Anon Level 5 woes

[Anonymous (d03b)]

I know level 5 brings all the thoughts from parents and coaches: it’s great, it’s pointless, it’s the worst, it’s the foundation, etc.

My daughter has always been a solid compulsory gymnast. Never anyone who’s going elite and she’s probably moving 1-2 years too slowly for college to happen, but she’s on the podium on her good days and in the top half on her worst. Until this level 5 season, which is a disaster.

What I’m perplexed by is that everyone warned me that bars is what derails girls in level 5. Her bars are going really well! But her other events are a mess. Mental blocks everywhere and she’s getting nickel and dimed on execution deductions like crazy. We’re talking 2 points of accumulated deductions, and these are routines that look as tidy as her level 4 routines, but just aren’t up to the level 5 standard. I know level 5 scores in the areas where it’s commonly competed can be low, but not this low.

Is this where her journey ends? Xcel isn’t an option that fits with her school commute and she really wants to get to level 6 and optionals. Moving down to 4 is possible in theory but she doesn’t know any of those girls and it would be very tough at a time when her confidence is already trashed.

 

[Anonymous (faff)]

Maybe she will get it together, or even get better once she is in optionasl and can rearrange a little bit the routines to fit her strengths. Doing well on bars I think is good! Just try to get the mobility score (is that attainable the she has been scoring?) or maybe she has her mobility score for level 6 from level 4, and move on to next year.
My daughter in a similar level (though she is more like level 4, we use a different system in our country) also has mental blocks on beam and floor, with bars and vault being more comfortable lately even when they are supposedly her "weakest" events.

 

[Anonymous (3af5)]

I know level 5 brings all the thoughts from parents and coaches: it’s great, it’s pointless, it’s the worst, it’s the foundation, etc.

My daughter has always been a solid compulsory gymnast. Never anyone who’s going elite and she’s probably moving 1-2 years too slowly for college to happen, but she’s on the podium on her good days and in the top half on her worst. Until this level 5 season, which is a disaster.

What I’m perplexed by is that everyone warned me that bars is what derails girls in level 5. Her bars are going really well! But her other events are a mess. Mental blocks everywhere and she’s getting nickel and dimed on execution deductions like crazy. We’re talking 2 points of accumulated deductions, and these are routines that look as tidy as her level 4 routines, but just aren’t up to the level 5 standard. I know level 5 scores in the areas where it’s commonly competed can be low, but not this low.

Is this where her journey ends? Xcel isn’t an option that fits with her school commute and she really wants to get to level 6 and optionals. Moving down to 4 is possible in theory but she doesn’t know any of those girls and it would be very tough at a time when her confidence is already trashed.

How did she score in Level 4?
If she got 2 36+ scores, and her Level 5 Bars are solid, she could move on to Level 6 next season .... and have optional level routines that suit her gymnastics.

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

How did she score in Level 4?
If she got 2 36+ scores, and her Level 5 Bars are solid, she could move on to Level 6 next season .... and have optional level routines that suit her gymnastics.

Lots of 36s and 36s in 4. Her gym doesn’t skip 5 even if they score out unless they’re girls who are very young and being paced for potential future elite qualification.

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

Sorry, meant to write 36s and 37s and I don’t know how to edit!

 

[Anonymous (ba88)]

A few things to consider:

1. It sounds like your daughter is experiencing her first major setback. Every gymnast has them, and every gymnast interested in staying in the sport must learn the cognitive and emotional skills to overcome them. In lower levels of gymnastics, there is less need for mental resilience because the stakes are low and the gymnastics isn’t all that scary. As the gymnastics gets harder, the mental demands also get harder. (For many skills, the mental is harder than the physical.) I know your daughter is very distressed about her setbacks, but I would encourage her to be patient and keep trying. Having the ability to troubleshoot problems and cope with rough patches is a “multi tool” that can be applied in all areas of life. Gymnastics is a perfect sandbox for developing this life skill.

2. The technical demands of the sport and aesthetic demands of the sport are correlated but distinct concepts. Some gymnasts cannot achieve competitive success because they get “nickeled and dimed” on aesthetic deductions like bent legs and flexed feet. (A lot of young gymnasts struggle with form as they grow.) However, there’s more to gymnastics than placing at competition. If your daughter’s technical foundations are sound, she still has the potential to climb the gymnastics latter. She WILL need to unlink her self esteem from external measures of success (scores, podium placement, etc.) and relink it to internal measures of success (hard work, perseverance, etc.) This is yet another life skill that your daughter will benefit from long after she retires from gymnastics.

 

[Anonymous (faff)]

So, she's probably not going to be stuck in level 5 because she has the scores for level 6, so I would take this year for learning, getting strong basics and focusing on improvement (which probably will be coming since she started a little bit rough) over placements and scores.

 

[Dahlialover]

Level 6 is going to be easier in many ways than level 5, since she can work around any skills that are vexing her. She just needs to get through the season. It’s a growing year. It’s a good time to focus on personal goals instead of scores and placements.

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

Level 6 is going to be easier in many ways than level 5, since she can work around any skills that are vexing her. She just needs to get through the season. It’s a growing year. It’s a good time to focus on personal goals instead of scores and placements.

I hope so. I’ve just literally never seen scores like this, even for 5, so it’s hard to stay calm and let things play out. She moved from a gym a while ago where a performance like her last one would have her immediately scratched from the next meet and in serious talks to move to xcel right away or move on from the sport. After that experience, it’s hard to trust that there will be time for her to grow this season.

 

[Dahlialover]

I hope so. I’ve just literally never seen scores like this, even for 5, so it’s hard to stay calm and let things play out. She moved from a gym a while ago where a performance like her last one would have her immediately scratched from the next meet and in serious talks to move to xcel right away or move on from the sport. After that experience, it’s hard to trust that there will be time for her to grow this season.

I really think you should do everything in your power to relax and not get ahead of yourself here. I just took a look at one of the first meets of the season in our area and the median level 5 score was about 34 with several AA scores in the 20s. Perhaps your score expectations are a bit off, especially for early season?

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

I really think you should do everything in your power to relax and not get ahead of yourself here. I just took a look at one of the first meets of the season in our area and the median level 5 score was about 34 with several AA scores in the 20s. Perhaps your score expectations are a bit off, especially for early season?

For this last meet, she was in the 20s for AA and was 3rd to last in the entire session. The two after her did not do AA. I think she knew it would be a rough meet but was expecting 31/32, not what she ended up with. She’s struggled before but I think this was a bit of a shock.

 

[Dahlialover]

She wasn’t last! If she is omitting or balking skills due to mental blocks, you can’t hold that against her. That doesn’t mean that she is bad at gymnastics, it’s just a temporary obstacle like an injury. I really encourage you to become more sophisticated in how you look at her performance. The score does not tell the story. It’s a bad metric. Look at individual skills; was there improvement? Did she recover well from a setback in a routine? Is she being a good teammate? Is she keeping her chin up? Most of the long term value of gymnastics comes from the struggles. The goal is not to avoid struggles, the goal is to learn from them. This season is when you are actually getting your money’s worth out of this crazy sport!

I recommend that you seek out the services of a mindset coach. Check out the Perform Happy podcast and the host’s Instagram page. You can do a lot to support your daughter and help her turn this challenge into a valuable life experience.

 

[Anonymous (947a)]

2 meets in and level 5 has been bleh. I think at the beginning of the level 4 season I felt the same way, it's just this year there are more skills to get deducted on and it shows in the scores. The flexed feet and bent knees are killing my dd, but I don't think it's impacting her enough to really work on it . It is what it is.

 

[Anonymous (d777)]

What is her struggle to get in the 20s when bar is going well? Vault is the same.

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

What is her struggle to get in the 20s when bar is going well? Vault is the same.

I think you mean the 30s? I would be doing basketball signups or something right now if she was doing AA and not breaking 20. But yes, I initially had the same reaction about vault. Her vault is vastly improved from last year but it remains her weakest event, and she was a nervous mess by that rotation. So with tougher level 5 standards for that vault, a sweaty slip on her first block, it was a miracle she broke 8.0 with the second vault. I don’t think a single level 5 at this meet had a vault in the 9s.

 

[Anonymous (d03b)]

She wasn’t last! If she is omitting or balking skills due to mental blocks, you can’t hold that against her. That doesn’t mean that she is bad at gymnastics, it’s just a temporary obstacle like an injury. I really encourage you to become more sophisticated in how you look at her performance. The score does not tell the story. It’s a bad metric. Look at individual skills; was there improvement? Did she recover well from a setback in a routine? Is she being a good teammate? Is she keeping her chin up? Most of the long term value of gymnastics comes from the struggles. The goal is not to avoid struggles, the goal is to learn from them. This season is when you are actually getting your money’s worth out of this crazy sport!

I recommend that you seek out the services of a mindset coach. Check out the Perform Happy podcast and the host’s Instagram page. You can do a lot to support your daughter and help her turn this challenge into a valuable life experience.

Your reply is so generous and thoughtful. Thank you. I’ve seen your posts over the years and I needed your wisdom tonight. We are definitely getting our money’s worth this season. I need to stick to that point of view.