New Young/Little Level 4

[2gymmies]

My dd is a brand new Level 4 (moved up in June) and is doing awesome, and is entered in her first meet later this month. She still has not done her round off bhs on the floor and they are just now putting the routines together. I'm not sure her 6 year old brain can get the hang of all of this in 3 weeks! She has done her ro bhs on the resi by herself but not the floor and not in the routine. I'm not sure she has done the routine with music more than a couple times. She however is just overflowing with confidence! She has watched her older sister at meets for years and assumes she is going to do well just like her sister. She has already asked us all if she gets a ribbon, a medal or a trophy when she wins! I'm not really sure if I should prepare her for the possibility (very likely possibility) that she won't win! Also, any one with big sis/little sis issues where big sis has been successful and little sis isn't yet?!

DD is little tiny (40 in. or so and about 35 pounds) - she can actually salute under the beam in our gym! It is going to be darn cute, but it could be really ugly if you know what I mean! Any fun first meet stories of little ones?!

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

She is going to be adorable!!

You'd be surprised how quickly kiddos pick that stuff up - she's going to do just fine. Do you have the music that she can practice with at home? (you can buy it on the usag website). Even if all she's doing is visualizing the routine in her head to the music it will help with her timing.

I'm not sure how it works where you live, but her in northern California, they have the level 4's divided down into age groups (younger, middle a, middle b, older) and every gymnast gets an aa medal by age group so hopefully she will go home with at least one. We have been to a few really big meets where they give out event medals down to 17th place so you never know.

My little miss just started competing level 4 this year also and we will be at her fourth (next to last) meet this weekend. She's doing pretty well (finished 7th, 6th & 5th AA so far). We have a great new coach who tells the girls before every meet that scores and medals don't count - it's whether they did their best and if they did better than they did last time and that's all anyone could ask.

Good Luck to your little one!!

 

[Quadqueen]

Wow, your DD is tiny!! I'm sure she'll do great. That being said, if I were you, I might try to bring her expectations down a notch. Say something about how there might be a lot of girls in her age group and they're all working so hard...you never know who's going to win...as long as she tries her best, that's all you can ask, that kind of thing. I hate to "burst bubbles," but I look at it as a little dose of reality.

My DD, 8, who is a new L5 this year, still has a ways to go. Her bar routine needs a lot of work...she has her skills but not really cleanly and has trouble connecting everything. I have mentioned to her a few times that I'm very proud of her for being one of the few new L5s on her team that will compete bars at their first meet next weekend, but to understand she will probably not get the score she was used to getting in L4. She seemed okay with that. It also helped that one of her coaches, who is also a judge, scored her routine last weekend at open gym, and gave her a 7 something...made my DD realize she still has work to do!

Then again, your DD may do really well! Hope she has a great first meet.

 

[cher062]

soundls like the size my DD was at that age. She will get it don't worry. Definitly get her focusing on having fun over winning medals. Get her to foucs more on her own scores improving from one meet to the next. We have even now an index card note book (index cards on a spiral binder) and we write down the scores from one meet to the next so DD can see that she IS improving from one meet to the next . We still go for ice cream after meets that show improvement (which is all of them LOL). My DD is now 14 and still loves doing this.

 

[gymgurl]

Well I wish her good luck! and as for the sibling issue I do have some input.

On my team last year, there were 2 sisters who are two years apart in the same level and therefore compete against each other. Older Sister, has immaculate form on almost everything but struggles to learn skills and is plagued with fears (and has repeated level 5 for the 3rd year due to her fear) the Younger sister trains really hard and had more skills. She does not however have the form that older sister has and therefore gets more deductions (she still places very well, e.g. she placed top 10 in everything at state) but when older sister placed 3rd on bars at state and younger sister didn't medal she did get upset because she knows that she works harder and didn't get rewarded for that. But everything went well about 20mins after presentation and they get along really well

 

[Blackie6]

Awww she sounds adorable! Don't worry too much, the tiny ones can still get the job done! First meet story for us...my DD was also a 6 yr old L4 and probably not quite ready for the big show yet. She missed her first meet with her team because we had gone on vacation end of Summer not know DUH, that is when L4 season starts! And, then we had to go away for long weekend in Sept for a Fireman's convention. DD ended up going to a local meet with one other teamate to "catch up" and get her qualifying score for sectionals. Because we all kept calling it the catch up meet, to this day DD refers to it as the "Ketsup" meet! It was in a local HS gym and the bleachers were right by bars set up, literally about 2 feet away. We sat right down so happy we got such a great veiw! Even my parents and fellow teamates came to cheer her one! When she got to bars, that really wasn't such a good seat with my whole cheering section, camera, video camera, ect...all pointed at her less than 2 feet away. I have this "classic" on Youtube too & still watch it and LOL. So she falls off bars once, then twice, then looks at all of us and gets a fit of the giggles, as the judge looks down the end of her nose thru her glasses, she wasn't laughing and appeared to be a little angry DD was just giggling away the whole routine. She ended up with a 5.8 I think on bars, but it was still the best day ever & her smile when she got her little medal for participation was just all she needed. She's been hooked on gym ever since and is now a 10 yrs old L6/7

At 6, it is just all about the fun, the friends, getting comfy with a million eyeballs staring at you. My DD still is not fond of meets where the seating is close up. She does much better far away from distruction, and I sure learned my lesson that day and sometimes go to the farthest spot away when she is up....but I hope your DD has a GREAT first meet and you too take home a great day, good memor,y and maybe a funny story too!

 

[2gymmies]

Thanks everyone for the fun stories and words of advice and encouragement! It is definitely going to be memorable! I am smiling just thinking about it!

 

[lhmom]

DD started competing last season as a 6yr. Old. I remember thinking how tiny she was and wondered if the noisy crowd would make her anxious. When she did her floor routine, you could hear me on video, "talking her through it". She had been struggling a bit with her ROBHS the week before, so we were holding our breath as she went into it. She did it and she was so surprised, she almost forgot to do her ending pose, LOL. For most of last season, I know I was thrilled when she just remembered the routines. Good luck to your little one! Look forward to hearing how her season goes.

 

[MdGymMom01]

My dd started gymnastics at the ripe old age of 9 (she did All-Star cheer for the 3 years prior) so was a bit older than most Level 4's. But her team was made up of lots of girls her age so she fit right in! I am sure your dd will have loads of fun and her size shouldn't be too much of a problem--there will probably be lots of other girls her age and size competing and you will soon see that it all evens out in the end. Welcome to CB and enjoy your first meet season!!!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Just encourage her to go out there and have fun! I'm sure she will be adorable and have a blast! Does your state do places at level 4? Ours doesn't until level 6! They just started flashing scores for level 4 this year.

 

[2gymmies]

We do flash scores and give places but they give 100% all around awards so she is sure to get a medal as long as she competes all around and someone also told me they get achievement ribbons too. Her coach says its funny to watch her do her ro bhs because it is so fast. I like watching her vault because when she climbs down off the mat it comes up to her chin! I'm going to be excited if she remembers the routines and holds onto the bar (she tends to have trouble holding on during her stride circle)!

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Most kids who are doing level 4 for the first time are very young and very little, so I wouldn't worry about anything. At this point she's not going to understand much that goes on at the meet, so it's really just for practice and fun. A lot of little kids do badly (forget their routines, go the wrong direction, etc) but as long as she's safe it doesn't really matter. Nobody's first meet is very good.

 

[BlairBob]

I've had gymnasts go from ROBHS on t-trak or onto the resi off t-trak to floor in a week or less. Sometimes they just are ready but need to be taken aside and given a good spot on the floor.

Honestly, if they can already do it on the t-trak or onto the resi off a t-trak (generally this is easier to do than on the t-trak itself) they don't seem to have that much of a problem on the floor unless they are so weak of a tumbler that they rely on the t-trak to give them all of their bounce.

 

[2gymmies]

Great news!!! Little dd did her ro bhs on the floor 3 times and got to ring the bell for a new skill! She is so excited! BlairBob you were right - it was just over a week from the first time she did it by herself on the floor into the resi until she could do it on the floor! Thanks again for everything.

 

[Deanna]

WTG to your DD for getting that ROBHS on floor. My daughter had been having a few issues with that too. But has it more often than she doesnt now...lol. Our DDs sound very much alike. My DD is 6 (turned 6 in Aug) and is 42 inches and 36lbs. She will also be competeing as an L4.
I do know they break those groups up SOOOOO much (at least they do here until L5). They will have 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8, 9, 10-11, 12 and up. Broke up into groups. And sometimes they will have SEVERAL sessions of each level (mainly L4 and L5). They break it down so much that there ends up being about 10-15 in each age group. They give medals or trophies to the "top 3" and everyone else gets ribbons. They all seem to make sure that every girl gets something. (at least all the meets here they do)
They will probably build the mats up around the beam a little. Not alot..but they will put 6 or 8 inch mats around it. So the little ones can actually look over the beam to watch and wait for the judge to salute...lol
Im sure your DD will do fantastic. They learn so fast. Its mind blowing. And they all have a rougher start to the season than an end. You will be blown away by the improvements in her from her first meet to the last.
I agree with everyone else. Try to get her to focus on other things than placement. Maybe from meet to meet..raising one event score or AA score by a .05. Or nailing that ROBHS. Or the "dreaded" mill circle. Obtainable things.
Best of luck to your DD. And I cant wait to see how she does at her first meet coming up SOON.