Men When to move?

[Boymomx3]

Hi, my son is level 4 age 8. He is a natural at gymnastics and absolutely loves this sport. I am encouraging him to dream big and have ambitious goals. I told him we will fund his goals as long as he works hard and loves the sport.

With that I have had people from the gymnastics community tell me that he is very special and he could go far. But my question is when does potential become a reality? At what level would we need to look at making changes to better fit his goals? Like moving to a gym that has produced level 10 and collegiate athletes. Our gym hasn’t done that yet.

 

[Coach Kate]

For boys, it is a bit different because the goal is really to get them to college and then from college to elite, whereas with women they more often are elite and then college and then maybe elite again.

Your guy is still very young. Is his coach aware of his goals? What does he think about them? Do you have a good relationship? Would he know other gyms nearby?

 

[Boymomx3]

His coach is aware of his goals and the coach thinks he has what it takes to get there. My son has natural talent but he is also super motivated by people better than him. If he loses at a competition he sees that as a challenge to work harder and do better. We have an amazing relationship with the coach and gym and we really love it there. But it’s a small boys program and he only gets exposure to kids similar to his skills at one or two meets in a year.

The gym is helping us find good gymnastics summer camps to have him participate in. Unfortunately, where we live we don’t have much choice for gyms. Our state doesn’t have a big boys program, there are only 4 gyms that have competition teams for boys. I am just wondering at what point would we need to start having the serious talk about possibly moving. I hope we don’t but at what level would you go, ok we have to move on.

 

[skschlag]

It can be hard for boys, and I do know some families that have moved, or have moved part of the family to allow for gymnastics. We were able to drive about an hour for my son, but it was only after his gym closed and we had to go somewhere else (he was level 9 at the time)

So, as long as he is getting great basics, developing good skills, and loving the sport, I would continue with the gym that he is being successful at. As he gets older and you get closer to regionals level, etc, you can really see if a change is needed.

 

[Dahlialover]

If your primary consideration is gymnastics development, I would recommend moving when your child is competition-age 11 and going into their first or second year of level 6/6E or when they are competition age 12 and going into their first year of level 8. Since your son loves his coach, I’d probably stay put for level 5 and 6 and then branch out for level 8.

You don’t necessarily need to pack up and move to Florida. Lots of high level male gymnasts come from small gyms. You could get lucky and find a highly qualified coaches at a gym within driving distance. It doesn’t even matter if they have any level 10s on the team currently. Our little gym had an Olympic legend coaching our girls and we didn’t have level 10s every year. Hopefully your region has state and regional camps where you can meet coaches and parents from other gyms. That’s the best way to get a feel for other gyms in your region.

Good luck! Take lots of pictures.