Little Big Shots

[IreneKa]

Watched an episode of this TV show for the first time ever last night, just because couldn't find anything better to watch. There was this "gymnastics champion" boy Joshua.
Of course I had to look him up on meetscoresonline. It is true that he is a JO National champion, in fact two year in a row. But if he is so great, why has he been at level 8 for 3 years? Just curious.

http://2paragraphs.com/2017/06/gymnast-joshua-14-on-little-big-shots-headed-to-the-olympics/

 

[MyBoysFlip]

Boys are limited by their age. They are not allowed to move to L9 until the year they are competing as a 13 YO. He was allowed to compete L8 as a 10 yo because he did well at Future Stars and - so 10, 11, 12 - that was his three years at L8. The routines on the show were not nearly as hard has what he does in meets!!

 

[profmom]

Yeah, he is truly exceptional. And a very nice kid to boot. In his first year at L8, one of my son's teammates rotated with him at a meet. He was quite mature and even though he is super awesome, said some really nice things to DS's teammate about his vault (along the lines of "I wish I could vault like that!" or the like).

But the linked story is strange. He's not 14. Won't be until next year. He's in our region and used to be in my son's age group for JO/JE and Future Stars; he was one of the guys who didn't get age bumped because of when his birthday falls.

 

[IreneKa]

Boys are limited by their age. They are not allowed to move to L9 until the year they are competing as a 13 YO. He was allowed to compete L8 as a 10 yo because he did well at Future Stars and - so 10, 11, 12 - that was his three years at L8. The routines on the show were not nearly as hard has what he does in meets!!

Thanks! I thought it must be something like that. The boy has won every single meet in the last two years. Just seems unfair to other L8s in his age group.

 

[MyBoysFlip]

We don't care - he is fun to watch!

 

[profmom]

I feel fortunate -- at meets in the last two years, we have seen him, this year's AA JE L9 winner, and AA JE L9 third place guy (that guy on pbars -- just . . . wow). It's great to see them doing their thing. I am also so pleased that men's gym got the exposure!

 

[strawberries]

Oh wow! He is an absolute joy to watch!

 

[MAmom]

Thanks for sharing this. What amazing routines and so good to hear that he is supportive of other athletes too.

 

[Low-Bar]

If you have a son aged 11-14 doing gymnastics then you already know that Steve Harvey was the last to be informed that the subject of this thread is the real deal. As everyone has already noted, great athlete, humble competitor and tremendous person. Our son is his level/age in same region and I think its awesome to have athletes like that for the boys to chase after. If I had a dime for every time my son put an Iphone in front of me and said, "Look ## is working his______...... I think he's going to compete it at_____" And what makes MAG truly special, and the reason we have let our son go all in on the sport, is because when this Little Big Shot (I hate the title of Harvey's show) is at a Dev Camp with our boys or rotating with them at competitions, ALL THE BOYS are rooting FOR HIM, not AGAINST HIM. They want him to catch his Tkachev on HB and land his Double Front dismount on PB, etc. And he returns the favor for everyone else because they know how tough the sport is and how much they love it. Glad to see that a young male gymnast got recognized on TV, but the skills on the show (likely limited by liability issues) don't do justice to what amazing athletes they are....the future is bright for USAG MAG. Just check out how the young US male competitors did at the International Junior Team Cup in Berlin this past April.

 

[sce]

It is true that he is a JO National champion, in fact two year in a row. But if he is so great, why has he been at level 8 for 3 years? Just curious ]

The answer, because he is amazing and got to that level very early.

More answer: Boys and girls gymnastics are different in many ways. One of them is with ages and levels. He is young and has lots of years to go in this sport. Excited to see what he will accomplish in the future.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

To hijack this thread, don't you think this Will put more pressure on him? At 13, the whole nation knows he is heading to the olympics. They might be counting on him. I think he Will also be putting pressure on himself, because he was on tv so he should be able to do xyz...

 

[LindyHopper]

To hijack this thread, don't you think this Will put more pressure on him? At 13, the whole nation knows he is heading to the olympics. They might be counting on him. I think he Will also be putting pressure on himself, because he was on tv so he should be able to do xyz...

That's an interesting thought.

With what everyone says about how humble and encouraging and grounded he is, at 13, it's possible that he wanted to do this as a way to draw attention to the sport and inspire other boys to get involved.

If more boys get involved, he could actually be taking pressure off himself, because there would be others to count on.

 

[gymmomx2]

Wow, he's amazing! his routines are more like L9 or L10 routines though, even if he's officially competing L8? I mean he's doing giants to handstand on rings and a Diamidov on p-bars

 

[Sasha]

ALL THE BOYS are rooting FOR HIM, not AGAINST HIM. They want him to catch his Tkachev on HB and land his Double Front dismount on PB, etc. And he returns the favor for everyone else because they know how tough the sport is and how much they love it.

This is so true, and so key! Love the team spirit in MAG, even when you are in direct competition.

 

[profmom]

Wow, he's amazing! his routines are more like L9 or L10 routines though, even if he's officially competing L8? I mean he's doing giants to handstand on rings and a Diamidov on p-bars

But keep in mind that there aren't many limits on what the boys can do. There's a pretty typical range of skills one would see at L8 and L9 that's somewhat lower than the range seen at L10, but there are some significant outliers. (Even at L9, you're not going to see many diams or Tippelts on pbars, and plenty of guys don't have ring giants yet.) For the most part, if a boy has a clean D or E, he can compete it at L8, L9, or L10. It's just kind of funny to watch L9 floor, where you see guys doing all kinds of crazy stuff but then dismounting with a layout, because a B is all they need to get the stick bonus.

 

[jenjean70]

Watched an episode of this TV show for the first time ever last night, just because couldn't find anything better to watch. There was this "gymnastics champion" boy Joshua.
Of course I had to look him up on meetscoresonline. It is true that he is a JO National champion, in fact two year in a row. But if he is so great, why has he been at level 8 for 3 years? Just curious.

http://2paragraphs.com/2017/06/gymnast-joshua-14-on-little-big-shots-headed-to-the-olympics/

I've watched him on YouTube since he was 6! He is a year ahead of my son and such an incredible gymnast! I got to see him at HNI a couple of years ago. Wow! Just WOW!

 

[jenjean70]

Wow, he's amazing! his routines are more like L9 or L10 routines though, even if he's officially competing L8? I mean he's doing giants to handstand on rings and a Diamidov on p-bars

Don't forget the tkatchev on high bar and the double arabian on floor! Incredible!!!!

 

[profmom]

He was recently at a clinic with my guy. He is working all kinds of crazy upgrades.

 

[jenjean70]

He was recently at a clinic with my guy. He is working all kinds of crazy upgrades.

I can't wait to see his videos this year, although his mom doesn't put up as many as she did when he was younger. Hopefully I'll get to see him at HNI this year.