Parents Pre team hours

[Ex member]

My dd and I are new to the world of pre team / development classes and dd goes once a week for 2 1/2 hours, her session involves conditioning at the beginning and end of session and learning skills etc. Dd tried her best at what was asked of her and kept up with the other girls. My dd has just turned 7 and the other girls are 8 and 9, there are in her group as far as I know and usually 2 coaches.

My dd has come from 2 years in rec where she did not conditioning or strength work and it shows in her new class, she needs a lot of work in both strength (cannot do a chin up on her own yet) and flexibility (can only just about do the splits with left leg in front).

Will this class help her improve these areas given that most of the girls have being in this group for at least a year?

 

[Flossyduck]

Yes, in a word. Doing the higher level class, with conditioning and more intense training (smaller group etc) will of course help.

But if she is only going once a week there is a limit to how much it will help. It sounds slightly strange to do two and a half hours once a week rather than maybe an hour and a half or two hours twice a week, but they all do things differently.

If she wants to build up her strength more quickly she can do chin ups at home, handstand holds against a wall, leg lifts.

My dd was in this position. She went straight from rec to team and was the only one of the five in her group who couldn't chin up because they'd all come up through their development system and worked on them before. She practiced each morning before school and had a chin up after about a couple of weeks max. We had to do the same for straddle presses. dd was desperate to catch up and hated being 'behind' so it was driven by her and worked quite quickly. It would have taken longer if she'd only done the gym session and she was going five times a week.

Ask the coach if your dd needs to do anything at home to build up strength or if they think it will be enough for what they will be working on.

 

[Sasha]

The hours do seem a little low. Our pre-team is 6 hours a week (3 hours, 2x week). The pre-pre-team (developmental) is 4 hours a week (2 hours 2x week).

My daughter also did not come through the developmental system (went right to pre-team from a short rec stint), though she has natural strength, but still does work at home on strength and flexibility (her nemesis).

She does pull-ups pretty much every day on the playground bars, and plenty of ab work at home. She also runs. I don't make her do these things! I have learned quickly to avoid playing coach! Though I definitely support it with praise for her dedication

I think it's common for girls to work on some strength and flexibility at home, especially if gym hours are light. Maybe ask the coach to give some home exercises so it's more official if she isn't naturally doing them on her own in her play time at home?

She'll definitely need to increase strength in arms, shoulders, and core for L3 stuff.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

She is 7 so will begin competing next year, I would expect her to be doing at least twice a week if she is in a competitive stream for want of a better term, however it will take a while for her to build up her strength. Our advanced rec girls all go twice a week, and team minimum of 3 times.

 

[vbbf]

At our gym the 7 year olds doing grade 14 next year train around 6 hours a week, 2hours three times a week. The 4 year olds do 3 hours a week, 1 and a half hours twice a wk. 2 and a half hours does seem low for a 7 year old if she is planning to compete next year.

 

[Faith]

At our old gym the first group after rec was a 3 hour once a week session. I always put it down to being a small gym, so they only ever had one group in at a time (besides rec).

Basically that squad was only temporary, while you were evaluated- see how easily the child picks up skills, follows instructions, whether strength and flexibility improves. So it was mainly basic shapes- dish, arch, bridge, splits, handstands, and conditioning. Then after a while you got moved to whichever group you were best suited to.

She will improve more quickly if she does some flexibility and conditioning at home, but to be honest I'd leave the gym in the gym. Especially if you're not a coach- likelihood is you'll teach it wrong. You're better to go to the park and swing on the bars and climb up stuff there.

 

[Ex member]

At our old gym the first group after rec was a 3 hour once a week session. I always put it down to being a small gym, so they only ever had one group in at a time (besides rec).

Basically that squad was only temporary, while you were evaluated- see how easily the child picks up skills, follows instructions, whether strength and flexibility improves. So it was mainly basic shapes- dish, arch, bridge, splits, handstands, and conditioning. Then after a while you got moved to whichever group you were best suited to.

She will improve more quickly if she does some flexibility and conditioning at home, but to be honest I'd leave the gym in the gym. Especially if you're not a coach- likelihood is you'll teach it wrong. You're better to go to the park and swing on the bars and climb up stuff there.

I completely agree with the sentiment of leaving the gym in the gym, I do not fancy butting horns with dd by getting her to condition at home unless it is required.

The school my dd goes to has playground equipment with bars to swing on - I will let her do that before and after school as much as she likes (she enjoys playing on them - they are like boat masts with poles sticking out either side to swing on).

I am still unsure what sort of class dd is in, she is in a group of 5 and my dd and one other girl goes once a week for the time being whilst on a trial period, the other 3 girls in the group go between 2-3 times a week and one of them at least is getting ready to do grade 14 (I saw her practice the range and conditioning stuff that I have seen on You tube). I will talk to the coach who invited dd and the other new girl up to this class (this coach wasn't there when my dd and the other girl started) and see if I can get any more information. At the moment I am more than happy that dd is doing more structured stuff with conditioning, she coped with it very well and was very happy to do it. The coach that dd had didn't say anything at the end of session but dd did come out with a invitation letter to a fundraising event that is happening in a few weeks time that all the competitive gymnasts are encouraged to attend. If they weren't happy with how dd was doing during the session then I guess they would have told me there and then and she also won't have got invited to the fundraising event as rec have their own fundraising stuff.

The head coach was around at the end of dd's session and I asked him in passing if dd was supposed to do any more sessions and he said not for the time being and I also asked about my dd's rec sessions and he said not to do those any more.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Then I would look at maybe increasing to twice a week after Christmas as a good progression. Once she gets used to the atmosphere and increased workload. She should be looking at Grade 14 next year if she has all the skills.

 

[gymdog]

If she doesn't have a pull up or pullover, I would definitely take her to the playground every day to let her increase her upper body strength. Those would be requirements to move out of once a week rec here. It sounds like due to size and age she could get it pretty fast.