Women Newbie here

[Mrs_C]

Hi everyone, first post!

Bit about us...my 7 yr old DD started rec gym last year at non competitive club and enjoyed it. I decided to change to a nearby competitive club at the start of this year and straight away she was asked to do a trial session for Club Level 1 (I'm in Australia). She was offered a place and has competed in 2 regional comps, she did well and enjoyed all the hoo-haa.

So now her club as offered her a month trial to train in their National Development Squad level 2 and her training has increased from one 2.5 hr session to 9 hrs over 3 days. The days and times clash with my work commitments which are not flexible.

I'm laying here unable to sleep because I need to make a decision on whether or not to quit my permanent part time job and go casual (still at the same organisation) where I can control the days and hours more to suit DD's training. I know that the hours are only going to increase and days will be added down the track so flexibility on my part is important. Husband works full time and his hours are not flexible either so it will really be up to me.

I love that she seems to have a knack for gymnastics and that she enjoys it.

Questions I have are :
How have parents worked around their child's training? Have you sacrificed your career to fully support them?

Also how much has their gym career impacted on your family emotionally/financially/physically?

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Hello and welcome!

Noone can know your exact situation. You are correct that if she continues, the commitments are likely to increase. You are correct that there are sacrifices, but ones that many find are worth it.

I would not be in a position to quit my job. There is a level of risk for you that only you can know if you can live with. At DD's gym I don't know of anyone who has "quit" to accommodate their child, but there are people in all sorts of situations. We arrange car pooling, I take lunch at an odd hour and drive to the next City to pick up DD, drop her to gym, then back again some days. My parents both assist us, and the school has to let her out early most days. Had that been the case right from the start I likely would have balked, but this is our fifth year at it so I am used to it now.

Our family vacations revolve around meets as of this year. We don't have other children so are lucky, as I think it would be harder to accommodate, but at the same time DD has many friends with other siblings who are able to manage just fine.

I think in your gut you just have to know what you are or aren't willing to do. Would you regret it if after another year she decided she doesn't want to continue any more, and you'd given up your full time job? It is a real possibility you have to consider.

Hard choices to make - good luck.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Is this a decision you have to make now? I ask because 9 hrs over 3 days isn't a lot right now. Can you wait and keep earning (or saving) money to pay for the ride ahead--then quit further down the road if it comes to that?

 

[kayjaybe]

I guess it depends on what you mean to "go casual." If you are already working PT but it has fixed hours and you can change to have more flexible hours, then I would go for it. But you already said the job isn't flexible hours.

How dependent are you on your income?

For me, I would never quit my job for my child's activity. While I support my kids in what they do and would do a ton to make it all happen, quitting is just not realistic for our family.

 

[mouey77]

I am all about "going casual" and working part-time!! Regardless of gymnastics. Work makes me tired. In all seriousness, is there any way you could arrange carpool or at least the drop off part? It seems soon to arrange your work schedule around gymnastics just yet...

 

[kitkat]

This was a huge thing for us. I do not work in the town we live in and commute an hour each way. I was very very lucky that I had a super fantastic family that we have commuted with for the last 3 years. That family owns a business in town and has flexibly to drive the girls to gym and they are not good at night to pickup and night pickup works for me. To make matters more crazy - we switched gyms last year. So we live in one town, I work in the city and the girls train in another city. (now these cities are not too far apart) The other family moved gyms with us so it worked perfect. I could never ever do it without them. I would have had to move to a gym that we had other friends at.
Financial - I personally don't think that gymnastics compared to other competitive sports is overly expensive. Now that being said my daughter is training national this year so we are competing much more, in different cities where travel is involved so I think it will get more expensive as time goes on. My daughters dream is that she can travel international for gymnastics - and I financially and emotionally will support that 150%.
Physical/Emotional - emotional only at meets - I get soooo stressed out - but I have a gym BFF that is my right hand and she is fantastic at keeping me calm. Her daughter is going pre-national this year so I hope I will be able to pass on my emotional support to her. Physical - sure it gets tiring running them here or there, picking up from this friends or that friends - but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. I have two kids and my dh and I divide and conquer. My other daughter does snowboarding and drumming which my husband loves both. It works perfectly.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

For me it would depend on what club you are at, some clubs in your state have kids doing less hours at NDP2 with more success than some of those doing higher hours. Some high hour clubs are downright terrible, I would look into the success of your club before committing to those hours for that level.

 

[OzZee]

3 times a week x 3 hours for NDP 2 is pretty normal (unlike P_L I don't know what state you are in but that's the usual in nsw)

As for the sacrifice, it's hard to tell, it's personal, what your job means to you and the changes in hours will mean now and in the future, as a family what those changes mean, what it would mean in 6 months (12 months/ 2 years, 5 years, 10 years) if she quit.
I do a lot to support my kids in their chosen activities, but not outside of what I can support financially and physically. I wouldn't leave a job for my kids activities but if I could find something that suits the family as a whole better I would. (not meaning gymnastics, but schooling/before and after school care/activities/music/sport have all had a deciding factor in my working life.

As a 7 year old NDP 2 she is likely to be quite good, but in Australia there are major limitations to gymnastics, we have no college scholarships, unless in the IDP stream (does your club offer idp or are there local clubs that do? are you/she interested) no Olympic/Worlds etc dreams, but that doesn't limit the kids dreams and aims

Is your club easy about training times or is it Mon/Wed/Fri for team b etc, and that doesn't work for your family? Are there other local clubs that are more fluid on that?

 

[Mrs_C]

Thanks all for your replies, thoughts and advice. Currently I work 19 hrs over 2-2.5 days per week and I am permanent part time meaning my hours and days are not flexible. I could change my employment status to casual which means I don't have a set roster and can take or leave offered work as it comes. Im also contemplating on getting some night work just to make sure I have some income definitely coming in. My goal is to have some flexibility in my work hours so I can work around her training schedule.

Also can anyone that'a familiar with Australia's NDP tell me how regularly they test to go the next level up and what the norm is for staying within a level? And as mentioned DD is level 2, do they usually train over the summer holidays?

 

[OzZee]

I think most clubs move up at the end of the year/beginning of the new year after competition season finishes.
If competing I wouldn't think most clubs would test to move up throughout the year, usually kids would just compete the level for the year then move to the next one if ready for the next calendar year.
Depends on the club though and their policy on skipping levels etc.
At ndp 2 I think most clubs have holiday training on - it's not compulsory but encouraged. Most clubs shut for 2-3 weeks over Christmas/New Year going back around the 2nd week of January. But once again depends on the club. Some may close longer, some may have compulsory training.

From what you have said I would assume your child has been moved to the ndp 2 squad to train ndp2 to compete ndp 2 in 2014. So she has already been tested and done trial classes to see if she is ready for level 2 and therefore probably wouldn't be tested again.

 

[Mrs_C]

I think most clubs move up at the end of the year/beginning of the new year after competition season finishes.
If competing I wouldn't think most clubs would test to move up throughout the year, usually kids would just compete the level for the year then move to the next one if ready for the next calendar year.
Depends on the club though and their policy on skipping levels etc.
At ndp 2 I think most clubs have holiday training on - it's not compulsory but encouraged. Most clubs shut for 2-3 weeks over Christmas/New Year going back around the 2nd week of January. But once again depends on the club. Some may close longer, some may have compulsory training.

From what you have said I would assume your child has been moved to the ndp 2 squad to train ndp2 to compete ndp 2 in 2014. So she has already been tested and done trial classes to see if she is ready for level 2 and therefore probably wouldn't be tested again.

Thanks for that OzZee. Very helpful info.