Off Topic Height observations: Gym vs. "outside world"

[Deleted member 26368]

My 7th grader told me that she was one of the shortest girls in her homeroom last year (6th grade), but I know for a fact that she is the same height as her adult female head coach at gym. She's the 2nd tallest on her team and is the same height (or close to it) as many of the older upper level athletes at her gym. She's around the 45th percentile for height and weight for her age, almost 12.

Gym tall, "real world" short.

I thought this was kind of funny, any similar experiences to share?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Yes, I am 5’0”, as a gym owner I spend a lot of time surrounded by little ones, but by about age 12 they are all taller.

I always think my gymnasts are tall for their age, because they are all taller than me, but they tell me they are the shortest in their classes.

When I go outside the gym, everyone towers over me.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My daughter is around 5'4/5'5 at 14 1/2. She's probably done growing. There are only a few taller than her at gym, although a bunch pretty close in height (and of course a lot shorter). So I consider her a pretty tall gymnast. I'm also only 5'1, so she also seems tall to me. But she is the second shortest of all of her school friends and is always complaining about being so short.

 

[gymgal]

my daughter has always been one of the shortest on her team so we have not experienced this personally but we have seen this with teammates who were the tallest on the team, but when with non-gym friends, they were the shortest.

 

[Livelovegymnastics]

I am one of the shortest kids in my grade standing at 4'9", but at the gym, I am average height and as tall as some of my coaches lol.

 

[Tammie]

My kiddo is one of the "short little hobbits" of gymnastics. She will be 11 in Dec and stands 4'4". Even in gym she is short(&light at barely 50#-she fights to stay at 50, she naturally wants to drop to 46/47#, but needs to be 50# for many vault/bar skills at her gym...man i wish i had this problem-lol)

She has 2 younger siblings, both taller, she has friends, all MUCH taller(some as much as a foot!!)

However she has learned to embrace her "shortness" and now revels in it!! For a long while, she was upset people would think she was the youngest vs the oldest of my 3 younger kids. Many guess her to be 6/7/8, not almost 11.

 

[Deleted member 26368]

I am one of the shortest kids in my grade standing at 4'9", but at the gym, I am average height and as tall as some of my coaches lol.

You and my daughter are about the same height, then. She's probably got much more growing to do - I'm 5'6" and husband is 6'1". I am confident she'll eventually be taller than 5 feet.

Her coaches gush over her (gym) long arms and legs, LOL. I think it's cute. I was an awkward lanky middle schooler, so at least my kid is more coordinated than I was at that age - even though I was one of the taller girls in my class.

 

[BusyMomof2]

My 8-year old is tiny. Used to be in the 2% but has dropped off the chart for her age group. She's soooo small compared to her classmates but at the gym, she's just one of the smallest. She has to have special marks right now as she's learning to jump to the high bar and it's so much farther for her!

 

[Amumcalledove]

We’re at the opposite end of the spectrum - my daughter is 4ft at 4 years old.
She’s a head and shoulders above her preschool class and often gets mistaken for being older. She doesn’t look so out of place at gymn as she’s in a mixed age rec class with kiddos up to 8.

 

[LucyRobinson]

I'm about 75th percentile for my height for my age. This means I'm the tallest girl in the gym, everyone points out how tall I am. At school, I'm definitely on the taller side, but also definitely not the tallest, it's not something people comment on a lot.

 

[pt coach]

My DD at 5'7" was always one of the very tallest at the gym and therefore thought of herself as a tall person. Then she became a thrower in track and field and learned, according to her track coach and teammates, that at 5'7" and 143 pounds she is "tiny."

 

[JPC13]

We’re at the opposite end of the spectrum - my daughter is 4ft at 4 years old.
She’s a head and shoulders above her preschool class and often gets mistaken for being older. She doesn’t look so out of place at gymn as she’s in a mixed age rec class with kiddos up to 8.

she’s the same height as my 9.5 year old.

 

[Gymbletot]

My 6yo is one of the younger ones in her squad, but the tallest. She's also the tallest in her school year. I'm 5'10 and her dad is 6'4 so it's not surprising. There's only one in her group who is properly dinky though

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

My daughter is hovering around the 50th percentile and is a tall gym person, short regular person lol. It’s very weird

 

[FifiMum]

We’re at the opposite end of the spectrum - my daughter is 4ft at 4 years old.
She’s a head and shoulders above her preschool class and often gets mistaken for being older. She doesn’t look so out of place at gymn as she’s in a mixed age rec class with kiddos up to 8.

Same for us. My 6 year old is almost the same height as me (I'm 5'2") and is one of the tallest among his school friends. Its fine at gym because although he's the youngest, he's the same height as the 8/9 + year olds in his group but he does forget they've been in that group for at least a year or two longer than him! And at school/ outside life he's always mistaken for 8/9 year old and then we get funny looks when he wants to take a teddy or toy truck some place.

 

[rlm's mom]

Two of mine are average height according to percentiles. They are on the taller side at gym. I think their height really aides the aesthetics of their gymnastics. Other DD on the taller side with a more athletic build, definitely contributes to her dominance on the power events.

 

[Summer01]

My 11 yo is the shortest in her sixth grade class at 52 inches (from what she tells me). She is also one of the shortest when at gym practice and so I am only really aware of how short she is when she's with friends from school. Keep waiting for her to grow and know it will happen sooner or later!

 

[ProudGymnast]

I have a really awkward build for gymnastics- short (5'2) muscular, curvy, long torso. Not the most aesthetic gymnastics build.

Versus my sister who passed me up age 12 and is tall and skinny, with some long, long legs. She's actually pretty strong but not muscular. At 14 she is 5'5 and is the second tallest on team.

I am short wherever I go, and she is average real world but a tall gymnast. I'm not exactly sure how we are such opposites!

 

[JPC13]

I have a really awkward build for gymnastics- short (5'2) muscular, curvy, long torso. Not the most aesthetic gymnastics build.

Lot's of modern high level gymnasts fit that build. Aly Raisman was about that tall and nowhere near rail thin. McKayla Maroney is supposedly a little taller but definitely curvy.