WAG Is college gymnastics just a dream?

[Lilly]

It may be hard to get a gymnastics scholarship to Georgia or Florida unless you have had elite experience, but you don't even have to qualify for JO nationals as a level 10 and you can still acquire scholarships to some D1 schools. You should definitely be a very competitive level 10 though and do well as regionals even if you don't make it to nationals.

 

[LJL07]

It may be hard to get a gymnastics scholarship to Georgia or Florida unless you have had elite experience, but you don't even have to qualify for JO nationals as a level 10 and you can still acquire scholarships to some D1 schools. You should definitely be a very competitive level 10 though and do well as regionals even if you don't make it to nationals.

By about what age do they need to make it to level 10 for college? Dd says she wants to be a college gymnast. Not counting on it since she's still so young, but never hurts to get info. We don't have tops programs in this state, and they spend a lot of time competing levels 1-4 bc it seems to make the gyms the most money.

 

[gracyomalley]

Good to spend 2-4 years as a L10....the more the better for polish and exposure....

 

[headoverheels]

I hope it's not a dream! I have one who still plans to make it to the Olympics.

 

[headoverheels]

And yes, I realize what a long shot that is. She'll figure it out soon enough on her own. ;-)

 

[profmom]

It could be worse, y'all. You could have a boy who wants to do college gymnastics! Would never tell him this, but his odds are better for winning Powerball, given the number of programs out there.

 

[LJL07]

It could be worse, y'all. You could have a boy who wants to do college gymnastics! Would never tell him this, but his odds are better for winning Powerball, given the number of programs out there.

Wow. I hadn't thought about that. That is a huge bummer.

 

[headoverheels]

I had not thought about men's gymnastics. Our gym has a strong men's team and has had a few go on to college but there are not nearly as many opportunities as there are for the girls.

 

[LinnieC]

My daughter wants a scholarship for college (heck, she still thinks she is going to the Olympics as well!) but we got into the competitive world of gymnastics late and will only be a Level 4 this upcoming season at the age of 9. IF she progresses a level each year (let's face it, more than likely she will repeat at some point), she won't be a level 10 until she is 15 years old... odds aren't looking the greatest for her. Sadness!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

means nothing ^^^

 

[MeetDirector]

Why would you say that the odds aren't looking the greatest? While it is unfortunately true that college teams are recruiting in the early years of high school, I can tell you that there are some schools that do wait until the later high school years. Yes, they want level 10 athletes and yes they would like them to be multi-year lvl 10's. But, what they really want are athletes that will help thier team. Remember, college gymnastics is a team sport and very few athletes actually compete all-around. Remember too that for a lot of schools (if not all) academics is critical; the teams are so small that they all have to be very good students to keep the GPA up where it should be. Remember, a college gymnastics program has to produce a graduate that can move on in life; there is no "next level" for a gymnast after college.

Focus on getting good, consistent level 10 skills and routines with a 10 SV and keep the grades up. Open lines of communication with college coaches and see where things go.

Good Luck.

 

[IreneKa]

I hope it's not a dream! I have one who still plans to make it to the Olympics.

I have one too! Once I decided to explain to her about college gymnastics, just so she would know that there are other option besides the Olympics. She thought about it for a while, then she goes "At what age are you allowed to go to the Olympics?" - "16", "And at what age do people usually go to college?" - "18". "OK, so I'll go to the Olympics first, and then I'll do college gymnastics". So much for giving her other options. lol

 

[poodlemomma]

Although you'll never hear it from the mouth of a coach, waif like and pre pubertal is the body type they "prefer" ....once they get the hips and boobs of the women that they are, a lot of coaches are "disappointed"

Wow! That surely doesn't describe most of the Olympians or NCAA champs. I thought you were going to say short & stocky! Lol

I think I would go with gymmomto2 here. I have gone to a few college meets and was surprised at the amount of muscle these young women had. There were few waifs in the bunch. Maybe it is just our area?

 

[poodlemomma]

It could be worse, y'all. You could have a boy who wants to do college gymnastics! Would never tell him this, but his odds are better for winning Powerball, given the number of programs out there.

Just an FYI, most of the military academies have men's gymnastics. I know this because I have a son who is interested in going to the Air Force Academy. If your son can keep his grades up in high school, this could be a route for him.

 

[GymMomSue]

Here is some hope~
My daughter started gymnastics during her preschool years as I worked in a posh competitive gym in NYC at the time. She trained long hard hours for years and had a promising future in this sport. As Life happened, she decided to quit at the age of 12. Although I was devastated at first because gymnastics was our life and she was competing L10, I supported her decisions after careful examination just to make sure she will not live with regrets. I am not sorry to say that I got my life back and she was able sneak in some fair amount of "NORMAL" socialization with her peers at school. But then came the regrets... 5 years later she decides to start training again at 17 years old. It was October and her first meet was in Jan. in Las Vegas. She spent all of her free time in the gym and Thank Goodness for muscle memory! She placed in the top three on every event and took all around that meet. She went on competing for Rutgers University and now at age 26 she is a coach here in florida, a judge, a choreographer and owns her own Gymnastic Music Company. So....I believe if this sport gets in their blood they cannot fail no matter where they started.

Gymnasts don't choose gymnastics, gymnastics chooses them~

 

[Jennemmy]

I just wanted to update that we were at a camp last week for girls who competed at Easterns & Nationals. Most of the college coaches were looking for strong beam & bar workers. Not vault. There is an increasing number of strong vaulters moving thru the system now. Since vault has always been my dd's strongest event, I was a little bummed. Of course, they want girls who can compete AA, but beam & esp bars can push you over the top vs a top fx worker. I also heard from many of the parents of older gymnasts (soph & juniors) that they worked very hard to keep the college coaches informed about their dd's progress in an effort to secure a spot with a D1 school. They sent links to meet videos and went on unofficial visits on a regular basis. And the girls who already had verbal commitments were watched very closely by the coaches to see if they were still on track. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience for many of the girls/parents who were there for the first time.

I wanted to add that the college coaches who were there spent 70% of their time watching bars, then watched beam for the other 25% of the time. The remainder of the time, they would wander between fx and vault. One college had 4 coaches there with 1 stationed at each event but by day 3, most of them were clustered around the bars.

 

[wgymmom]

My daughter wants a scholarship for college (heck, she still thinks she is going to the Olympics as well!) but we got into the competitive world of gymnastics late and will only be a Level 4 this upcoming season at the age of 9. IF she progresses a level each year (let's face it, more than likely she will repeat at some point), she won't be a level 10 until she is 15 years old... odds aren't looking the greatest for her. Sadness!

This is exactly my DD's situation too!

 

[Flipflopz]

I just wanted to update that we were at a camp last week for girls who competed at Easterns & Nationals. Most of the college coaches were looking for strong beam & bar workers. Not vault. There is an increasing number of strong vaulters moving thru the system now. Since vault has always been my dd's strongest event, I was a little bummed. Of course, they want girls who can compete AA, but beam & esp bars can push you over the top vs a top fx worker. I also heard from many of the parents of older gymnasts (soph & juniors) that they worked very hard to keep the college coaches informed about their dd's progress in an effort to secure a spot with a D1 school. They sent links to meet videos and went on unofficial visits on a regular basis. And the girls who already had verbal commitments were watched very closely by the coaches to see if they were still on track. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience for many of the girls/parents who were there for the first time.

I wanted to add that the college coaches who were there spent 70% of their time watching bars, then watched beam for the other 25% of the time. The remainder of the time, they would wander between fx and vault. One college had 4 coaches there with 1 stationed at each event but by day 3, most of them were clustered around the bars.

As a mom of a girl who's fav/best events are bars and beam , I thank you for giving us additional hope.

 

[Seeker]

I just wanted to update that we were at a camp last week for girls who competed at Easterns & Nationals. Most of the college coaches were looking for strong beam & bar workers. Not vault. There is an increasing number of strong vaulters moving thru the system now. Since vault has always been my dd's strongest event, I was a little bummed. Of course, they want girls who can compete AA, but beam & esp bars can push you over the top vs a top fx worker. I also heard from many of the parents of older gymnasts (soph & juniors) that they worked very hard to keep the college coaches informed about their dd's progress in an effort to secure a spot with a D1 school. They sent links to meet videos and went on unofficial visits on a regular basis. And the girls who already had verbal commitments were watched very closely by the coaches to see if they were still on track. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience for many of the girls/parents who were there for the first time.

I wanted to add that the college coaches who were there spent 70% of their time watching bars, then watched beam for the other 25% of the time. The remainder of the time, they would wander between fx and vault. One college had 4 coaches there with 1 stationed at each event but by day 3, most of them were clustered around the bars.

Very helpful and interesting information! Thanks for sharing!