Men How to know if MAG is your sport (asking for 5 year old)

[irunika]

My son (5yo) has been doing recreational gymnastics for a year. He is full of energy (possibly hyperactive), rarely gets tires and is constantly moving. Keeping him busy after school is my 2nd job. He currently attends swimming, karate and gymnastics.
It feels that our gymnastics club is really focusing on girls and although they say they might start a more serious pre-competitive tumbling program for boys I just don’t feel that they are really serious about boys. I looked into other gyms and found one that has a strong men gymnastics team. They start training boys on pre-team from 5yo and will probably have 5-6 hrs per week in training.
I am thinking of registering my son, but not sure if MAG is really for him. Can we even know at this early age?
But at the same time he is doing 5-6 hours of different sports per week, why not focus on 1. …right?
If I ask him what he likes, he would say swimming and gymnastics….and soccer, and “mom I want to try hockey and maybe basketball) …so he wants it all
I guess my questions is how did you know that you should enrol your boy(s) into gym program at that early age?
Thank you.

 

[rd7]

I don't think there's a should or shouldn't. It probably wouldn't do any harm to enquire and have him trial. I would be surprised if he goes straight to 5-6 hours per week when just starting out.

 

[Aussie_coach]

The most important thing is, does he love it? If he does then MAG is the sport for him. The most important Tung is not necessarily talent or natural ability, it’s passion for the sport.

Strength is probably the single most important determining factor for success in the sport. Is he naturally strong?

 

[irunika]

The most important thing is, does he love it? If he does then MAG is the sport for him. The most important Tung is not necessarily talent or natural ability, it’s passion for the sport.

Strength is probably the single most important determining factor for success in the sport. Is he naturally strong?

He does seems strong and never gets tired. He could hike for 7-8km since he was 3yo.
Regarding loving it I can’t really tell as he loves ant form of physical activity.
Your comment about passion certainly makes sense, it’s just so difficult to tell where the passion lays at this age.
Thank you

 

[skschlag]

it can be so hard at 5 to know if MAG is his sport, or how long he will like it. At 5, I was told my son did not have the body type for gymnastics. he still did other sports (Baseball, soccer, wrestling, basketball, swimming). He landed on gymnastics at about age 10.

It will be easier for him and you to see if this is truly for him at a club that has more dedicated MAG. I think it is worth giving it a shot to see if he does love it. If not, then he will just be stronger and ready to take on any and all sports!

 

[irunika]

I don't think there's a should or shouldn't. It probably wouldn't do any harm to enquire and have him trial. I would be surprised if he goes straight to 5-6 hours per week when just starting out.

Yes, we are waiting to ho for 1x1 with coach to see if he can get in. On the gym’s website it said that 5+ yo are training 5-6 hours. But you are probably right, it might start gradually. Thank you

 

[irunika]

it can be so hard at 5 to know if MAG is his sport, or how long he will like it. At 5, I was told my son did not have the body type for gymnastics. he still did other sports (Baseball, soccer, wrestling, basketball, swimming). He landed on gymnastics at about age 10.

It will be easier for him and you to see if this is truly for him at a club that has more dedicated MAG. I think it is worth giving it a shot to see if he does love it. If not, then he will just be stronger and ready to take on any and all sports!

Thank you for sharing. It’s quite interesting how can it be determined at this early age whether they have the body or talent for it or not. But I am no coach of course.

 

[skschlag]

Thank you for sharing. It’s quite interesting how can it be determined at this early age whether they have the body or talent for it or not. But I am no coach of course.

They can't, and hopefully coaches are not doing that anymore. My son has had a great gymnastics career

Hope that he enjoys the new gym! Gymnastics is a great sport for boys!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

At five years old, I think whether it's "his sport" is a non-issue.

If he wants to spend more time in the gym, let him spend more time in the gym; if he doesn't then don't push him to. At this age, there's not much to be gained by basing the decision on what sports he's likely to do in the future.

A couple of notes I'll add:

First of all, body type etc shouldn't be a deciding factor for anything at this age and level. Now, there is some truth in the idea that gymnastics at the very top levels tends to favor certain body types, but this should generally be irrelevant to any actual decision making, especially at this level.

Second, I seem to recall reading a study recently (though I don't have a link on hand at the moment) that suggested that young kids generally benefit more from a wide diversity of sports than they do from specializing at a young age. There shouldn't be any rush to pick THE SPORT that he's going to focus on from now until college.

 

[Cheryl]

Let him try. They switch a lot at that age. We tried soccer, baseball, basketball and gymnastics. He always like gymnastics the most. At his age he could try it, and always come back a year or so later if he wants to keep experimenting with other sports. Kids who get locked into only one sport while they’re still in toddler clothes seem to not stick with it ( whatever the sport)