WAG Hours

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Today at practice our coaches were talking about the level 8 girl on our team and her progress towards level 9 & 10. After a little bit of talk the conversation changed to a gym a little bit away and how crazy good their girls were. Then one coach said that their level 3's trained 12 hr/week, level 4 did 16 hr/week and their level 5's did 20 hours a week.

So, this got me wondering, what, in your opinion, is the most hours per compulsory level to produce top gymnasts? Our level 3&4's do 12 hours, and 5's do 16. We usually place top 3 teams in all meets. (Minus bigger meets, like states. those aren't always top placements.)

Basically, what would you say the hours would be for producing top-placing gymnasts in the compulsory levels?
PS Sorry for the kind of random topic. It just kinda came into my mind.
 
After being in this sport as a parent observer for many years, I now feel that the more likely way these top gyms produce high performing gymnasts is by only letting uber talented kids who pick up quickly and don't have any weak events onto their team in the first place.

I know of a gymnasts (that fit the above description) who are at gyms that go way less hours and still place very well, so those hours really aren't necessary if you got what it takes.

Although I do think the crazy hours can give anyone an extra point or two on their AA, but I do not think hours alone make someone great.
 
It is all about the QUALITY of the time, not really the quantity.
If gym A has their L4 practice 12 hours a week and they are busy working with little downtime waiting in lines, their quality of practice may be better than gym B that has their L4 practice 16 hours a week, but they stand in line waiting for equipment with no side stations. If there are 8 girls sharing one bar set and one coach and they just chit chat while they wait, they are not getting quality practice.
 
We never did compulsories but it has been our experience in Xcel, JO, and even T&T that the hours don't matter as much as we think they do. My DDs have scored and placed comparably where they trained low hours and high. They prefer high because gym is their happy place, but I couldn't honestly say that the extra hours make their gymnastics better. Maybe their overall fitness level, though.
 
eventually you get burnt out if you don't get down time. i remember in the Gabby Douglas movie, when she moved to train at a gym in another state, the owner wouldn't let her train past a certain number of hours per week. i remember thinking it was a really low number of hours.

i agree, quality over quantity.
 
Doinh too many hours does not nessesarily produce better results. Overdoing the hours at the compulsory level can lead to higher levels of injuries, and are more likely to burn out the kids and frighten the parents off the prospect of their kids continuing onto higher levels.

Here in my part of Australia the averages are -
Level 3 (equivalent to US level 2) - 9 hours
Level 4 (equivalent to US level 3) - 12-14 hours
Level 5 (equivalent to US level 4) - 14 hours
Level 6 (equivalent to US level 5) - 16 hours
Level 7 (equivalent to US level 7) - 20 hours

This is the average so many gyms do more. From posts on here I gather that our hours are higher on average than in US gyms. This coupled with the fact that we don't have college gymnastics so the kids usually don't have an ultimate end goal for continuing on with the sport. May be the reason why we have very very few kids continue onto the higher levels in gymnastics here.
 
Our level 3's practice 7.5 hours a week, which is pretty low for our area. The level 3 team has placed 1st overall in 8 out of 10 meets they have been to. The coaches run a right ship and they get a lot done in those 7.5 hours a week. I think if the quality is not there, quantity doesn't matter. Our coaches work had and so do our gymnasts.
 
Our former gym had incredibly strong compulsories who worked out at the lower end of training hours (L3 and 4s each trained 7.5 hours per week, L5s trained 10 hrs per week).
Even with lighter hours, this approach was highly effective because:
- top coaches all coached L2-5 - so they had excellent training from the get-go
- form and mechanics were the focus at practice - along with lots of strength and conditioning. Therefore, the foundation was built correctly and strongly.
- there was a plan in place every step of the way for these compulsories. Time was used very wisely, and all rotations, drills, etc. were part of a bigger picture. Nothing was willy- nilly or an afterthought.

I totally agree - the hours gymnasts train are not directly corollated to how strong a gym is and how effective it is with its training.
 
I pretty much agree that it is in the quality of training more than the hours in the gym. It also makes a difference of the girls that are in the level. If the athlete to coach ratio is high, each athlete will get less individual attention. It also makes a difference if the group is mostly 6/7 year olds or 8/9 year olds.

As a coach the biggest difference for me is in the gym's requirements to be in a level. At the gym I'm currently coaching at, the standards are low. Most kids invited into a compulsory level have only about 50% of the required skills. They tend to be around 80% for the first meet and end up playing catch up all season. They tend to be competitive at local meets but not at anything big.

Our hours:
Level 2: 7.5 hours
Level 3: 9 hours
Level 4 and 5: 12 hours
 
Our former gym had incredibly strong compulsories who worked out at the lower end of training hours (L3 and 4s each trained 7.5 hours per week, L5s trained 10 hrs per week).
Even with lighter hours, this approach was highly effective because:
- top coaches all coached L2-5 - so they had excellent training from the get-go
- form and mechanics were the focus at practice - along with lots of strength and conditioning. Therefore, the foundation was built correctly and strongly.
- there was a plan in place every step of the way for these compulsories. Time was used very wisely, and all rotations, drills, etc. were part of a bigger picture. Nothing was willy- nilly or an afterthought.

I totally agree - the hours gymnasts train are not directly correlated to how strong a gym is and how effective it is with its training.

This is how my dd's gym runs things. Low hours, small teams, excellent coaches with no down time. When my dd was level 3 last year I was overly concerned with the lack of practice time compared to the other gyms in the area but now we are on our 2nd year on team. With 10hrs a week (6 when she was a 3) my dd has scored out of 4 and finished 3 on floor at level 5 States now she's training lvl 6/7. Her friend that is at a high hour gym is competing a 2 yr as level 3 and not because she doesn't have her lvl 4 skills but because her gym requires it.
As it turns out I really like the low hours. I know they are going up over the summer and soon enough she will be living there.
 
Gosh, I can't even remember what we're doing in the lower level compulsaries anymore!
 

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