Parents Has the whole world gone mad?

[Deleted member 18037]

YES! I am always shocked at the number of hours. They just do not know what it will be like when they are older. I wish someone had told me.

No worries, most of them won’t last that long.

 

[RTT2]

No worries, most of them won’t last that long.

Which is sad, because there is so much that is great about the sport and it would be wonderful if girls could be allowed to develop at a reasonable pace.

What bothers me is that the sacrifice is paid by these young girls- not the parents or the coaches who keep ramping up the hours. When we say they "burn out" early it means these young kids pay either physically, mentally, or emotionally (maybe all three), before leaving the sport. Children pay the price for the decisions of coaches and parents.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Which is sad, because there is so much that is great about the sport and it would be wonderful if girls could be allowed to develop at a reasonable pace.

What bothers me is that the sacrifice is paid by these young girls- not the parents or the coaches who keep ramping up the hours. When we say they "burn out" early it means these young kids pay either physically, mentally, or emotionally (maybe all three), before leaving the sport. Children pay the price for the decisions of coaches and parents.

I totally agree. My kid is moseying her way. But she has a life outside of just the gym.

 

[Mish]

The sad thing is, some of these girls are SO GOOD! They don't have to do these crazy hours, they will get where they need to be, stay healthier and be awesome without all of this extra stuff!!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I wonder how higher the incidence of serious injury is when putting such young children through such strenuous training hours. All of that pounding on a young and rapidly growing body can’t be good. I wonder how many amazingly talented gymnasts we lose simply because their bodies couldn’t hold out any longer. Not to even mention burn out. It’s crazy. These parents who are allowing this to try to get their kids to the top may very well be the ones who keep them from getting there.

 

[SMH]

I wonder how higher the incidence of serious injury is when putting such young children through such strenuous training hours. All of that pounding on a young and rapidly growing body can’t be good. I wonder how many amazingly talented gymnasts we lose simply because their bodies couldn’t hold out any longer. Not to even mention burn out. It’s crazy. These parents who are allowing this to try to get their kids to the top may very well be the ones who keep them from getting there.

I have to wonder what the heck are the coaches thinking. 20 plus hours of training, plus TOPS plus privates- do they truly think that’s the correct/ideal path to college/elite?

 

[JBS]

The world loves this quote...

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

The reality is that this definitely does not always hold true in the sport of gymnastics. The hours and hard training both physically and mentally tax the hard worker much more as they typically have to train more hours. Many times the more talented athlete can do things with less reps and less time commitment... that's just all there is to it. Let's face it... most people will never get a layout double double no matter how hard they work.

Also... gymnastics is defined as an "early specialization" sport... developing bodies and minds can handle tons as long as they are in "imaginary land"... the second something goes wrong like burnout or an injury they (young athletes that have defined their life through sport) can handle very very little mentally and emotionally.

 

[bookworm]

Ok I'll bite....my daughter was an 8 yo level 8 who trained 20 hours a week, with TOPS training in that time frame, and no privates in all her years (18+) as a gymnast , except when she got a new floor routine as an 8/9/10.....and I'm not crazy. She had moved from a small gym that didn't compete USAG to her new gym as a level 5, where her hours increased to 14 hours, and then bumped through levels 6 and 7 in two meets and then did level 8 that year...and the upper level optionals practiced 5 days a week for 4 hours so that's what she did for basically the next 10 years until she went to college. We were in one gym for about 3 years that trained 30 hours a week for levels 7 and up but she was in high school by then ...but in that gym I saw crazy parents who's level 4s did 24 hours a week sign up for privates 3 times a week!

She didn't have her first injury until her 3rd year of level 10 (age 13) and I attribute that to her coaches being smart with the skill choice and resulting pounding on the body....back in the day, she didn't flip a double back on floor and front tuck on beam until her 2nd year as a 10....versus seeing those skills much earlier in levels 8 and 9 now. She did a lot of twisting that seemed to save her body.

Her original coaches were also of the mind set, as was I, that she was in the gym enough hours that privates and extra time to train TOPS was not necessary...and this all seemed to work for her..she made TOPS, she went to JOs 7 years in a row, she did a stint in elite (hated it because in her words, "it's never good enough"), and competed D1 on a gymnastics scholarship.

She went to regular school the whole time and I never entertained homeschooling.

 

[josie55]

Everyone is different and every gym is different. While I “get” that it seems like some young kids are doing really high hours, there are two things I would like to point out:

1. Not everyone is fortunate to be at a gym that can “get it done” with low hours and no privates. Coach to gymnast ratio plays a part, and while I imagine we’d all love for our kids to have a high quality, low hours, low coach to gymnast ratio setup, it’s just not available to everyone. If you have that, be grateful, but maybe hold back from harsh judgment of others.

2. High hours may not necessarily mean more pounding on the body. If a gym needs their kids to do high hours it may be bc there is more standing around.

I’m not defending the world of 7 year olds training 20 hours/week and my kid certainly wasn’t doing that, but sometimes I think people can get a bit proud about their kid’s low hours environment and I kind of want to say “that’s awesome for you and I agree it’s preferable, but not everyone has that available to them.” There are trade offs. Some opt for long commutes. Some move their family to a Texas. Some pay for privates and long hours so they don’t have to commute or move to Texas. And for the lucky few, you don’t have to do any of that and to you I saw “congrats!” I think most of us are just making the best of what’s available to us.

Okay. Rant over.

 

[Jenny]

I wish it wasn't a thing here, but it is. My DD (7yo, 15 hrs per week) is just about to compete, in her age group, against others who will all be training 25-30 hours per week. I expect her to come towards the bottom because of this. But this is how our region of the UK works sadly... Many do burn out or get injured, but the few who make it are the ones in the GB team I guess...

oh that makes me sad that some 7 year olds are training 25-30 hours in the UK. That is way too much.

 

[Taxidriver]

I wish it wasn't a thing here, but it is. My DD (7yo, 15 hrs per week) is just about to compete, in her age group, against others who will all be training 25-30 hours per week. I expect her to come towards the bottom because of this. But this is how our region of the UK works sadly... Many do burn out or get injured, but the few who make it are the ones in the GB team I guess...

Wow I didn’t know gyms in the uk were training that many hours at 7 years. My dd gym is an elite gym and I know they train a lower than average hours for elite but the coaches know this and aren’t so concerned about placing in the early years of competing as they are looking at the long term.

 

[stillhoping]

I’m with you. I have a junior high kid that will either compete level 9 or 10 next season. She doesn’t want to homeschool. Just finding a gym in my area that has a 9/10 after school group is difficult. Almost all programs in my area insist on homeschooling at the upper levels. Some of the kids at her age / level are training 37+ hours per week.

 

[Flyaway]

Stuff like this just makes me happy that we live in a smaller community with one gym option, and in a lesser competitive region. Yes, it does stink sometimes to not have all the opportunities that some girls do, but at the same time, we're not faced with the "keeping up with the Jones'" pressure either. Dd is able to just do what she loves.

 

[gymmomx2]

I’m with you. I have a junior high kid that will either compete level 9 or 10 next season. She doesn’t want to homeschool. Just finding a gym in my area that has a 9/10 after school group is difficult. Almost all programs in my area insist on homeschooling at the upper levels. Some of the kids at her age / level are training 37+ hours per week.

37 hours a week is a full time job

 

[RTT2]

37 hours a week is a full time job

If only gyms could offer the girls training this many hours health care benefits!

 

[LJL07]

Ok, I am exaggerating, but is anyone on that crazy mamas group? There seem to be an extraordinary amount of 7 year old lv 7s that practice 20-30 hours a week. Plus privates. I get girls that are seriously headed to the pinnacle of this sport, but seems to be an overabundance of this. Totally not judging if this is your child, but I don't see how it can be healthy in the long run. I know we have discussed this multiple times on here, but it seems to be getting more and more common. Almost like a contest for some...

Yes, they have all gone mad. They all think their children are going to the Olympics. There are so many of them. None of them seem to attend school, or they must have special school hours. I have never seen so many ridiculously amazing 7 year old kids in my life. I think a new super duper talented 7 year old pops up every day in that group, and I am actually being sort of serious. How are there so many?? Some of them look ready to go straight to level 9. No joke. I had to leave the group because it was wearing me out.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Though to slightly correct course on myself here, some of them might be mad. You can tell they’re mad when they get mad that you point out that insane hours *might* not be healthy for their small child. Ha.

 

[Annikins]

Yes, in the UK in our region, it's the norm for the 'big' gym clubs. At the competition, I spoke to a few of the other mums and they all train those hours and take afternoons off school every week to fit it in. I think other regions are not so bad, but apparently ours is known for it... I wish it wasn't like this - I think the US system is better where there seems a greater flexibility for those coming through a little bit older...

 

[Gaz2810i]

Can I ask... What is this crazy mama's group? Would love to see what everyone is talking about

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Can I ask... What is this crazy mama's group? Would love to see what everyone is talking about

It's a group on Facebook, there are a few different facebook groups for gymnastics parents, this is one of them. If you do a search for gymnastics groups on facebook it should come up.