So my dd has had a very successful optional career prior to a mediocre compulsory one. Her mediocraty clearly a function of being a part of a more recreational program and busying herself with other activities such as dance, theator, and competive cheer. I enjoyed her compulsory years but admit I was probably a bit overinvolved as I learned the ups and downs of the sport. We changed gyms to give her a competitive optional experience after finishing a year of lvl 4 cheer and travel which proved overwhelming and fraught with injury. Figuring she could always go back to cheer, we focused our attention on finding her an optional experience which would logisitically work with the family and one which was not only successful but with peers her age. To our surprise and pleasure she thrived for 2 years winning states both years in lvl 7 and 8. She had all her lvl 9 skills and competed one meet this year, when she suffered a slow onset concussion. This took her out of everything and took much too long to heal, but also brought on severe reactions to the pressure she had been feeling at the optional gym. So decision time, stay with the sport or shift focus. Decision time, stay at the optional gym or try somewhere new. Well since much of her angst came from the intensity of focus and lack of time to develop friendships, we set our sites on yet another gym. She was not willing to step back to a more recreational program closer to home, but wanted to follow fellow gymnasts further from home to the largest lvl 9/10 program in the state. Not necessarily the most successful one, but one with success and numbers and an hour away! So I am looking for feedback on when enough is enough. The hours are reduced, one less per practice and they finish earlier and with a carpool, this is somewhat reasonable from a logisitical point of view. However I do not like being so dependant on the carpool and the craziness of the flexible schedule. Right now we are only going 3x per week as she is just getting her strength back. She wants to also join a school team which will make it difficult to do much more than 3 or 4 days practice. With this schedule (12 hrs vs 22) I am not even sure she can regain her lvl 9 skills to compete and debate whether i should allow her to slowly ease in or to encourage her to completely return. With college recruiting just 2 years away, I feel like this is a critical point in her career. Can she waffle around for another year, and ever hope to get serious enough as a 9th grader to pursue college gymnastics? During the recovery I contended that she should not make decisions about her gymnastics from a place of illness but rather to recover and strengthen before rendering a decison.... now she is her prior pre-optional happy self, and getting skills back every day. Thanks for your advice!