M
msl529
Hi all,
I thought I'd check back & let you know how dd was doing, as she has been at her new 'gig' (T&T) for three weeks now.
She likes it! Enjoying the new/different skills, loving her coach. The gym is still very new (opened its doors in January), so they are still building up their programs. Hence, there are only a handful of T&T'ers at this time, and not everyone comes to every practice. Some days, dd is one of two or three kids.
T&T coach came from another gym nearby, and says some kids will be coming from his old gym soon. Hopefully, there will be some girls that dd can make friends w/. Having friends is a big peice of why she does an activity, and it really adds to her enjoyment of it. Wierd thing: T&T girls AND boys practice together, so wouldn't you know, one boy (her age) whom she practices w/ apparently already has a crush on her. Yikes.
Here's what I have gathered about T&T at her gym so far (and I may be wrong about a lot of it, it's quite different from artistic, and I only get what dd is feeding me, which is often incorrect!):
They do USAG T&T. I guess there are others 'leagues', maybe they even cross over, I don't know, it's still very confusing.
There are 3 events--Tramp, Mini-Tramp, & Power Tumbling. They can compete in any or all of the events, and can be at different levels on each event. I think that's kind of nice, b/c they can excel & move up in their favorite event and not be held back overall, if they are lagging in one event (as in artistic). She is working on L7/8 skills in power tumbling, working on a L7 tramp routine, and I am not sure what she is w/ mini-tramp. She thinks she may want to compete All-Around, and apparently to do that, you do have to be a the same level on all your three events. In other words, you can compete at separate levels on all three events, but you would not qualify for AA. If you want to get individual event AND AA awards, you have to be at all one level. I think!
It's nice to see her working hard, setting goals for herself, & looking forward to gym instead of dreading it.
I still have my doubts about whether or not she'll want to continue w/ it. Remember, I told her if she quit artistic, then THAT decision sticks for a year, no going back to that. But I will not make her commit to T&T just yet, as she is really still trying it out. There won't be any team fees/comittments for a while, as they don't start competing until January.
She recently started talking about volleyball, out of the blue, and I would love to see her join her school's team. But she doesn't want to, b/c then they are required to have 'athletics' as a course all year, which is like PE, and she doesn't want to do athletics when volleyball is not in season. So, I may explore 'Club', but I don't really want it to interfere just yet w/ her T&T (and neither does she), since she wants to give it a good, long try.
BUT, she did start complaining of ankle & wrist pain yesterday, for the first time in a long while, so if THAT becomes a problem for her, we may have to look into other sports. But we'll cross that bridge if & when we get to it, I tend to get way ahead of myself w/ the worries & the 'what ifs'!
As far as life without artistic gymnastics, she doen't miss it at all! And the artistic girls practice at the same time as T&T. It's hard for ME to watch her at practice sometimes, b/c I miss artistic, and the girls at this gym are looking beautifully trained. I try not to think about what a great season she might have had next year doing artistic w/ this gym, had she stuck w/ it. I can't go there, it wasn't meant to be! So that's a bit of a challenge for me. But she's fine & happy, which is all good.
Thanks for listening to my long, boring story. If you are still w/ me at this point, then you get a medal!
I thought I'd check back & let you know how dd was doing, as she has been at her new 'gig' (T&T) for three weeks now.
She likes it! Enjoying the new/different skills, loving her coach. The gym is still very new (opened its doors in January), so they are still building up their programs. Hence, there are only a handful of T&T'ers at this time, and not everyone comes to every practice. Some days, dd is one of two or three kids.
T&T coach came from another gym nearby, and says some kids will be coming from his old gym soon. Hopefully, there will be some girls that dd can make friends w/. Having friends is a big peice of why she does an activity, and it really adds to her enjoyment of it. Wierd thing: T&T girls AND boys practice together, so wouldn't you know, one boy (her age) whom she practices w/ apparently already has a crush on her. Yikes.
Here's what I have gathered about T&T at her gym so far (and I may be wrong about a lot of it, it's quite different from artistic, and I only get what dd is feeding me, which is often incorrect!):
They do USAG T&T. I guess there are others 'leagues', maybe they even cross over, I don't know, it's still very confusing.
There are 3 events--Tramp, Mini-Tramp, & Power Tumbling. They can compete in any or all of the events, and can be at different levels on each event. I think that's kind of nice, b/c they can excel & move up in their favorite event and not be held back overall, if they are lagging in one event (as in artistic). She is working on L7/8 skills in power tumbling, working on a L7 tramp routine, and I am not sure what she is w/ mini-tramp. She thinks she may want to compete All-Around, and apparently to do that, you do have to be a the same level on all your three events. In other words, you can compete at separate levels on all three events, but you would not qualify for AA. If you want to get individual event AND AA awards, you have to be at all one level. I think!
It's nice to see her working hard, setting goals for herself, & looking forward to gym instead of dreading it.
I still have my doubts about whether or not she'll want to continue w/ it. Remember, I told her if she quit artistic, then THAT decision sticks for a year, no going back to that. But I will not make her commit to T&T just yet, as she is really still trying it out. There won't be any team fees/comittments for a while, as they don't start competing until January.
She recently started talking about volleyball, out of the blue, and I would love to see her join her school's team. But she doesn't want to, b/c then they are required to have 'athletics' as a course all year, which is like PE, and she doesn't want to do athletics when volleyball is not in season. So, I may explore 'Club', but I don't really want it to interfere just yet w/ her T&T (and neither does she), since she wants to give it a good, long try.
BUT, she did start complaining of ankle & wrist pain yesterday, for the first time in a long while, so if THAT becomes a problem for her, we may have to look into other sports. But we'll cross that bridge if & when we get to it, I tend to get way ahead of myself w/ the worries & the 'what ifs'!
As far as life without artistic gymnastics, she doen't miss it at all! And the artistic girls practice at the same time as T&T. It's hard for ME to watch her at practice sometimes, b/c I miss artistic, and the girls at this gym are looking beautifully trained. I try not to think about what a great season she might have had next year doing artistic w/ this gym, had she stuck w/ it. I can't go there, it wasn't meant to be! So that's a bit of a challenge for me. But she's fine & happy, which is all good.
Thanks for listening to my long, boring story. If you are still w/ me at this point, then you get a medal!
I'm glad to hear she seams to be enjoying it so far and doesn't have any regrets. I totally know how you feel about watching the artistic gymnasts. I think I am finally past that (yes it does take us a lot longer to move on than them) - but every once and a while I still let my wander over into the what if area.
! I hope it becomes more social for her as more kids join. This is a tough age...I wouldn't want to be 13 again
! Good luck to your DD!!! So happy she's at a good gym with GOOD COACHES!!! The important thing is she's having fun & setting new goals. Please continue to keep us posted! Best wishes to you both
