WAG RANT: My 10yo is not a giant!

[Canjump]

A coach told me the other day that the taller gymnasts although they struggle with kips, glides etc they will find skills such as cast to handstands easier as there long legs act as a better lever.

 

[duyetanh]

A coach told me the other day that the taller gymnasts although they struggle with kips, glides etc they will find skills such as cast to handstands easier as there long legs act as a better lever.

I find that interesting, because at our gym this is exactly the reverse case. Wild.
People just have no tact. I would never say anything about a kid's size. Yet someone asked my daughter the other day if she was getting excited to start kinder....um, she just turned 8 and is in 3rd grade, people! It seems if you aren't the "average child" you are screwed, and destined for scrutiny. Sad.

 

[suebee]

Had to laugh at this one.

Our girls line up in size order. They are the ones always measuring each other because they all don't want to be "the short one". And heaven forbid they are the same size they will jostle for the spot on the taller side of the line. They compete even on height.

Ha! My dd is the same way! As the shortest girl, she had to carry the gym sign at march in at a few meets and hated it. She had a bit of a growth spurt and is very, very excited that now there are 2 girls shorter than her. Until those girls have a growth spurt, I guess!

I find that interesting, because at our gym this is exactly the reverse case. Wild.
People just have no tact. I would never say anything about a kid's size. Yet someone asked my daughter the other day if she was getting excited to start kinder....um, she just turned 8 and is in 3rd grade, people! It seems if you aren't the "average child" you are screwed, and destined for scrutiny. Sad.

My dd is 7 and entering 2nd grade. On her 7th birthday, we went out to dinner to celebrate and multiple random people in the restaurant asked her if she was turning 5. And then this summer, there was a drop off line for camp but you have to be going into 2nd grade or older to use it. Younger kids' parents need to park and walk their kids in. Camp director comes up to me at pick up and says, "You know, the drop-off line is for kids going into 2nd grade. Your daughter is too young, but she is so mature that we are going to allow her to keep using the drop off line." I told her that dd is going into 2nd grade, and her mouth dropped open. "Really? I thought she was going into kindergarten. She's so small!" Thankfully, dd was not there.

 

[wgymmom]

My DD is 12 and about 4'10", but she is among the shortest optionals at the gym. It's actually new for her to NOT be the shortest. She also tends to look pretty tiny around other kids her age.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I admit, I do comment on girls height.... But with a compliment. I always tell girls the benefits of being whatever height they are, I have lots of practice finding the benefits of being tall (myself and my mom) as well as pointing out the positives of being more petite to my girls.
My DDs are both pretty small. gymmie is 11 and 4'7", she is the third shortest in her team (the only 2 girls marginally shorter than her are 8 and 9yo). They line up in height order every day.
My older DD was always, always the smallest one in her group but had a massive (9" in two years) growth spurt between 11-13yo. She is now a statuesque (lol) 5'2" so you can imagine how small she was before.... People comment on how tall she is constantly and are surprised when I tell them her height. She looks taller (ballerina). I'm 5'8" so she is definitely NOT tall, lol!
I find genetics so fascinating. I'm tall, my family is tall (my mom is 6'), DH is tall(ish), his dad is tall...his mom is 4' 10". it'll be interesting to see where my girls end up with that mixed bag of genes!!

 

[Aero]

One of my favorite gymnasts, Georgia-Rose Brown, is 5' 8". This is her performing a bar routine:

Look at those lines! Beautiful.

There are no excuses.

 

[Muddlethru]

My husband has a college friend that is over 7'. When I first met him I commented on his height because I've never personally known a person that tall in all my life. It was a comment out of amazement. Later on when I brought up the height of his friend in a private conversation, my husband told me it bothers his friend when people comment on his height because he hears it so often. I've since been very careful (though I am certain I still do it) making comments on people's "special" qualities. Though I feel any comment even compliments (i.e., you are so beautiful, smart, talented) that is heard so often can unfortunately still get old.

 

[MILgymFAM]

One of my favorite gymnasts, Georgia-Rose Brown, is 5' 8". Look at those lines! Beautiful.

There are no excuses.

My daughters idol!

 

[raenndrops]

It's ridiculous! I remember getting the same thing in Basketball when I was young, " your too short, you need to be tall to play" and same thing in Volleyball. It seems as if there is this unspoken rule in sports that if your body type doesn't fit then don't try. I think that is ridiculous! Just look at Misty Copeland who now stars on Broadway and is a Prima and was told similar things. If it is your passion, pursue it and if it's meant to be in your life it will be, despite the rabble.

I played volleyball in jr high. I was only 4'10" ... the same height as my 10 year old YG. I played back row because I was "too short" - I couldn't spike, lol

 

[coachmolly]

If I ever have a question about a child's age I typically just ask the child or the parent rather than jumping to conclusions based on height, there is just too much room for error. I think some people, coaches included, just place far too much emphasis on height and its value in the gym. I have seen "tall" kids with tons of gymnastics ability and "small" kids who fit the physical bill of a good gymnast who cannot manage a decent cartwheel no matter what we try.
We are constantly adjusting the bars- probably more than we should be- for our team girls, but I think there is a way to do it reasonably based on height needs. And really, it isn't that much more effort.

 

[raenndrops]

If I ever have a question about a child's age I typically just ask the child or the parent rather than jumping to conclusions based on height, there is just too much room for error. I think some people, coaches included, just place far too much emphasis on height and its value in the gym. I have seen "tall" kids with tons of gymnastics ability and "small" kids who fit the physical bill of a good gymnast who cannot manage a decent cartwheel no matter what we try.
We are constantly adjusting the bars- probably more than we should be- for our team girls, but I think there is a way to do it reasonably based on height needs. And really, it isn't that much more effort.

We change bar settings as needed. Nice that we now have three sets of unevens. Two settings per means fewer changes. We have some taller girls in L3 that like the bar lower because they struggle with bars. Had an Xcel Gold that was tall, but liked the bars really close so she could jump to front support on high bar.

 

[Empowered]

My daughter is 5'4 1/2", and I constantly hear the "oh she's soo tall" comments. In the real world she is average, and in the gym she's a freakishly tall mutant.

One parent came up to me recently and said, "you must be so happy you're almost done with all this." I shot back a really confused look and he said, "well she's graduating next year isn't she?" I kindly pointed out she has just finished 7th grade and was reminded why I hate going inside the gym for pick-up.

As for the bar settings, our optionals are either on FIG or wide setting. There is always a set of bars on each for practice. Even at her old gym where there were only 2 sets of bars, they were always split to accommodate everyone. IMHO, it's unfair to expect an athlete to practice on the incorrect setting.

 

[mOm2gymnast<3]

My dd is very short. she's 8, about 46-48 inches tall and weighs about 55 lbs. People comments all the time how short she is. She is the shortest at school and at gym. there is a mom at the gym that is very short as well less than 5'0, and she is always be the one to mention my daughters height. My daughter learned to love her height, she loves that she's short because she said she's first on every thing when it comes to lining up.

 

[twinmomma]

OMG. DD turned 9 in April and is 4'1" and 50 lbs soaking wet. She's automatically assumed to be in 1st grade, and as a twin who actually is 2 minutes older than her much taller (5 inches/15lbs) brother, she is constantly dealing with people who don't believe how old she is.

That said, she does enjoy being the front gymnast for march ins. She's also in the older group of level 4s because when we switched gyms the "younger" group was full. She's much happier in this group because she does better with girls who are older as a general rule. We do have some girls in her training group who are 13 and probably 5'4". And they have beautiful lines, especially on bars.

 

[duyetanh]

Another short dd here at 46 1/2 inches and 43.6 pounds...I know the numbers exactly because we just went to the doc for her just turned 8 physical, lol...meanwhile I am the giant. And so is my husband. Deal with it people!

 

[mommyof1]

OMG. DD turned 9 in April and is 4'1" and 50 lbs soaking wet. She's automatically assumed to be in 1st grade, and as a twin who actually is 2 minutes older than her much taller (5 inches/15lbs) brother, she is constantly dealing with people who don't believe how old she is.

My daughter is the smallest out of something like 125 kids in the fourth grade at her school. When she transferred into this school in first grade, the mother of the child who had previously been the smallest told me "I'm so glad that now there's a kid smaller than mine!" She has no issues with her height at school because everyone knows her and what grade she's in. In other contexts, people assume she's two or three years younger than she actually is. Sometimes this actually scores her extra compliments on her behavior and maturity. Several waitresses have recently praised her on how well she orders for herself. In the grocery store, a first-grade teacher once came up to us and complimented us on how well she followed directions when I told her to wait with the cart while I went off to weigh something. Seriously, the child is just not that young!

 

[coach1234]

I have a 7 year old in my group who trains in a group with girls 10 and 11 years and she is taller than all of them and they aren't small for they're ages average height for them

 

[twinmomma]

My daughter is the smallest out of something like 125 kids in the fourth grade at her school. When she transferred into this school in first grade, the mother of the child who had previously been the smallest told me "I'm so glad that now there's a kid smaller than mine!" She has no issues with her height at school because everyone knows her and what grade she's in. In other contexts, people assume she's two or three years younger than she actually is. Sometimes this actually scores her extra compliments on her behavior and maturity. Several waitresses have recently praised her on how well she orders for herself. In the grocery store, a first-grade teacher once came up to us and complimented us on how well she followed directions when I told her to wait with the cart while I went off to weigh something. Seriously, the child is just not that young!

I remember my mother telling the opposite type of stories about my brother, who was big for his age. At 3, he looked 5. So one time in the grocery store he spoke like a typical three year old and someone made some comment to my mom about it and him being in the cart and she popped off that he was only 3 years old. I'm sure that person never made another comment to someone about their kid in the store!

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

There was the summer DD turned 3 and we went to Six Flags. Everyone was riding the mindbender. She went to get on and some of the other people started complaining. They pulled her off and measured her then asked her age. Gulp, 2 3/4, a month before she turns three. Look, the ride has a height requirement, not age. She thoroughly enjoyed the ride!

 

[twinmomma]

There was the summer DD turned 3 and we went to Six Flags. Everyone was riding the mindbender. She went to get on and some of the other people started complaining. They pulled her off and measured her then asked her age. Gulp, 2 3/4, a month before she turns three. Look, the ride has a height requirement, not age. She thoroughly enjoyed the ride!

Hehe, my 3 year old nephew rode space mountain at Disneyland. He only cried when he realized it was over!