Parents Help me understand the progression

[stoshy40]

At the end of the day it should be up to your kid and how they want to proceed. My wife and I have the theory that we will give them every opportunity to succeed but it's up to the kids to go out there and seize the moment. We have more than one type of personality in the house and my oldest (10 years old), a hockey player, just quit hockey to START playing soccer. He does not have the competitive passion that my 7 year old gymnast has.

We started her at a local gym at 3 years old doing classes. Since she showed strength and ability we moved her to the "pre-team" and by age 4 she was 4-5 hours a week in the gym. At age 5 we moved her to a more notable gym and she started on there pre-team / development team (TOPS) through the summer and started Lvl 3 at 6 years old and took 4th at States, training 18 hours per week. She is now 7 and training with the lvl 6's and sometimes 7's and just had her first 7 year-old TOPS testing and continuing to train 15-18 hours per week.

Our hope is that she can get through lvl 6 pretty quickly and start training lvl 7 by the end of this year or early next year.

In my eyes every kids' path is different and can only be accomplished by the willingness of the kid to want it. Some just want to have fun and some have a real passion for it.

My suggestion would be to ask her what she wants to do. If she wants to be on pre-team and train more then I would let her, knowing that she can always go back to the classes if the intensity of pre-team is not for her. It doesn't hurt to try and it would give her the opportunity as opposed to assuming she wouldn't want to and losing the opportunity.

 

[GymDad9.9]

My DD started rec gymnastics as a 4 year old after getting booted out of ballet class for doing a pull over on the movable barre (among other things). She moved into an invitation only preschool class at age 5 and on to pre-team at age 6. She began competing old L3 as a 7 year old, old L5 as an 8 year old and then tested out of old L6 when the level changes happened.

At age 9, she did a half year at new L6 and a half year at L7. She then did a full year of L7 as a 10 year old and just finished up her L8 season as an 11 year old. She is on track to compete L9 this January as a 12 year old. She has always been in the youngest award division except at regionals where she was in the second youngest. She is the third youngest L9 in our state so she has moved quickly for our area. But who knows how she compares to other states.....

Your story reminds of when my daughter was transitioning out of dance into gymnastics and all she would do would be cartwheels during the breaks in dance rehearsal. I knew her days in dance were numbered...

 

[emorymom]

http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/t...on-the-transition-of-the-cheer-gym-mom.19439/

 

[dani4]

My older daughter is 7 and she's now about to start pre-team at her gym. She has been in the developmental classes (1-2 hours per week ) since she was 4 1/2. She is old for her level, especially considering how long she has been doing gymnastics. But her goal has always been to make team and this seems to be working for her- we'll see if she actually does make team (excel or JO would be great).

I now know that all those years of development (and preschool rec before) were necessary for my daughter. She probably could not have walked into the gym at 6 and gotten to where she is now, though others could walk in at 6 and be ahead of her by 7. At the same time, there are other kids she was in class with who are either back in rec, or have quit gymnastics. These kids are all different. My daughter may end up not liking pre-team, though I think she will love it. I don't know if she will be promoted to team, I don't know if she will get the needed skills. But it doesn't matter - I am really happy to see her working and taking risks to meet her goals. I couldn't imagine her doing that when she was 4 or 5, although even then she said she wanted pre-team.

My younger daughter is 5 and seems more suited to gymnastics, but all she wants to do is rec. This year she gets her wish, no more developmental program for her. She is strong, intense, and focused but she hates pressure and external structure, while my older daughter thrives on it. Kids! I give up, they get to decide what to do with their lives

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd followed a fairly traditional path to team. She did rec classes starting around 4 1/2. She was moved to an advanced preschool class after a few months. She moved to an advanced rec class when she was about to start Kindergarten at 5 1/2. Right before she turned 6 she was invited to the training group (what her gym calls preteam). Usually, the training group is for a full year, but they were having a coaching shortage at the time and didn't start it until January instead of the previous June. She competed level 2 as a 6 year old, level 3 as a 7 year old and will be competing level 4 as a 8 year old. Depending on how she does this season, she may compete level 5 next season or, possibly, level 6/7. Her gym rarely competes a full season at level 6, but occasionally will start a gymnast at 6 and have them move to 7 after a few meets if they need it. There are some girls that skip from 4 to 7, scoring out of 5 of course. A lot of girls do a full season of level 5 though. I'm happy with the pace she is at right now and, personally, am not in any hurry for her to get to optionals which requires a lot more hours plus the skills seem a lot scarier to watch!

 

[LJL07]

I have to agree with @Sasha. If you have a kid who seems to REALLY love gymnastics, they don't need to be pushed into a tops program at age 4 and they absolutely should have fun, but you want them at a good gym that emphasizes good basics at a young age. I have two talented (but not super prodigy) daughters. I didn't get my oldest to a good coach until 8, and they are still fixing bad habits going into optional levels. My youngest has had good coaching and basics from the start, and it has been much easier for her--difference is night and day. Fwiw, my youngest started team at 5 but was on a "pre team" at 4. My older one just did "fun classes" until team at age 6, but that was a very recreational type team. It really all depends on how serious you want your kid to be in gymnastics, and I say you meaning the parent bc it is a huge parental commitment too.