Up-training

[MdGymMom01]

I know pressure is hard on little ones. However, this year has been hard on my DD. The fact that she is young was why we took her out of the more competitive gym, she loved it but we were not sure. Bad move on our part. She has been miserable. Kids are no where near her age on her team at new gym so she isn't taking seriously by her team mates. This upsets her a great deal. Also, the lack of discipline at new gym means my dd gets to hear all about things pre teens talk about and that isn't good either. She also is now coached by lovely people who don't seem to know how to motivate, develope, encourage lill ones. Further more she has now really adapted to the environment around her. She sees sloppy, unmotivated, distracted gymnasts day in and day out so she now looks the same. She loved the stricter gymnastics. We just thought we knew better. So I understand your dilemma. Every child is different. We are moving dd too but not until after the season. She has begged all year to go back. What some view as too harsh, others love and thrive in. Its great there is a place for all types of gymnasts. She does up train a little. She is like your dd, skills are great but routines not clean.

You made some very important points here littlegirlsdream. Like you said, some gyms are just better fits for certain gymnasts and it may take a few years to find that fit. I do know what you mean about the kids getting "sucked into" the pre-teen drama. It seems like once one or two gymnasts start goofing off or chatting at the chalk bucket, it doesn't take long for more kids to follow suit. And it's not because the kids are lazy or unmotivated, it's just that age of them being 10-12 years old where the chattiness and socialization comes into play at a peak. My dd's coach deals with this quite often since the whole team is ages 10-12. You can imagine how 13 girls all that age who are very close-knit can sometimes be hard to stay focused LOL.

 

[Granny Smith]

At dd's gym they do uptraining all year long. Right now she is in her competition season (L9) and depending on her meet schedule will dictate if they uptrain or not. With back-to-back meets obviously there is no uptraining, it's just continuing to work routines. Currently she has 3 weeks between her last meet and her States meet so they are working upgrades. They will probably really buckle down and just focus on routines the week of States. Right now they might have to do 2/3 routines and then they go to upgrades.

 

[MaryA]

My DD's team has such minimal hours in the gym as it is that there is no time for uptraining. This is, I think, the biggest downfall of her gym (besides the fact that the parents have to put away all of the equipment after every practice... ugh!). It means that, when meet season is over, they're starting basically from scratch... they have to learn ALL of the skills for the next level in the 7-8 months before the first competition in the next level. My DD does very well once she gets the skills (does a nice job on straight legs, pointed toes, etc.). But it takes her half way through the season to get there. She started her level 5 season with the lowest scores on the team and last night at sectionals had the highest score on the team. Level 4 was similar. HC actually told another mother on the team (completely inappropriate, but we won't even go there) that she shouldn't have moved my DD up to level 4, and then she ended up winning level 4 states! Anyway, I digress... While it's wondeful that my DD is able to make such great progress throughout the season, I know it's stressful for ME to have her start the season without all of her skills... I would imagine it's stressful for her too, though she always seems cool as a cukecumber. I almost wish that, given the limited practice hours, our gym kept each gymnast at each level for 2 years and the second year was at least 50% uptraining, but I suppose that would probably require extra coaches. But in my dream gym, there would be lots of uptraining!

 

[clrmom]

My DD's team has such minimal hours in the gym as it is that there is no time for uptraining. This is, I think, the biggest downfall of her gym (besides the fact that the parents have to put away all of the equipment after every practice... ugh!). It means that, when meet season is over, they're starting basically from scratch... they have to learn ALL of the skills for the next level in the 7-8 months before the first competition in the next level. My DD does very well once she gets the skills (does a nice job on straight legs, pointed toes, etc.). But it takes her half way through the season to get there. She started her level 5 season with the lowest scores on the team and last night at sectionals had the highest score on the team. Level 4 was similar. HC actually told another mother on the team (completely inappropriate, but we won't even go there) that she shouldn't have moved my DD up to level 4, and then she ended up winning level 4 states! Anyway, I digress... While it's wondeful that my DD is able to make such great progress throughout the season, I know it's stressful for ME to have her start the season without all of her skills... I would imagine it's stressful for her too, though she always seems cool as a cukecumber. I almost wish that, given the limited practice hours, our gym kept each gymnast at each level for 2 years and the second year was at least 50% uptraining, but I suppose that would probably require extra coaches. But in my dream gym, there would be lots of uptraining!

This is my concern for my dd. She took a long time to get her bar skills this year and I am worried that without up-training the new skills she will struggle again next season. She is only L2 and it seems to me that skills (both current level and higher levels) should be more the focus at this level, not routines. That said, the girls at the higher levels seem to do really well at our gym, so they must be doing something right.

 

[CoachGoofy]

We barely have an off season (first meet in October, last meet in July), so we do uptrain year round. Everyone shows the coaches a few of their basics each practice (jumps, back saltos & baranis in all positions, etc on trampoline, roundoffs, handstands, roundoff backhandspring back tucks on tumbling...), then they do a few routines, then they train skills for the next level. After they get their mobility score we work a little more on what they need to move up.

 

[flipper's fan]

I think you should always uptrain. As soon as one perfects the ro/bhs, one should start on the ro/bhs/bhs. If you only uptrain in the off season, you lose all the skills you worked on all summer that are not in your routines. The best programs I have seen work current skills 2- 3 practices a week and new skills the other practice. It is especially improtant as you get into optionals- there are so many skills to choose from that you might never be ready to move up if you were not already learning new b skills or c skills. My major complaint about our coach is when he trains a skill for a number of weeks/ months, then abandons it for months. Drives DD crazy!

 

[CamSeawind]

During competition season we focus on routines and hitting the skills in them, if we finish our assignments them we get to work on next level skills. But, after season we focus on new skills, strength, and flexibility, we also work on retaining our present skills.