Anon What level do you actually need talent to be a competitive gymnast?

[Anonymous Post]

I’m assuming most kids can compete level 1-4 and xcel bronze/silver. At what level, both xcel and DP, do you think a gymnast actually has to display talent/athleticism to continue to move forward? My daughter has some past teammates who haven’t progressed past lower levels after multiple years of working on the same skills. I know some say hard work beats out talent, but at some point don’t you have to have some athleticism/talent to continue to move forward in the sport? What is the point where the average athlete says this is too hard and quits? Not taking into account puberty growth, mental blocks, etc. as that impacts when some quit. I’m talking just skill wise, at what level do you need talent to keep moving forward?

 

[Anonymous Post]

L8

 

[Anonymous Post]

Here is my personal experience in the early 90s:

I was too big and too tall and had slow-twitch muscles and no bounce in my legs but I worked as hard as a kid could possibly work! The levels and equipment have changed but I got to the equivalent of modern level 4-5/Xcel Gold. At my peak I could do a roundoff back handspring back tuck on the floor, a glide kip and on the bars, a FHS on the vault, and front and back walkovers on the beam.

But my slow-twitch muscles were an insurmountable barrier to my continued progress. If you can’t jump, you can’t jump! I was never going to be able to do the more complex leaps without a trampoline and I was never going to be able to sprint fast enough to generate significant power on the vault. It just wasn’t possible.

 

[Anonymous Post]

looking forward to hearing coaches on this one -

I am not a coach - just my thoughts from years of observing - Starting at level 5, you see a drop off in those who just don't have the physical ability to do many of the skills and each level above that, you see gymnasts having more difficulty mastering the skills. I think it has been said here before that most average talented gymnasts can get to L7 if they stick with it but beyond that you are dealing with a different level of strength, mental stamina, talent and body awareness. Take bars - most gymnasts can muscle through those lower level skills but L7 and above is a whole new game, needing to uderstand how to swing and the timing of it all. Beam is more mental and some additional balance awareness. Vault is more power and air awareness (and mental as well). I would say floor is similar to vault

 

[Anonymous Post]

There was a girl at my DD's gym who had very little talent or natural abilities. Always struggled, always the last to get the skills, repeated most levels, struggled every year to get a qualifying score for states (32AA), etc., but she loved it and wanted to continue. She made it to level 7, competed it two years then graduated. FWIW

 

[Tigtimes]

L9

 

[Anonymous Post]

An average kid who is mentally confident/secure, not prone to mental blocks,doesn’t get burnt out and isn’t prone to injuries will get further than most.

The mental game in level 7 and above is real.

Truly mediocre athletes will struggle to make it past level 4 - the skill barriers become insurmountable

 

[Anonymous Post]

I would say level 7-8.

 

[Katie]

For Xcel I think silver to gold is the biggest jump. Mentally it can be hard and a lot of tiny girls take longer because of the vault and jump to high bar. But in the grand scheme of things gold isn’t that hard to learn with some work and no mental blocks. The jump from gold to platinum is not nearly as big and a lot of girls compete a lot of the same skills. So a lot can make it fairly easily. But if you are a less advanced gold and aren’t trying super hard platinum could likely be to much. Mainly the need for a kip and a longer tumbling pass on floor would make moving up from easier gold routines hard. I think some real talent and work is needed then for diamond, the best most talented kids at my gym struggle to get to diamond. A lot depends on age you start too. If you start competing at 6 you have time to work harder and repeat levels more and still get higher up. If you start at 13 you will likely only do gymnastics for several years so if it is harder/takes longer for you then you won’t get a chance to get to as high of a level.

 

[Aussie_coach]

That’s a really difficult question to answer because there are great varying degrees of being talented.

If you are in the top 50% of athletes you can be considered talented, if you are un the top 25% etc, if you are in the top 1%. The term talented is far to broad.

I don’t k ow if it’s the same in the US, as you have things like excel. But here, in most gyms you won’t even make it onto a tram at the lowest level with out some good natural talent, strength, flexibility, technique etc.

Personality factors play just as big of a role in advancing as talent does, gymnastics takes a lot of commitment, patience, time and effort.

In fact, in many circumstances I have seen it to be harder for a very talented gymnast to progress. In the lower levels, very talented athletes can pick up skills very easily, they learn things quickly and constantly. The more talented, the longer this goes on (and the harder it is for them later). Then at some point they hit the wall, where they don’t get new skills in a few tries and they have to persevere and many have never learned how to be okay with struggling with a skill. It becomes hard and disheartening, they haven’t learned how to ouch through the difficulties, many drop out.

 

[Anonymous Post]

What a great discussion! I would think it takes athleticism/talent to do a cartwheel on beam

 

[Anonymous Post]

I had a coach tell me once that they could get anyone to around level 7-8 if they were willing to work and try. They even said they could get me there with some time and effort! They said that after that it takes an increasing amount of talent and mental strength that not every kid has. In their eyes flipp8ing a vault was the first "test" then single bar releases, advanced beam series, etc etc etc.

 

[JBS]

I’m assuming most kids can compete level 1-4 and xcel bronze/silver. At what level, both xcel and DP, do you think a gymnast actually has to display talent/athleticism to continue to move forward?

Around L8... we consider L8 the basic beginning of upper level gymnastics.

Probably around Diamond for Xcel.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I think its just as much mental, if not more mental than physical once you get to level 7/8. Series on beam, flipping vaults, giants on bars, are all scary skills that I've seen many many girls just not be able to make themselves do, even though physically they could no problem.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I had a coach tell me once that they could get anyone to around level 7-8 if they were willing to work and try. They even said they could get me there with some time and effort! They said that after that it takes an increasing amount of talent and mental strength that not every kid has. In their eyes flipp8ing a vault was the first "test" then single bar releases, advanced beam series, etc etc etc.

The ability to work hard, persevere and commit also takes talent. A different type of talent, yes, but talent nonetheless.

 

[Anonymous Post]

What a great discussion! I would think it takes athleticism/talent to do a cartwheel on beam

Yes it does. But not necessarily enough to get you to L10, colleg, elite, Olympics.

 

[trackandfield6]

I’m assuming most kids can compete level 1-4 and xcel bronze/silver. At what level, both xcel and DP, do you think a gymnast actually has to display talent/athleticism to continue to move forward? My daughter has some past teammates who haven’t progressed past lower levels after multiple years of working on the same skills. I know some say hard work beats out talent, but at some point don’t you have to have some athleticism/talent to continue to move forward in the sport? What is the point where the average athlete says this is too hard and quits? Not taking into account puberty growth, mental blocks, etc. as that impacts when some quit. I’m talking just skill wise, at what level do you need talent to keep moving forward?

Having coached for years and years, I feel like I could write a book on this topic...lol. I agree with all of the responses too, so maybe I am just being redundant. Myself, I have six really athletic kids, and my nephew competed for Penn State, won the Big 10, one year, and also tried out for the Olympic team...didn't make it, but it helped in my perspective on gym as a whole. Back in the day, the Soviet and Romanian coaches would scan playgrounds and pick out the kids they could tell were athletic. Of course, under communism the kids had little choice. You can tell kids that are very athletic. Even that runs the gamut. An extremely athletic child, who really loves gymnastics, is not fearful, has good air sense, doesn't mind being corrected constantly, and wants to work hard, will go further than a non athletic child with those same qualities. That being said, those qualities are rare in both. Personally speaking I believe that having great air sense is inborn. I believe that that quality also leads to fearlessness, which I honestly do not think you can teach. As for fast muscle fiber, and size, that too is inborn. In all of these areas, one can get better. A child with none of the natural ability, but with a ton of work ethic, can beat out others in level 1-3, possibly 4 too... but after that... you really should have a majority of those boxes checked off. Kids do change though. We all know this, some just get burnt out no matter how capable. Others become what we never thought they would. I don't like putting kids in a box in that regard. Its definitely an interesting topic to be sure. I have one on my team currently.... nice, sweet kid, lots of natural ability...especially at bars, hardly works, usually wins bars.... others that work harder, don't beat her, but it's level four....that won't last for her.

 

[Anonymous (4373)]

I'm not a coach, but I also wonder, once a group of equally naturally gifted gymnasts have made it to the higher optional levels, that coaching approach makes a big difference with things like fears and blocks. Look at Haley Bryant, she almost exclusively does front tumbling. What if someone of her talent had been told she had no choice but to back tumble or move on?

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

I'm not a coach, but I also wonder, once a group of equally naturally gifted gymnasts have made it to the higher optional levels, that coaching approach makes a big difference with things like fears and blocks. Look at Haley Bryant, she almost exclusively does front tumbling. What if someone of her talent had been told she had no choice but to back tumble or move on?

If she was at the wrong gym, she likely would have been stopped by her lack of back tumbling. Our gym has level 10s that do not do back anything but at our other location they never would have made it out of level 6