Parents What is the point of Competitions & Team?

[Ex member]

Now I have 2 dd's competiting or soon to be competing I was just wondering what is the point of team and competitions? Why do gyms form these teams / pre teams and do competitions in the first place? I know that children who place get medals etc but what does the gym get out of it? If they don't get anything other than kudos then why are only a small amount of children selected to train, why not keep eveything on a level playing field so to speak and let everyone who wants to train these great skills.

 

[CoachTodd]

There are many gyms that don't want to be "embarrassed" at a meet with kids that aren't as "talented" as they should be. Other gyms say it is because they want the kid to "be successful" . Most of it is bragging rights for those gyms. I am of the philosophy that if a kid wants to compete, find a way to let them. I think it's fun. There are also places that are very good at teaching very specific skills in a very specific way to specific types of kids. If you put someone who isn't one of those specific types in their group, they can't or won't coach them.

 

[OzZee]

There are also time/space/coach constraints. A club can only have so many kids training at one time. If kids are doing several times a week that limits overall numbers. Most clubs have a limited number of coaches.
Both of these limit the number of places available at each competitive level.
Financially a large number of the kids in the club need to be at recreational prices.

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Over here everyone has the chance to compete if they want to - there is a rec stream of competition, then a local stream then a regional one. Then for the more serious gymnasts there is the national stream. I really like this because my daughter who is rec gets the chance to compete as well as her brother who is training at a higher level - she would be really upset if this was not possible.

 

[Muddlethru]

For the gymnast, competition encourages to be the best by challenging opposition. It encourages sportsmanship, chivalry and good role models/ambassadors of the chosen sport; competition is also a way to learn from successes and failures. There is also the social aspect of making new friendships, relationships and alliances. And of course, playing/competition is fun, or should be fun. Competition is all about the data. Am I improving? Are my Link Removed? How do my results stack up overall? What changes do I need to make to my training plan? It's hard to gage your performance without competition.

For gyms, it is a business. They are producing a product. A good product will bring in more business. They love the sport and they want to produce gymnasts that fall within what best depicts their standards. Of course, there is all the reasons listed in the posts above, etc.

 

[gracyomalley]

Competition was not even on my DD radar until she was 8 - in fact she spent a year on the team training old lv 5 while telling me she didn't think she'd ever want to compete. Then she helped at a meet. Then some of the older girls in her group were getting ready to compete - and suddenly she was driven to join them - to the point that her coach let her compete while scratching bars for 3 meets until her kip was solid....and she LOVED it! She didn't even ribbon (4-10th place ) in anything that year until state (placed somewhere in there on beam...) 6 months later. She loved being part of the team, getting hair done, going out there and watching her scores improve with each month and putting all the hard work into place.

We are lucky that for both of the gyms my kids are part of, kids get to compete even if they won't "win"...and frankly, for DD over the years she's gone from the above, to the top scorer on her team most of this year and too many (real) medals to hang up....DSs also have "moved" up in performance and skill, with DS the oldest now learning a new skill a practice (double back in the pit yesterday...). Had they been at gyms that didn't compete they probably wouldn't have stuck with it through the hard times when skills aren't coming...and missed out on huge amounts of team bonding, encouraging each other, healthy competition, the idea of personal improvement as well as getting over the disappointing performance...

So that's why competing is good for the kids - for the gym? Well, If you win its an advertisement. If you show up at meets with well prepared athletes who cheer each other on, love their coaches, have good attitudes, etc - even without "winning" - well that's a good "advertisement" as well. Kids generally like to compete - and having a goal for them to work to helps a gym as well. It needs to be balanced with the cost of competing and keeping "winning" from being the goal, in my opinion, because for some kids its just not in the cards, and for others (like my 2 oldest) it may take a few years to get there and they have to be encouraged on that road...

 

[happychaos]

I agree with what has already been said for sure! I will add that for my DD, competition is the motivator to focus on the "little" things. My DD would be fine doing skills with flexed feet and sloppy landings, were it not for the deductions at meets. My DD is one of those who gets new skills very quickly, but she has to work hard to keep tight, straight, and pointed. It's kind of funny how in the month or two before meet season, DD suddenly starts mentally calculating where the deductions are in her routines, and she suddenly becomes motivated to fix all those little things, lol.

 

[Sasha]

This is a big reason I really love the Xcel program in the US - at least how it is used in our gym/area. They truly do let any girl (any age, size, and talent level) train to compete, as long as they are good listeners and try hard with a good attitude. Our gym has a very large Xcel team.

It's obvious what the girls get out of it, as others have posted.

As for positives for the gym itself, I think it fosters a culture of welcomeness, opportunity, inclusion, commitment, and options. All good adjectives for many people gym-shopping.

And I hazard a guess that many coaches feel personally rewarded watching their girls (many of whom would otherwise only be in rec) achieve in a team environment. Though meets are surely exhausting at times, I think coaches are rewarded by the thrill of competition, too, and it makes their job more exciting and fulfilling.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I would also add that some people are naturally competitive and need to channel this behavior constructively. Hubbie was an international sportsman and his mantra is "no such place as second place", Big Boy and P&F both have this temperament. To them everything is a competition and so sports allows them to channel this competitive nature - other wise it can become a destructive trait. Little lad on the other hand does not have a competitive bone in his body and never will, again its his personality.

For the gyms you just have to look at threads on how to judge a good gymnastics programme - although many find a good fit using other, more "fuzzy" criteria, from the outside success is measured by competitive success.

I would also add that here in the UK, gymnastics is more of an individual sport with much less emphasis on "Team" than in the US, I think this is more of a cultural difference, and the multi-stream approach allows competition on many different levels, from rec through to elite.

 

[Amusibus]

Not sure about going to meets, but I do know that when a gym hosts a meet they make big bucks.

 

[Rapunzel]

I think it's like any sport- you could say whats the point in junior league football? A lot of clubs will have an A side and a B side, with one team performing in a higher division with the better players. Competition builds resilience and tenacity which from a hobby are good life skills. Overcoming failure is another one - getting used to life's disappointments.
The tiers is probably mostly capacity - as in there isn't enough time for all the young gymnasts to train all the hours needed for compulsorily - so just put the ones that have been noticed, perhaps some capable ones fall through the bet but they'll still have fun.
Hosting meets - brings in loads for the clubs, attending other clubs meets, encourages those to pay it back and come to yours.
I can see lots of benefits at competing at all the levels - but only if the child wants to. Having been quite sporty in my younger years I could handle team sports, athletics and swimming because I wasn't on my own, I imagine being up on that beam is a lonely place and not for everyone.

 

[sce]

I think it's like any sport- you could say whats the point in junior league football?

I agree with this. I also think the competition gives the athlete something to work for and a way to test their skills. Gym to gym they may have their own theory to who will e on their team. I do think anyone who wants to can compete, but needs to find the right place for it.

 

[Aussie_coach]

You are right, everyone should be able to train these awesome skills. Unfortunately many gyms just don't teach advanced skills to recreational gymnasts. A lot will only have rec gymnasts learning skills like back walkovers and round offs and won't even do handsprings with kids not in teams.

We don't do this in my gym, I am a firm believer that every child should be able to go as far as they can skill wise if they are recreational or competitive. Some kids won't be able to get to the higher skills, but we also have plenty of kids who are doing optional level skills on one day a week training (3-4 hours).

Competition give kids goals, it is often what keeps them in the sport year in and year out. As they have goals to make a certain level, do well at a certain. It gives them rewards and helps them feel like they are moving forward in the sport. Again it is not necessary to compete to stick with gymnastics for many years, but if you don't have the competition you need to put together other goals and rewards for your gymnasts to work towards to encourage longevity in the sport.

 

[Amusibus]

Aussie coach, I did a lot of those higher level skills as a rec kid 4 hrs/wk. I never see this happening in any gyms around here nowadays. I thought that was just a thing of the past.

 

[Aussie_coach]

We are one of very few gyms who do it in my area. It does seem to be a thing of the past.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

We are one of very few gyms who do it in my area. It does seem to be a thing of the past.

Which is silly because I have never heard a kid say 'I want to start gymnastics, so I can learn basic skills and repeat the same things over and over'

 

[MILgymFAM]

Which is silly because I have never heard a kid say 'I want to start gymnastics, so I can learn basic skills and repeat the same things over and over'

Exactly! My younger DD is so bored and frustrated- she has been in advanced rec for over a year and they will not let her try or practice anything past basics- yet there are no higher rec classes. Her teacher today told her she was too advanced for the class. Made me want to pull my hair out.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Which is silly because I have never heard a kid say 'I want to start gymnastics, so I can learn basic skills and repeat the same things over and over'

Very well said!