Why so low hours in T&T?

[motigymnasticsmom]

I am considering switching my dd from artistic to T&T, but the hours are much lower. Why is this?

 

[momnipotent]

Not as many events, less conditioning, different philosophy. I also think there is less of a push to get them to a certain level by a certain age because the "lifespan" of t and t gymnasts seems to be longer than that of artistic girls especially.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I wondered the same thing when my younger DD switched to T&T. When she first joined team in October she was a L3 on all three events. Her team practices were 3 hours a week. Right now she is a L5/6/6 and trains 7 hours a week- and that's waaay more than the required practices. Her actual level practices are 4 hours a week. The gym is small but successful, and the highest levels (10 and elite) only train 8 hours a week (two of which are optional). They have a kid on the junior national team. I think it really is just more focused and there is less events. There is still about 1/3-1/4 of the time spent on conditioning though.

I did notice, happily, that when my DD joined at 10 she was too old to try and be JO in artistic, but her age group was always the biggest at her T&T meets. She can do a level a year (and can clearly do more of she's ready) and be a L10 in high school. There isn't any college gym- but- there were plenty of adults at her competitions. One of the gymnasts at her gym is 19 and still competes L10. At some meets there were even coaches and judges competing. It's pretty awesome, actually.

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

My DD is already worrying me about the low hours. Lol. She is very competitive, and thinks she will be bored at home and gym.

 

[MILgymFAM]

The being bored at home part is valid. If she's taking a dip in hours it will be a hard pill to swallow. Maybe she will discover she loves the free time. My DD went from rec artistic to this, and her hours actually went down. Ha ha! Luckily her gym is very flexible and they let her add classes as much as her desire and my budget allow. She fills her time with other activities too. She is a high energy child!

 

[JMACAZ]

Just as Milfam said there are only 3 events and many only end up at the highest levels doing 2. My DD is training L6/7 and goes 7.5 hours. Our L 10 and Elites go around 14.

My DD also came from artistic. Last year when she went from training L3 and Rec T&T combined 15 hours to 5 for L5 T&T it was hard. So hard in fact that she added Xcel back in at 6 hrs bringing her to 11. Somehow she was able to do all the Xcel and T&T meets though they are in the same season. When she moved up in T&T and would need some pretty big skills to move up in Xcel (kip,cartwheel on beam) she decided to just do T&T. So far it has been ok. And she is starting 4th grade and wants to be on Principals List again so that should keep her busier come fall

Good luck to your DD on deciding.

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

Well, its very tough for us both. Dr hesitantly said ok to gymnastics, but slow and low after PT. After all of this, she probably will not be up to par by meet season. Then, when she does start tumbling back, she has to take extra special care of her back. So, I gave her one year to decide and she said if she has to switch she'd rather start now than next year. She could only do tramp and double mini.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Not doing all three events is very common. There were a number of gyms in our comp area that don't (as a whole) do all three events, and plenty of individuals who only do one or two events- that plus being able to be different levels per event is why there is no AA awards.

 

[trampolinemom]

With our trampolining gym in the netherlands hours can go up but just not as fast as in Artistic Gymnastics. Our junior / senior elites can go up in hours to 25/30 (for those with worldcup/ EC/ WC/ olympic aspirations. and this is just trampolining, not dmt/ tumbling ) What I also notice is the difference in length of training. Normally a trampolinetraining is 2,5 hours instead of a regular 3 or 4 hours for artistic. At our gym very talented kids ages 8 and up with elite aspirations will train 4/5 times (x 2,5 hours).