Parents Strength and Flexibility

[Jenny]

I would say she is well on target to do grade 14 next year. That has most of the things you mention in it.

 

[Ex member]

I am still unsure what pathway dd is on, wether she will compete grades or just do local 4 piece apparatus or floor and vault competitions. Her group concentrates on beam and bars with a little floor and a lot of conditioning at one session and the other session is vault and bars and a little floor with lots of conditioning on the other session. They have also been given conditioning to do at home daily if possible.

From the information I have given, what do you see as the more likely path? I know every club in the uk is different but I am interested in others opinions and how their clubs do things

 

[Jenny]

It really depends on your region and what it offers. Your club has to fit in with what is available. There are various regional options like novice, prenovice, level 6, 7, advanced rec 4 piece. 2 piece, advanced floor and vault. The list goes on and on.

I know of clubs who put children in regional grades on 5-7 hours a week. And I know of children doing 9 hours plus who weren't even put in out of age grade 14.

It really depends on your clubs philosophy.

I like the sound of the sessions your dd is doing. It sounds like they have a clear plan for the route that group will take and are working towards it.

 

[Ex member]

From what I have seen dd's gym compete Grade 14 in the 8/9 and 9/10 catergory for our region. My dd doesn't turn 9 until later next year and can still compete in the younger 8/9 catergory if she was to compete Grade 14, I am not sure if she will be classed out of age if she was turning 9 in the year of the grades.

The gym has started to compete in rec competitions outside our own gym but dd's group hasn't been asked to take part, one of them is a Kit e Kat competition. Rec and Advanced rec have been given the chance to take part. There is going to be a in house competition in a few months but that is just rec and advanced rec. I have had a look at the county handbook and looked at the rules for some of the regional competitions and nearly all of them requires you to do no more than 4 hours a week - dd does 5.

They also comptete county grades 1-6, the old floor and vault group (I think is now also classed as an intermediate squad) competes these.

Dd's british gymnastics membership has been upgraded to Silver Club along with the rest of her group.

 

[floppycat]

Grade 14 in age is age 8 in year of comp, so it's for 7/8 year olds.

 

[Jenny]

In and out of age isn't really important for regional grades. Sounds like she might be on track for that next year.

 

[pullover]

Gosh I think they are a big ask for kids that age. I would have absolutely no desire as a coach to put a 4 year old in a handstand for 30 seconds against the wall. I would be much more interested in the quality of shapes they make and their focus. I am quite happy for a kid to first step in the gym at 6.

Wow I feel much better after reading your post! I was starting to think my daughters (age 6.5 and on pre team and age 4.5 and hoping to move to devo track) are way behind on skills. That set of requirements sounds like a ton for those ages.

 

[LJL07]

Wow I feel much better after reading your post! I was starting to think my daughters (age 6.5 and on pre team and age 4.5 and hoping to move to devo track) are way behind on skills. That set of requirements sounds like a ton for those ages.

Surely he meant those as goals for those age groups? My girls are team/team track and can't do all of those things. Maybe kids that might be a good fit for TOPs. I haven't really seen any kids able to do all this at our old or current gym, neither of which has a TOPs program.

 

[Committed]

Surely he meant those as goals for those age groups? My girls are team/team track and can't do all of those things. Maybe kids that might be a good fit for TOPs. I haven't really seen any kids able to do all this at our old or current gym, neither of which has a TOPs program.

I don't think they sound extraordinarily difficult for kids that have been in gym for a few years. DD has always been in gym, so there really has never been a struggle to build strength - she grew up with it.
However, they may be difficult for kids just entering the gym world. I know that I could probably only do a few of them! Then again, I was a "bendy" kid and certainly not a strong one!

 

[BlairBob]

I don't expect every kid to hit 10/10, heck 7-8/10 would be good. I've had very good compulsory kids who could probably only score 5-6 on a lot of this stuff but their basics were good as was there flexibility typically (I'd hope so for L3/4 old L4/5).

Most of this stuff goes pretty much inline with TOPS.