WAG HOPES

[newbie504]

I'm just curious about this. Not related to my daughter.

So I saw somewhere about an 8 year old, level 7/8 training 30 years a week at a gym near me. She is TOPS and wants to be HOPES then elite. She is currently at an elite gym with great athletes.

Obviously, this is pretty young and I'm not judging the path she is taking. My question is, when is the decision to follow this path made? Do they decide at 5? She was a level 7 last year at 7.

 

[gym10.0]

There are many approaches to the elite path, and I firmly believe that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the elite track. The typical age to start the elite path would be around 7-8. If doing TOPs, maybe even at 6.

I'm not the biggest fan of TOPs because I feel like it puts too much pressure on kids to get elite-level skills at a young age. Not to mention that the conditioning for so many hours. Yes, conditioning is incredibly important, but requiring 7-10 year olds to do 10+ connected press handstands feels too much. It's just a recipe for burnout.

From personal experience, if a kid has talent and a great work ethic, they're going to be noticed from a young age. There are exceptions (starting at a later age, coming from a small gym). I think if a kid has elite qualities they could be placed on the elite track at 12 and still succeed. However, starting young will make things MUCH easier.

And 30 hours per week for an 8 year old is too much!

 

[JBS]

Our daughter didn't get into the elite track until about 8.5 years old. She made the TOPS A Team as a 10 year old TOPS kid. She was a 7 year L10. We chose this path as she was just really good as a little kid... big skills and ability. She then grew to love this path. The ability to progress fully into elite was not limited by her ability... but by her body. Her body just couldn't handle the load. The more we amped stuff up and created a stronger and more powerful body... the more issues we had.

An athlete will be showing high L8 plus some L9/10 abilities at a young age to have any chance at the elite world. What is a young age... I would say 8 or 9 years old.

 

[Dahlialover]

An athlete will be showing high L8 plus some L9/10 abilities at a young age to have any chance at the elite world. What is a young age... I would say 8 or 9 years old.

If a kid is doing level 8-10 skills at age 8 or 9 then they must have been on an accelerated path for several years before that to get there, right? There is no reason to train a kid that fast unless there is some competitive goal in mind, right?

 

[JBS]

If a kid is doing level 8-10 skills at age 8 or 9 then they must have been on an accelerated path for several years before that to get there, right? There is no reason to train a kid that fast unless there is some competitive goal in mind, right?

Yes and no... some kids are just really good... so they map into a higher level fairly quickly.

I am a coach and my kids are all gym rats... but I wouldn't say they were on accelerated paths. They were trained by someone (me) that knows of two different progressional paths...

1. The "gymnastics" way - Do recreational gymnastics... then get on team... then move through the levels one at a time.
2. The "circus" way - Learn a backward roll... then have your Dad throw you in the air and do double backs. Backward roll >> back tuck >> double back >> triple back >> etc.

Here's a little breaking the rules at Woodward after hours with my daughter...

EDIT: This is pretty fun times for an 8 year old. Does it relate to L10?... you bet it does.

 

[raenndrops]

Yes and no... some kids are just really good... so they map into a higher level fairly quickly.

I am a coach and my kids are all gym rats... but I wouldn't say they were on accelerated paths. They were trained by someone (me) that knows of two different progressional paths...

1. The "gymnastics" way - Do recreational gymnastics... then get on team... then move through the levels one at a time.
2. The "circus" way - Learn a backward roll... then have your Dad throw you in the air and do double backs. Backward roll >> back tuck >> double back >> triple back >> etc.

Here's a little breaking the rules at Woodward after hours with my daughter...

View attachment 8786

EDIT: This is pretty fun times for an 8 year old. Does it relate to L10?... you bet it does.

I love this.
When OG and YG were little, we went to the county fair where I grew up every year. When they were 11 and 8, the fair got something similar, but with big air trampolines under them. After a few good bounces, they each did a back tuck. After a few more, OG did a front tuck and YG did a double back. OG stopped flipping backwards after the back tuck because she had just recently gotten over an 18 month fear of back tucks and flipping so high in the air was scarier than doing it on the floor at the gym. She did try a double front just before time was up and loved that. YG just kept flipping double backs so we could get video to show HC when she went back to gym the next week ... she was Level 3.

 

[newbie504]

Yes and no... some kids are just really good... so they map into a higher level fairly quickly.

I am a coach and my kids are all gym rats... but I wouldn't say they were on accelerated paths. They were trained by someone (me) that knows of two different progressional paths...

1. The "gymnastics" way - Do recreational gymnastics... then get on team... then move through the levels one at a time.
2. The "circus" way - Learn a backward roll... then have your Dad throw you in the air and do double backs. Backward roll >> back tuck >> double back >> triple back >> etc.

Here's a little breaking the rules at Woodward after hours with my daughter...

View attachment 8786

EDIT: This is pretty fun times for an 8 year old. Does it relate to L10?... you bet it does.

My 4 year old used that at the gym the other day and LOVED it lol. It was on floor so she didn't go as high but i heard about it for a while

 

[gymontario]

Our daughter didn't get into the elite track until about 8.5 years old. She made the TOPS A Team as a 10 year old TOPS kid. She was a 7 year L10. We chose this path as she was just really good as a little kid... big skills and ability. She then grew to love this path. The ability to progress fully into elite was not limited by her ability... but by her body. Her body just couldn't handle the load. The more we amped stuff up and created a stronger and more powerful body... the more issues we had.

An athlete will be showing high L8 plus some L9/10 abilities at a young age to have any chance at the elite world. What is a young age... I would say 8 or 9 years old.

Wow that's amazing. Was this before covid? I feel like my DD was held back on important early years competitive because it was Covid and everything was online, and no comps...

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

My daughter started doing TOPS at about age 8 (never qualified for national testing). She started training for hopes when she was a level 10 at 10 years old. She never trained more than 24 hours per week. 30 hours at that age and level is ridiculous. If she is truly that talented she doesn't need to rush anything. Its a marathon not a sprint.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

If a kid is doing level 8-10 skills at age 8 or 9 then they must have been on an accelerated path for several years before that to get there, right? There is no reason to train a kid that fast unless there is some competitive goal in mind, right?

My kid was not originally on an accelerated path, it just sort of happened. She went from level 3 to level 10/Hopes in 4 years.

 

[JBS]

Was this before covid?

Yes... my daughter is a freshman in college now.