WAG Training style and hours

[Kbujold]

Hi! I’m new to this forum. My daughter is a new level 4 gymnast, she will be 9 in November. Her gym is small and her coach believes less is more with hours spent training. She was moved to the level 8 training team a few months ago. She spends 12 hours training one week and 6 the next..averaging 9 hours a week. We had our first level 4 meet last weekend and she scored lower than usual. She was the all around state champion for Xcel Silver in March. We competed against girls that were scoring very high. Her coach doesn’t seem to be worried...he says it’s little details that will not matter when she’s a higher level gymnast. Does this make sense? Should I look at moving her to a bigger gym?

 

[Peachy88]

It is a strategy for some gyms. If your daughter is hoping to stick with it and uptraining and get to higher levels fast then this is fine as long as she is fine not winning medals.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

My daughter is a level 10 and aspiring elite level gymnast and she trains less than 25 hours per week. Her coach is of the same mindset, less is more when it comes to the amount of hours spent training. I wish more coaches believed in the less is more idea.

 

[raenndrops]

Hi! I’m new to this forum. My daughter is a new level 4 gymnast, she will be 9 in November. Her gym is small and her coach believes less is more with hours spent training. She was moved to the level 8 training team a few months ago. She spends 12 hours training one week and 6 the next..averaging 9 hours a week. We had our first level 4 meet last weekend and she scored lower than usual. She was the all around state champion for Xcel Silver in March. We competed against girls that were scoring very high. Her coach doesn’t seem to be worried...he says it’s little details that will not matter when she’s a higher level gymnast. Does this make sense? Should I look at moving her to a bigger gym?

The girls she is competing against in Level 4 could be training more hours to drill the details of the routines. They could also include repeating L4s. If you don't know their background, it is difficult to determine the reason they did so well.
If her coach is planning for her to do multiple levels this year (even just L4 - L6 assuming she has the skills), then it doesn't make sense to spend hours on the little details. It is the skills that matter. USAG says that as long as a gymnast has the skills to compete the next level safely, a 34.0 at L4 can move a gymnast to L5... a 32.0 at L5 can move a gymnast to either L6 or L7.

 

[amiandjim]

In general, girls who move from Xcel to JO will find the scores lower (this is NOT a knock against Xcel). In JO, each hand placement, foot placement, etc... must be done exactly according to text. If not, it’s a deduction. Because girls in Xcel have their own routines, those deductions do not exist in Xcel and thus, scores tend to be a bit higher.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

A few things

You can not compare scoring in XCel to JO.

Xcel silver is comparable to JO L2/3.

At L4, which is the first required JO level, the competition gets stronger as girls who have just been training enter the meets.

The skills get harder.

Finally. There will always be a difference in hours and training. And it’s very likely that high hour gyms will score higher.

JMO
It’s also likely that many little girls going high hours will burn out and quit.

My daughter trains at a lower hour gym. She went 9 hours a week during the school year until L7, when she started going 12/13 hours. She is looking forward to starting her L8 season. Had she gone to a high hour gym she would of been a 1st place finisher at L4 scoring 38 and higher, and then quit.

The optional kids at our gym don’t score 38 and 39, but they do OK. Get a decent amount of placements. They might need an extra year at a level then kids going double the hours at other gyms. My daughter fully expects to be a 2 year 8, but who knows. And they have time for other sports and activities, along with being able to be upper optional gymnasts.

This is a choice that the gymmies and parents make. We have also had kids leave to go to higher hour gyms. Folks do what works their kids and family.

 

[NutterButter]

Xcel tends to score higher than JO. My DD competed Silver for a year then switched to L4. Her podium placements were still the same, but she was getting there with much lower scores. She could easily hit a 37+ in Xcel but didn't get her first 37 in JO until L7. Also, if it was the first meet of the season, it's possible you were seeing higher scores because girls were scoring out of that level. I've seen girls score out of both L4 and L5 at the same meet then they reappear a few months later when optional season begins.

Your DD is on a L8 training team. What does that progression look like at your gym? Are they fast tracked to get there ASAP? The JO program is progressive so I guess technically everyone is on a L10 training team because that is the ultimate goal of the JO program. I'm kidding but I do find it interesting that your gym calls it a L8 training group. If they are being fast tracked, then there are some details in the routines that could be overlooked because they don't matter. Other details do matter though. The purpose of compulsory levels is to set the athlete up for success in the higher levels. The emphasis on form and details will help the athlete get to higher levels safely. Some of the skills in compulsory routines are actually drills to get them ready for skills that take a couple years to master. Look to see how athletes are doing at your gym in L9 and L10. Are they competitive? Are they healthy? Do girls qualify for regionals, easterns/westerns and nationals? My DD trained 9 hours/week at L4. It's appropriate, but on the lower end of the spectrum. In your case, I'd be concerned about what the ramp up to L8 hours looks like and the percentage of time spent on strength, conditioning, flex and uptraining. If your DD's coach forgoes 'little details' in L4 because they aren't important, then I'd want to know that the training program supports this and that she's not at a higher risk for injury later on.