keri

[shelly]

My daughter takes gymnastics she knows all of the level 3 routines but her gym is wanting her to start out at a level 2 only because she has never competed before my child is very upset about this what would you do?

 

[bogwoppit]

Welcome to the Chalkbucket.

One thing about the levels they compete can be that the coaches want your child to be succesful at the meets. It may be that she "has" all the L3 skills, but she actually has "mastered" all the L2 ones and therefore will score better at that level.

The best way of finding out is to say to the coach, she thought she was ready for L3, what does she need to do to make that happen. MOst coaches will have a good answer for you.

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

DD's gym coach takes the view that you should always be competing one level below that which you are training, so even if you have all the level three skills and routines in training you would still compete level two that year. The thinking is that the kids are more successful, it is less stressful and makes it more fun.

How old is your daughter? First competitions can be nerve wracking, they may just want to ease her into it gently.

 

[Gymdad2]

I agree with the others on this question. A conversation with her coach would be a good idea, if possible, but remember that you are paying them to teach your dd to be a gymnast and its best to let them do their jobs. I would reccommend to a new gym parent to not be too concerned about levels at this point in your dd's career.

 

[shelly]

i have already talked to her coach he wants her as a level 3 but the owner of the gym wants her as a two. She is six years ols. She has practiced with the level4 girls and did everything that they can do and beat them at practice with their competitions.

 

[shelly]

My older child just started working at another gym and they want her as a level 3. But I have put so much money out already at her gym.

 

[cher062]

i have already talked to her coach he wants her as a level 3 but the owner of the gym wants her as a two. She is six years ols. She has practiced with the level4 girls and did everything that they can do and beat them at practice with their competitions.

Competing at a meet is very different than at practice especially at 6yo. I've seen some really good gymnasts at practice crumble at a meet to the point that mom or dad had to come get them. You just never know, and maybe since she has never been in a real meet that they want to test the waters. If she is really good and scores really high to get a mobility score they can always move her up in that same season, maybe that is the plan. It really sounds like you should have another meeting with the coach and owner and let them know that your DD is unhappy about that decision again. and with everyone in the room see if the owner won't change his mind. If your DD is really unhappy and you don't like the what is happening then maybe it might be time to look around at other gyms and do a few tryouts with other teams. Even if you don't change gyms it will give you the opinions of other coaches and who knows you might find a better program than what you have.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I agree that a talk with the owner is in order. I’d have a lot of questions. For example, few gyms actually compete L2, so if her concern is lack of competition experience, that doesn’t seem like it would help. What sort of competitions to L2 or even L3 do? What is the timeline for evaluations/moving up? Since your daughter is upset about not getting to do L3, could the owner or coach sit with her and talk about what she needs to work on to set goals?

Being sad about not moving to the next level doesn’t go away after they are six. This year I saw a 15 year old cry when it became clear that she was going to stay L8 and not compete L9. A good coach/owner is experienced in dealing with this and wants your child to be happy coming to gymnastics so they should be able to say the right things to motivate your daughter.

And really, the owner may have something else in mind altogether. Pickle never did L1-3. She went straight from pre-school into a developmental program. It was kind of confusing for me because I saw girls who went into L2 league from her preschool team actually learning skills while she was doing hours of stretching and drills. Of course, once she started competing, it all paid off.

 

[gym4life123]

Talk to the coaches again. Maybe she could compete level 2 for the first competition, the if she does good level 3 for the next. You don't know how she will be in competition until you have tried it. This way at level 2 she should feel more confident and less likely to get nervous, and forget her routines of make mistakes. It is possible that she can nail a routine in pratice, but while competiting she could fall apart. Once you see how she reacts to the competition enviroment than decide with the coaches if she should be competing level 3.

 

[shelly]

The owner already said that she would have to compete all year as a level 2. However we went to another gym today and they galdly accepted her as a level 3. she will be switching gyms this week.