WAG Gym/Pre Team Requirements?

[notthatmom]

And to answer your question, yes...you do pay 100s of dollars and then do nothing, let the coaches be the coaches. I’ve seen moms correct their kids from the viewing area, asking the coaches questions about every little detail about every single skill (and THOSE are what we mean by CGMs). You honestly don’t need to know that much at all about the specifics of her skills. Bottom line, it shouldn’t matter, they’re there to coach, and you’re there to pay the bills and support her.
Here’s what you can do:
Cheer her on
Give her hugs
Give her cookies
Drive her to and from practice
Make sure she does her homework
Be her mom

 

[NutterButter]

You made a comment about the "horrible reputation" of gym moms. Yep, there are lots of CGMs in the sport. But they are everywhere not just gymnastics. The culture within some gyms can create an environment that is conducive for CGM. I hope this isn't your gym. You will find that the training team and compulsory years bring out the most CGM. They have a tendency to get weeded out by the time their kid hits optionals....their kid either quits or they change gyms. If you are still around in 6+ years when your kid is hitting upper level optionals, all you will care about is that she and her teammates are not injured.

I recently pulled up in the parking lot to pick up my DD and an ambulance was there. Panic takes over because you know that there's a good chance it's there for a team kid. Then you see your kid already waiting for you and you are instantly relieved but then you feel guilty because it's likely a teammate. Your kid gets into the car and tells you the scoop. It was her teammate. Dislocated elbow. Should recover in time to compete part of the season. But you just want to cry because you know this kid's story and how she struggled for much of the summer and was just starting to move forward again. THIS is the reality of upper level optionals. They all work so hard and it's just sad when they get hurt. There is no room for the CGM in upper level optionals at DD's gym.

 

[sce]

And to answer your question, yes...you do pay 100s of dollars and then do nothing, let the coaches be the coaches. I’ve seen moms correct their kids from the viewing area, asking the coaches questions about every little detail about every single skill (and THOSE are what we mean by CGMs). You honestly don’t need to know that much at all about the specifics of her skills. Bottom line, it shouldn’t matter, they’re there to coach, and you’re there to pay the bills and support her.
Here’s what you can do:
Cheer her on
Give her hugs
Give her cookies
Drive her to and from practice
Make sure she does her homework
Be her mom

Add to that: listen to her

 

[honu]

THIS is the reality of upper level optionals. They all work so hard and it's just sad when they get hurt. There is no room for the CGM in upper level optionals at DD's gym.

110% True!!! My hope everyday is DD walks out of the gym injured free, mostly happy (no practice will be perfect), and she can continue to do what she loves. I get wanting to understand the details especially in the early levels, but in upper level optionals it gets way to complicated. It is a process and the stages for parents and gymnast changed as they progress. It is nice to be educated and understand parts of the sport, I still research and learn some about skills here and there, but it is just for my knowledge. We mostly try to keep gym talk to "what was fun at practice" or "what was the best part of practice". Sometimes the answer is teammate shared a snack with me!

 

[NutterButter]

Sometimes the answer is teammate shared a snack with me!

Yes, I've gotten that answer before. Sometimes the best part of practice is that "beam ended".

 

[John]

110% True!!! My hope everyday is DD walks out of the gym injured free, mostly happy (no practice will be perfect), and she can continue to do what she loves. I get wanting to understand the details especially in the early levels, but in upper level optionals it gets way to complicated. It is a process and the stages for parents and gymnast changed as they progress. It is nice to be educated and understand parts of the sport, I still research and learn some about skills here and there, but it is just for my knowledge. We mostly try to keep gym talk to "what was fun at practice" or "what was the best part of practice". Sometimes the answer is teammate shared a snack with me!

This was my point in the Jade Carey thread. There seems to be two messages delivered on this board. One being the parent should leave the coaching to coaches. The other is athletes who reached higher levels the aforementioned rule doesn't apply. Cant have it both ways.

 

[RTT2]

This was my point in the Jade Carey thread. There seems to be two messages delivered on this board. One being the parent should leave the coaching to coaches. The other is athletes who reached higher levels the aforementioned rule doesn't apply. Cant have it both ways.

Having a parent who reached the highest level of a sport and/or is a top level coach and then coaches his/her own child is a world apart from a parent trying to coach their own kid based on stuff they picked up watching Youtube videos, or sitting at practices.

 

[Texasmomof3]

This was my point in the Jade Carey thread. There seems to be two messages delivered on this board. One being the parent should leave the coaching to coaches. The other is athletes who reached higher levels the aforementioned rule doesn't apply. Cant have it both ways.

Having a parent who is the athlete's professional coach is a far cry from having a parent who is not the coach, yet tries to coach from home. The non-coach parent should not try to "help" coach.

 

[QueenBee]

@NutterButter and @honu, I wish I could like your posts in this thread 1000x.

 

[sfts]

I appreciate your answer. Perhaps I should have been more specific in my question. For a Level 3 floor routine, is there a specific amount of time that the handstand HAS to be held on a handstand bridge kickover? 3 seconds? 2 seconds? I've seen some hold for longer and some barely reach a handstand before they arch over into a bridge. Hence my question. From what I understand gymnastics is cut and dry, so I posted the question hoping experienced parents or coaches would be able to give me an answer. I really wasn't trying to start anything.

Amiandjim is correct. There is no set time that the handstand has to be held on the L3 floor handstand to bridge kickover. No hold is specified and, as written in the full COP (code of points) description the judges & coaches use, the gymnast goes to handstand - vertical with legs joined - and then continues on, arching over in what should be a smooth but not rushed motion. Holding too long will through off timing elements to the music which is a deduction in and of itself.

The handstand forward roll, on the other hand, requires a hold of 1 second and there is a deduction (up to 0.1) for not holding. If you listen to the music for L3, during the handstand forward roll, you can hear the pause for the hold while in contrast, the music in the previous section for the kickover goes smoothly (or bouncily) along.

 

[josie55]

My kid has described it as "marking" the handstand, which to me means hitting it for no particular length of time, but in a way that one can see that the handstand did happen.

 

[gymmomx2]

There is NOTHING wrong with wanting to know the ins and outs of the sport if the want is driven by intellectual curiosity and not by the desire to "help" your child's progress.

So...ask away and learn as much as you want but also realize that the best thing you can do for you DD is to find her the right coaching and let the coaching do the work. It sounds a lot easier than it is

If you truly want to learn there are many resources in the USAG website as well as some blogs and even YouTube videos that walk through compulsory routines detailing what the routine should like.

 

[AlijahsMom]

@josie55 I'll try to keep updated. She's only 2 right now, so not too much exciting stuff going on right now. She has started trying to do straddle handstands (don't even know where she got them from) on and off push up parrelettes (idk what to call them) and can almost do a press handstand (from seeing it in a video) if I just support her under her ankles. She definitely had the strength to do it, just not the coordination/ body awareness yet. She can also push herself up with the parrelettes and hold in a pike position.

As for becoming a CGM and having her attributes pointed out, like I mentioned, I taught Tae Kwon Do for years. I had a parent who would blatantly brag that his kid was the best in the class (he wasn't, he was good and determined since he wanted his dads approval, but nothing extraordinary) in front of other kids and their parents. I definitely can not meet that level of crazy. just the thought of that entire family will keep me in check.