Parents Ideal age to hit L10 for college?

[Deleted member 18037]

Do not hold her back after accelerating her. Bad plan.

This

The time to have held her back would of been much younger.

 

[gymgal]

What are other ways to pursue gymnastics?

I do not know which NutterButter was referencing but many of the colleges have club gymnastics. It is a lot more laid back with a wide range of ability levels. It is a great way to continue a sport they love without all the excess demands of competing NCAA

 

[NutterButter]

I do not know which NutterButter was referencing but many of the colleges have club gymnastics. It is a lot more laid back with a wide range of ability levels. It is a great way to continue a sport they love without all the excess demands of competing NCAA

Yes, I was primarily talking about club gymnastics. Also, the opportunity to be a coach or study to become a judge too.

 

[gymmutti]

So my DD was regional all-around champion at L7 when she was in 7th grade. Also a late starter with dreams of competing in college. Midway through the summer after L7 she was gaining skills quickly and coaches mentioned possibly moving to L9 mid-season if she continued to progress.
And then the freak injuries at the wrong time of the year and puberty hit. So now she is in 10th grade and has not competed a full meet since 7th grade. She is re-learning skills she was doing at 12 but with a 15 year old body. Her teammates are either retired or have shot past her. She still wants to compete in college but knows that the likelihood of walking on a team is very, very small. She is still in the sport but the future looks a lot different than 3 years ago. Now my only wish is for her to stay healthy and continue to love the sport. I am so, so happy that I have always told her school is number one and academic scholarships are hard to get but easier than getting a sports scholarship. Your daughter sounds like a very bright young lady. If she reaches L10 in 10th grade, great! If she doesn’t reach it until 11th or 12th - she will still be one of the very few. Best of luck!!!
BTW - Oklahoma just announced their two new signees for next year. One has been an elite for 4 years who has been given international assignments. The other reached L10 in 11th grade as a late bloomer but caught their eye at Nationals - so every gymnast has their own path and you never know where it’s going to lead!

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Hi gym mamas! My gymmie is an 11 year old L7. The thing is she is in 7th grade. She was put ahead a year when she was in elementary school so she is in a grade with kids who are 12 and 13. At the time I never thought about how this would affect her gymnastics career or that she would want to go all the way to college gymnastics. So at this rate she will be L10 when she is in 10th grade. That will give her three years as an L10. She will graduate high school and start college at 17 (which now scares the heck out of me, lol). I thought about re-shirting her (holding her back next year) but then I heard gym moms saying not to , that colleges actually like them younger for gymnastics. Maybe not for other sports where you need to be bigger and stronger so 17 to 18 makes a big difference. If I hold her back one year that means she will be L10 for all four years of high school. If not, she will be L9 in 9th and then L10 for her last three years. Thoughts?? Uggggh, I don't know what to do.

Sounds to me like she's apt to go to school for an academic scholarship!

 

[gymgal]

Thank you, thank you for all of this! I think she is pretty good ;-) She has always won the state AA titles and usually takes beam and floor at Regionals. She makes the "38 club" every year at our gym and is in America's top 100 for beam and floor. She works her little butt off , lol! She has all the skills for 8 but our gym tends to be very conservative which is why she is competing L7 this year which we are fine with. I haven't spoken to her coach yet because I feel she is still young and I'll look silly. If she has a good L7 season and trains 8 next year I think I will sit down with the coach. I know our coach really pushes college for her 9/10's. We had three sign NLI last week. One got her offer when she was a L9 training L10. She did one season L10, just signed and is starting her second year as an L10 as a senior with her scholarship already secured. Then we had another one that has been L10 since she was 11, lol! So it is so true that everyone has their own path.

There is no harm in sitting down with the coach for a variety of "what if" questions. I would probably do that sooner rather than later. Not sure this will be an option but it is a lot easier to compete 7/8 in the same season (or score out of 7) than it is to do this in 8/9/10, just because the girls tend to need the full year to develop those higher level skills to competition ready.

as far as holding her back in school, as others have said, this is not realistic unless you are homeschooling her or switching her to another school. And since she appears to be doing well both academically and socially, it would not be helpful to her. I am doubtful many children would go for this in this situation either. My dd was homeschooled and we began her schooling a year early because she was ready. She did great academically but as time went on, particularly the middle school years, it became apparent that the social maturity wasn't there and I couldn't imagine sending her off to college a year early. So she "repeated" 7th grade. In essence, she continued her studies as normal, progressing to the next level in math, English, science and history. She had always been above grade level so that didn't matter. But again, this is more realistic in homeschooling where I could control the curriculum so she was challenged (not repeating the same level) and we didn't have to worry about her peer group.