Anon Skill level

[Anonymous Post]

I hoping for some honest advice. My daughter is a level 6, 9 year old. She has been doing well scoring 36-37. Some events better than others. All girls on her team are 12plus. No one her age. She doesn’t seem to fit in with them as they seem to useTic/Toc instragram and she does not have social media. Not sure if we should allow her to go to Level 7 or stay behind with some girls that are closer to her age. She loves gymnastics, loves learning new skills. She now wants to do college gymnastics.

 

[Anonymous Post]

If she was scoring 36-37, this season, I would move her on. There is not a tremendously huge different between 6 and 7, and if she was scoring that well, it sounds like she has probably mastered level 6 pretty well.
I understand the dilemma of having a young optional gymnast with much older girls. That has always been the case with my youngest. She didn't have a phone or social media either. The older girls kind of treated her like a younger sister. Not sure what the dynamic in your daughter's gym is like though.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Thank you for your response. One girl said to her I wish you were bad so you with be with girls your own age. I was there and heard it. My heart broke for my daughter. One of the reasons I posted this. Not sure what to do either. Stay at the gym or try another.

 

[Anonymous Post]

You have to choose which aspect is more important, social or development. If this was just a hobby, let het stay behind, but if her goal is college gym, move her up.

 

[Anonymous Post]

You have to choose which aspect is more important, social or development. If this was just a hobby, let het stay behind, but if her goal is college gym, move her up.

Thank you for your response. She is more about development and learning new skills. From what I can tell 6 and 7 are similar. On bars she competes giants. Sorry was taken back by the conversation with another mom about holding her back to be with girls her own age.

 

[rlm's mom]

You have to choose which aspect is more important, social or development. If this was just a hobby, let het stay behind, but if her goal is college gym, move her up.

If she’s only 9 she has plenty of time until college. Idk if my calculations are correct but I always say they should be level 10 by sophomore year to be on the radar of college coaches so she has 5-6 more years she can do 6-9; no need to rush her if she wants to repeat. Put it to your DD.

 

[Anonymous Post]

If she’s only 9 she has plenty of time until college. Idk if my calculations are correct but I always say they should be level 10 by sophomore year to be on the radar of college coaches so she has 5-6 more years she can do 6-9; no need to rush her if she wants to repeat. Put it to your DD.

I’ve noticed my daughter’s gym has really started to avoid fast tracking girls. They have started having gymnasts spend more time in levels 4/5/6. I also noticed that the girls in 4 and 5 in other top gyms in our area are tending to be a little older than they used to be. I’m wondering if this is a trend for the reason you mention or just a coincidence.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Would having her repeat make much difference in her teammates - how close in age are the level 5s? Is the coach letting you decide? It can be tough to not fit in socially with girls you spend so much time with but if he goal in long term gymnastics, this may not matter much to your dd. Mine was a little older (11 I believe) but a similar situation happened to her with an older group and initially she felt hurt by not being included but she decided that the skill development was more important to her. Eventually, she got to an age where the teammates were more inclusive with her and more gymnasts came into the group which helped as well (multi-level group)

 

[Anonymous Post]

Thank you for your response. She is more about development and learning new skills. From what I can tell 6 and 7 are similar. On bars she competes giants. Sorry was taken back by the conversation with another mom about holding her back to be with girls her own age.

If she is already competing giants, I would move her on. It's really not fair to your daughter to repeat a level she has mastered to avoid "mean girl" behavior. I am very sorry to hear about the older girls. I would not be ok with the older child talking to my 9 year old that way. I think it's a coaching issue. They are teammates. As mine have gotten older, I try to stay out of it and let them handle it, but your daughter is 9. Is there a coach you (or she) has good rapport with that she could talk to?

 

[Anonymous Post]

Thank you for your response. I can talk to one of the coaches. I was planning to see where she thought about levels for the next competition season. It’s tough. On one hand I understand because she is young and probably slightly immature for the older girls. But to hold her back only because of age seemed weird to me. But the gym talks about team building and it seems like some bring down some girls. I was pretty upset for my daughter. I am thankful for this forum for advice.

 

[Anonymous Post]

It’s a catch 22. Hold her back to be with girls her age and when she excels then you deal with the jealously and anger (of parents as well) of why didn’t she move up. Repeating level 6 will most likely start to bore her. Honestly if you have a good relationship with your coaches be honest about what is going on and leave it to them to decide.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Is it possible to have her train with her peers but compete at the higher level? At our gym once you get to Options not all the groups are the same level. My kids group has levels 7-9 right now. Some groups are 5/6 etc. Its easier to differentiate skills and drills at the optional level. If she was with the lower level girls she could miss out on some skill development stuff by being pushed by girls that are on her level or ahead but there is no reason she cant work out with Level 6s girls and work Level 7/8 skills and compete level 7 this season.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Thank you for your response. One girl said to her I wish you were bad so you with be with girls your own age. I was there and heard it. My heart broke for my daughter. One of the reasons I posted this. Not sure what to do either. Stay at the gym or try another.

Have you talked to the parents? Why uproot you’re daughter , if you heard it talk to the mom especially if the kid is 12 don’t let her bully your daughter . Gyms don’t put up with bullying in mine the kids will be removed from team

 

[rlm's mom]

We had a similar yet different dilemma this year… DD was 8 y/o but her two besties in the gym were 10 and 11 (Big sis and little sis relationship but def. 2 ways!) These 2 kids were skipping from level 4 to 7. DD was also ready for level 7 but I felt like keeping her down partly bc i didn’t want her doing such difficulty yet and also as she was so young and the level 6s were more her age. She was upset but we compromised - she joined the level 7 practices once every 2 weeks. She ended up being bored out with level 6 after 2 months of routine training and ended up competing level 7 whilst still training with the level 6’s. Now we’re thinking of her repeating 7 next year and she’s delighted as she’s made tons of new friends!! Point being its possible to make older friends but I think friends her age will be easier. Depends if she’s the type to be bored repeating a level. Or find out if there’s an option to compete 7 whilst training with the 6’s - like mine did!

 

[Anonymous Post]

Have you talked to the parents? Why uproot you’re daughter , if you heard it talk to the mom especially if the kid is 12 don’t let her bully your daughter . Gyms don’t put up with bullying in mine the kids will be removed from team

Thank you for your response. The mom of the girl also mentioned to me to have her stay behind to be with girls her own age. That’s the dilemma I am facing as it seems some do not want to practice with her as she us young. I plan on talking to the coaches to see what their opinion is and what level she should do. They are away this week.

 

[Anonymous Post]

We had a similar yet different dilemma this year… DD was 8 y/o but her two besties in the gym were 10 and 11 (Big sis and little sis relationship but def. 2 ways!) These 2 kids were skipping from level 4 to 7. DD was also ready for level 7 but I felt like keeping her down partly bc i didn’t want her doing such difficulty yet and also as she was so young and the level 6s were more her age. She was upset but we compromised - she joined the level 7 practices once every 2 weeks. She ended up being bored out with level 6 after 2 months of routine training and ended up competing level 7 whilst still training with the level 6’s. Now we’re thinking of her repeating 7 next year and she’s delighted as she’s made tons of new friends!! Point being its possible to make older friends but I think friends her age will be easier. Depends if she’s the type to be bored repeating a level. Or find out if there’s an option to compete 7 whilst training with the 6’s - like mine did!

Thank you for your response. She may be bored repeating the level as she enjoys learning new skills. I was told her floor and beam would stay the same. She has been starting to do the yurchenko vault. She competed the roundoff this year. That is the only difference I have seen.

 

[GymAir]

Thank you for your response. The mom of the girl also mentioned to me to have her stay behind to be with girls her own age. That’s the dilemma I am facing as it seems some do not want to practice with her as she us young. I plan on talking to the coaches to see what their opinion is and what level she should do. They are away this week.

Parents can be just as nasty if they think you’re sandbagging your kid to score higher and win at the lower level. This is a gym problem, not your daughter’s problem. The gym places her in the level and needs to ensure a healthy training environment. You do not need to bend over backwards because some older girls are jealous, feel like a younger kid is intruding into their turf, or whatever their reason is. I’m curious to hear what her coaches say.

 

[Anonymous Post]

If they gym can continue her development (even if it is a little slower) while training with kids her own age I'd lean towards that route. At her level there are many skills that she could add and work on even if it doesn't score better, or just start learning them now even if they aren't used in competition just yet.

Who cares if she has something like level 10 skills at 11 years old if she wants to be done with Gymnastics because she has no friends at the gym. To me it would be better to be a level lower and love the sport and her teammates.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I think you've got some good advice on here and speaking to her coaches sound really reasonable.

Another thought I had might be to move her up to level 7 (if that is where her skills are which it sounds like they might be) but drop her training by a day with the plan she will repeat 7 to allow her closer in age peers a year to catch up. That way she isn't bored but also isn't zooming ahead. She would also be able to spend more time with same aged peers from school if she isn't getting that at gymnastics.

Also, I don't know about the tone of the comment that was made. I would wonder if the other child was genuinely noticing your daughter is left out and felt badly about this but also realizes she has little in common with a child so much younger?