Level 4 scores/How bad? LONG

[T.Gymnastics]

for her first year thats great! the gyms around here have thier girls repeat lik 3 times! thtas why thier routines are amazing. yea my first year i only got a 9.1 on vault and beam. it took the second year to hit those 9.3 s and 9.4 s so thats fabulous!

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Her scores were awesome for her first meet at that age. My daughter scored a 6.7 on her first meet that she was able to compete beam and she was 7. It took her a second year of repeating 4 to even see a 9. I think you should be very proud!

As for the other gym not letting her on the team I would not worry about it she is at a gym where she is happy and doing well. Who knows why the other gym did not want her on the team. I am still trying to figure out how my own daughter ended up on the team at such a young before some of her teammates who were obviously ready before she was.

 

[Megley]

Those are terrific scores for the first meet! My dd was 6 yrs and two months at her first meet and though she did well on bars and vault (9.0 and 8.8) she had a hard time on floor (8.1) and beam (7.9). I'm sure that your dd's scores will be well into the 9s by the end of the season. Be prepared for them to fluctuate some, though, as others have mentioned. Judging seems to vary depending on the meet and what looks like a better routine to you might not score as well. As long as they trend upward generally, she will be doing great.

Don't worry too much about the hours, though it's good to monitor her to be sure she is still having fun. My dd went 16 hrs last year as a Level 5 and she was 6 yrs old (turned 7 in October). She was fine with it.

Meg

 

[sportzmomov3]

First, don't worry about the scores. As a "veteran" mom, I'll share that my DD started competing at 7 years old as a level 5, and we all laugh as we remember how AWFUL she was on beam - at her first meet her beam score was in the 6s! She's now doing optionals and won her last state meet. For now, enjoy and know that the competition stage is a wonderful place for children to develop their confidence and poise. Secondly, if she loved the experience, was proud of her accomplishments, and continues to love the sport, that's all that matters. Trust me, there will be plenty of time to worry about scoring as she moves up! Congratulations on competing and medaling at a FIRST meet!

 

[NotAMom]

Don't worry too much about the hours, though it's good to monitor her to be sure she is still having fun. My dd went 16 hrs last year as a Level 5 and she was 6 yrs old (turned 7 in October). She was fine with it.

I'm going to rub some people the wrong way here... Of course, I'm talking about a 6-yo here and assuming these hours are year round.

I would worry about it not because the young gymnast cannot handle the long hours. I worry because after 16 hours (3+X5, 4X4 or however it's divvied up) of training, it leaves little time for anything else and for this 6yo to live her age. Even if the child does fine in school (which isn't a certainty for many), what about other important things such as parties/outtings, occasional dinner with the family, other interests (e.g. music, other sports), etc.? At this age, there is no need to put all eggs in one basket. If the child is Olympics bound, then ... hmm... It's tempting, but I would still say no.

Just for the sake of argument, Iike I mentioned in other threads before, fundamentally 16 hours is way more than what is spent learning in school for many 6 to 8 yo in this country. Afterall, much of the country is already complaining about grade school having too many hours. If 16 hours is too lengthy for school, don't you think that amount is too much for any one extracurricular activity that has no reasonable guarantied tangible success for the future.

 

[cathiann]

Don't most kids go more than 16 hrs a week to school at 6-8 yr old? I know our school day was over 6 hrs long--that's 30 hrs for the week.

And I think most of us aren't looking at gymnastics as a way to achieve future success--we do it because our kids love it. Beth (11 yr) went 20 hrs this summer--her comment when someone mentioned how much that was "If I didn't do it, I'd just be laying around and I have plenty of free time in the afternoon"

I do agree with you--if she was doing poorly in school, I'd definitely reconsider what she's doing!

 

[Megley]

Well for the record, she is in school far more than 16 hours a week. She goes from 8:30 to 3:00, which is 6.5 hours a day times 5 days. By my math that is 32.5 hours. She was in first grade last year and got straight 4s (which is the highest grade you can receive here in first grade). She tested into the gifted program for 2nd grade and is reading on a third grade level.

Her practice times are T, Th, F, Sa for four hours each. This still leaves four days a week for family dinners and time for CCD as well. She swam on the swim team this summer. She has loads of friends at school, as well as at gym and attends pretty much every birthday party she is invited to. We live at the beach and spent most of the summer weekends enjoying the ocean and hanging out with friends.

By no means do I think she is headed for the Olympics or elite gymnastics. For the time being she is happy training L6 and she is not really looking much beyond getting to L7 at this point. I feel like I have a happy well adjusted kid on my hands. Heck, I could be down the street at the gym that would have me sending her to the gym for school!

Meg

 

[Blackie6]

I just wanted to add something about the hours....as I read all the posts either for or against long hours I see a pattern. It's what works best for YOUR daughter! I happened to lean a little bit on the side of lesser hours only because I don't consider my daughter to be talented, just loves gymnastics and wants to do L5 this year. I don't look ahead. As a L4 (ages 6-8) she went about 11 hrs/week and we never refused other opportunities for activies such as other sports, CCD or parties & family functions. If it meant missing a practice once in awhile or going later to practice, that's what we did. Now her hours in new gym (8 yr old L5) are 4 nights a week and a Sat. Because with L5 comes more time! I am a little upset about 4 weeknights, plus a Sat, but think practices no longer than 3 hrs at a time are nice for an 8yr old. It will leave time for homework or after school activies on some days, but only two "off" days. After comp season she will do softball and yes, I will yank her out here and there. But again, our focus is different, we do not see her going far in gymnastics, but work w/the hours. However, being that there are many talented girls (and boys!) here on CB, their focus might be different! For them, the hours they put into the gym to move up thru the levels, their focus, maturity, 15+ hours in a gym a week works for THEM too! So I can't critisize or judge others simply by the amount of hours their DD does, LOL, IMHO it is what works best for you, your DD and YOUR family.

 

[canadiangymmom]

As Megley and Blackie6 have mentioned, hours spent in the gym is really a decision for the parents to make, based on their understanding of their children. Some children thrive on more hours, and others need more downtime. While I`m quite content with the number of hours Bean trains, she longs for more, it just isn`t offered at our gym.

I think people really ought to respect the fact that as parents, we all make decisions based on the well being and happiness of our children. We all want what`s best for our kids, and I don`t doubt for a minute that if any of our children were unhappy, their parents would find the problem and seek a solution.

 

[mariposa]

I definitely think that hours in the gym is between the child and the parent. This mom is pretty new to all this though and I think most comments were geared towards watching for the warning signs of burnout, etc. We all have our comfort zones on how many hours our kids spend in the gym and are all entitled to our opinions on that. I personally think that 16 hours a week is too much for a 6/7 year old BUT that is just my comfort zone. I think most parents have done the research about gymnastics as I have and that they have made their decisions based on that information as well as just watching their kid and how their kid does at the gym, in school, at home, etc. I also think most every parent here wants their child to just be happy doing what they love to do.

The CB is a place to share our opinions and learn from others. As long as we are respect each other, I think that having all the different points of view is a great thing! I have learned so much here and rethought things because of something I have read here. I am sure others have as well.

As to the 16 hours a week in school, most kids here start full day kindergarten at 5, so they are in school at LEAST 30 hours a week.

 

[FoxCitiesTwister]

Those were fine scores! I know my scores were lower than that after having much longer to train!

 

[Petunia]

Wow...a great amount of info! Thank you!

For some reason, now that the first week of school has passed for us, I feel better! LOL

She had gone M and W for four hours. On Fri I asked her if she wanted to go to the gym and she said "Can I go home and play with my...Pixles tonight and go to the gym on Saturday?"..or whatever those new beads are called! LOL She got some for her bday that had just passed.
I said you most CERTAINLY CAN! We got some movies, popcorn and even mom enjoyed a night off!
Saturday she hopped out of bed, into the leo and into the car, she was ready to go.
THAT made me feel better I think. The fact that SHE can tell me flat out "Ya know what, not today, I'll let you know when I'm ready again."
She had not done that ...EVER (she's a perfectionist and huge pleaser )...so that left me anxious everytime bc I her dad and I would ask ourselves WHAT if she's just doing this bc she thinks this is what we want to hear?!?!? That TERRIFIED ME!
BELIEVE ME I'm a huge worrier, very overprotective and the THOUGHT that I might be doing something that might not be in her best interest keeps me awake at night. I'm trying to take it one week at a time and learn to follow her lead (to a point LOL).

So it might be different each week. Some weeks she might go 16hrs and others she might just go 12. Her coach has no problems with her going 12, she's the youngest of the group and she doesn't want to push her.

School has always been easy for her,...well, she's only in 2nd grade haha so ask me again next year! We supplement a lot at home. She speaks two languages so I have to stay on top of her English skills, no doubt. She also does JJ and knows that she will continue to have that as part of her life for a LONG time.

I'm grateful to have found a good forum though. I feel better knowing most of you all have been there.
Thanks!!!

 

[PinkFreak440]

those scores are great for a first time level 4 at her first meet! trust me, i coach level 4 bars. maybe it's a good thing she didn't make team at her old gym...she's too good for them!! haha. yes, you can repeat levels. i was going into my second year of 8 when i quit and did level 7 twice. so tell her good job and keep her at this new gym!

 

[Lingualatina]

Those are great scores! Especially the 9 on Vault! Any 9s
are amazing and you should be very proud of your DD! I just moved up to the equivalent of Level 5 (it's a little different because I'm in USAIGC, not USAG) and I went from having high 8s and 9s (8.85 on my worst event, bars) in the lower level to just awful scores! (and my whole team was just moved up and we all were surprised at how low the scores were!). My best (yes, best) scores so far are:

v: 7.0
ub: 7.8
bb: 8.4
fx: 8.85


(I am jealous of your DD's Vault score!)

So yeah, my mom wondered if moving up instead of repeating was the right choice. In the end, we decided that I was (after I qualified for state and regionals). Even if I don't qualify for nationals next weekend (which I probably won't, quite honestly) I love this level and I would have been bored in the lower level. And same for your DD. If she loves it, is having a good time, and is making progress, the scores don't even matter!

Oh and I looked up some of my competetors online too; some of them seem to get all 9s too, and most of them have been in the Level for 2 or 3 seasons (1 of them has been in it since 2006!) And there scores
from first season? Not pretty!

Your daughter has great scores! A 9 is a HUGE achievement!