WAG Is this no-uptraining method optimal?

[Sasha]

Personally I will usually try to be more detailed and give the opportunity to stay in the level and train without competing until ready.

This makes me wish we were in your gym - better philosophical fit I think

Yeah, I totally get that parents can overestimate their kiddos' wonderfulness. I've educated myself so much in this sport since we began to attempt to mitigate that - lol. Early on, I recognized her form was NOT natural. TOO tight. Like a strong, long-legged robot with no fluidity (sorry darling daughter! lol). Beam was also quite choppy and ugly. I seriously wondered if this was even the sport for her. But then she caught up so quickly as the months passed and her hours increased, and I'm confident to say now that dance and form are no longer a challenge. Whew.

And honestly, I'm not questioning the level placement itself (competing L3 is fine), so much as the effect of the level placement in this case, i.e., being in a practice group with girls mostly quite far behind skill-wise, and so not being able to work on the skills she had been attaining nicely before that decision. I had imagined she would do much more than run routines for 6 months, and I have so far been disappointed. So I'm more questioning this overall strategy for her.

Hopefully you are right, and nothing will actually be lost. I'm more concerned about long-term effects of this model and her potential, rather than the current L3 vs L4 short term question. I really want to hold out hope, as I don't want to switch gyms. So I'm gathering insights from all you wonderful folks now, and will keep gauging the situation as a little more time passes.

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

Sasha, if your dd is on the younger side, I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. Have you noticed, do they do up training in the higher levels? It may be simply gym policy. Or, if your dd started only 18 months ago, and can afford the time, they are just perfecting her lower level abitlities and therefore excel her through the middle levels. Just try to find out from the coaches and other parents what is the gym policy.

 

[Sasha]

Sasha, if your dd is on the younger side, I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. Have you noticed, do they do up training in the higher levels? It may be simply gym policy. Or, if your dd started only 18 months ago, and can afford the time, they are just perfecting her lower level abitlities and therefore excel her through the middle levels. Just try to find out from the coaches and other parents what is the gym policy.

Hi @motigymnasticsmom ,

Let's see - our gym is still pretty young, and not many upper levels yet. Had two L10s that were transplants from elsewhere (now gone and in college), and only a small few L8/9s that are homeschooled and are apparently on some advanced track that practice in the mornings. They are age 10-12. They also do TOPs (and maybe HOPES, not sure).

There are about 10 (total) L5s and L6s that are on the same 1-level-per-year standard track that seems to be the norm (with some repeating for girls who are missing skills). They do OK in our (very competitive) area, but so far have not been standouts in competitions.

The girls who started as pre-schoolers when our gym opened (i.e., "homegrown") are now mostly age 9-10 and in L4, except for those 2-3 homeschooled ones on the faster track. They were last year's L3s, and they were reasonably, but not stand-out, competitive for our area.

The stated policy (in email and verbally) for move-ups is "to have all of the next level skills by May 15" to officially be moved up. This, however, seems not to apply to the younger L3s who were missing many skills, yet are slated to compete in a month and in my DD's practice group. I see other exceptions as well of girls moved up with missing skills. That's not a bad thing (to be flexible in a policy)! I agree with flexibility and taking the whole picture of a kid into account! But policies like these can also muddy things when it is used as a blanket statement for one child (like mine) as a reason not to move up, while others were clearly given different or more nuanced considerations.

I will definitely ask more about possible paths once the comp season gets underway and there is a bit more concrete information about how my DD is doing (scores). I think until she competes, I'll just be told "let's see how she competes", which is fair enough.

 

[gymdog]

Level 3 probably has a different policy than the other levels, due to it being the entry level. That's not unusual.

 

[IreneKa]

I totally get your frustration! Our gym has a similar philosophy and I hate it. Their strategy is they uptrain May through August, then they decide on the levels, and then the girls are only allowed to practice their levels' skills until States in April\May.
Last year they put DD in L2 because of a couple of missing skills, and promised to move her up as soon as she gets the skills. I watched practice after practice after practice, and she was never allowed to practice those missing skills! How could she possibly get them? Took a little bit of involvement on my part before she was allowed to practice those skills and move up.
This year I am stressed out again about the levels. And I would be totally fine if she competed L3 while still practicing her L4 skills. But I know that's not going to happen. If she is a L3, she'll spend the next 8 months drilling L3 routines, and being bored out of her mind.
We love our gym overall, so we'll stick with it for a couple more seasons, and see if this strategy actually works.
But I just wanted to let you know that I totally understand where you are coming from and I would be upset too. I hope it'll work out for your DD at the end.

 

[3rd_time_around]

As far as uptraining, our gym uptrains all the time. Once the girls are done their assignments for the day corresponding to their level, they are allowed to uptrain. The owner encourages it and wants everyone uptraining all the time. So if there is none at all, maybe some questioning is necessary to find out why. It works for us. Our levels 1-4 were undefeated and state champs last year, and there were no repeaters on any of those levels. They were all ready to move up after 2013.

 

[htimcj]

No up training can work for awhile but once you hit optionals, especially the higher levels, there is no way most girls can learn all of the skills for L8-L10 in 4 months. Won't happen.

 

[beachgirl]

Possibly you are in the same area as us. My DD competes the first week of September through November also. If so, the area is very competitive and scores of 37 and 38 are the norm for L3 to be on the podium. At our gym uptraining goes until about late June and then comes to a halt to focus on the upcoming season. Around October uptraining starts up again. For my DD the skills that she learned for the next level were lost, but came back quickly once they started up training again. Maybe this is what happens at your gym also.

 

[Sasha]

Possibly you are in the same area as us. My DD competes the first week of September through November also. If so, the area is very competitive and scores of 37 and 38 are the norm for L3 to be on the podium. At our gym uptraining goes until about late June and then comes to a halt to focus on the upcoming season. Around October uptraining starts up again. For my DD the skills that she learned for the next level were lost, but came back quickly once they started up training again. Maybe this is what happens at your gym also.

Thanks @beachgirl - yes, that sounds very similar. Our uptraining stopped mid-late May, and I am HOPING October may bring some uptraining, rather that waiting until December or later (my fear). And yes, 37+ is needed for podiums here, too. Neither my DD nor I care too much about the podium at the compulsory stage (it would be a happy surprise, but not the primary focus).

Glad your DD's skills returned quickly! That is a positive thing to hear!