A
Adelei
This may have been asked before, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
What do you consider to be "normal" or "ideal" practice amounts for compulsory gymnasts? And/or how many hours do the compulsory kids at your gym work out? Does anyone have confirmation that some gyms really do train level 4s insane amount of hours each week?
What leads me to ask is my level 4 team. Second year level 4s, that is. Who had all their level 5 skills months before last year's state championships, got 36-37 AAs at their meets last year and could easily be scoring 36-37s this year in level 5, working toward level 6/7 for next year. BUT (feel the irritation in my voice...) the gym I coach at and the state in which it's located are messed up (at least, in my opinion.) I've coached in 3 different states (3 different regions) and never come across this before. In order to win AA at states, the kids have to score 38s in most age groups. There is one gym that pretty much wins every compulsory level state championship each year. That could be attributed to several things - after winning for so many years, they've got "clout" and get higher scores just for wearing the leotard; the state judging director happens to own that gym; and rumors have it that the kids work out 18 hours at level 4. So in order to compete with them, my gym owner requires all the level 4s to do two years unless they win AA at states.
So, I'm aggravated that my super talented group of kids who could easily be level 7 next year will not even get to do level 5 until next year - and I'm curious if the kids at that gym (or any gyms like that) actually work out 18 hours at level 4. If so, obviously they're going to have an advantage over any team that works out what I consider to be a normal amount of hours.
I'm of the opinion that having perfect compulsory routines and winning states at level 4-6 is not as important as producing quality optional gymnasts. I have to spend so much time perfecting the routines (their skills are already perfect, for the most part, so we spend a lot of time making sure there are absolutely no text errors or anything of the sort) that I don't have as much time to work on higher level skills as I would like. Personally, I'd prefer to say "screw level 4-6, let that other gym win it, let's focus on basics and rock at levels 7-10", but the owner doesn't agree w/ me.
So after that long rant - do you think the rumors could be true? Could that gym be training 18 hours a week in level 4? (I'm not really talking about a small TOPs group or anything; they have a lot of gymnasts.) Or am I just crazy and everyone works out that much?
The 3 gyms I have coached at had/have the following hours for compulsories:
Level 4: 9 hours / Level 5: 12 hours / Level 6: 16 hours
Level 3/4: 7 hours / Level 4/5: 12 hours / Level 6: 12-15 hours
Level 4: 10.5 hours / Level 5: 12 hours / Level 6: 12-16 hours
What do you consider to be "normal" or "ideal" practice amounts for compulsory gymnasts? And/or how many hours do the compulsory kids at your gym work out? Does anyone have confirmation that some gyms really do train level 4s insane amount of hours each week?
What leads me to ask is my level 4 team. Second year level 4s, that is. Who had all their level 5 skills months before last year's state championships, got 36-37 AAs at their meets last year and could easily be scoring 36-37s this year in level 5, working toward level 6/7 for next year. BUT (feel the irritation in my voice...) the gym I coach at and the state in which it's located are messed up (at least, in my opinion.) I've coached in 3 different states (3 different regions) and never come across this before. In order to win AA at states, the kids have to score 38s in most age groups. There is one gym that pretty much wins every compulsory level state championship each year. That could be attributed to several things - after winning for so many years, they've got "clout" and get higher scores just for wearing the leotard; the state judging director happens to own that gym; and rumors have it that the kids work out 18 hours at level 4. So in order to compete with them, my gym owner requires all the level 4s to do two years unless they win AA at states.
So, I'm aggravated that my super talented group of kids who could easily be level 7 next year will not even get to do level 5 until next year - and I'm curious if the kids at that gym (or any gyms like that) actually work out 18 hours at level 4. If so, obviously they're going to have an advantage over any team that works out what I consider to be a normal amount of hours.
I'm of the opinion that having perfect compulsory routines and winning states at level 4-6 is not as important as producing quality optional gymnasts. I have to spend so much time perfecting the routines (their skills are already perfect, for the most part, so we spend a lot of time making sure there are absolutely no text errors or anything of the sort) that I don't have as much time to work on higher level skills as I would like. Personally, I'd prefer to say "screw level 4-6, let that other gym win it, let's focus on basics and rock at levels 7-10", but the owner doesn't agree w/ me.
So after that long rant - do you think the rumors could be true? Could that gym be training 18 hours a week in level 4? (I'm not really talking about a small TOPs group or anything; they have a lot of gymnasts.) Or am I just crazy and everyone works out that much?
The 3 gyms I have coached at had/have the following hours for compulsories:
Level 4: 9 hours / Level 5: 12 hours / Level 6: 16 hours
Level 3/4: 7 hours / Level 4/5: 12 hours / Level 6: 12-15 hours
Level 4: 10.5 hours / Level 5: 12 hours / Level 6: 12-16 hours