Women Identifying talent for your teams

[Gymgirl84]

Hi! I'm just curious to know what items/indicators do you clubs use to identify kids that have potential to put them in your competitive teams.
Our club has a relatively big rec side, with about 40 kids in our toddlers program (3-5) and about 100 girls in the different recreational levels, also a big wait list and we are struggling to find new young girls to put on our beginner teams. We always ask the kids on the wait list that are around 5-6-7 to come in for a mini-class and if we see some potential we take them, but still very we find very few ones. So, I'm thinking maybe we are overlooking some possible talent? Or just we've been unlucky lately. Not particularly looking only for high level talent (that would be a plus), just regular kids for like compulsory level/excel (different country but that's more or less equivalent to our non-high level path)

 

[Sebastian12]

not a coach, just a parent who has a daughter rise from rec to comp and another daughter still in rec. 140 girls is not a big pool, from what I see at our gym, we have about 500-700 rec girls each semester. To get picked for the usag xcel bronze team, girls need to be between 4 and 8, with cartwheel, handstand and a pullover on bars in good forms. And from what I gathered from my kids and her friends, what once a week rec can teach them is minimum. My older one got the three gate keeping skills on her own (she tried handstands 100 times. A day until she got it) and got put straight into the team; my younger one is in there for the fun, and she is not gaining skills from rec when she doesn’t put the work in herself.

After years of seeing the new little girls joining, it is pretty solid to me rec is pretty much useless, kids who have these skills by age 8 have the talent, drive, and ethics to be on the team.

 

[Gymgirl84]

I guess it is not that big compared to US (not sure if that's were you are) but gyms here are usually much smaller. I forgot to add another 100 or so that are part of a physical activity program of our city and an afterschool activity in a school that are also coached by our team and we can also get some girls from that.

 

[Dahlialover]

I see two very different types of kids being sucessful in lower level competitive gymnastics: the talented kids and the hard workers. It’s easy to spot the talented kids in a little mini-class, but it takes more time to spot the hard workers. The hard workers don’t move up as quickly as the talented kids but they often outlast them and they contribute to a positive team atmosphere. You might find more kids if you selected Rec kids for their work ethic, coachability, and overall love of the sport, not just their physical talent.

 

[Gymgirl84]

That's a very good point. I actually have one of those girls in my team right now and I was one of those gymnasts myself.

 

[HurricaneLR]

You may want to expand your universe of kids. My daughter didn't even start rec until she was 9. She worked hard and learned skills quickly, and made team. In just a few years, she caught up to the girls who started when they were 5. So, maybe consider some older girls who started late and have the drive. Also, some gyms do open tryouts rather than just pulling from rec. Strength, desire, ability to take corrections and positive attitude are more important than skills when identifying talent early on.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I think multiple factors should put a child into consideration. The bigger the program the more selective you can be by expecting more 'promising qualities'
-Natural inclination to point toes
- strength or ability to develop
- bouncy
- flexibility or ability to develop
- intelligence
- ability to listen
- passion
- able to implement instructions and make changes
- can be put into desired shapes
- able to work both sides
-speed
- coordination
- supportive family
- attendance record
- eager to please
- desire to do more/better
- competitive spirit
- ability to work skills out

Chosing from class - is a good way to assess training character. Having try out/assessment days will usually turn up those kids who are competitive.

If possible some sort of transition class/holding pool can be really helpful if you have the staff/space.
From that class they move to the next rec class or team track -describe it as an accelerated class that may lead to team.
This is where you can better assess the prospective team members.
-Who actually likes the style of team training you offer
- who is improving
- who is internally motivated
- who can cope with a slightly longer session
- all the qualities you value etc...

 

[Gymgirl84]

The potential "talents" that we find are invited to extra classes like once to twice a month from October to May (we can add kids if we find new potential ones) and there we assess better the qualities, how they adapt to more specific corrections,... at the end of the season if we think they can fit into the competitive program they are offered a spot, if not they stay in the regular path they were.