Parents Picking Up

[Gymnast2017]

Hi,

I had a chat today with my daughter’s Head coach, who has a group of kids who are considered the best in the club. My daughter has always performed within the top three of her group at comps and is pretty consistent. When I asked about potential to move up, she said that my daughter picks up slower than others. She often has to be told something several times, that others get first time. My daughter turned 8 last week, and struggles with ADHD. I didn’t tell the coach, as it seemed pointless and I didn’t want to be one of those parents that “uses it as an excuse”. When I mentioned how well my daughter does at comps, the coach said there’s nothing worse than a kid that doesn’t do things well in the gym but can turn it out for a comp. I do totally agree with the coach, my daughter picks things up slower and therefore has to work much harder at home and at gym. But this is part of who she is and is unlikely to change. It seems unfair, as kids are all different. Any advice appreciated, my daughter is feeling a bit deflated, like no matter how hard she works or well she does it will probably not be enough. Not all kids can be in the top group and that is totally fair, but when the results display one thing and her ability to pick up says another, I’m not sure what the point is in all the extra effort!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

ADHD coach here.

To me, how well a kid does in competition is not even a factor I consider. How they do at practice is what matters.

Sorry, I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but meets are developmentally irrelevant.

 

[Gymnast2017]

ADHD coach here.

To me, how well a kid does in competition is not even a factor I consider. How they do at practice is what matters.

Sorry, I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but meets are developmentally irrelevant.

So if she doesn’t have the natural ability to pick up quickly, there’s not much point in the extra work at home? Seems backwards, she puts in 100% effort but it just takes her longer to understand. It seem unfair that goes against her when the end result is always as it should be?

 

[Coach Kate]

I actually would find it helpful for you to share that she has ADHD and any strategies you know of that could help her. When coaches are putting together training groups, they are definitely considering learning styles and how the group will fit together. If there are things the coach can be doing to support her in her training, it's always good to know that.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

So if she doesn’t have the natural ability to pick up quickly, there’s not much point in the extra work at home?

Not at all what I meant, sorry if I wasn't clear.

Deciding levels means deciding what skills we're going to be working on. That decision is based entirely on what I see consistently in practice.

Which, I know, is super-frustrating for a young, low-level, ADHD kid. The unfortunate truth of this sport is that the boring stuff is the most important and has to come first, and the unfortunate truth about ADHD is that those of us who have it have a really hard time doing boring things consistently. But safe progression requires consistency.

New skills can be dangerous; if she has a bad crash, her most recent meet placement won't un-injure her. Injuries don't care about fairness, or about meet placement, or about what a kid can occasionally do on a really good day. Safe skill development relies on consistency.

Regarding at-home work: she should only do it only when and if she feels like it, and it should be focused primarily (or better yet, exclusively) on strength, flexibility, and handstand basics. I actively recommend against working anything past handstand basics (holds, presses, pirouettes, rolls) at home.

 

[Gymnast2017]

Not at all what I meant, sorry if I wasn't clear.

Deciding levels means deciding what skills we're going to be working on. That decision is based entirely on what I see consistently in practice.

Which, I know, is super-frustrating for a young, low-level, ADHD kid. The unfortunate truth of this sport is that the boring stuff is the most important and has to come first, and the unfortunate truth about ADHD is that those of us who have it have a really hard time doing boring things consistently. But safe progression requires consistency.

New skills can be dangerous; if she has a bad crash, her most recent meet placement won't un-injure her. Injuries don't care about fairness, or about meet placement, or about what a kid can occasionally do on a really good day. Safe skill development relies on consistency.

Regarding at-home work: she should only do it only when and if she feels like it, and it should be focused primarily (or better yet, exclusively) on strength, flexibility, and handstand basics. I actively recommend against working anything past handstand basics (holds, presses, pirouettes, rolls) at home.

That’s all really fair. She has great basics oddly enough, it’s when the skills change that she struggles to adapt. For example she’s been told today she needs to do a ‘T’ with her hands on beam for a cartwheel, so she’ll do that… when she is then given the next instruction, “look under your armpit”, she went again and did so, but forgot the ‘T’ with her hands. It’s the working memory holding onto all the different corrections for a skill all at once. The faster the skill, the harder she finds it. Once she then gets one right, she’ll get another ten wrong before getting the second right. However once she has learnt it, it is solid and looks great. Better than the kids who’s got it quicker in the beginning, hence the scoring at comps. It just feels a shame, the coach says she doesn’t have time to remind her more than once but the nature of my daughter is she will probably always need that. If an impartial person came into the gym they’d pick her out as one of the better kids from practice, but if they all got given a new skill that day she’d be the last to get it every time. All of the kids have flaws, but it seems only my daughter has one that’s a non-starter!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

That’s all really fair. She has great basics oddly enough, it’s when the skills change that she struggles to adapt. For example she’s been told today she needs to do a ‘T’ with her hands on beam for a cartwheel, so she’ll do that… when she is then given the next instruction, “look under your armpit”, she went again and did so, but forgot the ‘T’ with her hands. It’s the working memory holding onto all the different corrections for a skill all at once. The faster the skill, the harder she finds it. Once she then gets one right, she’ll get another ten wrong before getting the second right. However once she has learnt it, it is solid and looks great. Better than the kids who’s got it quicker in the beginning, hence the scoring at comps. It just feels a shame, the coach says she doesn’t have time to remind her more than once but the nature of my daughter is she will probably always need that. If an impartial person came into the gym they’d pick her out as one of the better kids from practice, but if they all got given a new skill that day she’d be the last to get it every time. All of the kids have flaws, but it seems only my daughter has one that’s a non-starter!

I think "non-starter" is an exaggeration. I think it's pretty common for ADHD kids struggle learning basics, and then excel once they reach the upper levels. The learning curve tends to be exponential, not linear, even more with ADHD kids than with neurotypical kids.

There's two reasons for this, I think:
1) Once the basics* are hard coded into muscle memory, there's an infinite supply of new and different and interesting ways they can be combined into advanced skills. At the top level, the entire sport is little more than an ADHD playground, with an effectively infinite supply of new and thrilling things to try.
2) As the levels get higher, the groups thin out, and each kid gets more individual attention.

*by "basic," I don't mean "easy." When I say basics, what I mean is the components that can be used to safely build big advanced skills. If we're looking at level 10/collegiate gymnastics as a frame of reference, then anything up to about level 9ish is still basics. A double back, for example, is still a basic skill because it is an essential component of a lot of other skills.

I don't know of any reliable statistics about what percentage of elite gymnasts are diagnosably ADHD, but I'd be shocked if it's less than 50%. Probably even higher among coaches.

 

[Gymnast2017]

I think "non-starter" is an exaggeration. I think it's pretty common for ADHD kids struggle learning basics, and then excel once they reach the upper levels. The learning curve tends to be exponential, not linear, even more with ADHD kids than with neurotypical kids.

There's two reasons for this, I think:
1) Once the basics* are hard coded into muscle memory, there's an infinite supply of new and different and interesting ways they can be combined into advanced skills. At the top level, the entire sport is little more than an ADHD playground, with an effectively infinite supply of new and thrilling things to try.
2) As the levels get higher, the groups thin out, and each kid gets more individual attention.

*by "basic," I don't mean "easy." When I say basics, what I mean is the components that can be used to safely build big advanced skills. If we're looking at level 10/collegiate gymnastics as a frame of reference, then anything up to about level 8ish is still basics. A double back, for example, is still a basic skill because it is an essential component of a lot of other skills.

I don't know of any actual statistics about what percentage of elite gymnasts are diagnosably ADHD, but I'd be shocked if it's less than 50%. Probably even higher among coaches.

That’s interesting to hear. I used the term non-starter because her coach has point blank said she will not consider her for the top group unless she picks up much quicker, whereas the other kids (some not flexible, others with bad habits, poor strength) she thinks she can work with even through that flaw, but not a lack of ability to pick up quickly.

I wonder what her potential will be if she can get there, but unfortunately at the gym the children not in top group tend not to be entered. I don’t think she’d continue to put all the extra effort in if she knew she wasn’t be entered