WAG Growing like a weed!

[Flossyduck]

In the run up to her comp last weekend I noticed that dd had been struggling with her back walkover on beam. All the other skills were fine - solid on flic, round off, tuck back dismount, spins etc. She's had her back walkover for about a year and a half or maybe more and she's always said she finds it easier than cartwheels and handstands. She pulled it off with a wee wobble at the comp.

Then over the course of last week I noticed she was avoiding wo's when they did beam. Running through the usual complex then skipping walkovers and going straight to flics.

She had a day off school on Friday so I gently asked her if her walkovers were troubling her and she had a total meltdown. Said it felt strange, she just couldn't get it to feel right. She said she was fine about jumping back for flics but when she reached down for the walkover something always went wrong.

I first thought it was just that she's been working on the bigger stuff and not doing so many. Then out of curiosity I got her against the measure stick...

She has grown 2cm since I last measured her, for school uniform, on 31st August!!

Is that even possible? It seems crazy. She was barefoot and I checked and re-checked and I know I was really careful last time as well - the pencil marks are clear. Her waist, hips and chest and torso length are exactly the same as they were in February, when I measured her for new leos, but inside leg - wow!

She was relieved, got her floor beam out and did about 40 until they started looking really nice and at her last session she didn't skip and they looked way better.

I'm amazed. How does that not hurt? I'm really careful with her diet and I think that's fine, but any other tips?

 

[Flossyduck]

btw dd is not a tiny girl. At her first club we were told she was too tall for her age to be offered a place in their squad. We moved her for other reasons but I remember when the coach came out, after her trial at her current gym, to tell me they were happy to take her, my first words were "are you sure she isn't too tall?" (palm to face moment now when I think about it). Coach looked at me and said "unless she's going to grow into a giant overnight she's just fine", with the totally deserved withering look!

She hasn't grown a lot since then and from being the tallest in her group she is now about third tallest. The most talented girl in the group is the tallest.

So I'm not worried about her height except that it seems such a lot for her body to cope with in just a month. My older ones were hobbits until they got to about 17, so I've not dealt with this before!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

They always grow at the most inopportune moments. P&F complained her new school shoes hurt at half term, I said suck it up, they are just new. She carried on moaning so a trip to Clarkes in November revealed they were 1 1/2 sizes too small ! Good job it was sale time!

 

[Faith]

Thing is, there's nothing you can do about it.

It sounds like you did exactly the right thing, and it has probably helped her enormously to understand that growth will affect some skills, and she can work through it- it's not that suddenly she's rubbish, she might just need a little time to adjust.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

At least there is a reason, she is now aware of it and it's not *her*, you know? This age is hard, growth spurts can throw everything out of whack.
Good for her getting up there and working, working, working at it until it felt better!