WAG Starting at L6 without any skills but strength and flexibility? Is that possible?

[mandy]

Hello!
So my dd is a level 6 and trains 3x3 hours a week. Next month, my sister will move to our village. Her daughter is the same age as mine. She is a very shy girl and had a lot of problems in socializing and stuff.
The only thing that she loved was doing Kung Fu and sometimes a CrossFit Kids class with one of her friends.
Now as they are moving, we thaught about taking her to a gymnastics class to contniue with sports. It actually was her idea, but she just wants to joig together with her cousin (my daughter). That's, of course, a problem as she has never done gymnastics before.

Anyways, she is very flexible (slightly oversplits and good back and shoulder flexibility) and strong.
She can do some pull ups - maybe like 11 or so - something about 20 leg lifts in a row as well as a straddle support press to handstand and she can almost press up from a pike to a handstand (standing).

As far as tumbling is concerned I know that she can do handstands for some seconds, cartwheels, roundoffs and handsprings, but that's all they did in their Kung Fu class. So no tucks, combinations, twists etc. But I know she can do really good pullovers and back hip circles, because my daughter taught her

My sister and I were wondering how quick she could learn those L6 skills so that she can join my daughter's team?
They are doing RO BH Back Tuck, layouts and twists.
On bars they are currently training their giants.

I know that gymnastics is a sport that takes a lot of practice and time. But I was wondering if one is already at a high level as far as strength (of course, the kind of strength needed for gymnastics!) and flexibility is concerned, how long it would take her to learn those L6 skills if she is a good learner and very motivated and willing to work hard?
If she could keep up in let's say a year, then we are going to let her warm-up and condition with my daughter's team for the first hour (coach said it would be fine). Then give her a private coach 2-3 hours a week.

What do you think? Is it possible or just a waste of money, time and nerves. We know she wants it, she even told me on the phone today how excited she is about starting gymnastics. We can't put her in another class - it's on a different day and the gym is more than 1 hour drive from our house. We can't drive there 6 days a week!

Hope someone has tipps. I don't want my niece to get back to her depression-like mood. I love seeing her happy when doing her sports together with my dd!

 

[Seeker]

Best thing to do is just work with the gym and see where that takes her. Get her involved and active and see where it takes her. She will have to learn and compete L4 and L5 first, because those are mandatory levels by USAG standards...she can't just start at L6. Hopefully, even if she is not in the same group as your DD, she will make friends and be happy with her involvement.

Good luck!

 

[iwannacoach]

It would be a stretch because she's have to spend a minimum of time to learn the l4 and l5 skills, compete at least one meet at each of these levels and then could move to L6 if she was lucky, fearless, and a fast learner. If her club competes compulsory kids in the fall it would be at least Dec 2014 before she'd move up to L6. That kind of pace can be too much for a child to keep up with mentally, and could cause problems for her.

Mean while your daughter will continue to learn new skills and possibly advance a level. The gap between their levels couldn't be bridged in less than 2 years, and only if she works harder than most kids, and you have a head coach with a lot of tolerance for working around this sort of thing.

Would it be enough to have them in separate groups that train at the same time, or overlapped times.