Parents Higest Xcel level an average/neighborhood girl can achieve

[Oneforall]

I wonder if any coach or experienced gym parent can share what they think about the question above. Note that it's about an average girl, not an average gymnast.

Background in case anyone is interested: my daughter (close to 8) is at a low-key Xcel gym on bronze team this year. She was 1-2 months in Rec when invited to their preteam in Jun 21. BTW I had no idea what preteam was then and started googling and found this site with lots of info. I suspected/suspect she got invited to preteam partly due to there were so few new kids that year because of covid, and partly due to the coach misunderstood her past rec gym experience.

I think she is just an average/neighborhood girl without much natural athletic talent. Neither parents played any sport. I think vast majority of her teammates from preteam to now bronze are more naturally talented. She is also very timid and cautious, which makes her much slower on attempting/getting some skills. Skillwise she has been the bottom pack since preteam.

She likes gymnadtics but is not crazy about it. I wonder how far can she stay in this sport if she wants to, given the limit of her natural ability. Silver maybe OK, but gold? Again it's a low key Xcel program so I think their skill requirements are probably low to mid within Xcel, and ~8-12 hours for bronze/silver. I don't plan to let her do more hours or regular privates to keep her in the sport.

Thanks.

 

[RTT2]

I think it's difficult to predict how long any girl will stay in the sport no matter how talented. I would keep her in gymnastics as long as it's fun for her. Some components I think a kid needs to stay in the sport are: a love for gymnastics, drive and determination to get the skills and keep advancing, parental support, and good coaching. Without those I would guess a kid might do a season or two of gymnastics and then move on.

Also, 8-12 hours for Bronze and Silver is actually somewhat high compared to many gyms.

 

[Oneforall]

I think it's difficult to predict how long any girl will stay in the sport no matter how talented. I would keep her in gymnastics as long as it's fun for her. Some components I think a kid needs to stay in the sport are: a love for gymnastics, drive and determination to get the skills and keep advancing, parental support, and good coaching. Without those I would guess a kid might do a season or two of gymnastics and then move on.

Also, 8-12 hours for Bronze and Silver is actually somewhat high compared to many gyms.

Thanks for your comments. Just to clarify, it's ~8 hrs for bronze and ~12 for silver. I feel it's not low hours, and probably in the middle in terms of hours based on what I read here. But I may be wrong.
I said low key gym because they try to keep it fun and not that focused on skills, not because of the hours.

 

[Coach Kate]

Those are high hours for our gym, and we win meets and have state and regional champs every year. Silver is 5, gold is 5 with an option for 7.5, platinum is 5.5 with an option for 7.75, and diamond is 9.

I would say just enjoy the ride. The most common level we see girls drop at is platinum, especially the ones who are just ok, as they get to late Jr high or early high school and see there are a lot of things they could be doing. Your daughter may end up steadily improving and liking the sport more and more and end up diamond by senior year. Or she may decide it's not really for her and top out at gold. Just have fun.

 

[Mish]

If your daughter just enjoys doing gymnastics, is recreational gymnastics an option? Not everything about this sport needs to be competitive. It can just be a fun, recreational activity that allows her to socialize and get exercise, and then she will have plenty of time and energy to pursue other activities that she may become more passionate about.

 

[Oneforall]

If your daughter just enjoys doing gymnastics, is recreational gymnastics an option? Not everything about this sport needs to be competitive. It can just be a fun, recreational activity that allows her to socialize and get exercise, and then she will have plenty of time and energy to pursue other activities that she may become more passionate about.

The issue is l feel rec gym such as those once a week is probably hard to make progress after the basic rolls etc. for kids who are naturally not that strong/flexible. If you do multiple rec classes the cost goes up but with probably less coaching and the social aspect of a team, and probably not enough conditioning.

If she finds another activity that she likes I am happy to switch her. And the issue is not that I worry she won't quit; she is happy at the gym but is self-conscious that she is not very good at this compared to other girls. Besides the physical benefits of gymnastics, I am hoping she can see that even though she might not be naturally talented and skill-wise behind her teammates, she is making progress compared to herself by working on it. But I am not sure how long I should be saying things like this to her without the possibility of backfiring, as I assume there will be a physical bottleneck that will be hard for her to get through (with decent work ethnics and reasonable hours), thus my original question...

 

[RTT2]

I would be careful that you don't say anything to her about being "less naturally talented" than the other girls. She doesn't need that in her head. The truth is plenty of kids start off doing really well and then never go very far for whatever reason, while plenty of kids who didn't start off strong develop into outstanding gymnasts. Where they are in the very beginning is often not a good indicator of where a kid will end up, but passion for the sport and a determination to get the skills is key (for a shy kid at not-quite-8 I think it could take a bit longer to see if she has that). But if she just has fun doing it for now and gains some strength and coordination before moving on to another sport or activity that's great too.

 

[JPC13]

I would be careful that you don't say anything to her about being "less naturally talented" than the other girls. She doesn't need that in her head. The truth is plenty of kids start off doing really well and then never go very far for whatever reason, while plenty of kids who didn't start off strong develop into outstanding gymnasts. Where they are in the very beginning is often not a good indicator of where a kid will end up, but passion for the sport and a determination to get the skills is key (for a shy kid at not-quite-8 I think it could take a bit longer to see if she has that). But if she just has fun doing it for now and gains some strength and coordination before moving on to another sport or activity that's great too.

Agreed. And I’d expect a kid with 9 months of gymnastics experience to be towards the bottom at everything when compared to a bunch of girls on team. Regardless of natural ability.

 

[JBS]

@Oneforall Super simple question... Xcel Sapphire.

What's the highest that a person can make it on Mt. Everest? Again... simple question... the top. Many don't make it... but many do... so the answer can only be... the top.

 

[Dahlialover]

I was a 5’7, talentless, incredibly determined teen gymnast. My parents initially put me in gymnastics as a preschooler because it was cheaper than physical therapy for my coordination issues! I did Rec gymnastics on and off until I was 13 and finally moved to a city with a team. I was on the YMCA team which practiced around 8 hours per week. I was an old school level 5/6, which is like a Gold/Platinum. I imagine that platinum would have been the ceiling for me because of the bars. I had my kip but it did not come easily. That team shut down after a year, which brought me brief competitive gymnastics career to an end. I continued on to do high school diving and recreational gymnastics in college. Gymnastics was a great part of my life. I wish I would have had an opportunity to continue on The team in middle school because the gym environment was a lot healthier than the ways I filled my free time after it ended!

 

[mommyof1]

My kid would never be considered "athletic" compared with our neighborhood kids. The only natural talent she had for gymnastics might have been a feel for timing on bars. What she did have was determination and coachability. She successfully competed L5 and was getting ready to compete L6 when the pandemic derailed her and she ended up deciding to retire and pursue other interests. Her gym bestie who was very similar stalled out at L7 but is still competing.

 

[Oneforall]

Agreed. And I’d expect a kid with 9 months of gymnastics experience to be towards the bottom at everything when compared to a bunch of girls on team. Regardless of natural ability.

Just to clarify, she had a bit over 1.5 yrs gym experience now as she started pre-team in 2021. She also had toddler gym classes before covid but I guess those won't matter

Thanks for your and RTT2's comment about not mentioning "less talented". I will keep that in mind. I didn't mention "less talented" but I did say to her that she is probably naturally more rigid in her back (or maybe shoulders too?) because she has a hard time or can't do yet with anything "back", bridge kick over, back walk over, back bend etc. Other skills she may be bottom pack but these things she is dead last. so I think there is likely a genetic component to it.

 

[Oneforall]

Dahlialover and mommyof1, thanks a lot for sharing your/your child's experience.

 

[Dahlialover]

There are people who say that, if you work hard enough, there is no limit to what you can achieve and those people have clearly never given their all to something! I reached the point where there were skills that my body just would not do. Some people have springs in their legs and some people have lead weights. There was no way for me to will my body to jump high enough to do a decent switch split. Fortunately, there is one apparatus where effort really does trump talent and that’s the beam. I loved the beam!!!

Also, my love for gymnastics was really based on me competing only with myself. I knew I was too big and lacked talent and I believed that made my accomplishments more meaningful. Getting my kip was a gold medal experience for me! There were kids who got it in a few days and meant nothing to them, but I’m still proud of it 30 years later !!!

 

[mommyof1]

Just to clarify, she had a bit over 1.5 yrs gym experience now as she started pre-team in 2021. She also had toddler gym classes before covid but I guess those won't matter

Thanks for your and RTT2's comment about not mentioning "less talented". I will keep that in mind. I didn't mention "less talented" but I did say to her that she is probably naturally more rigid in her back (or maybe shoulders too?) because she has a hard time or can't do yet with anything "back", bridge kick over, back walk over, back bend etc. Other skills she may be bottom pack but these things she is dead last. so I think there is likely a genetic component to it.

I wouldn't assume that an inability to kick over is necessarily caused by a lack of back or shoulder flexibility. It could just be a lack of understanding of the physics of the skill. This is particularly common in rec classes where the coaches don't explain anything. I still vividly recall the epiphany I had as a kid when someone finally explained to me that my weight needed to be out past my hands in order to kick over successfully.

 

[Dahlialover]

Just to clarify, she had a bit over 1.5 yrs gym experience now as she started pre-team in 2021. She also had toddler gym classes before covid but I guess those won't matter

Thanks for your and RTT2's comment about not mentioning "less talented". I will keep that in mind. I didn't mention "less talented" but I did say to her that she is probably naturally more rigid in her back (or maybe shoulders too?) because she has a hard time or can't do yet with anything "back", bridge kick over, back walk over, back bend etc. Other skills she may be bottom pack but these things she is dead last. so I think there is likely a genetic component to it.

Flexibility is something that can 100% be learned. Virtually every single person can get their splits and a nice bridge with daily effort over time. Everyone has a different minimum number of hours required to achieve those skills but those are not roadblock skills. She just needs to stretch for a few minutes twice per day everyday. There are helpful YouTube videos. This has to be done at home not in class.

 

[JPC13]

Flexibility is something that can 100% be learned. Virtually every single person can get their splits and a nice bridge with daily effort over time. Everyone has a different minimum number of hours required to achieve those skills but those are not roadblock skills. She just needs to stretch for a few minutes twice per day everyday. There are helpful YouTube videos. This has to be done at home not in class.

While flexibility can, and should, be improved some people are just more flexible naturally.

 

[Gymgirlsmomma]

Thank you for posting this question. It is something I have been thinking about as well with my daughter who is almost 6 and on preteam. My daughter also has trouble with flexibility. She can do a bridge, but can't get in the same position as the other girls with legs straight. She has one side split, then lost it over only a 2 week vacation without stretching. She has also noticed her skills being a little behind compared to the other girls( i never mention this to her, but she notices). Her father and I are NOT athletic. I just wonder how much is genetic vs training/learned ability. Will a mediocre athlete that doesn't have genetic advantages be successful with the right training? Obviously elite level athletes need the right training AND talent. But could you take a random child and make a successful or even just average optional level gymnast out of them with the right training and motivation?

 

[Dahlialover]

Thank you for posting this question. It is something I have been thinking about as well with my daughter who is almost 6 and on preteam. My daughter also has trouble with flexibility. She can do a bridge, but can't get in the same position as the other girls with legs straight. She has one side split, then lost it over only a 2 week vacation without stretching. She has also noticed her skills being a little behind compared to the other girls( i never mention this to her, but she notices). Her father and I are NOT athletic. I just wonder how much is genetic vs training/learned ability. Will a mediocre athlete that doesn't have genetic advantages be successful with the right training? Obviously elite level athletes need the right training AND talent. But could you take a random child and make a successful or even just average optional level gymnast out of them with the right training and motivation?

Optional level? Nope. Not a chance. Optional level gymnasts are really really good!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Keep your opinion to yourself and let her be. She can go as far as she goes. Talent is good. But so is determination and willingness to try and work.