IDP vs NDP...what made you choose?

[Faolmor]

For those with DDs in NDP or IDP...if you had the choice (since I know some locations and clubs don't offer IDP) what made you choose one program over the other? Was it because of the far-off possibility of elite international competition vs not? Or for another reason?

Also, I'm saying "what made you choose" - because although I acknowledge that your DD was most likely involved in the choice, at such a young age (4, 5 and 6 years old), parents probably still have the greatest say?

Genuinely interested

Would also be genuinely interested to hear any thoughts on both programs from those who have been in it, or who have had DDs in it, or who have coached

Thank you!

 

[OzZee]

My youngest was offered IDP, we turned it down.
From my point of view a lot of reasons. From hers - she has another sport she prefers.
But for me too many hours, too high a risk of injury, too highly competitive.
I've heard stories of it being far too strict in regards training/school/life to suit us - at infants/primary age I want my kids to be able to try out lots of different things within and outside school. To train exclusively for something she would in reality be very unlikely to be able to attain (I mean the emphasis is to make it to the olympics and most of these kids are never going to achieve that). I hate that elitist I'm better than you/I'm special thing at such a young age where really it's Who Knows.
We would also have had to change clubs and that would impact on the other children.
But then I know a few ex high level IDP gymnasts who left for whatever reason (at idp 10) and don't regret it at all. So it can be a very rewarding program for the gymnasts - if maybe not their families.
For us the choosing to put your all into one sport at 5 was just not an option really (well from my point of view, I had to talk her into making the same decision). Nor is it still now.
And as time goes on she is moving more and more in a different direction. Just because you can be good at something is not necessarily the reason to do that thing.
Some people use IDP to have the more intensive, often better (within a club offering different streams especially) coaching to push through to higher level NDP sooner, I can imagine doing that, though not for that child (as it's not her top priority), but not at 5-12 as solely for becoming an elite gymnast when there are so many other factors to consider.

 

[COz]

DD was in an NDP development group, well, actually apparently it was a pre-development development group. She was 4 and in there with 6 year olds. She held her own, liked the coach but didn't bond with any of the other girls. I was happy enough with it but wasn't loving the age gap.
I didn't even know the difference between IDP and NDP at that stage. Then I started looking for other gyms, found ChalkBucket and worked out the difference. Discovered that age was important for IDP and that if we wanted to try, then now was the time.
DD is much happier training 2x2 hrs a week with girls her age.
For us, it's an age thing. Where we are, NDP clubs don't seem to offer the same amount of training for younger kids.
When she's older she'll probably (like most) be bumped into NDP.
NDP girls can be every bit as talented (or more so) as IDP girls. They do cooler 'tricks' earlier, train less hours and can be way better. It's all about the coaching.
There is an element of elitism or something about the IDP program though, that makes talented NDP girls sometimes unhappy. There's an element of unfairness to the whole thing, you need to be close enough to a gym that has an IDP program to get in and you need to know about it early enough.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Also, I'm saying "what made you choose" - because although I acknowledge that your DD was most likely involved in the choice, at such a young age (4, 5 and 6 years old), parents probably still have the greatest say?

I don't think a child that young should be included in the decision making process. The only questions you should ask your child is 'do you enjoy gymnastics?' and 'would you like to do more gymnastics?' if the answer is yes to both then as a parent you need to decide if the extra hours and stated benefits of the program (according to your club) suit your family.
I do not see an issue in adding more hours if your child seems to love the sport and you have the time and financial backing to support your gymnast with the next step. You can always take a step back. If your child shows interest in other activities try and keep those going, but ultimately a choice will need to be made like OzZee.

 

[COz]

Our conversation was pretty much
Me: Would you like to do gymnastics more than once a week?
DD: Yes, but I do that already, I go to the big girls class and to the little kids class (DS 2yo)
Me: Would you like to do 2 of the big girls classes?
DD: Yes. Can I do it every day?
Me: No, you can do it twice a week and still go to the little kids class if you want.
Me: You know how the girls in your class are older than you, do you think you'd be happier in a big girls class with girls the same age as you?
DD: Yes! Yes! Yes! (Whilst bouncing up and down)
Me: Well, let's go and meet a different coach and see if you like her and have a look at a different gym and then you can see what it's like.

At the new gym, DD is aware that there are other groups training at the same time that she does, but for her, the new 'big girls' are the IDP1 group. We haven't talked at all about NDP vs IDP. When she gets bumped into NDP it will just seem like the next logical progression.

I was confident my kid could handle more so I gave her the opportunity. If she didn't handle it then she would have been pulled out.

 

[JessSyd]

It wasn't so much a choice as a lack of choice that lead us to the IDP because it was really the only option available to a then four year old who had exhausted the possibilities of rec gymnastics but was not old enough for the fairly large groups of older girls found in the NDP levels. It's the decision to STAY in the IDP that is the one I find constantly comes up. But as her club is offering a nurturing coaching style without ridiculous hours and are happy to have her, I am happy to stay, at least until she's older or grows out of the IDP (literally in her case, as she is tall enough so that her height is likely to rule her out before her skill progression does).

She wasn't involved in the decision because at four and even now at five, she is too young to understand just what it means to commit to the IDP. Right now all she knows is that she is having fun and being challenged. Possibly, to contradict what I said above, there may come a point where I will shift her to the NDP to leave a place open for a girl who really does want to go the distance because to be completely honest, I don't want her dedicating her whole childhood to one sport to the exclusion of other sporting, social, academic and leadership opportunities. I think that all of the benefits of gymnastics can come from the NDP. More possibly, because taking international competition out of the equation altogether reduces a potential element of pressure.

I do wonder about the IDP. I don't know enough to form a properly informed opinion, but I do wonder. It doesn't make sense to me to essentially rule out all the girls who didn't make it to a HPC while extremely young, or to risk burnout by making the only path to international competition a fairly exclusive up or out scenario with fairly little in the way of opportunity for talented latecomers. I know in theory there's a path for them, but I wonder how often it happens in practice. Lauren Mitchell is Australia's most successful gymnast so far. She didn't start until six, when in contrast, plenty of today's IDP girls had been taking their very young selves to the gym multiple times a week all year without break for two, sometimes three years by that age. This is the second year now I have watched small girls balance their IDP training with their first year of school. Even for girls who dearly love gymnastics, it is a huge thing for a program to require of them.

 

[Aussie_coach]

In most cases it's the choice of the gym not the parents.

 

[JessSyd]

It's the gym's choice to invite a girl into the program, but after that point the parents have a choice to make, and in my (admittedly not very wide) experience it is rarely something parents enter into without a fair amount of careful consideration. If it is a gym that holds trials, then the parent has to decide before even taking their daughter along to the trial whether it is a program they would be able to afford/support.

 

[OzZee]

Good point from Jess with regards age and groupings. We were in a similar position which led to her being invited to IDP. My youngest had outgrown the preschool program at our gym at 4 (and a new development group hadn't been formed yet) so we tried a preschool program at a larger gym where she was put into an invitation, sort of pre-idp, class and then invited to join IDP.
We were never interested in IDP but for her skill set and age this class was a better fit for her.

 

[sally]

My dd has done both Idp and Ndp. My dd was picked at 5 to go into idp and had stayed there for quite a few years. The hrs got to much as she was missing half day of school around 3 times a week so we decided to leave. She went and did Ndp and hated it found it boring. So she quit gym and started dance and acro. She really enjoyed the idp but jus to many hrs for such a young age. I guess the good thing for her is that she has a lot of skills for her dancing now