gracyomalley
Proud Parent
- Aug 5, 2013
- 944
- 1,347
This is a mirror of a thread on the WAG forum.
DS the elder is also a serious musician. He was accepted into a prestigious music festival for 5 weeks this summer, with a big scholarship. There's really no question that he will attend (we of course discussed that before the labor intensive application), but it will mean probably 6 weeks out of gym this summer, when combined with gym closures. His coach is aware and supportive, but also encouraging him to try for Level 9 next year, concentrating on his 4 strong events and "figuring out something" for the others.
DS is a mass of stress about everything right now, wants to stay in gym and wants to try to move up (he'll be a sophomore next year), but obviously gym will end in the somewhat near future and music will hopefully be for his lifetime. I want him to do what he wants to do with gym, but I also want him in the gym often enough to be safe and enjoy it - he was injured this year, and had to leave out tons of "almost there" skills mostly due to just not having enough training time. His coaches and team are all super supportive, but he doesn't really enjoy feeling like he should have done better...
He'll have to figure out how long he can manage this balance, and he's already paring down some of the extra music stuff he did this year that doesn't impact his learning/progression there, but was a major time and energy drain on him, as well as trying to balance his AP classes with a rest friendly schedule. I think that will allow him to be in the gym more and get more sleep next year, and we already agreed he needs to take it year by year. No plans for him to graduate or leave school early and head to conservatory as of yet....
He will have access to a college weight room and work out area while away this summer, and can do cardio also. He'll be super busy but the festival is long enough that I think he'll settle in after a couple weeks and workouts will be a good way to clear his head...after playing for 8-10 hours a day. Clearly there's always splits and flexibility to work on.
In the past he's missed 2-3 weeks and not really seemed to be much impacted, I think the weekly interruptions in practice have had more impact that the summer time off... their coaches train both fundamentals and drills for new skills all year round, and its a small enough team that level decisions aren't made based upon a certain date of the year, etc. I personally think he can still add lots to Level 8, if it comes down to that but really that part is totally up to him and his coach.
Any ideas of specifics he should or shouldn't do? His coach will give some advice, but will also probably try to keep it really low pressure as he knows how hard DS works at pretty much everything. Any one with teen boys who have missed like this and advice? Obviously we are not worried about college gym - someone in music someday soon is going to freak out about the risks he takes with his hands at gym! He won't even be "in age" for Nationals unless he does Level 10 before he quits, and there are almost no older L9s, so its not about "winning" anything much either. Just safety and being able to progress at his own pace/feel good about gymnastics.
DS the elder is also a serious musician. He was accepted into a prestigious music festival for 5 weeks this summer, with a big scholarship. There's really no question that he will attend (we of course discussed that before the labor intensive application), but it will mean probably 6 weeks out of gym this summer, when combined with gym closures. His coach is aware and supportive, but also encouraging him to try for Level 9 next year, concentrating on his 4 strong events and "figuring out something" for the others.
DS is a mass of stress about everything right now, wants to stay in gym and wants to try to move up (he'll be a sophomore next year), but obviously gym will end in the somewhat near future and music will hopefully be for his lifetime. I want him to do what he wants to do with gym, but I also want him in the gym often enough to be safe and enjoy it - he was injured this year, and had to leave out tons of "almost there" skills mostly due to just not having enough training time. His coaches and team are all super supportive, but he doesn't really enjoy feeling like he should have done better...
He'll have to figure out how long he can manage this balance, and he's already paring down some of the extra music stuff he did this year that doesn't impact his learning/progression there, but was a major time and energy drain on him, as well as trying to balance his AP classes with a rest friendly schedule. I think that will allow him to be in the gym more and get more sleep next year, and we already agreed he needs to take it year by year. No plans for him to graduate or leave school early and head to conservatory as of yet....
He will have access to a college weight room and work out area while away this summer, and can do cardio also. He'll be super busy but the festival is long enough that I think he'll settle in after a couple weeks and workouts will be a good way to clear his head...after playing for 8-10 hours a day. Clearly there's always splits and flexibility to work on.
In the past he's missed 2-3 weeks and not really seemed to be much impacted, I think the weekly interruptions in practice have had more impact that the summer time off... their coaches train both fundamentals and drills for new skills all year round, and its a small enough team that level decisions aren't made based upon a certain date of the year, etc. I personally think he can still add lots to Level 8, if it comes down to that but really that part is totally up to him and his coach.
Any ideas of specifics he should or shouldn't do? His coach will give some advice, but will also probably try to keep it really low pressure as he knows how hard DS works at pretty much everything. Any one with teen boys who have missed like this and advice? Obviously we are not worried about college gym - someone in music someday soon is going to freak out about the risks he takes with his hands at gym
! He won't even be "in age" for Nationals unless he does Level 10 before he quits, and there are almost no older L9s, so its not about "winning" anything much either. Just safety and being able to progress at his own pace/feel good about gymnastics.
