Parents Tumbling to gymnastics

[USmominHK]

My daughter is 8 and started out doing dance and gymnastics equally. Gymnastics is now her primary activity and dance (ballet and contemporary) are there for fun and friends as one of the classes is a school dance troupe with her buddies.

We switched gyms last year and she had to put in a lot of time to get the bar skills but now she loves it and says bars are her favorite apparatus. She sounds built similarly to your daughter. Her pullover took a really long time because she had to build the strength and the emphasis on conditioning and strength building is not as high here where we live in comparison to gyms in the U.S. She took a long time to get a pullover - maybe even over a year - because of needing to build upper body and core strength - but single back hip circle was really fast (weeks) and double hip circle as well. The dance flexibility and focus definitely helped on beam and she won many medals there over the years. Vault was a struggle that also took time because it is hard for the kids - especially smaller lighter ones - to get the push off the spring board and understand the physics of translating running full speed forward and turning that speed into vertical height. By the end of the season she got it down well so it is doable but it was a lot of time to focus on the fundamentals for those skills.

Remember that gymnastics has turned into a power sport over the years. While flexibility is part of it, flexibility can be achieved faster than strength. My daughter also went to kids CrossFit twice a week for 3-4 months and this made a huge difference in her strength level (our gym is light on conditioning).

So it depends on your kid, your gym, and your schedule! Hopefully this helps you make a decision.

 

[GymParent0]

Then find a tumbling and trampoline only class. She's only 6 how does she know she won't want to do gymnastics?

Is this a serious question or sarcasm? Along with the laughing at her post.

OP just wants to fill time while their other kid is in activity, so the sibling isn't sitting around watching. OP clearly said the kids passion is dance and focuses on that.

 

[GymParent0]

I’m not seeing where you have received rude or dismissive replies. You should put your child in the level they recommend. You really don’t know how quickly she will pick up bars skills since this is her first class. I’ve seen kids learn the basic skills the first week and others that take the duration of the class.l or longer. You can also, as suggested, just put her in a tumbling or ninja class if you are just looking for fun and a way to build confidence and coordination.

"She's only 6 how does she know she won't want to do gymnastics?" It's a bit demeaning when coupled with laughing at OPs posts. Passive aggressive bullying. Lurker is just going around on people's threads putting laughing emoji's.. the intent isn't to be supportive to OP.

The Lurker was given a response that the kids passion is dance, doesn't have large interest in gymnastics. The sibling goes to a Ninja thing in the same building and they want to double up the activities instead of have the kid sit and watch the sibling.

The Lurker then ignored OP's information and contested that 6 year olds change their mind constantly.

TBF it's better just to stay quiet if not being supportive or helping the OP. OP is not wrong to think that Lurker is being rude.

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Reactions:Lurker


Childish behaviour.

 

[Lurker]

"She's only 6 how does she know she won't want to do gymnastics?" It's a bit demeaning when coupled with laughing at OPs posts. Passive aggressive bullying. Lurker is just going around on people's threads putting laughing emoji's.. the intent isn't to be supportive to OP.

The Lurker was given a response that the kids passion is dance, doesn't have large interest in gymnastics. The sibling goes to a Ninja thing in the same building and they want to double up the activities instead of have the kid sit and watch the sibling.

The Lurker then ignored OP's information and contested that 6 year olds change their mind constantly.

TBF it's better just to stay quiet if not being supportive or helping the OP. OP is not wrong to think that Lurker is being rude.

You really want me to comment on all of the off the wall things you have posted? Others have so I do not need to.

 

[GymParent0]

You really want me to comment on all of the off the wall things you have posted? Others have so I do not need to.

Sure, go ahead. Argue, be constructive instead of laughing at people. You might be wrong or I may be wrong, maybe both are wrong. The whole point of asking questions in a forum is not to insult people, laugh at them and call them "off the wall".. The point of being here is to learn from each other and gain perspective.

Grow up.

 

[Lurker]

Sure, go ahead. Argue, be constructive instead of laughing at people. You might be wrong or I may be wrong, maybe both are wrong. The whole point of asking questions in a forum is not to insult people, laugh at them and call them "off the wall".. The point of being here is to learn from each other and gain perspective.

Grow up.

Nutterbutter has already responded

Sure, go ahead. Argue, be constructive instead of laughing at people. You might be wrong or I may be wrong, maybe both are wrong. The whole point of asking questions in a forum is not to insult people, laugh at them and call them "off the wall".. The point of being here is to learn from each other and gain perspective.

Grow up.

As already demonstrated you have no knowledge, and yet want to ignore any advice and proclaim wild things as fact. There is very little engagement with people like you. You aren't here to learn. Your child must be a national champion in something or it's not worth doing. That is so incredibly toxic. But you and gymmathdance would probably get along great!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Y'all can drop this little tiff and get back to discussing gymnastics, or I can lock the thread and issue warnings.

The forum does have an "ignore" function if there's a particular user you don't care to hear from. Their replies will not show up for you, and it will be functionally the same thing as if they don't exist anymore.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I am definitely not fighting. I am just asking whether it makes sense for her to do gymnastics at all or if she would get stuck in this level for a while because of bars. I'd rather put her into a sport where she's not bored for 75% of the class. Higher level is not an option.

I'm not sure where you get that she will be behind in 3/4 of the class. Beam requires only releve walks, arabesque and handstand. And she can already do the vault things. So that's 3/4 of the class. She just can't do bars.

Hope you're having an ok day That just seemed unnecessarily negative.

That wasn't negative, that was reality. She won't be "stuck" in a level 2 class, she will be in a class that is right for her for however long it takes for her to be at the skill level in all events to move forward. Bars is HARD. It has kept my daughter from advancing levels on competitive team, and she has been in gymnastics since 18 months old and on team for 8 1/2 years. She has repeated a level already and will repeat another level this year just because she doesn't have her bars skills. She also dances 4 hours a week and trains 2 hours at a D1 training (weights, strength, and speed). Let her be in the class for a month or 2 and then see how she's doing and if she's ready skill wise, you can talk to the coach about moving her up.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I agree with that. I didn't have my daughter do bridges until she was 5.

That's useful. Based on that, I'd say a pullover is probably easier than a front walkover. No one is going to figure that out on the playground! They require a pullover and a "spotted" front hip circle but I don't know what that means.

Again, thank you for sharing your experience!

Front hip circles are hard.