Parents Height and professional gymnastics

[Mom97]

My daughter is going to be a tall girl. I’m 5’3 and her dad is 6’0 - but she loves gymnastics, and I do not want to crush her dreams, but don’t want to set her up for failure. Should I encourage another sport for her. I’ve read, and have seen about some gymnast that are tall. I just feel bad thinking about how she might have many struggles on this journey because of her height. She is much taller than many kids her age, boys and girls.

 

[sun]

Just keep bringing her if she likes it... you don't need to genetically optimize to enjoy and benefit from sports.

 

[GymDadWA]

Not sure how old your daughter is but just let her enjoy gymnastics and other sports and activities at the same time, kids often try to specialize in one sport at way to young of an age, give them an opportunity to try everything and anything and don't worry if they are perfect for the sport or not.

 

[HopefulGymnast]

1. It's way more important if she has fun than if she's theoretically going to be able to make it far in the sport. Sports are a way to learn life lessons, have fun, have a social experience, etc. Like the others say, just let kids be kids.
2. Being tall doesn't have to be a problem in gymnastics. For example, Illinois currently has a 6 foot female gymnast in their roster. That's college gymnastics, so that's a super high level. Her height doesn't need to impact anything. What will impact your daughters success in sport but also in other aspects of life is her environment. If you stress about her height, her body, her success, etc. then she will too, and that will just get in the way. Successful gymnasts come in quite a few shapes and sizes. They follow all kinds of different paths. But the best road to success is one where you're not stressing too much about being perfect or being a perfect fit, and when your environment also isn't concerned with that.
(https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-gymnastics/roster/emma-white/14567)
3. You can definitely try other sports with her, but just because it's fun and good for kids to try out different things. And meanwhile you can still choose to stick with gymnastics if she likes it. It doesn't have to be either or.
4. If gymnastics doesn't work out, she can always switch to another sport later if she doesn't like gymnastics anymore. Gymnastics is a great preparation for any sport, because it trains full body awareness and full body strength.

 

[Loopy]

No guarantee she will be tall anyway. I'm 5'3" and my husband is 6'7". Our eldest is 14 so just about to stop growing, she's less than an inch taller than me. A few years ago she was one of the shortest in her group (all girls the same age). She's now the tallest (just), but the others just haven't grown much since then.

 

[estamey21]

I agree with others in this thread. The one thing I want to add is that there are a lot of physical and psychological traits that are invisible to the naked eye that contribute to a gymnast’s long-term success. I’m not an expert in sports medicine or psychology, so I can’t give concrete examples. But an athlete’s height is just one of many biological traits that impact their performance.

So let’s say your daughter grows up to be tall. Even if this put her at a disadvantage (the degree to which this is a disadvantage is debatable), you are discounting all the other traits that could potentially put her at an advantage (e.g., her flexibility, her bravery, her work ethic).

I would focus more on what your daughter has right now that makes her good at gymnastics. Nurture the traits that she has control over and celebrate the traits that she got “for free” via the genetic lottery. Focusing too much on what she doesn’t have (or might not have) is not productive, as you could easily send her off to do another sport and discover that she isn’t The Full Package in that sport either. At the end of the day, every athlete is working within the constraints of their own biology, and there is a remarkable amount of variance within the human race that we simply can’t see without looking under a microscope.

 

[Tmacs]

I'm 5'8 and my husband is 6'4. My daughter has been very successful in gymnastics and is on track to pursue college. She's not super tall and may have the short genes of her grandparents, but we didn't let our heights discourage her. Like others said, she has so many other qualities that make her successful. And what she has learned physically and emotionally from the sport is amazing!

 

[skschlag]

If she loves it, that is the most important thing. My husband is 6' and I am 5'4". My daughter is 6'4" so when my son started gymnastics, the coaches all said he was going to be too tall. He topped out at 5'7" and is a college gymnast.

Genetics are fascinating!!! You just truly do not know how things will play out so let her have fun with it for as long as she wants to. You never know, this could be or sport, or, She may get tall, and realize that this is not for her. IN that case, the skills she has learned will transfer to many other sports.

 

[3rd_time_around]

What do you mean by "professional gymast"? There are no professional gymnasts, as in someone who gets paid to be a gymnast. There are those at the top of the sport who get sponsorships, but no true professional gymnasts (except for coaches, they are professionals because it is usually their career and they get paid). If you mean NCAA or Elite gymnasts, there are all heights in those categories. As long as she is loving it, let her train.

 

[Mom97]

Yes that is what I meant, college etc. New in all this, so don’t know all the correct terms. Thank you!

 

[STU678]

My daughter has graduated now & had no interest in continuing to do gymnastics beyond, but she is just over 5' 7" and was a very successful multi year level 10 gymnast. There are many considerations other than height when it comes to gymnastics success and her height never seemed to really be a problem. I definitely would let your daughter continue if she loves it, there are never guarantees anyway when it comes to college gymnastics (or any other sport), you just have to take it one year at a time.