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Gymnastics vs. tumbling for a 6-year-old boy


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I am hoping there are some gymnastics moms hanging around. I just signed my fearless 4 year son up for a boys 4-5 year old gymnastics class because he is always climbing and jumping. He loves the class. If you sign up a second child for a class there is a really big discount. So I am thinking about signing up my 6 year old son. The choice is between a boys gymnastics class for ages 6-8 or a co-ed tumbling class for 6-9. He is coordinated and active but really cautious. He would never leap before looking three times, observing others, leaping halfway first, etc. He loves soccer and plays year round (ayso fall soccer, indoor soccer, spring soccer). I would love for him to cross train for the flexibilty and strength. He says learning to do a trick after scoring a goal would be awesome. I know nothing about gymnastics or tumbling. Is it better to start with one or the other?

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We switched from a co-ed gym class to a all boys gym class when our boys were that age. The co-ed class was doing more ladies gym competition style gymnastics. The all boys class did more chin-ups, push-ups and expected more from the boys. Is it possible for your 6 year old to attend a trial class for each because each gymnasium has a different way of running their classes for the younger kids.

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My sister was a dancer growing up, and from what I remember, gymnastics has to do more with working on equipment: balance beam, uneven parallel bars, vault, etc, whereas tumbling is floor/mat activities: somersaults, handstands, walking on hands, backbends, etc. I might be wrong on that, but that's how I remember it.

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My boys take tumbling/trampoline gymnastics at a local tumbling/trampoline gym. Tumbling is their favorite part, though they love flipping on the tramps, too. Mine would opt for the tumbling class if it was well run; they want to fly and flip--they're not interested in artistic gym at all.

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My DD does tumbling, because she doesn't like the apparatus as month, but loves the flipping and flying on the trampolines. Her gym doesn't combine girls and boys (the classes run in parallel-there are enough kids that it wouldn't make sense to combine them), but from what I've seen, the classes do the same skills. The only difference is that the girls' coach is constantly trying to get them to try new skills and take risks, and the boys' coach is constantly trying to make sure his boys don't try anything until they're ready to do it safely, because the boys definitely throw themselves into it a lot more than the girls do!

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Thanks for the feedback. The gym does have a free trial class, but only one, so I want to make sure that he takes a class he likes. If he doesn't like it, I doubt he will try the other class. I was also thinking of calling the gym to see how many kids are in each class. The maximum class size is 8, but if one class has 8 and one has 4 kids, then I might go for the class with only a few kids.

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For a 6-8 yo boys gymnastics class I doubt they would do very much on actual apparatus at all.

 

The only difference, really, would be that the gymnastics class would do more pre-apparatus work. "Vaulting" with a wedge, doing pommel horse moves on a mushroom, doing some basic swinging moves on a single bar. There's nothing too high up.

 

If you want his x-training to build more upper body strength than he's getting with soccer I'd suggest the gymnastics for that too. Tumbling builds upper body strength too, but mostly only in the shoulders.

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For a 6-8 yo boys gymnastics class I doubt they would do very much on actual apparatus at all.

 

The only difference, really, would be that the gymnastics class would do more pre-apparatus work. "Vaulting" with a wedge, doing pommel horse moves on a mushroom, doing some basic swinging moves on a single bar. There's nothing too high up.

 

If you want his x-training to build more upper body strength than he's getting with soccer I'd suggest the gymnastics for that too. Tumbling builds upper body strength too, but mostly only in the shoulders.

 

Ummm, perhaps that depends on the gym. DS was level 4 ( entry level - first year) at age 8. The competition routines certainly included more than basic swinging on the bars. High bar ( full regulation height) contained a release move. Rings contained a lever. There was definitely 'real' gymnastics going on - not just pre-apparatus work.

 

The only non-apparatus event of note at the beginner age is vault. Level 4s don't use the vault. Their event just involves a spring board. Boys don't actually vault over the apparatus until level 5.

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