Parents Progress reports - Please share

[NGL780309]

I love to hear how everyone's kids are doing in their progression toward the coming season, especially those that have a season starting very soon. So if you don't mind sharing, tell us when your DD/DS season starts, what level they are hoping to compete and how they are doing.

I'll start. DD's season starts in August (I'm nervous already just thinking about it). She will be competing Level 4. She hasn't done any level 4 stuff since March so I have no clue what she looks like or if she even remembers the routines! I know she can do all of it though since she already competed successfully in this level. I have some dread that she won't be able to do her mill circle anymore. I hope they'll start letting her do some routines soon. I look over at the Level 4's practicing routines and they look so good and polished already.

She'll start competing Level 5 in January after her 7th birthday so I'll update on that since I have nothing to say about Level 4.

Vault is still an issue. She makes it over with a spot for the last half of the vault, which is an improvement since she used to need help to get on and off. I'm not sure that she actually improved, but the coach finally lowered the table for her.

Bars is coming along nicely. She only has a real issue with jumping to the high bar. She does the low bar portion and the high bar portion, but never connected. Instead of jumping from the low bar she jumps from a block that is closer. She can jump directly from her squat on and kip on the high bar, but only on the set of bars that they don't use for routines. It's much closer together.

Beam looks great. She falls sometimes on her cartwheel, but not too often.

Floor, she still doesn't know the whole routine put together yet, just parts. Her FHS is not great, but improved. Her dive roll has it's moments.

She did get to demonstrate the level 4 vault for the new level 4's the other day and wow it looked great. She always struggled with vault in level 4. It took her a long time to get rid of her pike and while her vault eventually looked pretty form wise, it never was powerful. Now she actually blocks and flies, which I think isn't required in level 4. I guess after these months of working Level 5, level 4 vault is really easy for her.

Okay, that's the end of my novel. Please share!

 

[Bella's Mom]

Bella's competition season starts in October (first meet) but team training starts in August (I recently found out LOL). She hopes to compete L4.

She has her bar routine down. Occasionally misses her shoot through but has her FHC and mill circle consistently. She rocks the dismount!

Her floor routine lacks front splits and her ROBHS is still being spotted until she gains a bit more confidence. She also has some work to do in presentation especially with her hands.

Her vault is fine and her coach says it is her strongest event.

Beam is a struggle always because it forces her to slow down and not rely on power so much. She is still learning the order of the routine but has all the skills. Needs a confidence spot on the dismount still.

I don't know if she will compete L4 or not. As you can see she has a few confidence problems and one skill issue. She is also struggling with maturity issues at practice.

 

[cathiann]

Beth's season just ended a few weeks ago--they start in January (possibly might have a meet in December--coaches are still discussing that). She wants to repeat level 9 again--she wants to really do well and make it to Westerns. Her coaches have said they'd be happy if she wanted to move to level 10, but are okay with her repeating 9. She is working on her BHS, back layout stepout on beam. She has it on the high beam now and says she can do it pretty reliably. On floor she's working her double back and some front twisting (can't remember what she calls it!). Vault is a hand-front, I think. And she's working top changes on bars and getting her shoot over closer to handstand.

 

[Bella's Mom]

Beth's season just ended a few weeks ago--they start in January (possibly might have a meet in December--coaches are still discussing that). She wants to repeat level 9 again--she wants to really do well and make it to Westerns. Her coaches have said they'd be happy if she wanted to move to level 10, but are okay with her repeating 9. She is working on her BHS, back layout stepout on beam. She has it on the high beam now and says she can do it pretty reliably. On floor she's working her double back and some front twisting (can't remember what she calls it!). Vault is a hand-front, I think. And she's working top changes on bars and getting her shoot over closer to handstand.

So what happens if she puts L10 level skills in her L9 routine? Bonus points? Surely not deductions? It sounds like a really smart idea to want to stay at L9 and achieve a higher goal, especially since she can still work L10 skills as well.

 

[lilgymmie7]

I like hearing how other gymmies are doing as well!
It is not certain what DD will compete next season. She turned 7 in January and started competing on her birthday. Since moving to the new gym, she has been going 'gang buster'. HC did tell me that after State they would introduce new skills and see how she handles it. There really was no mention of level, etc. He admitted that she needed cleaning up, but that her skill level was elevated beyond her poise, etc. They have really 'cleaned' her up greatly! She looks so gracefull!!
On floor, DD has always been able to tumble. She can do the level 6 tumbling and is working on layouts which she does pretty well. Her lines are pretty good for someone so young. She was working on HS FT yesterday and she looked so funny flying through the air. Coach really chuckled, but worked one on one with her. She is also working on her standing back tuck. With all of her spunk I would have thought that would be easy. She is still landing on her knees somewhat. She actually lands on feet and then her knees. HC keeps prompting her to give it a try and tells her he knows she can do it. She will get it no doubt. It will be a big surprise for her and she will say, "Man, this is easy!"
On beam, she is perfecting the level 5 skills- they look REALLY nice now. She recently got the BW on high beam with an elevated leg, and is working on the FF on low beam. I asked just yesterday if she was ready to move to high beam and all she said was "Mom!" Signal to "Back-off"! Point taken! I wonder if she showed them her front walk over. She does that really well too. Her leaps are also improving. This gym is very detail minded. I love that!!
On vault, I haven't seen vault because I rarely stay. Watching isn't encouraged. The last two days I have been sick so if I sit I have vegetated. That is how I have witnessed a few of her skills on beam, bars and floor. When it cam time for vault, I ran out quickly. It seems that with her 'spunk' it comes somewhat easy even though she is quite tiny. She told me that with a big spot she is working on half ons and has flipped them occasionaly to complete tsuks but into the pit. She is a power house 'itty-bitty'!
Bars, well that is another thing. Prior to breaking in her grips she had an awesome kip cast hs. She is working back up to it. I saw her doing front hip hs with HC's help. She looked pretty strong! She told me last week that he gave her a mint and a marshmellow for doing her kip with straight arms and connecting the FHC with it. All this was done with those 'stinkin' grips!! Yeah! That has to be the biggest accomplishment. She began to get down on herself, but is feeling pretty good now. Thank goodness! She also said she did giants on the strap bar, and has started working the hs fly away on the pit bar- with HC's help of course!

I have yet to hear what happens with her next season. Generally, the girls do 2 years of level 5 and some/most score out of level 6 and move on to level 7. The gym is very successful and extremely detail minded. They don't get hung up on scores as much as how the girl works and that she works hard. I like that and DD is responding well to that. It has shocked me that I am not fighting with her to "Stop jumping on the couch!" She is challenged continuously at the gym that she doesn't feel that urge to 'try it' at home. She is still mostly upside down, but now it seems she concentrates on the 'nitty-gritty'. She trys to clean up her skills. BW on beam is huge for her. She works on that a lot. I am impressed by where she is at. Mostly her growth has been menatally. She has become very determined and focused. What ever level she competes, I know she will do SOOO well!

 

[maddiemei]

DD has to compete one level 4 meet and then will move on to level 5. Her first meet is 8/13. She has all of the skills for level 4, just needs to put them together. She has everything for level 5 except for the kip. She is so very close. She will be at the gym 4 hours a day, 5 days a week so I'm sure she will get it by then.

I'm excited for the season to begin. My dd does so much better at compulsories then she does at pre-op.

Thanks for doing this thread and everyone's progress seems to be coming right along.

 

[Bella's Mom]

LG7....your daughter is so talented! I really enjoyed visiting your YouTube channel and watching her routines. She is such a joy to watch....great smile and nice form!

 

[lilgymmie7]

LG7....your daughter is so talented! I really enjoyed visiting your YouTube channel and watching her routines. She is such a joy to watch....great smile and nice form!

Thank you! She always makes me smile!! She is a funny little girl!

 

[MaryA]

Kathy is hoping to compete 6 starting in October. She'll start practicing level-6 hours (still not very many since we're a Y gym, but more, all the same) starting next week. I'm not worried about floor or beam too much... they're both usually pretty strong events for her and I can see most of those skills coming together well enough that I can't imagine she won't have them come October. Of course, vault is the same as level 5. That leaves (cue scary music) bars. Ugh. She still misses her squat-on in practice more often than not (you've heard me stress about those before... never missed one in a meet, so I KNOW she can do them...) and the other things she's working on... well, I guess I don't really know what they're supposed to look like... these baby giants and free hips and whatever... I've watched them on youtube and I still am not really sure what's going on in the level 6 bar routine... but I'm pretty sure Kathy is nowhere near ready to do it. Flyaways seem to be coming along O.K., but that doesn't surprise me since that seems to be more of a "tumbling" skill than a bar skill.

When Kathy and I met with the coaches at the end of the season to talk about next season, the coaches said that she would need to have ALL of the level 6 skills to move up. At the end, I sent Kathy out and told them my concern. Kathy has NEVER had all of her bar skills at the beginning of the season. I don't think that she even had all of her bar skills at the beginning of the year when she repeated level 3! And yet for the past 2 years (levels 4 and 5) she has finished the season as the highest AA scorer at her level. There are some girls on the team who seem to get all of their skills very quickly, but then don't show a lot of improvement after that... their scores at the last meets of the season are not significantly higher than their scores at the beginning of the season. But Kathy's scores go up at just about every meet. I think competition season really focusses her and motivates her. Anyway, if the rest of her group moves up to 6, I would hate to see her held back at 5 if she doesn't have her bar skills yet. I'm fine with her scratching bars, or whatever, until she gets them. When I said this in the meeting (after sending Kathy out... I don't want her to think that I don't believe she will have her bar skills by the beginning of the season, even though I pretty much don't), the HC said something like "I'm not really worried about bars. Their free-hips won't be perfect, but everything else will come together O.K." So I don't really know what to think. I hope Kathy rises to the challenge (preferably before October) and gets those bar skills so that they don't hold her back, but I'm still not clear about whether or not the coaches would hold her back if her bar skills aren't there or not.

Oh well. If she repeats 5, she'll really rock it. I just hope she can keep training 6 during the season so I'm not reposting this same message again this time next year...

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

DD is training Level 4 and some 5 skills and is on track to compete Level 4 next season. Bars continue to be her strongest event and she is super close to having her kip- just needs a light spot at the end- I am sure as her FHC progresses she will probably get the feel for it- I am thinking she is still a while away from a completely all by her self kip. She still needs work on her FHC- but funny enough has acquired pretty good timing and form and feel for the kip while working on glide swings and front supports for the Level 4 routine. She has her mill circle and shoot though already- she owes this to a season of Level 3 under her belt.

On floor- she has her ROBHS 100% of the time now and is now working on 2BHS. Has all the level 4 floor skills just needs to make them pretty and work on presentation. She is working on the level 5 back roll to handstand move b/c she has had her Level 4 back roll for quite a while now.

Beam- she has her cartwheel and it looks good. She is working on getting her jumps and leaps bigger and higher and prettier- she struggles with this. And, that dreaded Level 4 dismount scares her and she is working though getting it alone.

Vault- she struggles with the most. Her run, approach, maintaining speed hitting the board correctly etc. She is still getting the feel for the level 4 vault and trying to not pike- she has a way to go.

Her season starts in December and runs though spring so she has a while to get it all together.

 

[lhmom]

Well, DD is doing another year of level 4, but has been working on the harder skills for a while now. On floor, her RO/2BHS is looking much stronger and honestly has helped her ROBHS look much better. They've had the girls also working on their front handsprings and dive rolls and I don't cringe as much now watching her, so I think that's improving. On beam, she's gotten more consistent doing the back walkover which she won't need for a while, but the cartwheel is still hit or miss. Although lately, she has been a bit more on the hitting side. We'll see how that goes, I guess. On bars- well, let's just say that the kip is still a work in progress. ;-) It's closer, but not quite there yet. Not too concerned-she still has plenty of time. She can do the squat on, but they are not letting the 2nd yr. 4's jump to the high bar. Vault- she and the other 2nd years have been working on the level 5 vault some, but not as much as the other events. The coaches are really getting picky about cleaning up the level 4 skills as well. Now, they want form to be even tighter and cleaner with more finished moves. DD was told that even though she "knows" the routines that there's always room to improve, so she's OK with that. She's just happy that she gets to uptrain. Their season will start again at the end of this summer (Judges Cup is in August).

 

[my4buffaloes]

Oldest dd just moved up to level 6. She recently got her dismount on beam, as well as the back walkover. She also got her flyaway on bars. Floor though, she really can't get the front handspring, front handspring. I am sure she will have it by October though when the first comp is. She loves training the new skills though.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Now that I'm working at the gym, I don't really get to see firsthand anything they do...I'm too busy!! Since I'm not just a parent anymore but also an employee, I get to hear all the coach talk, lol. DD will compete level 5 with her season starting in Sept. She tells me her coach says she is the "vault star" whatever that means...for all I know that means she acts like a diva on the vault rotation, lol. I know that she has all of her level 5 skills and is just working on polishing them...I did hear the HC tell our new ballet teacher that she needs to really stress the straight knees and pointed toes to my dd. I also know that they have been doing a LOT of uptraining-my dd and ds both love that.
My ds won't compete again until Jan, and it is still up in the air whether that will be level 4 again or level 5. He's training all level 5 skills, but he is having a LOT of difficulty with high bar. Funny, pommel used to be his nemesis, but now that he can do multiple mushroom circles, he kinda likes it. He's become quite the tumbler, too, which is REALLY surprising, because he had a huge fear of back tumbling when he started level 4. He's doing round off back tucks and his coach taught him double back tucks into the pit-like I said before...a year ago he NEVER would have tried even ONE back tuck into the pit.

And little ds is now in the boys gym program(out of the preschool program), and he loves it. He just turned 5, and we are in no rush to move him up the levels. I can't really say what he can do, because his class is when I am the busiest, and I never even get to peek at him. His coach says he's doing fine, though. And he's happy. He already wants to go more than once a week. We'll see...

 

[Gymnasticgrandkids]

Older DGD will be repeating Level 8 since she only got out of her cast and boot about 2-3 weeks or so ago and just began training again. She was pretty much expecting to repeat it even before the breaks as her bars were weak and she struggled a lot with consistency with her bwo bhs on beam(thus the injuries again)..She seems more enthusiastic than ever to overcome those issues this year and so I commend her. Younger DGD is having a "scoreout" Level 6 meet this coming weekend and hoping to be competing Level 7 in January with her big sister. All I hope for this year is to get through the season with no injuries...

 

[MdGymMom01]

Dani is aiming for Level C (comparable to USAG 6) so she needs to get her RBHSBHS, clear hip, full turn on beam and some other various requirements. She is having a lot of fun working different skills on bars and just got new dowel grips last week--she is adjusting to the new feel of them. She has some new floor music picked out and is so excited about using something a little different (we got the music custom cut for her from a instrumental piece we heard on youtube) that will totally suit her personality and showcase her ballet . She is also heavily still into ballet (just finished two fabulous shows of "Cinderella" and danced en pointe for the first time on stage!) She was so beautiful and elegant to watch--took my breath away!! Nutcracker auditions are in September and she sooo wants the part of Fritz!! So this summer there will be gymnastics and ballet classes and a ballet intensive camp later in August. Oh, and she is looking forward to doing lots of swimming, bike riding and hanging with little brother and friends this summer!!

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

DD is HOPING to compete L8 in the fall. We have a meeting w/her coach on Friday. She has her tsuk vault. On bars, she finally her CHS and giants... needs to get that pirouette. Since I don't stay to watch practice, I don't know what she's working on for beam/floor. We'll see!!

 

[MyBoysFlip]

My DS #2 (6) is moving up to the boys team and will compete Level 4. My other DS (7) finished his year on training team on Wednesday and is pretty sure he won't be doing gymnastics again! I think he's pretty solid on floor (RO BHS's), PBars (swings to HS), Rings, HighBar (Chin Up Pullover & Swings), Vault(He stilll struggles with bouncing off a real spring board), but Pommel scares me - oh well. It will be fun to watch!

 

[emorymom]

DS6 starts training L4-team hours this week which is 3x3. I think the meets start in December. He won't dance this summer. Maybe 60-90 minutes of dance starting in September if we can do it at the end of a non-gym day, or in the morning (he is home schooled). He's working on all kinds of stuff. The big ones I'd say ... he needs to land his bhs and those mushroom circles.

DD7 has kinda stalled out at L2 for now and moved down to training team to continue her L2 progress. Not sure where that is going. She needs to improve a lot on her handstand-flatback vault. Suits us fine. She will dance a little this summer.

They both swim but that's not quite the intensity ... they swim about 4x a week but there are more practices than that scheduled so it's a much more flexible situation. The summer meets are upon us but they will be over July 1. We only did one meet with the year-round club last year and just DD wanted to race.

 

[bogwoppit]

Hmmm let me see....

Oldest, 18, is trying hard to get a full time job so he can continue to live in the big city!

DD, 14, is havng spinal fusion on Wednesday morning, she'll be happy if she just feels fine by late July when she goes on a French Exchange for three weeks. She has managed to finish school three weeks early, miss all her exams and still get a 95% average for the year. She hopes to continue her guitar lessons when she can sit up properly again.

DD 12 is working hard at gym to get her cheer skills. She is done with WAG and wants to move on. She is also off to a summer camp where she will "be" an 1850's child for a week. She can't wait as she loves history.

First summer in 11 where there is no gymnastics in our life, well except for me on the CB!

Amazing how fast those early years fly by, I am so glad I encouraged my kids to do many things and not just focus on gym, as you just never know what will happen.

If you have any spare healing fairies flying about we could sure use them this week.

 

[mayestra12]

My dd is finishing L3 this month and moving to an L3 advanced training group this summer with hopes of competing L4 in the fall.

I don't know if she will make it or not. She doesn't have her ro bhs and her ro isn't very powerful to begin with. She's strong on bars and I don't think she'll have trouble with the fhc and she has the dismount.

I hate to see her repeat L3 again as I think she'll be bored especially after increasing her training hours this summer. I hope her coach can get her confidence up for the bhs so she can move up with her teammates. Praying she makes it!!!