Parents Young Gymnast - TOPS Elite track

[Tammie]

I’m so sorry to hear about that! Has she moved on to new things? Found a new passion? I hope she has recovered!

I frequently wonder what dd would do instead of gymnastics if she had to or wanted to quit. And I have a friend who was going to get a sport scholarship to college, she blew out her knee and it was all gone like that, her senior year.

She will be 22 in December. Today she is just fine.

Yet, it was SO HARD for about 18months. The PT and rehab period were pure heck, she kept asking what was the point, she couldn't play softball anymore. I am convinced her recovery was months beyond what it needed to be as a result.

However one day she just woke up and realized that there was so much more to life than softball. She started going on archeology and paleontology expeditions, a few years after that she got involved with politics. Now she also crochets, cooks, and more.

It was far from an easy road for her, but she made it and is stronger for it!! In the end she hopes one of her little sisters will get involved with softball someday, so she is not bitter or upset by the experience...anymore.

I know it definitely effects how I now see my middle daughters gymnastics life-even as her coaches gush about her talent and call her a once in a lifetime gymnast(&they have coached olympians, have spent their entire lives around olympians, so it hits different coming from them than someone else)....OK, we'll see, I know it could end badly tomorrow and I will love and support her no matter what happens in the gym!

P.S. family wise, we had experience with this, my cousin(that I grew up with) had an MLB contract as a pitcher. At his final college championship game he slid into home-plate, caught his thumb and his thumb ripped almost to his elbow. Ended that. He became a stock trader and did just fine in life, but he too had a rough period of adjustment, so he talked to her a few times, I think that helped. Life can be rough!! Promising sports careers die all the time, probably every day!!

 

[JBS]

Ok... took the time to read through this now... lots of good stuff here.

As someone else said... TOPS is a great learning program for coaches. Other than that... you'll know if your kid is that good when the time is right. TOPS and Hopes are not necessary to get into the world of Elite if the gymnast has the talent and the right coaches.

 

[Tammie]

Ok... took the time to read through this now... lots of good stuff here.

As someone else said... TOPS is a great learning program for coaches. Other than that... you'll know if your kid is that good when the time is right. TOPS and Hopes are not necessary to get into the world of Elite if the gymnast has the talent and the right coaches.

Our gym doesn't do TOPS/HOPES, our previous gym did, but our current gym does not. Yet our current gym is "better" than our previous gym(better results, or maybe they're more selective & better at picking talent? Dunno).

I don't know much. I am sure there are benefits to it. I think, honestly, it's just 2 different paths to the same destination. Yet, your kid has to still want it in 10yrs, that's a big ask!! You don't get to the higher levels/elite without intrinsically wanting it for yourself!! No amount of parental pushing will get a child to the top of the elite levels. I think the kid/kids talent/kids mental fortitude is likely more important than the coach(you can always change coaches-or a motivated coach can always gain experience, you can't change kids-or make them shorter or more flexible or gain muscle faster)-plus there is always that one kid that comes from some obscure, never heard of before gym-almost every year!! I am not saying that "any coach will do," I have seen gyms that are more babysitting than coaching-you don't want that!!

For us, I didn't care either way, I just picked the right gym for my kid, then did what was asked of us, mainly because i didnt know the difference-and didn't much care, I am not a gymnast or gymnastics expert, so i dont know which path is right, I hope our coaches do though. Which here, happens to be no outside camps, no outside training of any type-including HOPES(our gym may call in someone else, or refer us to see someone else, but they have to initiate that). But one of our coaches was a national team coach, both of our HCs were former Olympians, so I'm not sure outside training is necessary here...but I can see how it would be beneficial if our coaches didn't have the experience they do. I also think you likely pay the same either way, either your tuition is less and then you pay for TOPS/HOPES, or your tuition is more and you don't pay for TOPS/HOPES. Likely works out about the same, and with the HOPES route, your kid gets to travel & have new experiences too!!

However that is all just supposition as I don't really know, I've never compared(&our gym in AL was pricey as there wasn't much else in the area-very few even usag affiliated gyms, so they could charge whatever they wanted & the parents would pay, any opportunity for their child to be "special" and they would pay more, here there is more competition with gyms, but certain coaches/programs stand out, so were actually paying a smidge less in tuition for double the hours, but then again they are super selective with gymnasts-its just such a hard thing to compare/contrast, all apples and oranges!! That is what makes all aspects of gymnastics so difficult from a parents perspective, EVERYTHING is like that, apples & oranges-often times with the parents not knowing how to evaluate those differences!! I know i cannot, so i just go with what feels right, ask my kid if thats what she wants & then do as I'm told-lol).