WAG Uh, oh! My little one has a new goal- it's a doozy!!!

[cbone]

Our HC is fond of telling the girls that he will move them up as quickly as they can get their skills. My daughter and her best friend both have all of their old 5/new 4 skills. They have set a goal to get through 4 in the fall and 5 in the spring and be in optionals by next year! I think it is a wonderful, but terribly difficult goal. Do any of you have any insight in the two levels in one season thing?

 

[wallflower]

Yes! My DD did 4/5 last season and 6/7 this season. She scored 38's in 4/5 and 37's in 6/7 so I think it worked out okay. Maybe she could have hit the 38's in level 6 or 7 if she hadn't gone so fast, but she's happy so who cares. It was tough I think and kind of stressful to never have much time prepare, but she seemed to have a blast.

 

[lhmom]

It's certainly possible. They could compete level 4 during the fall until State, then test out of level 5 at a meet during the winter or spring. I've seen that done before. However, testing out would be the HC's decision.

 

[Gymmom495]

My daughter competed old level 4 last fall.. Then 3 meets old level 5 winter, 2 level 6 spring now training for optionals and she's a young 7 year old. It's possible especially if she's focused on doing it. Let us know how she does! Very exciting.


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[mylittlemiss]

It's good to have goals! My now 7 year old daughter competed L4 in 2012, then in 2013 she did a full season of L5 and then scored out of L6 at one meet. She's now training level 7. Keep us posted on her progress!! It's exciting to see them work towards their goals!

 

[Muddlethru]

My daughter did two levels in one year, L6 and L7. Doing two levels in one year, in my humble opinion, is a little harder that scoring out. When you score out, the goal is to just get the mobility score (which is really very attainable) to move up. When a gymnast scores out of a level, the plan is to have her compete the higher level for the year. So, bulk of the training is for the gymnast to do well at the higher level. When my daughter did two levels, her training for each level was only weeks. She was training and testing for TOPS during the summer to fall. But that year was her best year thus far. She won 2 of her 3 L6 meets and both L7 meets. At states, she took silver in floor and bronze in bars and 5th AA.

Cbone, from your posts here in facebook, I can't see why your daughter won't be able to do it. I thnk she can. My daughter has a similar goal this year. But this time, it will be more difficult. We switched gyms this past season. And her new coach pretty much had her forfeit the season even though the switch was made in the beginning of the competion season. She had done 1 meet with her old gym. And since she qualified for states, the new coach allowed her to compete just states. Without a full L9 season, it is likely the coach wil have her repeat Level 9 this year. But, she feels if she can prove to her coach she can competently do all the L10 skills during summer training, she is hopeful, he'll move her up. But I don't know if her new coach does move ups mid season. I've just stepped aside (but do offer my support when needed) to let her do what she wants to do.

Good luck to your daughter. I feel confident she can do it.

 

[Clover]

My daughter competed old level 4 last fall.. Then 3 meets old level 5 winter, 2 level 6 spring now training for optionals and she's a young 7 year old. It's possible especially if she's focused on doing it.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but a question for Gymmom495 - How old was your DD when she scored out of 4, 5, and 6? You said she is a young 7 year old now. Just curious. Sorry cbone.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

We (and other gyms) do a 5 to 7 jump with several kids each year (using past 5.7 levels as reference) Biggest hurdle is the flyaway out of giants each and every year. Totally possible and totally feasible to do very well.

 

[wallinbl]

DD just did 5 in fall and 6 in spring, with excellent scores in both. Will be doing new 7 in spring, and has more of the skills than I thought she'd have by now. Kids can do amazing things when they put their minds to it.

 

[cbone]

It was cool. When we talked about it, I told her she would have to focus all year like she does getting ready for state. She got that fire in her eyes and said she would do it. When she gets that look, I'd never bet against her. I'll keep you all posted on her progress. Thanks for the encouraging words!

 

[alsmom]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but a question for Gymmom495 - How old was your DD when she scored out of 4, 5, and 6? You said she is a young 7 year old now. Just curious. Sorry cbone.[/QUOTE]

I also wondered this- sorry for the high jack!!! My dd was 'stuck' at 3 this year as a 5 year old, and will be stuck at new 3 next year as a 6 year old...I feel like she is kind of biding time until she turns 7!!

 

[Gymmom495]

Clover- the level 4 season started last Fall, she was 6. She turned 7 a week after State. She then competed the level 5 meets in the beginning of this year (7 years old) and the level 6 meets right after (still 7) she won't turn 8 till the end of the year. She is training 7 but won't compete that level till after the 1st of the year 2014. Does that answer your question?


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[happychaos]

If your DD's coach is onboard, then technically it's doable, but the percentage of kids who could actually do it, and score decently is probably pretty small. But the thing is, you never know until you try! That is something I do not like about my DD's gym. They would never let a girl try going that route. And they don't do any uptraining during "season" anyway. Personally, I think the (new) level 5 skills come a lot easier than the level 4 skills. So if your DD has solid 4 skills, and already has at least 1/2 of her 5 skills, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be possible. Shoot for the stars!!!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Certainly doable--we've had many girls here on CB that have done it. Doesn't seem unattainable, if she works hard and gets her skills.

 

[Gymmom495]

Also I forgot to add after reading some of the posts. She has most if not all of the skills needed to compete new L7. She can do her giants with the fly away dismount on bars, the BWO, BHS Back Tuck dismount for beam, she has her standing back tuck, front and back layout on floor, full twist on floor. They are continuing her up training but she has the rest of the year. Hopefully this gives you a bit of insight to how she moved through L5, & L6.


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[Natasha]

Curiosity question for Cbone and others who have or are planning on doing multiple levels and starting optionals young (8 and under). Is the goal to have the option to do elite gymnastics? If not, how does that work long term (in terms of high number of hours, pounding on the body, and burnout) if the goal is L10/college?
I guess I am really just wondering if the pace of training needs to be different at a young age for L10/college vs. Elite aspirations?

 

[cbone]

There are no elite aspirations at this point. In fact, she doesn't even know what elite is (I've never mentioned it to her and don't see a need at this point). She has a goal to reach Level 10 and she sees this as a way to get closer to that goal. She also has a hunger to learn new skills. She and her best friend finished 1/2 in Level 3 and 2/1 in Level 4 at state. They are both very good gymnasts who got all of their skills for old 5/new 4 very quickly and they are really motivated to progress together. I figure that I won't discourage a goal of progression if she's moving at a nice clip already. As far as the toll it will take on her body, I honestly worry about it all the time. Other than a severely sprained finger in Level 3, we haven't had to tackle any serious injuries yet. When her finger was hurt in Level 3, the doctor recommended no bars (that's where it was hurting her). We told the HC that we intended to follow the doctor's recommendation and he agreed that that was wise. I won't put her in a position where I fear there is an unreasonable risk of serious harm, so if we see signs of her body breaking down, we'll consult with medical professionals and take prudent action.


GTM, if I'm being candidly honest, I don't have a lot of answers. I know she loves gymnastics and I encourage her to push for growth as long as I think it's safe. I know that I lack wisdom in this area, so I try to offset that by being particularly deferential to medical professionals who I know tend to be conservative.

 

[iwannacoach]

About moving quickly through the levels at a young age.........

There are obvious risks in moving too fast no matter the age, so is it any different to quickly advance, a 7yo vs an 11yo who needs to catch up just to get to the optional levels many kids dream of. Assuming both kids are the stated ages upon completing the old L3, and progress a level per year beginning this fall as new L3, they'll be 10 and 15 respectively upon completing L7. So what's the point? Why hurry the process, as the 11yo still has a few years, maybe, to enjoy the optional levels, and the 7yo has nearly a lifetime chunk of 6+ years. They both get to go at least a little further, or do they?

The long term picture for the 7yo looks great, and she'll progress at a rate typical of her past, all things being equal, until she quits or slows down due to teen distractions or cumlative fear from a career's worth of HumptyDumpty moments. The 11 yo, despite her steady progress, up to the age of 14, may not be so lucky due to a process of neurological maturation casually referred to as 'pruning.'http://en.wikipedia/wiki/synaptic/pruning

Because I care, I'll break it down to it basic principles as they apply to gymnastics, and save those who can't find their reading glasses, or just don't want to spend the time reading while simultaneously sewing a button on gymdaddy's shirt, cooking dinner, loading the clothes dryer, and putting another load into the washing machine.

As I understand it.....

Pruning takes place, as we age, to discard idle and seldom used synapses to allow for efficient work of the brain. Those synapses experiencing frequent use are retained as they've proven themselves important to the individual. The most critical span of time takes place as a child nears their adolescent years until they're well into puberty. The upshot of this is that the development of the ability to process motion, plan movement sequences, remember positions, and a few others, represents the building process taking place in the childs brain. The parts of the brain originally set aside for these activities will be retained, and grow, because they get frequently used. If, on the other had, a child experiences few examples of gymnastics motion, those synapses begin to deteriorate to give preference to those used more often.

I think that in the brain of a child who's participated mildly in the sport, there will be fewer synaptic connections available for gymnastics "processing" than would be available had she/he been more immersed in the sport, and frequently experienced skills that function frontwards, backwards, along the horizontal and longitudinal axis separately and together, and done them with and without flight. I guess you could say that the sum of experiences and their frequency represents another variable in the equation designed to answer that timeless question....... "when will my Susie start kipping."...... as that variable plus a few others really do define the words 'natural ability.'

The bottom line is the dear sweet child who started L3 at 11yo will not get up to the level of complexity for a substantial period of time to provoke the pruning process to favor the gymnastics beneficial parts of the brain, as some of those synapses have likely been discarded in favor of those being used to figure out why boys are such a pain in the neck, or gossip, or pop stars, and the ability to remeber every thing about them.

Does that help explain the preferential bias for 6yo and 7yo teamies, and why coaches with "national" credentials or aspirations prefer to move kids through at the pace they do?

 

[mylittlemiss]

Curiosity question for Cbone and others who have or are planning on doing multiple levels and starting optionals young (8 and under). Is the goal to have the option to do elite gymnastics? If not, how does that work long term (in terms of high number of hours, pounding on the body, and burnout) if the goal is L10/college?
I guess I am really just wondering if the pace of training needs to be different at a young age for L10/college vs. Elite aspirations?

You ask a very good question! My dd is 7, will be 8 this summer. When she started on pre-team she was 5 1/2, but was 6 by the time the season started, so old enough to compete level 4. She was very antsy to move on to learning new skills by the end of the season, and I'd say, was even kind of bored repeating routines preparing for the meets. Not much up-training happened during the L4 season, but some. As soon as season ended, the up-training began and went strong throughout last summer. She got her beam flight series last summer (back walk over/back hand spring), among some other higher skills. Her coaches told me they won't hold her back if she's ready to move on. I also told them, she's little and we are in no rush, so we watch closely for signs of burnout. This past L5 season, the coaches up-trained much more all season long. When the opportunity presented itself to score out of L6, all of her L5 team was allowed to give it a try with 6 weeks to prepare. Little Miss scored a 36.5, so several points above the minimum, scoring a 9.8 on floor! Since that is now past, her team is working on L7/optional skills. She's moving along at a brisk pace and her skills are just taking off! She's had a strong, solid foundation and when the timing's been right, she's been able to run with it. There's no specific goal at this time as far as elite aspirations. We don't really talk in those terms with her, but she'd be happy to go as far as she can. We are very realistic that things can change on the dime and just take it a day at a time. If things continue to go well, we'll see how far she gets. It's a tough sport and not friendly on little bodies. Thankfully she's been basically injury free and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it!! There's no pushing her to do anything. She's very strong, determined and wants it. We pay the tuition, get her to practice, support her and protect her. She does all of the work! I've always said, this is a sport you can't MAKE a child do, it never works out, they always quit and no one ends up happy. My other dd, a former gymnast, had health issues and had to suddenly quit just before her L6 season began, so I know what it's like to be going full force and have it all end and quick! With her gymnastics back ground, she's now a diver and has a lot of potential in the sport. We'd love for her to get a college scholarship!!

 

[happychaos]

To long to quote, but thank you IWC for that great explanation. Very interesting!