WAG How long to get to level 3?

[CoachMeg]

We have a group of kids ages 5-6 that we call our Jr. Hopes. Basically pre-pre team. We've hand selected them from advanced pre-school/kindergarten classes that showed above average strength and listening. Skills were not really tested because they don't learn that advanced of skills in their recreation classes.

Here's the skills all of them had before entry to Jr. Hopes:
- forward roll
-backward roll
- tuck hold while holding onto bar 10 seconds
-walk on medium beam forward/sideways without fear
- walk on low beam backwards without fear
- semi-decent handstand (maybe 40 degrees from vertical)

And that's pretty much it. They were SUPER beginners, but we noticed their exceptional listening skills and their ability to follow directions. Most of them were pretty strong, too.

They went from a 50 minute recreational class to 4.5 hrs/week in Jr. Hopes (1.5 hrs/practice, 3 practices/week). I teach the class, so here's what I've been doing as far as a lesson plan:

15 minutes of stretching
30 minutes of conditioning - I feel like strength is the most important thing with this group (Obviously they're
young and so I try to keep it fun. Right now my conditioning goes as follows:
- 3 sets of as many tuck jumps they can do in 30 seconds on the resi-pit (making it a game/contest)
- Pit crawls down and back 2 times (again, make it a race)
- Running down the channel pit underneath the channel bar 5 times, usually 2 sets (timing them and seeing if they
can beat their last record)
- 3 sets of 3 pull-ups (work your way up to this, they came in not being able to do even 1)
- 2 sets of 5 leg lifts on stall bars (holding their back)
- 2 sets of 10 tricep dips on low-medium beam (I do these with them so it makes it more fun)
- 1 rope climb to the top
20 minutes at first event
20 minutes at second event
5 minutes stretching at end

I REALLY only focus on perfecting the basic skills. If I can get them as strong and flexible as possible, and get them to master their basic skills....they usually turn out to be great gymnasts. In the past, we've had little ones do this program anywhere from 1 year-1.5 years and then go on to be fantastic level 3s. It really just depends on their work ethic and attendance percentage.

Here's what our Jr. Hopes can do now after having been in the program about 3 months:
-solid, vertical handstand with correct landing position
-solid cartwheel on line with correct landing position
- bridge kick over with tight legs down incline wedge
- backbend onto floor
- pull over
- back-hip circle
- beginning steps to front hip circle
- 3 hollow casts in a row with good form
- forward roll onto resi-vault
- straight jump onto resi-vault
- handstand-flat fall onto two 8 inch mats from trampoline (good form)
- 3 pull-ups in a row (some can do up to 5) by self
- side vertical handstand on medium-high beam by self
- vertical handstand on medium-high beam with spot

Usually around the 6 month mark is when they start getting back-handsprings/ round-off back-handsprings by them self on the trampoline. Front-hip circles and mill-circles usually take the longest to learn.

Hope this helps! We have four level 3s that were all Jr. Hopes last year! All of them placed at State and one of them won 2nd place AA! They're all 6 or 7 years old now.

 

[CoachMeg]

^ I should also add that 30 minutes is a lot of conditioning for this age group and you don't want to dive right into it. I find that they are only ready to do about 15 minutes of it for the first month. After the first month they become a LOT stronger and are able to withstand 30 minutes without becoming too tired. Also, I usually keep the conditioning the same and only switch it up every month. That way it becomes a routine thing and they know what to do and get better at it each practice.

 

[BarCoach]

That was really great, CoachMeg. Thanks so much!