Anon If predicting a kids success at 6 is so tricky, why does Tops start so young?

[Anonymous (84a7)]

An athlete that can pass all the TOPS testing has the strength to do high end skills but that doesn't guaranty that they will be a good gymnast it just means they are good at TOPS.

Tops now requires routines so you have my interest peaked. How would being good at tops not equate to being a good gymnast?

I feel like tops is too much too soon for sure but that thought process confused me.

 

[Anonymous (84a7)]

I will say that I tried to listen to these guidelines by having my son take a lot of time off during the summer (he missed equivalent of two months during the summer due the to trips, gym closures, illness, and wanting to do other things). When he returned to regular training in the fall, he was super focused and he made tremendous progress, but after just 7 weeks, he developed multiple serious overuse injuries that cost him his whole season. Overuse injuries can happen in a very short period of time. It turns out that significant increases in training intensity are a huge risk-factor for overuse injuries. I thought taking time off would protect him, but the opposite was true. This sport is hard to navigate safely. Kids need time off for their physical and mental health, but it’s also extremely difficult to ramp up training intensity gradually upon return. It’s a Catch-22.

When he started that new season what was the jump in his hours from previous?

My child is making a large jump here soon and I was thinking of taking a month at an in-between for example random numbers here. if going 3 to 8 do a month of 5 hours a week then up the 8 hours a week. A friend suggested no but now I wonder.

 

[Anonymous (1546)]

When he started that new season what was the jump in his hours from previous?

My child is making a large jump here soon and I was thinking of taking a month at an in-between for example random numbers here. if going 3 to 8 do a month of 5 hours a week then up the 8 hours a week. A friend suggested no but now I wonder.

Not the OP and a girl mom but the overuse injuries I’ve seen are in girls working out over 20 hours a week. Most of the time it 30+ hours a week.

 

[Anonymous (5622)]

When he started that new season what was the jump in his hours from previous?

My child is making a large jump here soon and I was thinking of taking a month at an in-between for example random numbers here. if going 3 to 8 do a month of 5 hours a week then up the 8 hours a week. A friend suggested no but now I wonder.

When joining team, my kid had a large jump in hours that was rough on her, more mentally than physically, but survived (2.5h -> 10.5h a week). I do wish there had been a ramp-up of a few weeks at in-between hours, I think that would have been good for her and some of the other girls for whom that change in hours was too much (but then they just did a year of pre-team, not a bad option!).

As for multi-sporting it, I really think it's a good idea for all reasons in the journal articles. It's a battle when the gym hours go up, but we tried to still fit in some dance in the first years, then skiing/hiking/camping because that's what our family does and swim lessons as much as possible! Now she's shown a little interest in track and field, which I'm nurturing (they will allow her to be part of the track team even though she shows up to only 1 practice out of 3 a week, we don't have to go to all meets, and we can decide which events she does each meet weekend, so much more flexibility than gym!) After her swimming is a bit better, I'm going to get her to at least try diving too. Partly just knowing the landscape of the options if she ever doesn't love gym...

 

[Anonymous (ba41)]

It is completely insane that it was happening so young for commitments. Do you mind me asking how old your daughter is?

She’s 21