Parents Repeating a level for a third time

[duyetanh]

At her age and level, I can completely get why this is traumatic for her, and hard for all involved. I personally am glad the coaches left it up to her, which does show a degree of caring, and hope that though the gym pushes competition, that they will be understanding if the blocks take a bit longer to resolve. It is too bad they won't let her compete the events she can...many gyms do this with their older girls, and it helps them stay in the sport. I am sorry for what you are going through.

 

[profmom]

I agree with a lot of what's been said on the thread, and I think staying with her workout group and competing L8 is the best possible resolution. My daughter will be doing her third year of L8 this year after being out just about all of last season with injuries. She has also gone through backwards beam woes and has fought through some serious issues on bars. If your daughter can be reassured that what she's experiencing is very, very common and that, with enough patience and work, lost skills do come back, hopefully the confidence she gains by having another successful year at L8 alongside working on higher level skills in the gym will set her up for a much more successful transition to L9 next year than most gymnasts experience.

 

[balancedmom]

I feel for your DD-- my DD will 'repeat' L7 this year after being out much of last year for injuries. Between injuries (yup we had another one this year already) and fears/blocks, I don't know if she will ever get out of L7-- but she seems ok with it, so we are letting her just be-- which is tough. Hope your daughter does great.

 

[LizzieLac]

Level 7 here, not the same, I know. But DD broke her leg 2 years ago (as a level 7) and all of her peers went forward with their training, while she was have surgeries. Pretty much missed that whole season, then came back after her last surgery to do Xcel for 1/2 season last year.

She had BHS on beam and giants to get back. She had fears (still deals with them), blocks, and a very long process for how she wanted to relearn skills. That was her personal journey based on who she is as a person. One coach really decided to take the time with her starting this summer to get her series on beam. She was patient and willing to spot when we are a very minimal spotting type of gym. It was the approach she needed.

HC would not put her in the upper optionals workout group though and she had to see all of her peers moving away from her. I wish that they had allowed her to stay with that group. She still managed to get all of her level skills back, but the camaraderie of that group, the motivation to be with them, and the message that is sent from the coach "I believe in you and this is where you belong" is so mentally powerful.

Those decisions speak volumes to these kids. Sometimes it is the only thing they have to balance out there own negative thoughts about not progressing. So, repeating for a third time might be softened tremendously if the coach puts her in a workout group that motivates her and build her confidence.

 

[ascarter1]

Hi. My dd age 14 did Level 8 for two seasons. Strong gymnast, made it to regionals and placed. This summer she was moved to Level 9. A few weeks ago she developed a few blocks and lost some L9 skills. First meet is in 6 weeks. Coach wants to put her back to Level 8 and move her to a different training group. I think there is a fine line between working through the issues and staying in L9 until she is ready to compete and going back to 8 for a third time and feeling demoted and defeated (that's how she is feeling with that idea). She wants to stay with her L9 group. Once she is in L8 they will require her to stay there for the season. She's been thinking about quitting and going back to L8 might be the nail in the coffin. Thoughts?

At our gym (big compulsory, medium-small optionals) all of our 8-10's are in the same training group. It allows everyone to work on whatever skills they need! It works well for us.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

At our gym (big compulsory, medium-small optionals) all of our 8-10's are in the same training group. It allows everyone to work on whatever skills they need! It works well for us.

Ours too L7 and up.