Parents How do you know (or do you?) if you child is cut out for this sport?

[gracyomalley]

My daughter had a great year(for her) as a 10 year old level 7 last year - 6th in the state, 5th on bars, 9th on floor. She had grown leaps and bounds (literally and gymnastically - I think she was still under 4 feet as a level 6, shortest in the state!)....but this summer, she hit mental blocks and decided to repeat level 7. Her coach felt she could go either way (8 or 7), but that the most important thing was that she feel confident and have "ownership of her gymnastics". For the first time she chose to repeat. 2 of her same age friends and long term training partners moved up, but several friends had already had to repeat at compulsory levels. Her coach feels that "having what it takes" to stick with gym has much more to do with each kid enjoying and continuing to feel good about gym/themselves as a gymnast, then how "talented" a child is - after all, when tweens and teens hit so much changes socially/mentally/physically/academically that many kids quit NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL they are or how well they score!

Really, for most kids, gymnastics isn't about making elite or even (although DD hopes and her coach has sent 2 in the last 3 years) college scholarships...its about having a fun, character building, physically healthy activity that helps them grow into adults with strength to work hard, have fun, be a good team member, see challenges/fears as things to be overcome (dd is FINALLY connecting her BHS_BHS on beam now after competing it in tears as a level 7 all year - never fell - great form - never connected last year!). If gym is all that for your daughter (and you can afford this crazy sport) then she's got what it takes!!

 

[amphomma]

I am terribly unqualified to really contribute to this thread, as my daughter is not even 4 years old yet, but when my husband and I see how much she loves gymnastics these days, it is enough. By that I mean, if she keeps going at it and pushing herself (we as parents are encouraging but not pushy at all) and most of all enjoying it, then great! If she decides it's not her thing, then I'd be happy with what she has learned already at this very young age, both in actual gymnastics skills and large life skills (determination, perseverance, patience, courage...).

We've received comments both inside and outside her gym that she has some "natural talent". I don't know exactly what will come of what she possesses, but for now, our whole family is filled with joy to see her so passionate, determined, skillful, proud, and happy! She was cheerfully doing stretches, tumbles, and her best handstand attempts in our living room before the sun was up this morning. Who knows!?!

 

[OzZee]

As we don't have college scholarships and if you aren't in the international stream no elite dreams gymnastics in Australia isn't about getting something out of it at the end gymnastics wise, it's about what they get out of now and in the future, in fitness, fun, determination, strength (of character and physical), team work, enjoyment, friendships, love of fitness.

If any of my kids from having done gymnastics (competitively, recreationally, to level 1 or 10) go on to be healthy fit, fitness loving adults, then that's perfect for me. With the added bonus of having learnt to work hard and persevere to get what you want, work with others (even if they aren't the easiest people to work with, for many hours a week - doesn't that sound just like adult work!), work through challenges and fears. And have some super awesome memories of a childhood doing something they love.

Doesn't matter if they are first or last, oldest or youngest, I support my kids in something they love and because they love it and are good enough to do it then they are cut out for it.
They are happy.
Maybe next week, month, year, 5 years they won't be, but right now it's the right thing.

Really, for most kids, gymnastics isn't about making elite or even (although DD hopes and her coach has sent 2 in the last 3 years) college scholarships...its about having a fun, character building, physically healthy activity that helps them grow into adults with strength to work hard, have fun, be a good team member, see challenges/fears as things to be overcome (dd is FINALLY connecting her BHS_BHS on beam now after competing it in tears as a level 7 all year - never fell - great form - never connected last year!). If gym is all that for your daughter (and you can afford this crazy sport) then she's got what it takes!!

 

[iwannacoach]

Most definitely a 2 'thumbs' up post.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you'll know when you know.

 

[Granny Smith]

You don't know if they are cut out and only time will tell. My dd is a level 10 and it has never been easy, but she has always been focused. She did L4 when she was 8. No idea what she was doing. She did 1 invitational, 1 sectional and then States - nothing to show for it. She L5 when she was 9. She did better, she improved and I think she was in the top 10 on floor at States. She was one of the last kids to get her kip on bars. Tiny little thing too, so vault was nothing special and she was/is so mental that beam has always been a challenge. Never invited to do Tops, killed her... she wanted so bad to do it. At the time her best friend was training Tops and she wanted to do it too, but nope never invited.

L6 at age 10. OMG, her bars were just God awful. Never got to 9 on floor. Vault was just ok. Beam still just mentally iffy! She pulled it together somewhat at States and finished in the top 10 AA. I know she placed on some events, but I don't even remember which ones. I do remember that 8.95 on floor, still couldn't get to that 9, but so darn close!

L7 at 11. Giants, at dd's gym if you didn't have giants, you didn't compete L7! For as scary as dd's bars had always been, giants came and giants came good. Bars really shaped up and it actually became her event. She finally got that HS vault really good. she was still small though, so she wasn't really able to compete with the girls who were bigger and just had that monster punch off of the spring board, but she could keep herself in the game with what she was able to bring. Still mental on beam, but starting to handle herself much better. I think the entire season, she finished in the top 3 AA at every inviational she went to. Ended up being the AA State champ that year. After this season, she started to work twisting on floor and it was a disaster, I mean complete and total disaster. She started to lose any air awareness she had and just doing simple passes like BHS-BT, she was practically killing herself because she wasn't trying to twist, but she was in the air still and I was sick to my stomach thinking she was going to kill herself.

L8 at 12. No twisting on floor, she only survived because she did 2 double salto passes in her routine, but I do feel they still killed her score-wise at States because she didn't twist. Still learning Yurchenko vault. Scary ugly. She was still very small and although Yurchenko is a technique vault, she really didn't have any power. She crashed and burned more than she ever made it. Bars was still the highlight and she looked amazing on bars. Beam was still beam. She fell on bars States and crashed and burned on vault. She was the only one on her team who did not make it to Regionals that year and still fighting the twisting issue as well. Coach said another year of 8...

L8 at 13. This was to be her year, she was going to be amazing. She was blowing out the competition, she had confidence. She had her pike Yurchenko, pretty solid. Bars were beyond amazing at this point. Beam was better, more confidence and she hit more often. Floor, very solid, only doing a half, but hey she was starting to twist. 3rd meet into the season.... broke her 5th metatarsal - Jones' fracture. Done for the season. Heartbroken, couldn't even go watch her teammates compete. This was supposed to be her season, she was going to Regionals. Ugh, nope... her foot took 4 months to heal, out from January to May.

L9 at 14. 1st year of 9. If this wasn't the most frustrating of seasons. Complete roller coaster. Skills here, skills gone. It was hard as a parent. You could see the potential and then you would go to a meet and she would completely fall apart. Mental side of sport killing her. Still only doing half on floor, but at least front pike out of it, so she was getting bonus for it. She always seemed to fall apart at the big meets, so frustrating. At States when she was waiting to salute to compete on bars, she threw up on the mats!!!! I kid you not. Then she ran toward the garbage can and tried to throw up again but didn't make it and threw up all over the floor. She ended up competing last in her rotation. Her bars were amazing and ended up coming in 2nd place. the very last girl to go at the meet took 1st. She did make Regionals and I had her doing one-on-one's with Doc Ali on a weekly basis. She ended up finishing 2nd at Regionals and made it Easterns. A week before Easterns, her she starts to really complain about her elbow hurting. She kept chugging along and then her elbow started locking, sporatically. I gave her the choice, I think at 14 she is old enough to make this decision. I told her I could take her to the doctor, but he will probably shut her down or she could push through and go to Easterns and we can go to the doctor after the meet. She chose Easterns and Dr after the meet. She competed Easterns, she did fine considering her elbow. She fell on floor, but survived beam and had a very good bar routine.

L9 at 15. 2nd yr of 9. It was determined by coach that she would do a 2nd yr of 9. Probably the biggest mistake of this whole gymnastics career, looking back, but hey it is what it is. She ended up having elbow surgery 1 month after Easterns. She had multiple bone chips removed from her elbow and stage 4 traumatic arthritis. she started to be released in August. The last thing back was vault, which she didn't even start to work until November. She pretty much won every meet she entered into, except 1. she was State Bar and AA champion, breaking the State record on bars. She went to Regionals and came in 3rd place AA because she fell on bars (go figure) but made it back to Easterns. At Easterns she placed on Bars, Floor and AA.

Started training L10. Broke finger over the Summer, no biggie, started healing.

L10 at 16. Ready to go, she was looking good. Had her single rail release on bars, Double pike on floor, beam was maxed out at 10.0. Vault she was doing her half, but never competed it. Her foot started to hurt. Nothing major happened, just started to hurt. After 2 meets, we went and got it checked out. Turned out that she had been competing on a foot that had a stress fracture to her 1st metatarsal (no biggie) and a stress fracture to her navicular bone (big deal, high risk fracture like her Jones' fracture), casted immediately. Tons of tears!! She was a Junior in HS, how much more vital can you get. Sport Med dr said navicular fracture is a season ending injury and basically told us to write off the season. It was devistating. Dd fault hard and did not give up. Thankfully since she was able to compete those 1st couple of meets, she was able to use 1 of those scores to petition into Regionals, but would she be ready. that was the $64k question. She ended up being release from the Dr 3 weeks before Regionals. Amazing as it sounds, she was able to compete AA at Regionals. She placed 6th on bars at Regionals, that was it. She just ran out of time, but still an amazing feat she accomplished.

Now she is training for a 2nd yr of 10. Go figure, the foot is starting to hurt her again. I don't think that you can determine if you child is good enough to last through the upper levels, but do they have the determination to work through injuries, because it's not if it's going to happen, but when is it going to happen. Do they want to fight the pain, the mental blocks, the failures they will face. Do they want to give up the Proms (cause they always seem to happen right around Regionals) or the Senior Class Trip (that's dd this year, Senior Class Trip includes the same weekend as Regionals)? I think actually doing the sport of gymnastics is the easy part, it's all of the adversity that they will encounter through the journey that is the hardest part. through everything my dd has been through, she has never muttered the word quit. It's just not a part of her vocabulary.

 

[LizzieLac]

Oh, wow, great questions. I think my DD was cut out for the sport for several reasons.

1) True team sports like soccer are a hard concept for her. She is about her own personal challenges, fulfillment, and goals. She is extremely supportive of her gym teamates and love them like her family, but to her competing is about how she pushes herself.
2) She has always loved it and never once talked of quitting even when up late with homework and exhausted, had to repeat level 5 (which was emotionally challenging in many ways), started late competing (my fault) so tends to be one of the older ones in her group.
3) Suffered terribly with osgood-schlatters for over a year, that impacted her ability to work on tumbling and vault (could barely walk, let alone run)
4) Generally not the first one to get a skill, but when she does is it usually solid
5) Aside from a few tough meets her first year as a 5, she manages to be a solid performer and place well including 2 state champs and meet champ
6) She will probably never make it to level 10 since she started late and is a level 5/6 this year as a 13 year old, but she doesn't care, just works her tush off and wants to be the best she can be.

To me what I describe about my DD is not what people typically think of when asked about a child being cut out for a sport. She is not going to skip levels, probably never be a level 10, probably not a candidate for college gymnastics, BUT she works hard, improves steadily, loves it, and has a fair amount of success.

 

[Bajanswife]

DD looks like she's cut out for gymnastics - very powerful, flexible enough, very coordinated. She has been this way practically from birth, and I got her into gymnastics at the urging of many friends who thought she'd be perfect.

The reality: she's quite good but not consistent. She has areas of great strength (her power and coordination, her ability to "get" things quickly) and also great weakness (her form - it's hard for her to be tight and hollow). She's brilliant at bars, but suffers on beam (her balance isn't great - maybe lack of tightness?) and to some extent floor (where she gets dinged for bad form a lot). Her coach still sees a lot of potential, especially now that she's in optionals where her strengths can be highlighted and her weaknesses minimized. Her coach still sees her as one of her best gymnasts, so I know she "cut out" for this to some extent.

But, I also know that she is almost 11 and misses having a life outside of gym. She doesn't have a high level of commitment to the sport. She loves it, but she doesn't care about conditioning and stretching very much, and she doesn't mind missing practice at all if something else fun is going on that she'd like to do. I am not seeing the kind of dedication and determination that would make her rise to the top. So she'll go as far as she can while she's enjoying it, and I imagine she will be one of the girls that quits around age 13 when they just want to be normal teenagers. Injury may also sideline her eventually. I am not looking too far into the future - she's getting enough out of it right now.

 

[gymdog]

Gymnastics is a long progress with incremental progression. I suppose it's easy to tell when people totally aren't cut out for it (family doesn't want to commit, child is extremely afraid and has very low discomfort threshold), but among kids who continue to show up and progress, there's a chance if they keep showing up and progressing.

I also like, no love, this video:

"This video represents a lifetime of dedication and hard work towards a lifelong passion. Aside from her talent, Michaela is one of the sweetest, most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I'm so glad to have been a part of her last year of gymnastics."

 

[Jen H.]

Gymnastics is a long progress with incremental progression. I suppose it's easy to tell when people totally aren't cut out for it (family doesn't want to commit, child is extremely afraid and has very low discomfort threshold), but among kids who continue to show up and progress, there's a chance if they keep showing up and progressing.

I also like, no love, this video:

"This video represents a lifetime of dedication and hard work towards a lifelong passion. Aside from her talent, Michaela is one of the sweetest, most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I'm so glad to have been a part of her last year of gymnastics."

*SOB*
Awwww jeez, that should come with a warning!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Oh great, now I have something in my eye.........(((dashes off to get a tissue)))

 

[skschlag]

My thought overall is that my ds is cut out for this until he decides he isn't. I have no idea what will happen when he hits puberty. He could end up 6 feet tall (not likely, but always a possibility). But for now, he is cut out for it and we will do waht we can!

 

[LizzieLac]

Gymnastics is a long progress with incremental progression. I suppose it's easy to tell when people totally aren't cut out for it (family doesn't want to commit, child is extremely afraid and has very low discomfort threshold), but among kids who continue to show up and progress, there's a chance if they keep showing up and progressing.

I also like, no love, this video:

"This video represents a lifetime of dedication and hard work towards a lifelong passion. Aside from her talent, Michaela is one of the sweetest, most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I'm so glad to have been a part of her last year of gymnastics."

Well, gosh I was not expecting that. I feel a little verklempt...

 

[Kcanflip]

That is an awesome video! Especially for us gymmie parents of the non-natural born gymnasts! Hard work and dedication can be more important than natural ability. Thanks for sharing! Just sent this to my daughter to watch too.

 

[aerialriver]

Ahhh! What was that crazy cool vault she was doing?

 

[Mama Duck]

Gymnastics is a long progress with incremental progression. I suppose it's easy to tell when people totally aren't cut out for it (family doesn't want to commit, child is extremely afraid and has very low discomfort threshold), but among kids who continue to show up and progress, there's a chance if they keep showing up and progressing.

I also like, no love, this video:

"This video represents a lifetime of dedication and hard work towards a lifelong passion. Aside from her talent, Michaela is one of the sweetest, most amazing people I've ever met in my life and I'm so glad to have been a part of her last year of gymnastics."

WOW - that is an amazing video ... and an amazing story! It truly gave me goosebumps and I had to fight back tears while watching it! Thanks for sharing.

 

[emorymom]

My son is headed for six two. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[UnoMas]

Ohhhh that video!! That one is almost as bad as the "Remember when" one with the bleeding love song! I cry every time I see that one.

Anyway, being "cut out" for the sport could have so many meanings. I don't know that any of my girls are "cut out" for the sport if the end goal is elite, level 10 or heck, even state champion but all 3 of them gladly forego any other activity for practice and I can count on one hand the number of times they have complained about wanting to go to gym (all three of them on one hand!). My oldest has never struggled once in school or with anything else in life but she struggles daily to succeed in gym. But still goes back for more each day! Middle daughter struggled with a lot of things but has overcome physical challenges to really come into her own in Xcel. My youngest vaults and cartwheels around the house and one of the few times per week that she focuses is the 6 hrs a week she is at the gym.

So even though they are not cut out to be champions at the sport, they all seem to be in for the long haul and I admire all 3 of them (and their gym and coaches) for that!!!

 

[Flossyduck]

Wow, that's very moving. Great story.

I watched dd work her bar routine 34 times this evening, I kid you not. Her coach was helping some other girls with a skill, so she wasn't even being watched properly, but she did it over and over and each one looked great to me. When she came out she said "do you want to see my latest bruise" and with a huge grin of pride showed me a major bruise across her hip area.

She takes as much pride in her efforts in the gym as she does in any competition placement and that's enough for me.

 

[htimcj]

WOW, what a video. So cool.