Parents Too old for JO?

[GymDad9.9]

Sounds similar to our story, too. Started as an 8 year old at a small gym, then one year later switched to a very competitive gym where she was automatically placed in Xcel due to age. She was bummed, but if that was the only way to do gymnastics, she agreed. She competed Xcel one year and her progress and work ethic during that year ended up proving she could indeed fit into their JO program after all. She's now been in JO for 2 years and just finished up Level 8 in the top 2% at Region 8 Regionals.

She and I were both feeling like so many others do about the age thing during that year she was in Xcel. So I totally understand the frustration and disappointment that other families experience when age alone separates the kids from possibly reaching their highest goals. It almost happened to my daughter and we consider ourselves very lucky now that they made an exception for her. Even though I now completely understand and support all the reasons that I gave and aussiecoach gave, I do have to say that I wish every gym had the time and resources to give everyone a chance because I am positive some great potential is being missed by ruling out "older" girls.

Keep looking around if you have an older girl and encourage them not to give up wherever they are because nothing is permanent. Like my daughter did, they can still work really hard at Xcel and prove the coaches wrong!

You may feel lucky your gym gave your daughter a chance, but, the gym should feel a little stupid given the successes achieved by your daughter.

 

[gymbeam]

You may feel lucky your gym gave your daughter a chance, but, the gym should feel a little stupid given the successes achieved by your daughter.

Ha! Not really- she couldnt even do a backhandspring or hold a handstand when she came to their gym for an evaluation. She was 9 years old and had like no skills. I understand why they did it.

 

[SMH]

Ha! Not really- she couldnt even do a backhandspring when she came to their gym for an evaluation. She was 9 years old and had like no skills. I understand why they did it.

I get why some gyms have an age cutoff, and I understand why. But I'm so glad there are gyms who accept 'older' girls and give them a chance- some otherwise amazing gymnasts would have just moved on to another sport and not continued.

 

[gymbeam]

It helped that our Xcel team is also a strong one so they were able to develop her a lot in that one year. Otherwise, she probably would never have ended up where she is. And, who knows, maybe they did have in the back of their minds from Day 1 that they were going to try and develop her for JO in that year but just didn't tell us until the decision was made? I never thought of that. Hmmmm.....

 

[jessimee]

Sounds similar to our story, too. Started as an 8 year old at a small gym, then one year later switched to a very competitive gym where she was automatically placed in Xcel due to age. She was bummed, but if that was the only way to do gymnastics, she agreed. She competed Xcel one year and her progress and work ethic during that year ended up proving she could indeed fit into their JO program after all. She's now been in JO for 2 years and just finished up Level 8 in the top 2% at Region 8 Regionals.

She and I were both feeling like so many others do about the age thing during that year she was in Xcel. So I totally understand the frustration and disappointment that other families experience when age alone separates the kids from possibly reaching their highest goals. It almost happened to my daughter and we consider ourselves very lucky now that they made an exception for her. Even though I now completely understand and support all the reasons that I gave and aussiecoach gave, I do have to say that I wish every gym had the time and resources to give everyone a chance because I am positive some great potential is being missed by ruling out "older" girls.

Keep looking around if you have an older girl and encourage them not to give up wherever they are because nothing is permanent. Like my daughter did, they can still work really hard at Xcel and prove the coaches wrong!

I'm so glad your DD has been able to be so successful! I do feel that my 9 year old has what it takes mentally to be successful. She has more of a dancer body (unlike my 7 year old who has a typical gymnast build and can muscle her way through her skills), and is fairly tall for her age (my oldest daughter has topped out at 5'3", but I am 5'9" so there's no telling where any of my 4 will end up height-wise), so she needs strength training, but despite pretty poor coaching, she has mastered all of the skills she needs to complete level 2, and a lot of it has been self taught. She watches you-tube videos and practices for hours at home. We have a tramp, a home-made beam and a bar in a doorway. She also takes ballet, tap and jazz so she has good body awareness. Most important for her, I think, is that it's her dream, and hers alone. I was trying to get her to be a swimmer or horse jumper like her older sister. And she insisted on trying gymnastics. She was "all in" so to speak, from that first class. So I guess we'll go the xcel route and continue with dance, and maybe supplement with a class at another gym. And see what she will achieve despite the odds!

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

It has already been said that gyms have different philosophies. Not only that, those philosophies and gym "guidelines" can and do change from time to time, and exceptions can sometimes be made for the right kid. Our gym is in the middle of revamping our program a little since we now have a successful Xcel program (which we did not a few years ago). That means we can more appropriately place kids that may not be "JO material" for whatever reason. There are so many criteria that has to be fulfilled for success in JO, age is but one of them... I admit, we have girls on our current JO team that would not be had Xcel been an option a few years back. Xcel is such a wonderful option for so many gymnasts and I would rather see someone enjoy gymnastics and be able to progress at their own speed rather than linger several years in each JO level because they cannot quite get the requirements at the same speed as their teammates...
we ARE starting to use age as a pretty big deciding factor when we are "sorting" gymnasts from our preteam, and are no longer accepting kids over a certain age for said preteam. There are open tryouts for Xcel but we are not holding open tryouts for JO, they are drafted by us (or evaluated if coming from another gym). we are always deciding for each kid individually so exceptions can and have been made! Generally though, we are being more selective for JO team now. I don't feel that is wrong, since we offer lots of options and we do allow movement between Xcel and JO for the right gymnast.
I agree though that it would certainly be helpful if gyms had clearly stated guidelines for parents. I always try to explain as detailed as possible when I speak to parents about their choices (I am usually their first contact other than office personnel when it comes to preteam/team). It would be helpful to have some general "these are the possible paths and how your child can achieve them" info available before they even reach me. We do hold open tryouts every so often for our preteam and try to make that well known (sending rec kids home with flyers etc).
I always want to keep people as informed as possible!
Best of luck to your gymnast, I hope you find the right fit for her!!!

 

[e'smum]

when dd was on level 3 as a 7 to 8 yo, there was a 10yo who moved over from an easier lvl 3 program at another gym. she is naturally talented. beautiful lines/form. she did need some help with a few things as she was coming from a more lax program. the following year, dd went to 4 and her friend tested out of lvls 4 and 5 and went to lvl 6. she struggled a bit in 6 and has had some injuries in lvl 6 and 7 (was 7 this year) but is training for lvl 8 now.

so yes, maybe a bit "old" for level 3 but if a kid is talented and works hard, there is no reason they can't advance her quickly. to automatically dismiss a child b/c they are "too old" is ridiculous. i wouldn't take a high school student's words for anything. you should talk to the owner/HC and explain your dd's goal of being on team and what you were told and see if that actually is the philosophy.

 

[e'smum]

I'm so glad your DD has been able to be so successful! I do feel that my 9 year old has what it takes mentally to be successful. She has more of a dancer body (unlike my 7 year old who has a typical gymnast build and can muscle her way through her skills), and is fairly tall for her age (my oldest daughter has topped out at 5'3", but I am 5'9" so there's no telling where any of my 4 will end up height-wise), so she needs strength training, but despite pretty poor coaching, she has mastered all of the skills she needs to complete level 2, and a lot of it has been self taught. She watches you-tube videos and practices for hours at home. We have a tramp, a home-made beam and a bar in a doorway. She also takes ballet, tap and jazz so she has good body awareness. Most important for her, I think, is that it's her dream, and hers alone. I was trying to get her to be a swimmer or horse jumper like her older sister. And she insisted on trying gymnastics. She was "all in" so to speak, from that first class. So I guess we'll go the xcel route and continue with dance, and maybe supplement with a class at another gym. And see what she will achieve despite the odds!

just so you know, if a kid is on team, they do not like them to go to another gym. if that other gym finds out, they will likely call the gym your dd is on team at. it's a professional courtesy sort of thing. but if the current gym offers tumbling classes, by all means, supplement away. but that can get you into trouble. and dancing will only help her with her gymnastics goals. at our hosted meet last year i saw a level 7 beam routine where you could tell she was also a dancer. i was sitting with the judges who were drooling over the routine. seriously, i thought i needed napkins. haha. it was a gorgeous routine and i was also ooohing and aaaahing.

 

[jessimee]

just so you know, if a kid is on team, they do not like them to go to another gym. if that other gym finds out, they will likely call the gym your dd is on team at. it's a professional courtesy sort of thing. but if the current gym offers tumbling classes, by all means, supplement away. but that can get you into trouble. and dancing will only help her with her gymnastics goals. at our hosted meet last year i saw a level 7 beam routine where you could tell she was also a dancer. i was sitting with the judges who were drooling over the routine. seriously, i thought i needed napkins. haha. it was a gorgeous routine and i was also ooohing and aaaahing.

Thank you for the warning about supplementing at another gym. I hadn't thought of that. The tumbling and "advanced girls" (for those who don't want to do either xcel or JO) are offered at the same time as the xcel practices, unfortunately.

 

[SMH]

just so you know, if a kid is on team, they do not like them to go to another gym. if that other gym finds out, they will likely call the gym your dd is on team at. it's a professional courtesy sort of thing. but if the current gym offers tumbling classes, by all means, supplement away. but that can get you into trouble. and dancing will only help her with her gymnastics goals. at our hosted meet last year i saw a level 7 beam routine where you could tell she was also a dancer. i was sitting with the judges who were drooling over the routine. seriously, i thought i needed napkins. haha. it was a gorgeous routine and i was also ooohing and aaaahing.

There was a girl like this at our level 8/9/10 state meet. I was scorekeeping so I sat with the floor judges- this girl was just breathtakingly graceful. There were plenty of technically strong routines, but this girl was just so pretty and graceful. All the judges commented how graceful she was (and she had an amazing score too)!

 

[MuggleMom]

We had a girl at our gym who started gymnastics at age 10 or 11 and ended up with a D1 scholarship so anything is possible it is just important to find a gym that will work with you to achieve your goals or be honest with you about why your goals may not be possible. Every kid is not going to be able to go down the JO path but age should not be the reason you are told no-- so if that's the only reason they are giving you I would look for someone with more detailed and reasonable answers.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

The great and not so great thing in this sport is that you don't have a crystal ball. You never know what happens in a year. I've met dozens of older rec gymnasts who have expressed interest in joining my team and I've given a chance for many.There have also been a few that I didn't give a chance but someone else did later on and I've regretted my decisions with them. Some moved through the levels like rockets and surpassed their peers who had been on team from like age 5 or 6.

Pretty much exactly a year ago my assistant coach suggested me to come and watch a then 10 year old gymnast in a rec group that practiced at the same time with us. My coach friend knew that this girl had her older sister on optional team. We watched her for a while and saw that she had beautiful lines but not that many skills. Back then she had the basics down, like cartwheels, handstands, some jumps and leaps and a pull over and back hip circle on bars. We pulled her aside and talked to her and asked if she was interested to try out for team. She was willing to try. We then found out that she already did aesthetic group gymnastics competitively (pretty much like a mix of dance and rhythmic gymnastics) and she still does. We still invited her to try out because we just saw something in her. She did the try outs, she could do like 2 chin ups and 0 leg lifts but she had such a good working ethic that we wanted her on team. Fast forward 12 months: she has now competed our intro level and 3 compulsory levels in less than a year and is going to move up to the optionals in the fall. She's the strongest gymnast in her group (was the weakest when she started) and can do a straddle press to handstand, climb the rope without legs, does more that 10 leg lifts and chin ups etc etc. She's working on her giants, kip cast handstands, beam back handsprings and FHS FTs... All this happened in a year. I sure am happy that something in me said that I should invite her to join the team. She loves gymnastics and has some high goals. She's not the only gymnast like this that I've had during my years in this sport.

 

[BachFlyer]

I sure am happy that something in me said that I should invite her to join the team. She loves gymnastics and has some high goals. She's not the only gymnast like this that I've had during my years in this sport.

Kudos to you! You should be cloned

 

[rjb123]

At my DD's gym, the little bitty girls (young) go through 2/3 in JO. If a girl comes later and is older, she tends to go to Xcel. However, HC does offer JO team spots to Xcel girls quite frequently, and then moves them to level 4 ish. I have seen girls who come to JO from Xcel do really well, and then a case or two who found that they prefer Xcel, and go back over after a season (they did well in JO but liked having more time to do other things). I would think that it would be hard to be an older girl on those level 2/3 teams because they are not with age peers, so it seems like a great system to me. Our Xcel team does really well and they are treated just the same as our JO girls. They do have a different set of coaches (but there is some overlap there too) and do less hours, but that is in the spirit of what Xcel is all about- providing girls with an opportunity to be a part of a gymnastics team and compete but with less hours and cost than JO. HC does seem to oversee those girls too- and they are included in team events, etc. IMO Xcel is a great option for kids!

 

[Aussie_coach]

To be truly honest the vast majority of gyms who have these age limits and guidelines will never make them public to the parents. They do want kids to maintain the illusion that they have a chance to make the team, even though it will never happen, because it keeps them in the gym. Most parents are happy to hear a reasonable explanation unless they c sided that it will adversely affect their own child.

Mostngyms make zero profit from their teams and the only way to run a gym with successful teams is to have a successful rec program and most successful red programs are full of kids with bug dreams that may or may not come to fruition.

But whether or not they are realistic long term goals to help gymnasts to achieve to their potential. Most little gymnast have the goal of making it to the Olympics or gaining a college scholarship, but for the vast majority this is not even a realist goal. But having the goal helps to drive them in the sport, it helps them stick it our during the tough times and in the long term it helps them achieve greater heights in the sport than they would if the never had that goal. The same goes for red kids who have the goal of joining team, it may be unrealistic but if the gym bursts the bubble and tells the kid it will never happen then they may not have that motivation to achieve as far as they can in the red program. We know the benefits of gymnastics are huge in any child's life whether they are in team or rec.

I am sure that if you ask directly most gyms will give you an honest answer, but not many gyms are going to hold a meeting or put up a notice and say "by the way everybody, not one kid in this class has a chance of making our team". A lot of these kids would not make Team in any gym for a variety of reasons, so not sharing the information is not nessesarily denying them the chance to go somewhere else and make Team.

 

[jessimee]

My frustration as a parent comes from sitting next to a friend in the gym the other day. Her daughter is 8 and was recently "invited" to join the pre-team, from the novice rec class. My friend was watching my 9 year old do a beautiful series on the tumble-track of 3 back HS followed by a back flip and land it perfectly. She said, "Wow! My daughter can't do any of that. Is your DD going to join the team?". No, because she's 6 months older than your daughter.

 

[BachFlyer]

^^ that's just sad.

 

[Sasha]

My frustration as a parent comes from sitting next to a friend in the gym the other day. Her daughter is 8 and was recently "invited" to join the pre-team, from the novice rec class. My friend was watching my 9 year old do a beautiful series on the tumble-track of 3 back HS followed by a back flip and land it perfectly. She said, "Wow! My daughter can't do any of that. Is your DD going to join the team?". No, because she's 6 months older than your daudvocaghter.

Hmm.. If they are inviting 8 year olds to pre-team, that isn't the most exclusive age-rules I've seen. Some pre-teams top out at age 5-6. Only 6 months older than a class-mate? You might be able to advocate for a tryout if you talk to the right person...

-This is coming from a parent (me) who has had to advocate on multiple occasions when my daughter did not fit a mold and was initially left out of the party, so to speak. We won some of those. She proceeded to steal the spotlight at the party in at least one case Never hurts to try.

 

[gymgal]

My frustration as a parent comes from sitting next to a friend in the gym the other day. Her daughter is 8 and was recently "invited" to join the pre-team, from the novice rec class. My friend was watching my 9 year old do a beautiful series on the tumble-track of 3 back HS followed by a back flip and land it perfectly. She said, "Wow! My daughter can't do any of that. Is your DD going to join the team?". No, because she's 6 months older than your daughter.

This doesn't sound right. I would be talking with the head coach at this point to get clarification that it is not just the teen coach spouting a general policy. Keep in mind that there is a lot more to gymnastics than tumbling but if she is just as advanced in the other events (compared to her current rec level) and she has good form, then I would be talking with the HC because she likely wouldn't need to start at the bottom of the team ladder.

 

[Texasmomof3]

My dd competed level 3 at age 11. She is now 14 (8th grade). She just finished level 7 and is training level 8 for next year. If she does one level per year, no skipping and no repeating, she will be a level 10 for 11th grade. So, not D1 scholarship material, but quite capable of having a full and fulfilling gymnastics career.

Be willing to look at other places if your dd is interested and this gym says no. Even many competitive gyms will take girls who don't fit the typical mold if they are willing to work and show promise. (Our gym has a strong optional and elite program, Nastia Cup, Hopes, TOPs, national champions, multiple D1 scholarships, etc. But the HC will take girls outside this mold, too.)