets notepad and jots down notes of this lengthy thread* Lol!

 

[cbifoja]

Isn't this place amazing!!!! I have learned SO much about this sport that chose my little girl. I cannot imagine not having these people as a resource and a shoulder to cry on.

 

[myeyeson_u]

@cbifoja It most certainly is. Funny thing is back in September, I was doing a search for ideas on meet treat bags. And I came across a forum that had this idea where it had a saying and something attached to it. Example: "Stick of gum - be sure to stick your beam routine/ rubberband - be sure to stretch". Come to find out loooonnnnnnnggggggg after I discovered the forum, it was from HERE. HA! And my dd is the one who noticed it. We both just laughed.

I don't know what made me revisit the site recently, but I'm sooooo glad I did. Lawd have mercy! This is a gymnast parent/coach/gymnast/relative paradise!!!

 

[myeyeson_u]

@LizzieLac Though I still support my dd's aspirations, I like your idea too. So w/ that said, I'm going to look at what's required for her to move up to L5 (taking baby steps)

 

[Faith]

Oh I know our system is very different, I was trying to point out what others have said- the video I posted is what her form should look like, or be working toward- the leaps, toe point, leg extension etc, before she even thinks about higher level skills.

One q I don't think anyone's asked- how many hours does she do? At this age her hours should be ramping up to around 20 per week if she's aiming elite, particularly as she has many form issues to fix.

My DD is training elite (although not gymnastics), and honestly, it is all about the repetition. Doing it again, and again, and again. Spending a second year at the same level, because her basic technique isn't quite perfect. Coaches in fact will often slow down kids they think have elite potential- if the basics aren't right, they won't get the higher skills down the line. They'll let others progress faster, not because they are more talented, but if their BHS isn't *quite* right, down the line it isn't going to matter because they'll never need to set up a double back from it.

But having said all that, she's in a good gym that produces elites. If you think they are capable of taking your DD to elite, and recognise that talent in her, then you've done the biggest and hardest part of parenting a gymnast

 

[myeyeson_u]

Gotcha @Faith! I get it now. The level she's in and L4 practice the same amount of time/hours per week - 12hrs. She also does a 2hr physical abilities class on Fridays. So she's in the gym 14hrs a week. We don't have a L5 in place as of now, so I have no idea what that's going to be like. I do know that the girls who do TOP's go to their regular practice which is the same as my dd's. They also do a morning practice. And I don't know what days they go or how many hours they go for. And I have NO clue what the elite gymnast hours are. But I'm sure it equates to a full time job

Sometimes I let my frustration and/or anger cloud my judgment. And I want to fix what I think in my head is a problem. But when I calm down and try again the next day, I'm able to re-evaluate everything. And I'm so glad I posted this. Because not only did I get different feedback from different people, but also coaches who could speak on their behalf as a coach on me as a parent and how we go about things. Recommendations and such. It has shed a lot of light on at least my current situation.

 

[Jenny]

Coaches in fact will often slow down kids they think have elite potential- if the basics aren't right, they won't get the higher skills down the line. They'll let others progress faster, not because they are more talented, but if their BHS isn't *quite* right, down the line it isn't going to matter because they'll never need to set up a double back from it.

This.

 

[Muddlethru]

I watched your video and believe your daughter has talent. Gymnastically, she looks very strong. Taking ballet (majority of gymnasts hate this) will help with more pointed toes and straight legs. But a good gym/coach can get this covered.

My daughter qualified to national TOPS testing as a 9 and 10 year old. Her coaches planned to train her to go elite. However, it became apparent the elite path was her coaches plan for her and not really hers. Worse, if we went along with it, we would have spent $800 a month for elite training her coaches were no longer qualified to do. We switched gyms since and elite is no longer in her plans. But the gym switch to a better coach cost her a year. She repeated L9.

My advice to you from what I've learned is if indeed elite is what she wants (not anyone but hers), I would go to a gym capable of getting her there as soon as possible. She is a little on the older side but she can also easily and quickly jump through the levels. If she finds out later on she does not like elite, at least she's gotten the best coaching out there. To say elite training is extremely tough and expensive is an understatement, just keep that in mind. Good luck.

 

[happychaos]

I watched your DD's video and she looks like she has a lot of potential in JO. She looks strong, and looks like she could someday have really beautiful lines (ballet). If she were at our gym, she would be about an average scoring level 4. DD is at a good, picky gym. The excel scores are very inflated over what you will see in JO, at least in my part of the country. Her floor would score mid-8's at best, beam maybe high 8's, bars high 8's, but its hard to tell. If her vault scores were in line with her other scores, she would probably place in the top 50%, but not by much. Again, that is in my part of the country, but our gym, and those we compete with have produced several elites and a few Olympians collectively.

One thing that has surprised me about gymnastics is the length of time there is between "getting" a skill, and having the skill polished enough to receive few, if any deductions. My DD and her teammates often "get" skills in a matter of days, but spend literally 6-9 months polishing them before they are able to compete them, and another 4 months during meet season fine tuning. The excel girls at our gym do much less of this polishing. They are able to compete and score well with skills that would not pass muster in JO. This is not the fault of the gymnasts, it is just the way the program is, and it's okay because they have different goals. I would totally support my DD doing excel if she ever wanted too.

Your DD needs to move to JO so she can fix some of the form issues with her tumbling, but especially with her jumps/leaps/dance. It's great that your DD has a front layout, but she won't be able to do much with it until she cleans up her front handspring, kwim? Also, you may be surprised how much the leaps and jumps are worth (same as BHS).

Your DD has great potential, and she's lucky to be in a gym and a family that will support her as far as she can go!

 

[wgymmom]

Oh I know our system is very different, I was trying to point out what others have said- the video I posted is what her form should look like, or be working toward- the leaps, toe point, leg extension etc, before she even thinks about higher level skills.

One q I don't think anyone's asked- how many hours does she do? At this age her hours should be ramping up to around 20 per week if she's aiming elite, particularly as she has many form issues to fix.

My DD is training elite (although not gymnastics), and honestly, it is all about the repetition. Doing it again, and again, and again. Spending a second year at the same level, because her basic technique isn't quite perfect. Coaches in fact will often slow down kids they think have elite potential- if the basics aren't right, they won't get the higher skills down the line. They'll let others progress faster, not because they are more talented, but if their BHS isn't *quite* right, down the line it isn't going to matter because they'll never need to set up a double back from it.

But having said all that, she's in a good gym that produces elites. If you think they are capable of taking your DD to elite, and recognise that talent in her, then you've done the biggest and hardest part of parenting a gymnast

Well, this could be encouraging news...

OP, your DD is very good!

 

[myeyeson_u]

Thank you @wgymmom. And she's a perfectionist. So she's working on getting better. She did a front layout recently, and it was beautiful to me (her long limbs and they were straight). But she felt like she was crooked. So she'll keep at it until she gets it right!