Parents First ever "real" meet and I'm panicking

[Amusibus]

My daughter is graduating from her developmental group this spring and to mark the occasion they are having the girls compete one "real" meet, level three. She has never competed, and they just started learning the routines about three weeks ago. It's not that I care about scores, I don't, but yesterday the coach told me after practice she can't remember her floor routine, and gave me a written list of the moves and told her to practice at home. So we did that out on the grass, and after 11 tries she was STILL having trouble remembering the sequence of moves!! Tonight she came out of practice and she and four other girls have to come in for an extra practice tomorrow because of the floor routine thing. So I guess she's not alone... but why can't she remember it? It seems pretty straightforward. Maybe it's her ADD.... I just wonder why, if she is struggling to get thru "old" level 3 routines, why are they promoting her to "new" level three for the fall? Someone please tell me to calm down.

 

[Committed]

She may just be feeling the stress and getting a mental block. The 1st meet is really nerve wracking! DD competed level 3 this year, and the 1st one was the hardest, by far!! On the 1st meet, one of our girls missed the vault 2x, and another fell off beam 5 times.

It sounds like your coach may be trying to get out the 1st meet jitters out in level 3 this season.

Oh, to add......... it was sooooo much fun!!! For me, it was an eye opener about how competitive gymnasts really look, and DD had a blast! Shes been hooked ever since!
So, try not to stress and remember, she will be competing against girls who have done several meets. Just have fun and go out and do something special afterwards.

 

[txgymfan]

Calm Down! Take a deep breath. They are having her move up because she can do the skills. Learning the routine is a skill in itself and this will give her practice at learning how to do a routine. She will have more time to learn the new routine and it should come easier. If she messes it up, its ok. Tell her to have fun. Now breathe again!

 

[gymdog]

Is it the USAG routine? I would pull a decent one up on youtube and let your daughter watch it as much as she wants. Also, try assigning each move a number, and then add each number as she memorizes it.

 

[Krystan]

I agree about finding the routine on Youtube. Even just to have the music playing while she practices would be helpful. Dance moves are really hard to learn without music, IMO! If it's the USAG L3, I bet there are tons to look through - find a clean one and let her watch.

 

[CreateMagic]

With my littles, I've found that breaking the routine down into sections helps. Try to see if she can remember the first three things she is supposed to do, and practice that. Then move onto the next three and practice those three only. Then see if she can do the first three connected to the second three. Chunking the routine, if you may. Good luck!

 

[Amusibus]

With an extra practice this week (bringing her to 11 hours), she has finally put it all together. And that is good, as the meet is tomorrow! It isn't pretty, but it is all there. Her coach says she would be pleased if the developmentals do anything but run off the floor in a panic-anything more than that would be an accomplishment, she said. This cracks me up... I can totally picture my daughter doing that. I'll let y'all know how it goes tomorrow. Thanks for the words of wisdom.

 

[Amusibus]

So... She did not run off the floor in a panic! She remembered all her routines. Scores were low, 6's and 7's, as she needs a lot of polishing. She was not at all scared of competing, and seemed to enjoy it. She did not fall off the beam. She kept up with her floor music. She was excited to get the little gifts after and said she thinks she can do this next year. All in all, a sucess.

 

[Committed]

Yay for her!! And now she knows what to look forward to next season!