Parents gymnastics for kids with gross motor coordination issues

[dani4]

DD doesn't have a cartwheel, handstand, pullover, etc. She has been in a 3 year old rec class since September, and while they work on those skills they are not emphasized. She did learn to do forward rolls, and she does them with gusto! She plays around at handstands and cartwheels sometimes, but actually her favorite things are anything involving hanging upside down and jumping- especially from heights. She's just a kid playing in the gym, and that is how the preschool rec classes are run. I assume that if she does the developmental class there will be more emphasis on skill development, but maybe not at just 4 years old.

Also, the structure of developmental/pre-team classes in our gym appear to be a large funnel- there are lots of openings in the primary class for 4-5 year olds, which only meets once a week for an hour. This class doesn't really require a coach to recommend the kids, but if they are coming from the preschool rec class they do want to coach to agree that it's a good fit (which my daughter's coach is very enthusiastic about). There are half as many openings for the next level (ages 5-6), which meets twice a week. Then the next one is "JO level 1," which is for ages 5+ and I'm assuming is the real pre-team, and is by coaches recommendation only. So the first level dev class is a long way away from team, and I don't think it's "unfair" to the other kids to bring in a hard-working, not quite super-athletic kid, into the mix. Heck, it might really help her improve her coordination by the time she's 5 or 6. Or maybe she'll realize she's not cut out for team, so she'll try something else.

In any case my daughter is staying in rec for now, mainly for logistical reasons but also because I think it's ok to wait a little while. We'll probably let her try the developmental class in the fall, when my younger daughter can be in gym class without me.

 

[gymdog]

In that case it sounds like a rec preschool class for kids with experience who can follow the teacher's instruction, so I think she'd be fine.

 

[dani4]

I think of it as pre-pre-team. It's more than the rec classes because there's more "real gymnastics" in them, and they are moving up the girls who "get it" into the actual pre-team pretty quickly, others can take longer, and some never move up (go back to rec). I got more info from a coach and I feel pretty comfortable with it. The cool thing is that they have a different facility for team practice, and all the pre-team stuff takes place there, so you get to see the big kids doing their thing.