WAG How is your gym's practice structured at low compulsory level?

[2littlegymnasts]

My dd had the same problem. The coaches would give her corrections like "get your hips flat" she would nod and walk away. I could tell by the look on her face that she had no idea how to do that. Lol! After practice I asked her if she knew what they were saying and she said no. I told her she had to ask questions if she did not understand. Being one of the younger ones she did not want to ask questions in front of the big girls.

 

[mouey77]

Ha ha! I know! Apparently her coach said that her beam routine just "wasn't good enough yet," and I said, "well did she tell you how to fix it?" She said, "no, she didn't tell me what parts were wrong!" I will definitely talk to her about asking them to explain or show her just like if she were at school. Glad she isn't the only one!

 

[Gym momma]

I also have a 7 yr old daughter with ADHD. She is on medicine but really struggles when she doesn't get prompting or more individual attention. She is frustrated, coaches are frustrated, and I am frustrated. Any advice??? I am desperate!

Wow, I have a lot in common with you it seems! My daughter is 7, also competing level one, also going 8 hours a week, also has ADHD (and Aspergers), and also tells me they work on routines all the time and not new skills. According to her coach, Monday is routines day and Wednesday is new skills day (the practices are 4 hours), but my daughter is telling me all they ever do is routines. The coach said the mill circle is keeping her out of level 2 - again, my daughter says she gets to try it once per practice, spotted. She came home a few weeks ago excited to finally do her back walkover all by herself - has she worked in it once since then? No. I am assuming all this is because their first comp is in 2 weeks. So I am not upset, but keeping an eye on things. I'd be upset if it remains this way throughout the entire year. My daughter is medicated for the ADHD, which helps tremendously but does not cure. They hardly ever wait in line, from what I have seen (I try to catch the last hour if practice at least once a week). I have talked to the coaches about the ADHD, and one of the strategies they use with her is when doing rotations, don't just tell her go do xxx skill, but give her a specific number if reps to do. She will still need some prompting, but this has helped. She us now able to tell the coaches towards the end of practice "my pill is wearing off", which helps them understand and be more patient with her. An extra year of maturity has also helped - it seemed to me that there is a big difference between 6 and 7 maturity-wise.

 

[mouey77]

I also have a 7 yr old daughter with ADHD. She is on medicine but really struggles when she doesn't get prompting or more individual attention. She is frustrated, coaches are frustrated, and I am frustrated. Any advice??? I am desperate!

Gym momma, do a search on ADHD, and I was able to find some threads that were very helpful. If it is any consolation at all, my DD did fantastic at her first meet with all of her scores in the 9's. No one expected it due to her behavior at practice. Her behavior at practice honestly hasn't changed much since the meet. I think some of it is boredom too. I'll see if I can find those threads for you and will pm them.

 

[Gym momma]

Thank you! I am glad that my daughter isn't alone.

 

[rbearclaw]

My daughter is Level 3 (age 6) and her gym's philosophy is up-training year round. Yes, they work on routines a lot (and I think 6 year olds need it a lot, since their brain/bodies don't remember things like a few years older), but they also do a lot of fun bigger tricks. For example, a couple times a week they spend the last ½ hour tumbling on floor. Coach will set up 3-4 stations, and all the girls will go around and do 1. handstand blocks, 2. roundoff punches, 3. ROBHS, and at the last station will work on back tucks or punch fronts with the coach. Or on bars, one station will be routines, the next station will be kip practice, and the 3rd station will be cast to handstands. It sounds like your mama red flag went off about what's best for your daughter. I hope it works out!

 

[mouey77]

My daughter is Level 3 (age 6) and her gym's philosophy is up-training year round. Yes, they work on routines a lot (and I think 6 year olds need it a lot, since their brain/bodies don't remember things like a few years older), but they also do a lot of fun bigger tricks. For example, a couple times a week they spend the last ½ hour tumbling on floor. Coach will set up 3-4 stations, and all the girls will go around and do 1. handstand blocks, 2. roundoff punches, 3. ROBHS, and at the last station will work on back tucks or punch fronts with the coach. Or on bars, one station will be routines, the next station will be kip practice, and the 3rd station will be cast to handstands. It sounds like your mama red flag went off about what's best for your daughter. I hope it works out!

My DD would love the stations! She is dying to practice a kip, but her group is quite a ways from introducing that right now.

 

[mouey77]

Thank you! I am glad that my daughter isn't alone.

Sent you a couple of links in a PM.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

I think it's very odd that she is Level 1 and doing 8 hours. My younger gymmie is 5 and in Level 2, doing 6 hours in the advanced Level 2 group. Level 1 is so basic.. I can't imagine needing 8 hours to cover it all each week if they are not uptraining at all. That's a lot of hours for such a basic level. We have been at three gyms, and none compete anything below what is now "new level 3" (old level 4). Do they just do in-house little fun meets or are they actually wearing competition leotards and going to "real" meets?

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Just wanted to update since all of you were nice enough to respond: I finally talked to the gym owner. He says DD is great at picking up "harder skills" quickly and has a lot of "raw talent" but her form hasn't caught up to her skills. He doesn't believe in moving the kids up until the skills are good enough to earn very high scores (9's), so that's why she's on new level 1. But more discouraging than that, he says her attention span/lack of focus is a problem and he almost didn't want to put her on team at all this year until she matured behaviorally. She is ADHD, so I don't know what we can do about this. I still think the waiting in line for long periods of time is hard for the young kids, esp the ADHD kids. Maybe another gym wouldn't be helpful.

I don't understand it AT ALL when I am watching kids stand in line. They can always be doing SOMETHING, not just standing there waiting their turn behind a bunch of girls. And a good coach knows that, which is why they set up stations (and so on).. so that they keep moving and stay focused.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Yes, this sounds just like our gym. I do try to drop off and go which definitely helps! My 3 yr old also takes classes though, and when she's there, I'm not comfortable leaving and that's when I do most of my watching. From everything I've heard, our gym's girls do score very high at the meets at these low compulsory levels, but there are very few optional level gymnasts at our gym. I may be confused, but from what I have read on CB, these low levels aren't that important as far as scoring? Maybe I'm misunderstanding. I have come to find out that several of the girls are taking privates in addition to our 8 hours of practice for level 1. Furthermore, the coach told me DD is at a disadvantage bc she is the absolute youngest in her age group for our first meet.

Anyways, yes, we need to go elsewhere after the season it seems there isn't much confidence in DD. If he's serious about not wanting to put her on the level 1 team, that is just absurd. The gym offers nothing in between preschool and team, and there is no way she would have stayed in the preschool group. I cannot believe I am so worried about this, but I am in mom protective mode, plus I am annoyed at myself for not trusting my gut last year.

Yes, they could give them something to do while they wait. There are usually about 3 of them wandering off to jump on the trampoline and play on the mats. It's usually the 6 yr olds. Go figure. There was one practice where she had them practice holding something on the beam and it helped tremendously, but my guess is that they are too busy at practice to be proactive about keeping them occupied.

If you don't switch gyms, I would bump her down to a rec class and less hours... it really shouldn't be very different at all than Level 1. And then she can do cheer like she asked, and it will help with her tumbling. It doesn't really matter if she starts at Level 1 and goes up one level per year or if she gets all of the strength she needs and walks on team as a Level 3 in a few years. It's possible. My older gymmie (did level 4 last year, new level 4 this year) has 3 girls on her team who came from rec. (and they were only in rec for a few months each!) and have completely caught up with skills. It's definitely the exception to the rule, and these girls were in great shape from doing other sports.. but if you have "it", you have "it" and it doesn't really matter when you start.

 

[Amusibus]

5g1b, my daughter is also doing level 1 and 8 hours a week. She goes to real competitions in a comp leo, and there are a LOT of other gyms with plenty of kids competing level 1. All level 1-3 practice together and do the same hours at our gym.

 

[acm1289]

I don't understand it AT ALL when I am watching kids stand in line. They can always be doing SOMETHING, not just standing there waiting their turn behind a bunch of girls. And a good coach knows that, which is why they set up stations (and so on).. so that they keep moving and stay focused.

While I agree with this, it's also pretty difficult depending on the gym situation. At my gym the rec coaches are barely trained (only shadow for a week or so then take their own class) and we are lucky to get 15 minutes on an event. The gym is so crowded that whatever event we are on we barely have enough room to do just what needs to be done, and the gym is so big half the time it would take 10 minutes just to grab the mats or equipment needed for stations. Id rather have my kids stand in line and at least get more turns than watch me set up stations and only get to each station once because our classes are so short/gym is so disorganized.

 

[Amusibus]

gym momma, in answer to your question above, what will help is I think not any one thing but so many factors all put together. Medication issues alone are a big deal. We have been through about 8 or 9 different medication regimes, as it takes a while to find the right one and then they grow and it changes etc. Switching from adderall to concerta helped my daughter a lot at gym, school, and with homework. The other huge thing is the coaches, their ability to understand adhd and be patient and kind enough to help a child succeed. Some coaches will never be this person. We are on gym number three for this very reason. It is 18 months now and doing well there. Stations do help, but adhd kids will space out during directions then not know what to do at the next station. Either the coach or another child like a buddy system can help your daughter by reminding what to do at each station. And give x number of reps. One last consideration is make sure your daughter really wants to be competing. Obviously nothing else will help if she isn't that into the idea of competing. Good luck and feel free to pm me if you want.

 

[mouey77]

I think it's very odd that she is Level 1 and doing 8 hours. My younger gymmie is 5 and in Level 2, doing 6 hours in the advanced Level 2 group. Level 1 is so basic.. I can't imagine needing 8 hours to cover it all each week if they are not uptraining at all. That's a lot of hours for such a basic level. We have been at three gyms, and none compete anything below what is now "new level 3" (old level 4). Do they just do in-house little fun meets or are they actually wearing competition leotards and going to "real" meets?

No, we are actually going all over the place for real meets, and it's usag judging, so from what I understand, a bit stricter than aau. They have a competition leotard. I won't beat a dead horse, but after watching some videos and seeing her at the meet, she could be doing level 2 and working towards 3. But nothing I can do about it this year.

 

[mouey77]

5g1b, my daughter is also doing level 1 and 8 hours a week. She goes to real competitions in a comp leo, and there are a LOT of other gyms with plenty of kids competing level 1. All level 1-3 practice together and do the same hours at our gym.

This is us too. And this actually seems to be the norm around here? I didn't see any very young children competing level 1, although I hear about it on here all the time. The youngest were 6.

 

[mouey77]

While I agree with this, it's also pretty difficult depending on the gym situation. At my gym the rec coaches are barely trained (only shadow for a week or so then take their own class) and we are lucky to get 15 minutes on an event. The gym is so crowded that whatever event we are on we barely have enough room to do just what needs to be done, and the gym is so big half the time it would take 10 minutes just to grab the mats or equipment needed for stations. Id rather have my kids stand in line and at least get more turns than watch me set up stations and only get to each station once because our classes are so short/gym is so disorganized.

Yeah, the more I've considered this, there really is no room at our gym for stations between several rec classes going on and levels 1-3 working out. It would sure be nice though!

 

[3LittleGymmies]

Perhaps competing Levels 1 and 2 (and old 3) is more of a regional thing? We have been at 3 different gyms in two different states and none have ever done this. They were all competitive, "winning" gyms.. But they don't compete until old level 4. They typically did one or two in-house meets just to give the girls an idea of how a meet worked and to let them show off, but there was never real judging and the girls just had basic tanks in the $30-range that were optional. It was just for fun, mostly. We have never seen 1, 2, or old 3 at any meets we have gone to. Come to think of it, none of our gyms even called those levels by number. They were basically pre-team and had cute names like super tots, hot shots, etc. They were typically geared toward talented/strong 4-5 year olds. All very interesting!

 

[emorymom]

I know some gyms will hold a younger kid back because they don't want to offer them higher hours until they are some age the owner/HC thinks is appropriate for going whatever hours they have their, say, L3s going. So maybe when they could compete L2, they have younger kids do L1, which they can do in 4 hours/week, and bump them straight to L3 which might train 8-12 hours/week, when they're closer to 8. I also know some parents will hold the littles back if their gym does 12 hours a week of L3 and they don't want their 6 or 7 year old doing that.

DS's team seems to do little uptraining but really have the goal of everybody being really clean with lots of bonuses by the end of the season for the lower compulsories (which in boys, they start competing at L4 which is maybe a bit easier than girls L3). Not completely sure as we switched there in May. And they do that extremely well and the kids are close to ready for their first meet in December, though most of them on his level have a few things they are still working on.

DD is on a limited hours Y team competing USAG this spring and they do little to no uptraining and most girls will start the season with some issues with their routine. It's also not usual for them to repeat what is now L3 & L4 so they have time to get it all with the time they have (though they usually do not need to repeat the L2 level because that can be trained in 2x a week). But the point is they move up without the skills, they can skip levels or repeat levels, based on what the coaches think their potential is for the next year.

You're not enamored with your gym. It's OK to switch, just remember a lot of them won't let you back.

 

[mouey77]

Perhaps competing Levels 1 and 2 (and old 3) is more of a regional thing? We have been at 3 different gyms in two different states and none have ever done this. They were all competitive, "winning" gyms.. But they don't compete until old level 4. They typically did one or two in-house meets just to give the girls an idea of how a meet worked and to let them show off, but there was never real judging and the girls just had basic tanks in the $30-range that were optional. It was just for fun, mostly. We have never seen 1, 2, or old 3 at any meets we have gone to. Come to think of it, none of our gyms even called those levels by number. They were basically pre-team and had cute names like super tots, hot shots, etc. They were typically geared toward talented/strong 4-5 year olds. All very interesting!

I'm thinking a regional thing as well. I have seen so many threads too lately about 3 yr olds with talent getting moved to advanced developmental or preteam, and none of the gyms around here do that either.