Parents too many hours!

[gymgal]

Really, the best option would be getting out of the gym by 7:30-8pm but that's a tough call here because if you take her out early every night then she is missing the much needed conditioning. If you go with deleting one night, a school night would be best so she can catch up on work and sleep but if you do that, then she has too many days between practices. Are there other teams that come in earlier for practices? If so, she might be able to condition with one of those teams who leave earlier.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Oh sorry. I was told that AAU was replacing GIJO due to the more meets, etc. DD's old coach I believe told me that, but maybe it was only at that gym and I misunderstood.

USAG will no longer be sanctioning these meets. AAU will now sanction this league.

 

[nevertooold]

go to practice from 5-8, go home, eat dinner, shower and in bed by 8.

The efficiency of a true gymnast!!

 

[bribri514]

Whoa that's way too many hours. She should not have to leave USAG just because of that!!!!!!!! I practiced 20 hours a week as a 17 year old L 10 and got out of the gym every night at 8 unless I chose to stay later and work something with my coach (it was nice having a small gym and the same coach for over 10 years and be able to do that :-D ) I'd go up to 25 with weekend training.

My niece is 9 and a L 5, the gym she just started has the girls practicing 9 hours a week and out by 7:30, with an optional 3 hour practice on Saturday for a 12 hour option. Gym is her only activity and she always does the extra practice, but she's also a bit older. In my opinion a gym should be able to coach solid L 5s in less than 16-20 hours, at least from my experience. I also practiced 9-12 hours max as a L 4-L 6.

On the other hand it's really great how well the gym fits in every other respect, because all those things are really important too! How much do the other levels practice? Is the L 5 team large? I'm just wondering if it could be split into two groups, one with older girls who can practice a bit later/longer, and one for younger girls who need a bit more rest. Also if it were split I would think they could accomplish more training in less time. Obviously you don't want to pull your DD early from practice, so if nothing else can work I think it's a really good idea for your DD to not go to Friday practice if her coach is okay with that (he/she should be, particularly if she works hard and is dedicated the other days, and I'm sure she is!!) Especially when she's just starting school it's important for her to fall into the gym/school schedule without getting worn out or sick. If she stays at that many hours she'll just get tired and worn out as the season goes on and that leads to illness, injury and unhappy gymnasts (also ones that can't train or learn skills)

To be it has nothing to do with better time management, it has to do with the fact she's 7 years old and that's a schedule that isn't appropriate for a lot of girls at her age (some girls have no problem with it, it's an individual thing). I hope your DD has an awesome L 5 season!!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

The efficiency of a true gymnast!!

i agree! i'm just trying to figure out the 8 and the 8 thing. looks to me she went from conditioning to under the sheets. in the gym...

 

[bribri514]

i agree! i'm just trying to figure out the 8 and the 8 thing. looks to me she went from conditioning to under the sheets. in the gym...

There was a period of time when I was in elementary school where I would have slept in the pits every night and stay at the gym if my mom had let me.

 

[nevertooold]

i agree! i'm just trying to figure out the 8 and the 8 thing. looks to me she went from conditioning to under the sheets. in the gym...

That's plain ol' good scheduling. I think I'll add that to our parent handbook... To compensate for a lengthy practice schedule just learn how to do everything else in ZERO minutes. Eureka!!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

and then go to practice from 5-8, go home, eat dinner, shower and in bed by 8

Ooops I meant to say in bed by 9

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

i agree! i'm just trying to figure out the 8 and the 8 thing. looks to me she went from conditioning to under the sheets. in the gym...

I just re-read what I wrote, corrected to say in bed by 9!!

 

[JessMom]

Jumping in late w/ my 2 cents. I agree that's late for a 7 year old. The best idea is to have her leave earlier and condition with a group that ends earlier. Or have her condition alone. Our gym has the conditioning on cards so the girls can direct themselves most nights.

Good luck. It's a difficult situation. Especially if everyone else is making it work. She's not going to want to leave early alone.

What would be great is if the gym had a "early" group that left early, maybe missing the last event for the day - making the extra optional hours at the end of practice instead of a day . . . .

 

[kimskids]

My daughter is training level 5 and her practice schedule is Mon. 4-7:45, Tues. -Thurs. 4:45-7:45, and Friday 4-6:30 with the option of open gym from 6:30 to 8. This equals 15 hours and 15 min. It it not so bad as far as hours b/c she gets a little time between school and leaving for the gym but the practice 5 days a week is going to be a killer. My daughter is 9 so she is a little older but it is hard (for me!) to not even have one free evening! Hope you get this figured out!

 

[beamer]

Not to add to the din but I would consider keeping DD at the Friday practice and getting her out of one of the school night practices (if her coaches are even vaguely amenable to the reduced-hour plan). My DD is a level 5, uptraining 6, who goes to the gym 12 hours per week, which seems about average based on the replies to this thread. I love the Friday night practice, as it is the only "no-pressure" practice night during the school year: no immediate homework needs, she can sleep the next day, etc.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Not to add to the din but I would consider keeping DD at the Friday practice and getting her out of one of the school night practices (if her coaches are even vaguely amenable to the reduced-hour plan). My DD is a level 5, uptraining 6, who goes to the gym 12 hours per week, which seems about average based on the replies to this thread. I love the Friday night practice, as it is the only "no-pressure" practice night during the school year: no immediate homework needs, she can sleep the next day, etc.

I agree with this option. Take out the Monday or Wednesday practice.

 

[kimskids]

I was thinking the same thing! We really enjoy Friday practice b/c there is no rush to get home. I usually grab a pizza or something since my kiddo will not eat the pizza they order at open gym which she usually goes to straight from practice.

 

[BRB]

I totally agree with the last three posts. I would keep the Friday practice, since she doesn't need to wake up early on Saturday.

I would request to either of the following:

-Have her leave at 8pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, so she can get to bed earlier on school nights
or
-Just have her skip either the Monday practice or the Wednesday practice altogether.

I agree with you completely. You don't want to burn her out on gym and school at the age of 7.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[raenndrops]

My dd is working on level 5 this year and over the summer she trained 16 hours a week. It was actually an optional 12 or 16, but we chose 16 because she was not doing any other activities. Well, I was thinking the fall schedule would offer an option of 12 or 16 as well, but when we saw the fall schedule it was either 16 or 20 hours! Plus, she doesn't get out of there until 9. So late for her. School started last week and so did the fall schedule. My dd was so tired even with just a half of a school week. She ended up not going to practice on friday and she fell asleep at 7:30. She ended up sleeping through the night and woke up at 7 the next morning. I feel like this is too much for a 7 year old.

I am highly considering moving her to the GIJO program instead of the USAG program. However, I feel like she has worked so hard to get the skills that I should wait for her to compete this season and then make the move. However, I don't want to completely have her burn out at the age of 7. The GIJO program is a lot more laid back right? I really want her to be able to have more fun and be challenged at the same time. Dd said she still likes gymnastics, but doesn't like it enough to go as much as she does.

You also might consider a YMCA program if there is one nearby. We have 2 that compete for the local YMCA now. Little just moved up to team this past spring and will compete L4 in the fall. Big (9 y. o.) went to YMCA Nationals for L5 in June and will prob be competing L6 this fall. They practice 3 days a week for 2.5 hours a day. They compete USAG routines and use the same judges, but it is less intense (and usually not as cost prohibitive as a USAG club).