Parents What kind of gymnast do you have?

[Megley]

Thanks for your welcome Canadiangymmom! I read that your daughter is going to be competing this year! How exciting for her! My friend's 6 year old will be competing Level 4 this year and they too are very excited about getting their new leos and warmups. We are going to go see the inter-gym meet they hold in December (sort of a practice meet) so my children can see what it's all about. My son is saying he wants to compete too so we may consider seeing if he can do pre-team boys. I'm not sure I can afford three team gymnasts, though!

 

[canadiangymmom]

She is very excited to compete She's definitely a natural show off!

I can't imagine having 3 doing team gymnastics. I have 3 kids but the other 2 are involved in different activities. Fortunately for me, their sports don't require the same time or money commitments at this point. If they did, we'd have some major $ issues. Lol.

Our gym doesn't offer men's gymnastics except at the recreational level. So all boys and girls in the rec program are in the same groups. It would be cool to watch the differences in training for a boy's team.

Canadian Gym Mom

 

[Megley]

The boys are great to watch! My son is just in the beginning class but the pre-team and Level 4, 5 boys I have seen working out are just so impressive. They get so strong and muscular at such a young age and it is amazing to see 7 year olds doing circles on the mushroom or pommel horse.

Tonight is the first night of the Fall schedule for my girls. They go from 5-8, which seems like a long workout. They do get a break in the middle for a snack. I am crossing my fingers it goes well.

 

[canadiangymmom]

Megley,

My dd's new hours start today too, and it's also the first day of school for us! Our hours are the same as yours 5-8 and she goes Tues, Thurs and Sun. Good luck to your girls!!

Unfortunately she doesn't get a break, (well, drink stop every 1/2 an hour, but no food) so we'll be doing early dinner and then packing a snack for the drive home.

Watching the boys must be fun. Even watching girls had been a huge eye opener for me. Until we got involved in gym, I had NO IDEA how much strength and commitment was required of this sport. I imagine most people don't realize what these kids put into the gym to learn even mid level skills. If the general public knew what was involved,they might be a whole lot more respectful of these athletes. It's such an under appreciated sport.

Canadian gym mom

 

[gracefulone]

Megley,

My dd's new hours start today too, and it's also the first day of school for us! Our hours are the same as yours 5-8 and she goes Tues, Thurs and Sun. Good luck to your girls!!

Unfortunately she doesn't get a break, (well, drink stop every 1/2 an hour, but no food) so we'll be doing early dinner and then packing a snack for the drive home.

Watching the boys must be fun. Even watching girls had been a huge eye opener for me. Until we got involved in gym, I had NO IDEA how much strength and commitment was required of this sport. I imagine most people don't realize what these kids put into the gym to learn even mid level skills. If the general public knew what was involved,they might be a whole lot more respectful of these athletes. It's such an under appreciated sport.

Canadian gym mom

Even though I'm only 15, I have started compiling knowledge to write a book about the average gymnast so the public would be more appreciative by our book. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes inspired me when it said that it was not a book about the average girl. We used to have chances to bring someone to practice and get them to understand the sport. I would bring my guy friends who thought gymnastics was a frilly girly sport until they came and were sore for a week!

 

[virgogal1979]

Hello! I am new to this board and this is my first post. My daughter is 7 and completely LOVES gymnastics! She has been doing it since she was 2 with only like 9 months off from gymnastics. Since being at this new gym she has moved up each class cycle and is currently 2 classes away from making Level 4 team! The class she is in now meets 1x a week for 90 mins, but Sierra wants to take both classes 2x a week for a total of 3 hours a week. I am going to be letting her do that as SHE WANTS TO, and her goal is to make the team! I feel that it will happen for her. I even signed her up to take ballet so that she gets that in to help with the gymnastics. My sister was on team when she was younger, and she did ballet too and it helped her especially with pointing of the toes, as well as the hands! She doesn't mind taking ballet on top of gymnastics if she knows that it will help her with gymnastics.. I am 100% behind my daughter and want to see her dream come true!

 

[canadiangymmom]

Welcome to the board! It's nice to *meet* other gym parents through these forums. Good Luck to your daughter. I'm sure with her love of the sport and you commitment to her she'll go far My daughter is 7 too and passionate about gymnastics!

Canadian Gym Mom

 

[gymmom]

Hi, new to the board....

Hi,

Its great to have a message board like this. The moms at the gym can be very competitive and sometimes you have to watch what you say. My daughter just turned 8 last week and is in the middle of her first competitive season as a level 4. She is doing very well and loves to see what color ribbons she gets each meet. So far she has blues and reds but she is going for all blues at the next week! She practices 16 hours a week so as a family, it is a big committment.

She seems to be enjoying the whole thing and I really want to keep it that way! I look forward to being apart of the board,

gymmom

 

[midwestgymmom]

Welcome!

WOW! 16 hours, that's amazing my dd's level 4 team only does 6-9 a week. It sounds like your dd is very dedicated & talented.

 

[canadiangymmom]

Welcome Gym mom!

My dd will be 8 in about 2 weeks and is also competing for the first time as a level 4. Her first competition isn't until sometime after Christmas though.

We're finding it to be a big commitment for our family as well, although we are really fortunate to have 3 other families who share carpooling with us. I don't think any of the 4 girls in our carpool could participate without the carpool arrangement.

As for the competitive parents, I found the same thing at our gym initially. The parents were far more competitive than the kids! Over time the vibe has died down. My dd is in a different group now and the parents are very sweet and encouraging. I think some of the initial vibe I was picking up on had more to do with me being the *new* mom than anything else. We all want to see our children excel, just save your best brags for this board! We'd love to hear about your daughter's success!

It's an exciting sport and nothing matches the sparkling eyes of a child who has found their passion!

I hope to hear more about your daughter.

Canadian Gym Mom

 

[Megley]

Welcome Gymmom! Wow, 16 hours a week is a lot for Level 4. Our Level 4s practice 12 hours a week. They don't go to 16 hours until Level 5. I'm Mom to a recently turned 5 (Oct. 2nd) year old who is currently doing preteam 6 hours a week but who will be a Level 4 next year. Canadiangymmom's comments are right on the mark for me. It took some time to get to know the Moms and feel accepted but once I did I found everyone to be really great. Our group of preteam moms is very nice and not at all competitive. We are all rooting for the girls to get the skills they need to move on to Level 4 next year. Best of luck to your DD in getting more of those blue ribbons!

 

[gracefulone]

Whoa! I'm at a ymca and everyone does 5 hrs except a few (any level) who do 7.5.

 

[gymmom]

Thanks for all the great replies. Yes, 16 hours is a lot of hours. She just turned 8 and its a very big decision. I think gymnastics is the only sport that you have to make a big decision at such a young age.

My daughter had a really hard practice last week and was crying on the way home. I told her, "honey, is this really what you want to do? Its ok to find something else that you love." She looked at me with teary eyes and said, "Mom, no. It was just a hard practice. I love gymnastics".

Sometimes I wonder what drives these little girls with gymnastics. It is really amazing to see

gymmom
*with a daughter who just wont give up!*

 

[rebeccapaige!]

Hi, I have a 4 1/2 year old and a 7 year old. the 7 year old is a Recreational gymnast who has recently taught herself a back hip circle and a backwalkover to keep up with little sister! I have been told they don't allow the little ones to compete till they are age 6 around here, so we have awhile yet but my 4 1/2 year old is on the prehotshots pre-team (to be most likely moved up to hotshots preteam--this is a preteam for the youngest ones-- in the early spring)and has recently learned a standing backhandspring, Round off backhandspring, backwalkover, and backhip circle. She can also do her handstand vault really well, has all 3 splits, handstand bridge kickovers etc etc. Her favorite events so far are vault and floor. ok that was fun to kind of brag a little bit!! Most of our preteam moms are really fun etc, and cheer each other on but we have a couple whom you need to zip it if your around them!! Hailey spends 3 hours at the gym + 1 hour open gym for fun! I think next year that will increase to 4-6 hours. i'm amazed at the hours for level 4 posted on here, when she is that she will go 9 hours a week and I thought that was a lot!!
Becky

 

[beamqueen]

i am..

i am a provincals 2 argo gymnast turning 11 in this month

 

[beamqueen]

i train 14 hours a week 3.5 - 4 hours each of my 4 gym days

 

[ahs]

Our daughter is now 19 months and been taking a Parent Participation class since November. It has been so much fun watching her excitement each week, she learned forward rolls very early since my husband and I both teach. Its amazing to watch her figure new things out, you can see her doing a seat drop in the picture gallery- (magz). And her favorite thing is hanging on the bar, which is funny because that was always my least favorite.

 

[kids041]

my gymnast is....

Well- where to begin? My kiddo started gymnastics when she was 6 and has been going strong since then. She started in a rec class and within weeks got moved up to level 3. She stayed there for about 6-7 months. We went to a new gym for an eval. and she skipped level 4 and went straight to team! She is currently 8 and will be competing level 5 this fall. She would have competed sooner- except the gym we used to go to had coach issues, and training was slowed down for a while. Anyway- I am so proud of her. She is soooo close to the "elusive" kip. Her poor hands are showing the determination that she has on trying to get that particular skill... They are all ripped up.
anyway... enough bragging here. This is a great board- I am so glad that I found it.

 

[xstitchcarina]

Of course our system works totally different from all yours. We have level 17 till level 1. 17 is the easiest. Then you have different divisions. My daughter used to do recreational for 2 years, which was level 14 and that was just 1 competition a year with just 3 other clubs in the area. When she was 7, she won a silver medal and wanted to learn more. But that wasn't possible then in the recreational part. So, I got in contact with the trainer of the selection team. Talitha was tested with a few more girls, all a year or more younger than her. This was end of last year/season. Although she is somwhat behind in her technique, she was allowed to stay. She trained just 1½ hour a week at first, but trainer decided 3 of the new girls, including Talitha, could start with competitions already, in division 5, which means it is just for the one province we live in. Her group had just 9 girls of her age and level, only 2 of our club, Talitha and another girl, and she ended 5th, which we didn't expect, since she couldn't do her handsprings properly yet. The 2nd competition she was 9 from 9. She was quite sad, but she did better than last time, she landed on her feet with the handsprings this time. So all this is in level 11. She didn't make the semi final, so her competition year is over. She is going to do level 10 next year. She will go on a 5 day Christian gymnastics camp this Summer, so we hope she can do some preparation for that and get her basics up.

For her the most important is, that she gets to do gymnastics, she loves it. If she could she would love to do it more, but that is just not possible in our town. It is just a small club with 19 girls in the selection team of ages 7 till 22.

CARINA

 

[davjam]

What type of gymanst do you have?

Did I miss something in the question It asks what type of gymnast do you have. and not what you have done or what your child has done. I just think most of the reply post were off the mark. Bye, see ya