Parents Repeating Level 4?

[mariposa]

i don't think our gym has a policy of doing 2 years at every level. i they do have to get a certain AA score to move up. i haven't seen our level 4s practice because they are there the days we aren't, so not sure if they up train or not.

as for 10 year olds being old? i think that it depends on the gym. our old gym liked them young and they have almost all young level 4s. our current gym's level 4 this year has 6 6-8yos, 3 9-10 year olds and 4 11+ (or something like that). our gym seems to be more open to having "older" (that is so sad) gymnasts join team. our old gym i actually heard a rec coach telling a mother that her 8 year old was already getting too old, that they prefer them to be younger when they start. give me a break. i actually wish my DD hadn't discovered gymnastics till later. and i don't plan on letting DD2 start gymnastics (actually going to try to get her to do many other things in hopes she likes something else) until she is at least 4, preferably 5.

 

[momof5]

Every year about a 1/3 of the level 4s repeat. Even though meet season is over in April move ups aren't till the first weeek of July. They spend those 3 months training the level 5 skills and based on that and the performance level of their current skills they decide who is moving up. A couple of reasons that I think that we have so many repeats is that when the girls are chosen for the team they don't have even half of their skills. For example on bars if they have a good glide, pullover, and back hip cirlce they can make the team. So they still have so much to learn before they start competing. some girls start the competion pause without being able to do all their skills. They have very few hours to practice since they only train 6 hrs a week. They also rarely practice any level five skills during the months July to April. So that doesn't give kids a alot of time to learn the next level skills.

 

[Billy]

Is the primary purpose of competing L4 to get competition experience and gain confidence? And if so, do the girls that compete the lower levels have an advantage when they get to L4?

 

[gymnastmom96]

My dd actually competed lvl 4 at 6. The year before at 5, she was ready and they had us buy all the leos and warm ups. We got to the first meet and they checked her in fine. Half way thru the 2nd rotation, the meet director came to us and told us that she was too young. We were embarrassed and mad at the coaches. They simply never asked the age requirements. They said that since she had her kip, they thought it would be fine. They tried to tell us those were new rules. I don't know I ever believed them. We're no longer at that gym.
She didn't repeat 4 but has repeated other levels. Her current coaches believe in building the child's confidence. I see no harm in letting them repeat levels.

 

[medic3188]

oh my gosh I would be so mad. How did your daughter take it? Was she devistated?

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

My dd actually competed lvl 4 at 6. The year before at 5, she was ready and they had us buy all the leos and warm ups. We got to the first meet and they checked her in fine. Half way thru the 2nd rotation, the meet director came to us and told us that she was too young. We were embarrassed and mad at the coaches. They simply never asked the age requirements. They said that since she had her kip, they thought it would be fine. They tried to tell us those were new rules. I don't know I ever believed them. We're no longer at that gym.

OMG I can't believe not only did they not know the rules, they didn't bother to look them up, and then lied about it???? Also, the meet director should have checked the birthdates when he/she got the entries. I know in our state, it is very clear in the handbook. My dd did level 4, 6 weeks after she turned 6 but was not allowed to do a level 5 meet when all of her teammates did, because she was not 7 yet.

 

[gymnastmom96]

haha! Was she upset? If you consider stomping your feet and kicking her bag across the floor upset, that would be her! I keep thinking that will show up on Youtube. That was nothing compared to my hubby's reaction. I think I was more embarrassed by him. lol
We stayed partially thru her actual lvl 4 season because of their TOPS program. The last straw was when my hubby picked her up and saw her coach almost break her neck. They were doing straddle presses and the coach went around pushing the girls down to see how strong their arms were. Obviously, my dd's weren't strong enough. She went crashing down straight on her head. Nothing was broken but she hit so hard that it busted the blood vessels in the back of her neck. You can still see some of it on her now. So she was switching gyms mid-season. The new gym competed her 1 meet as a lvl 4, and she ended the season competing lvl 5. I have a video of her competing lvl 5 at 6yo on youtube. She was so tiny~

Now, I'm not a coach but I wonder if so many girls repeat lvl 4 because thet don't compete a kip? My dd's old gym required a kip to compete lvl 4. However, none of the 4's at her current gym have their kips. At our home meet, none of the lvl 4 competitors had kips.

I remember the kip being a tricky skill to acquire. Just a thought.....

 

[Ingymmom]

Is the primary purpose of competing L4 to get competition experience and gain confidence? And if so, do the girls that compete the lower levels have an advantage when they get to L4?

It all still depends on the coaching, the gymmie, the club preference etc. etc. - L4 is not necessarily repeated the most... getting the kip is difficult for some, easy for others but this & the jump to the high bar can be a big hang up for some of the younger gymmies so they end up repeating L4, or maybe it is for confidence, or maybe they could not get a solid cartwheel or handstand on beam.... the vault could be another reason - it all just depends, there is a big difference from L4 to L5. competing L3 and being successful is absolutely no indicator as to whether a gymmie will be successful at L4, 5 or beyond.... there are MANY hang-ups in gymnastics. Mostly mental that happen along the way. It is difficult to generalize because there are so many different scenarios. Just when a gymmie is jumping for joy they got their much sought after skill, it could be gone in an instant. And the frustration begins again.

Having a good coach really is the most important factor of success in the sport - just my opinion. Our gymmies don't compete until L5 and have all been very successful because we have fantastic coaches that know what they are doing. L4 was originally added simply to start making $ for the competitive programs in the beginning, but now it has become quite competitive, almost every gym in our area starts competing @ L4...

ultimately, there really is no definitive answer to your ? - wish I could help out more. Just keep your gymmie safe and happy (or as I like to say keep it real LOL) , and make sure she continues for herself and one way or the other things will work out.

 

[Megley]

We usually have at least some girls repeat Level 4, but it because they haven't been able to get their level 5 skills in time for competition season. We don't have a certain score that the girls have to get in order to move on. I think it is pretty common to repeat at Level 7 and Level 9. They have to get giants to move to Level 8, as well as moving out of the fhs vault into a flipping vault and that hangs a lot of girls up. I know that going from Level 9 to 10 is difficult too and many girls repeat Level 9. At the compulsory levels, I think the younger they are the more likely they are to repeat. At this juncture I think that my 6 yo (she must be about the same age as your dd Shawn) is hoping and planning to move to Level 5. However, she doesn't have all her Level 5 skills yet so it will depend on how well she does picking them up. I would not be opposed to her repeating Level 4 or Level 5 for that matter, especially since our gym generally skips 6, but I know she wants to move on with her teammates.

To the mom who mentioned the kip at Level 4, they used to do a kip at Level 4 not that long ago. It probably was required when your dd was a Level 4, but they took it out the last time the routines changed. I have talked to several parents of Level 7s at our gym who distinctly remember their dd's struggling with the kip at Level 4.

Meg

 

[beam girl]

I think it really depends on your child and her maturity level and how driven she is to do the work necessary at the next level. My dd has had to repeat level 4 this year and has been completely miserable, feeling like a failure. The fact that other girls from her team have also repeated the year does not make any difference to her. She is totally self-motivated and hasn't achieved her own personal goals. If your dd needs to place at each meet to feel o.k. with herself, then she might do better to repeat and have a successful year the second time around. There are girls doing optionals at my dd's gym who never place at any meet and haven't placed at any level, but they just keep moving on. But it's not good to hold them back just to get higher scores the next year either. It really has to be based on the individual gymnast and what she wants to achieve. And, of course she has to know that you think she is the greatest thing alive, with or without gymnastics!

 

[Scrapntyme]

My dd competed level 4 as a 7 year old and did okay. She and several of her teammates were made to repeat level 4 which IMO, was really a waste of time. She had a solid kip, jump to high bar, etc. and all other level 5 skills. She was bored stiff her 2nd year as a 4 even though she had a lot of success and really should have been a 5. She spent one year as a 5, one year as a 6 and is now level 7. I expect she may repeat this level as she has had an injury plagued season and has missed several of her meets:-(

The one benefit to repeating 4 was they did spend time perfecting level 5 skills but I still think she and her teammates would have done better to do two years of level 5 instead of two years of 4.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

Our gym makes the decision based on each gymnast. Also some parents would like to see their child build some more confidence. I have seen one gymnast at our gym do two years at L4 & 2 at L5. Her mom said her score were just OK in year one and she wanted her to be able to experience the higher scores. Mind you she isn't on the top of her group but she is doing much better than in year one.

I have seen many girls skip levels in our gym and others repeat. I know the coaches have a plan for each gymnast and they are pretty much right on. I say if they need a second year then there is no harm in it.

 

[gymnastmom96]

IMHO as a seasoned gym-mom, I have heard lots of parents say they regret letting their child skip a level, but I have never once heard a parent regret letting them repeat.

 

[Livinatthegym]

IMHO as a seasoned gym-mom, I have heard lots of parents say they regret letting their child skip a level, but I have never once heard a parent regret letting them repeat.

Very true.

 

[Ingymmom]

Unfortunately I have heard plenty of regret for when a child was made to repeat - especially made to repeat L4 (usag jo). I know too many girls that quit the sport from sheer boredom, and/or the feeling of failure when they have to repeat a level. They are NOT failures, this is not what I am saying, but rather it is just how they feel and this feeds self doubt.

 

[bogwoppit]

I really think how a child will react to repeating a level depends a lot on the childs' personality. In our club we have some girls who have repeated their level and are thrilled by winning all the time. But, then we have one or two who have always opted to move ahead, even when they know they will not win, they want the challenge of competing higher level skills, more than they want to win.

My oldest has always chosen to move ahead when she had the chance. She loves the challenge, but more than that says she would hate to keep competing the basics when she can do better more fun stuff (her words).

The other problem in our gym is that, they train so few hours compared to other clubs that they do not get to work up skills. during comp season OCT-MAY. My little DD almost had her kip and had her RO BHS, amongst other new unused skills, in September but hasn't worked them since, so who knows what that means.

I really like to see clubs treating each child as an individual and not make repeating about winning or the team win. As we have seen in many threads every child has such different needs and it would be nice to have their personality taken into account, as much as skills too. JMHO.

Though if a child just doesn't have the skills there is no choice about repeating. Not every child is going to progress to level 5 or 6, we have all read the statistics, the skills are hard to learn. We can all spot very early on who has the potential to move through all the levels, but as the coaches tell you that is not the only predictor of a future in the gym.

 

[Billy]

It seems to me like there would be ways around making a gymnast spend a whole 2nd year at level 4. This is posted in the coaches' forum and they've made some points that make more sense to me. For example, instead of completely repeating level 4 (maybe because they don't have all their level 5 skills or just need to perfect some of the level 4 stuff or whatever), a more flexible gym might let them train both levels 4 and 5 (or 5 and 6, or whatever the case may be depending on what skills they're having trouble with) and then compete one meet at the lower level to "score out" and finish the season at the higher level. Of course, everything depends on the specific situation and gymnast but for those where boredom of repeating is a problem, this might offer a solution.

 

[mariposa]

our gym does this sometimes. my DDs coach has a daughter in L4 and if she doesn't get the minimum required to move up to L5 this season they will have her do the first meet as a L4 and if she scores well, then finish the season as a L5. she has added the extra day to her training already and is training with the L5s.

 

[gymnastmom96]

I see the jumps mid-season a lot in our corner of the world. Keep in mind that they are repeating the level for a reason. We have a very talented gymnast who has repeated 4 and 5. Her first year at 5 she had several AA and won State beam. She was totally ready for 6 last year but developed a fear of the bwo on the beam. It was BAD. They decided to repeat 5 then move up mid-season when she regained the skill. It never happened so she remained in 5 all season. She has made clean sweeps at every single meet this year except States. She was moving to Prep Opt but really wants to do 6. She's trying to face her fears. She still needs a heavy spot but at least she is attempting it.
Before anyone fusses at me...I agree, its not really fair and we are not at a sandbag gym like some others we know. That's just how it's worked out.

 

[gymjourneymom]

I agree that every gymnast should be treated individually in regards to moving up. Every child is unique, all aspects need to be taken in account(skill, maturity, personal drive,etc). If it is recommended by the coach that a gymmie repeat, parents need to trust & respect the coaches plan for the child. IMHO, they really do want wants best for the child (if you don't trust your coach...then that's a whole other issue!LOL). Parents need to learn that repeating a gymnastic level is NOT a sign of failure. I think the parents get "hung up" about moving up more then the kids do. You have to keep a positive attitude, let the kids know you're proud of them....no matter what level they are. IMHO...when the parents get "hung up" about levels... it stresses out the kids even more. Gymnastics is suppose to be fun for them, correct? Don't stress you or your gymmie about moving up...trust your coaches opinionPS-I'm a parent not a coach