Parents Training elite

[DP gymnast mom]

Hi, need some reassurance please. My almost 14 year old daughter is training elite. She has the skills on all apparatus. The only thing she doesn't quite have yet is her tsuk full on vault. She does tsuk layout and yurchenko layout.

She does double pike and double back on floor and a double full, soon to be 2.5 full.

She does pike jaeger, overshoot and pak on bars.

She does front aerial blo, front full mount and double full dismount on beam.

Is she prepared from a skills standpoint? Thank you for your help!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Disclaimer: I have not coached elite or elite-tracked athletes in any significant amount, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Vault: I'd be reluctant to put a kid out as an elite without a twisting vault. Might not be a dealbreaker if the other events are strong, but I'd be reluctant about it.

Floor: sounds like a roughly-college-level routine. At a level 10 meet, I'd expect this to be one of the harder routines; at an elite meet, I'd expect this to be one of the easier ones, but not so much that it would be out of place. What does she have as far as dance skills? Leaps, jumps, turns, etc?
I could probably be talked into having an athlete compete elite with this routine, but I'd be a lot happier if that back 5/2 was at least 5/2 punch front pike or layout.

Bars: what does she have as far as non-release skills? Dismount? If she has a solid dismount (say, a 1/1-twisting double back) and some decently-valued pirouettes or other non-release skills, I can see this being a solid elite bars set.

Beam: Front full as a mount mount? I don't think I've ever seen that; either I'm misunderstanding what skill you're referring to, or that is WAAAAAAY harder than all her other skills. Otherwise, I'm emphatically not a beam coach, but this sounds to me like reasonable elite tumbling, as long as her jumps and turns are also strong.

Overall, this sounds like it might be at the low end of elite as far as difficulty, but not so much that it would be out of place. If it were me I'd probably lean toward another year of level 10, but if the athlete is chomping at the bit, does well with a challenge, and isn't demotivated by not making the podium, then I could probably be talked into it with these skills.

I'm sure we have other coaches with more elite experience that can chime in here.

 

[DP gymnast mom]

Thanks for the reply.
For her beam mount, I actually meant to type front tuck mount (not front full).

She is pushing hard for that tsuk full on vault and the coach expects it by December /January.

As far as other skills on bars, she does blind and front giants, 360 pirorehuette, stadlers, and her dismount is a double pike.

Her floor dance is very strong.

 

[josie55]

Sounds to me like she isn't there just yet (skills sound more like HOPES or L10 level) but it's only October, so if her coach thinks she will be ready then that's a good sign. You can see the results from an elite meet last year where it shows what the value of the routines were to get sort of a sense, and if you wanted to you could google to see the videos of these routines to get an even better sense of what skills they did. https://myusagym.com/meets/past/89740/results/256478/ But you'll see that the lowest vault value of any of them is 4.20, which is a yurchenko full. A layout is (I believe) a 3.6. For bars it seems like it would depend on how many circling elements and how much she can connect her different skills together. For beam she likely has some other skills, and it would depend on those and her leaps and jumps. As @Geoffrey Taucer said, floor sounds like L10 and not the hardest L10, but maybe she will be adding something. It's tough because it sounds like she will be a senior next year and things seem to ratchet up at that point, but I've seen plenty of girls who are training elite get skills really quickly so perhaps your daughter will be one of them. Best of luck to her!!

 

[DP gymnast mom]

Sounds to me like she isn't there just yet (skills sound more like HOPES or L10 level) but it's only October, so if her coach thinks she will be ready then that's a good sign. You can see the results from an elite meet last year where it shows what the value of the routines were to get sort of a sense, and if you wanted to you could google to see the videos of these routines to get an even better sense of what skills they did. https://myusagym.com/meets/past/89740/results/256478/ But you'll see that the lowest vault value of any of them is 4.20, which is a yurchenko full. A layout is (I believe) a 3.6. For bars it seems like it would depend on how many circling elements and how much she can connect her different skills together. For beam she likely has some other skills, and it would depend on those and her leaps and jumps. As @Geoffrey Taucer said, floor sounds like L10 and not the hardest L10, but maybe she will be adding something. It's tough because it sounds like she will be a senior next year and things seem to ratchet up at that point, but I've seen plenty of girls who are training elite get skills really quickly so perhaps your daughter will be one of them. Best of luck to her!!

Thanks! Very helpful. She is a freshman this year (13 years old) so she has a bit of time. She is trying to add more difficulty quickly, so hopefully she will have the full vault by December.

 

[josie55]

I meant senior elite, not senior in HS. It sounds like from her age she will be trying for junior elite this year but next year will be the age of senior elite (though I could be wrong.) Regardless, try to enjoy the ride, if you can, Personally, I know that can be easier said than done sometimes!

 

[raenndrops]

I meant senior elite, not senior in HS. It sounds like from her age she will be trying for junior elite this year but next year will be the age of senior elite (though I could be wrong.) Regardless, try to enjoy the ride, if you can, Personally, I know that can be easier said than done sometimes!

Junior Elite is 11-15 years old. Senior Elite is 16 and up.

 

[josie55]

So if she’s almost 14 now, then I’m guessing turns 15 in 2025 so would only have one year of juniors before senior elite. Is it still based on the age they turn that calendar year?

 

[DP gymnast mom]

Yes, I think she only has one year as junior and then senior