Parents Help with asking the right questions

[Jkgg05]

Hello all,

Quick background: my 4yo daughter has been at her current gym since July (we and she love the place) when she joined the Pre-Team. Now the gym is a USAG and USAIGC gym and when she was evaluated we were told the pre-team is the stepping stone to learn the skills to eventually be moved up to the competitive team and that she couldn't start competing officially until she was 5yo anyway (they made it sound like once she was 5 she'd be competing). Due to some bad luck non gymnastic related injuries she has missed roughly 4 months of training and if you add up time has only really been able to train roughly 3 months since joining. I was told that she is doing great, she is totally on track and not to worry at this stage. They have the recreational competitions they are doing soon but I do not think they are official or sanctioned. I tried talking to someone at the gym because I was concerned my daughter fell behind due to her injuries and now the rec competitions I didn't want her to feel unprepared or not ready. I was told she is right where she needs to be.

I don't like to be a PITA but I feel super confused right now. Not sure how the entire process works with regards to what determines when they move up from the pre-team, what determines if they think she should go one path or another. I feel like I am not asking the right questions so I was hoping more experienced parents could help me out here. I normally take a wait and see approach but I feel so out of my element and a few times (past gyms) when I just did the wait and see method it didn't really pan out too well.

 

[AlexandraU16]

Four is so so young. Does your gym compete xcel, developmental, or both? For xcel bronze they have to be 5 to compete but that is the minimum age and it is very normal to be older. For level 3 they have to be 6 and a lot of gyms don’t even start competing until 3 so she has plenty of time.

The gym would not have put her on pre team if they don’t see potential in her. At four years old she doesn’t need tons of skills; they’re laying the ground work. If the coaches say she is exactly on track please trust them. They know what they’re doing and they’ll let you know if there’s an issue. As for the rec comps, these are likely for fun and to get them used to saluting and being in front of an audience etc. Likely all the girls will get ribbons of some kind and your daughter will have a blast and have no concept of how well she did. Your anxiety about her being behind and performing not up to par is likely your own preconceived notion about where she “should be” and she is likely having fun and totally unconcerned with any of that. (And I say this as a mom who has been there). Relax and enjoy watching her grow. You’re at the very beginning and she has so much ahead of her.

 

[Jkgg05]

Four is so so young. Does your gym compete xcel, developmental, or both? For xcel bronze they have to be 5 to compete but that is the minimum age and it is very normal to be older. For level 3 they have to be 6 and a lot of gyms don’t even start competing until 3 so she has plenty of time.

The gym would not have put her on pre team if they don’t see potential in her. At four years old she doesn’t need tons of skills; they’re laying the ground work. If the coaches say she is exactly on track please trust them. They know what they’re doing and they’ll let you know if there’s an issue. As for the rec comps, these are likely for fun and to get them used to saluting and being in front of an audience etc. Likely all the girls will get ribbons of some kind and your daughter will have a blast and have no concept of how well she did. Your anxiety about her being behind and performing not up to par is likely your own preconceived notion about where she “should be” and she is likely having fun and totally unconcerned with any of that. (And I say this as a mom who has been there). Relax and enjoy watching her grow. You’re at the very beginning and she has so much ahead of her.

I truly appreciate your response, and I want to clarify that my main concern isn't about when she competes—whether it's now, later, or at any point in the future. My focus is on ensuring that she is making the right progress. This concern comes from her previous experiences at another gym, where we were often told how advanced she was, yet the staff there seemed unaware of her potential. We decided to take a step back and see how things unfolded, but unfortunately, nothing changed until someone outside the gym suggested we get her formally evaluated. The gym we were at dismissed our concerns, but when we finally sought an evaluation elsewhere, the enthusiasm for her talent was palpable, and they even discussed the possibility of her competing at just five years old, which was both overwhelming and thrilling for her and us.

I have complete faith in her coach, and if they assure me that she is on the right track, I trust their judgment. My curiosity lies more in understanding the evaluation process—what specific criteria they consider and how they measure progress. I want to ask questions that provide me with insight without coming across as if I'm doubting their expertise, especially since I don't have much knowledge in this area. I just want to stay informed and engaged in her journey, if that makes sense.

 

[AlexandraU16]

I think you need to be really careful with your ideas about her potential and her talent. There is no true objective way of predicting future progress and development. Even the blatantly obvious phenoms don’t always progress how people expect: progress isn’t linear. Being super advanced at 4 doesn’t always translate to being super advanced at 8 or 10 etc. I think your initial approach of wait and see is probably the right one. If she’s truly a natural talent she will develop and progress in any healthy gym environment. I am definitely not trying to put you down but I’m speaking from recent experience. My daughter joined team at 5. She was very advanced for her age: bridging at 3, cartwheel with straight legs by her fourth birthday, unassisted pullover a few months later, back hip circle before she turned 5, back walkover the day she turned 5, kip at 6, back handsprings around the same time. Now she just turned 7 and she is lovely to watch and typically ahead for her age and progressing steadily but she no longer seems so astoundingly ahead. Time levels the playing field as kids develop at different rates but catch up. This sport, as other parents told me a few years ago over and over, is a marathon not a sprint. You can tell so little about what lies ahead when theyre 3, 4, 5, 6, even 7 and 8.

As for questions: ask if they do formal evaluations. A lot of gyms do every 6-8 week or quarterly evals where they have a checklist of skills and put them through a series of them to see if they can adequately perform them. (Other option is to ask for a coach meeting where you can more thoroughly and privately discuss your daughter’s progress and your concerns)
For starting team at bronze or level 2 they’d probably want:
Bars: pullover, cast with hips decently off bar, back hip circle, cast away dismount or toe on undershoot etc
Vault: run to jump to handstand flat back
Beam: pivot turn, lever or handstand, straight jump
Floor: cartwheel, round off rebound, bridge kick over, half turn in releve, leap with decent split, maybe all three splits or pretty close, forward roll, backward roll.

Hopefully I managed to answer some of what you’re looking for! Sorry for the novel.

 

[sun]

There are so, so (so) many factors to consider in predicting gymnastics success - many of which you can't see or control. 4 is extremely young - appropriate considerations might sound like "is she having fun?", "is she safe?".