T&T Level 3 Artisic Combined With T&T

[Shelovesthebars]

My 4 year old went to her second trampoline and tumbling class tonight. The coach/owner wants her to compete for her gym and says that she can make her national champion by the age of 6. I have no doubt what she is saying is true because, barring injuries, my dd is a natural tumbler and this owner has produced 80 national champions to date. This is a strictly t&t gym.
My dd is definately going to compete artistic level 3 next fall. She will join the level 3 team this month. (At a strickly artistic gym.)
When I took her to t&t just down the street, my intention was to get her away from our backyard trampoline that is buried in the snow.
Can artisic and t&t be done at the same time? I just thought we would do the traditional one year at every level at least and maybe some for 2 in artistic for as long as my dd was enjoying it. I don't want to overwhelm her. She seems to love doing both and asks when we leave both when she gets to come back and do it all again.
Am I crazy to even be considering it? The owner of the t&t gym says she will train her privately for the price of a class for just 1 hour per week instead of working her out with her team so she is flexible with the artistic schedule. She wants to keep her time in both gyms at an age appropriate level.
Oh, and I don't care if she is national champ at 6(or any other age). My goals are to have a long term gymnast with little injury and love for the sport. But I am sure the owner would like her to be national champ!
Advice from all would be appreciated.

 

[cheryl1960]

I will be very interested in the responses to this also. My daughter has been in WAG for 2 years, as a level 4 and this year as a USAG prep gold. She expressed an interest in T&T because she started out doing tumbling only .So we checked out another gym but she is really not sure which way she wants to go right now. She wants to continue with artistic but not compete next season because she has a a rough time with all the new skills this year. I feel the same as shelovesthebars as far as injury-we have been fortunate so far, but my main objective is for her to enjoy the sport and grow.

 

[MdGymMom01]

The only concern I would have is having a 4 year old competing in two sports. That is a lot of pressure and involvement for someone so young. If it is very laid back and kept fun and closely monitored then I would say go ahead and try it. But as she gets older, she will have to end up choosing one over the other if she wants to be competitive.

 

[coachmolly]

If she is committed to the artistic gym and their program, I would check with the coaches. There are some things that are taught a little bit differently in T&T that her artistic coaches might not be totally happy with. It's nothing too severe, especially since this seems like a very respectable program, but some coaches are really nit-picky about that kind of thing. However, I do know of some instances where coaches recommend T&T for additional tumbling help or for younger children so they can get some meet experience. There could also be the whole "conflict of interest" issue, but if one is specifically artistic and the other only T&T, I don't imagine that would be much of an issues. There could also be meet conflicts.
If she is enjoying it, not tired all the time, and still has time to do other activities, than I would say go for it. But really watch to make sure she isn't getting too tired or stressed.

 

[gymnut1]

This little girl does both I believe

YouTube - 4 year old gymnast does whip-whip on training tramp

Her mum posts on here too. I think she won her nationals too at tumbling. She would be the one to ask. Sorry cant remember her user name on here.

 

[Mariainlv]

J did both this season and had fun. She is a little older 6/7 but I think the concept is the same. Tumbling allows them to progress and have fun at a younger age, if they have the apptitiude. If J scores at the state meet like she has been in the qualifying meets we will go to nationals.
She competed in 3 L3 meets this season and placed in the top 3 each time, so I think that both can be done successfully. In May she moves to L4 but we will do TnT also for at least one more year.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

Mariainlv- How many hours did your dd spend practicing artistic and how many t&t? My dd will be practicing 5 hours for artistic and 1 additional hour for t&t for a total of 6 hours. (If she does the t&t.) She will be 5 in the summer.
I may just hold off on the t&t until I see how level 3 team goes. We also spend almost every waking moment outside playing or in the pool in the summer so I don't want to have to have too many commitments until fall. Last summer she only went to one 1 hour class and she still progressed quickly. Can you tell I am looking forward to the summer?!

 

[Mariainlv]

J spends 9 hours on L3 and 1-2 hours on TnT, so a total of 10-11 hours a week.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

Mariainlv,

Thanks for getting back to me. I really am trying to see what may be coming up for her if we decide to do both. Since she is only 4, we are only going to do a one hour private once a week. Is that enough to learn some solid trampoine skills and to continue to develop her tumbling? She already does a roundoff 2 back handsprings and she is learning fast. She has no trampoline experience other than her backyard so I am clueless on that. They started working on a routine that included a seat drop, dog house, something where she drops on her belly. They are also teaching her to do the first two with a front flip out of it. They also taught her how to to the seat drop with a half turn out of it to standing. She learned other stuff too but I watched some of the team girls while I was in there so I didn't see everything. Does this sound like beginning trampoline? Again, I know nothing about trampoline.

 

[Mariainlv]

1 hour a week definitely is enough time, IMO. There was no one J's age/skill at her gym so for a while thats what she did, a lesson alone. We just started in TnT ~4 months ago. She already is competing L5 tramp and scored high enough to mobilize to L6 in tumbling. She had never done anything with a trampoline before this at all.

The skills you describe are a L4 USAG tramp routine, I believe. Im not sure if your gym is USAG or USTA? Either way, what a fun experience for your DD.

Here is a document that details this: Link Removed

Also, J has scored high enough to go to states and barring anything crazy, we will compete @ Nationals. Your DD sounds alot like J. Im sure she will do great!