Gym Moms

[Mommy22alyns]

Okay, states.  14 girls in her age group.

 

Floor, 9.725, 2nd.

Vault, 8.575, dead last.   :rolleyes:

Bars, 9.375, 9th.

Beam, 9.575, 5th.

 

37.25 AA, tied for 8th, but 8th would have been hers outright because she had the tiebreaker.

 

So she got medals for floor and beam.   Her best beam score ever, best floor score of the year and second best ever.  Vault, WTF.  We'd asked for a private and her coaches seemed to think she'd made some improvements that made it unnecessary.  Not so much.  It was an improvement over last meet, and her second best this season, but it killed her.  Bars, I could tell across the gym that her casts were bad, but it's actually (now that I think about it) her best bars score of the year.  Her HC, who is never impressed, was honest to goodness impressed with her floor routine.   :eek:

 

It was just hard to watch gyms full of repeaters score 9.8, 9.9 on beam, bars, vault, floor... these girls have done multiple years at each level and I can't stand it.  Sandbagging sucks.

 

Rebecca and her partner in crime for the day (HC  is on the left):

 

 

Go Westside!

 

 

 

Best beam score ever!

 

 

She's really in 2nd place, it was a tie:

 

 

 

 

I also have new videos up!

[Jennifer in MI]

I'm bumping this because my daughter had her first meet yesterday and she ROCKED it!!!!  

 

Floor:  First place (9.55)

Beam:  Second place (8.4 - Hello?  The beam scores were ALL low.  They only gave out one above a 9 all day)

Vault:  Third place (8.8 - it's her nemesis!)

Bars:  Second place (9.35)

AA:  36.125 FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!

 

Woohoo!!!!

[RainySunday]

Congrats to your daughter! That sounds really good!

[speedmom4]

My son had this third meet on Saturday. He is a level 6.

 

Floor- 10.4 1st

pommel- 9.3 1st

Rings- 9.4 7th

Vault- 8.8 10th

P-bars- 9.2 4th

High bar- 8.5 14th

 

With those places we were all shocked that he came in 1st All Around. It was his first time. He has come in 2nd many times. He said he almost cried on the podium. When they called 2nd place and I knew ds had won I pushed dh so hard he almost fell off the bleachers! I get a teensy bit excited!

 

Anyway, congrats to all the gymnasts!

 

Elise in NC

[Mommy22alyns]

I'm bumping this because my daughter had her first meet yesterday and she ROCKED it!!!!  

 

Floor:  First place (9.55)

Beam:  Second place (8.4 - Hello?  The beam scores were ALL low.  They only gave out one above a 9 all day)

Vault:  Third place (8.8 - it's her nemesis!)

Bars:  Second place (9.35)

AA:  36.125 FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!

 

Woohoo!!!!

 

 

My son had this third meet on Saturday. He is a level 6.

 

Floor- 10.4 1st

pommel- 9.3 1st

Rings- 9.4 7th

Vault- 8.8 10th

P-bars- 9.2 4th

High bar- 8.5 14th

 

With those places we were all shocked that he came in 1st All Around. It was his first time. He has come in 2nd many times. He said he almost cried on the podium. When they called 2nd place and I knew ds had won I pushed dh so hard he almost fell off the bleachers! I get a teensy bit excited!

 

Anyway, congrats to all the gymnasts!

 

Elise in NC

 

 

Way to go, gymmies!!  Congrats to them both!

[busymotherof4]

We had a rough 3rd meet. DS is a level 7. We are struggling to understand the high bar routine. Each meet he has done a slightly different routine and gets told by the judge that it's wrong. We keep changing it but can't actually figure out what he is supposed to do. This was a huge regional style meet and for the 1st time ever at this meet my son came home with medals. Next weekend is another meet so maybe things will be smoother.

[plansrme]

 

Ooh, fun!  For the first time in a while, I am excited about gymnastics.  My 15 yo level 10 missed all of last season other than her intrasquad meet (major injury 4 days before her first regular meet) and most of the previous level 9 season with an elbow injury, and she was at a gym that I despised.  Every day was a battle there.  Then, on her own, she looked up a new gym that had been opened up by a coach from her very first gym, Mapquested it, emailed the coach and then asked me if she could try it out.  It is on the other side of the world from us, but we are making it work.  Love the new gym!  

 

So any new competitors?  We are on the opposite end of that, winding up the last 2 or maybe 3 years of club gym and looking at colleges.  

 

Anyone not competing?  Oh hush!  Don't even mention the "i" word to me.

 

What levels (regardless of competing or not)?  10; I do not understand the new levels at all.  But 10 is 10.  That I can understand.

 

What new skills is your gymnast trying to master?  Double front on floor, handspring pike half vault, Tkachev on bars, and she's made more progress on these skills in the last month at the new gym than in the last 2 years.  Did I mention how much I love the new gym?  They should all be ready for competition season.  For which I can't wait!

 

Anyone changing gyms? Yeah baby!  Well, not in the future tense.  With any luck, this will be our last gym.

 

I can't wait for competition season!  Did I mention that already???  I don't care how she scores; after the last 2 years, I just want to see her healthy enough to compete.  

 

 

Quoting myself here.  Sorry!  Anyway, my now 16 year old level 10 has two meets under her, errr, leotard.  Her nerves got to her in the first meet (not surprising considering her nearly two-year absence from competition), but we were beyond thrilled to see her healthy and competing.  The second meet, she was closer to fighting form and won beam, vault and all-around, and while it was (1) not the best she can do, and (2) not the most competitive field, after all she has been through, it was just really, really fun to hear the clink of medals again.  

 

I remember getting all "what the heck" over 8s back in the early days of her gymnastics career, but when you've held your stoic, tough-as-nails daughter as she sobbed over another potentially career-ending injury, and watched her fight back again and again, it really does become all about seeing her healthy and competing in a sport she loves.  Sure, big scores are still fun--very, very fun--but 8s (and 7s and 6s!) are going to happen if they stay in it.  What is not a given is that they'll be able to keep doing this sport.  It is hard on their bodies, far harder than they may ever let on, and it is hard on their hearts, and I am amazed every single day at what these big girls go through to do this sport.  Being along for the ride is both the best and worst part of being a gym mom, a role I love and hate in equal measure.

 

And in case there are other parents of "old" gymnasts on here, I have to post this (tissue alert):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57e4t-fhXDs

[Kari C in SC]

Not to hijack, but can I ask some of you experienced gym moms... Is it ever okay to not have your paid for warm ups by the first competition? And if the music is not playing right, is it ever okay to ask your 15 year old gymnast to pull up each girl's music on her iPhone during a competition that she is competing in? And is it ever okay to change a routine during competition? And finally, if a gymnast asks for clarification on the change of routine at competition, is it ever okay to yell at the gymnast and tell her to get out and go home?

 

These all happened at our first (and last) competition this year. There is more outside of competition, but I won't go into all that here. Thanks!

[JumpyTheFrog]

Tigger is level 4 and has done four meets so far. He got an all-around of 45 at the first meet and a 52 at the last meet. He got his first 10 on the high bar. He's moved up from 11th place to 6th. He missed two weeks of practice at Christmas so we got him six private lessons to make up for it. They have been unbelievably helpful. He and the head coach get more done in a half-hour by themselves than in five hours of weekly practice with the other coaches.

 

His scores on pommel have been killing him. He got a 3.5 the first meet and a 5.8 at the fourth meet. His coach isn't too worried as says all the boys below nine or ten have a lot of trouble understanding the motion on mushroom. I am not satisfied with his young age (7) being an excuse, however.

 

A month ago Tigger didn't care about mushroom and said he didn't like it. Then last week he suddenly announced he wanted to borrow one from the gym because he needed to improve his score. Victory! I helped him practice and between that and the private lessons, I think he has some hope that he can improve his score. I check Craigslist for used equipment almost every day and Sunday we picked up a used mushroom for him for $200. Now that he doesn't hate mushroom, I've been trying to encourage him by saying that he will enjoy that event more as he gets better, something I learned from Amy Chua. I told him that everybody has one event that is harder for them to learn and that it's pommel horse/mushroom for him. I said it will take at least twice as much work to get good, but that it's normal, and that some events that are easy for him (high bar) are hard for other boys.

 

I can't believe we ever hesitated to put him in gymnastics or let him compete. I really think it's what he needs. He has a bad attitude about his school work and chores much of the time (and behavior issues to go with it) but never complains about gymnastics, no matter how many pushups or other exercises they have to do.

[JumpyTheFrog]

It's interesting to me how he handles the meets. Except for the first meet, he hasn't seemed too concerned with his scores. It's odd, because he wants to improve them and is somewhat competitive, but I've seen some of his teammates cry or give up after a score they didn't like. He hasn't fallen apart like that. He is the youngest, so maybe he doesn't take it as personally as some of them do.

[busymotherof4]

The pommel/mushroom is very difficult. Even our Olympians struggle. When my son was in level 4 he did 3 single circles and then the flank. The new routines have a reduced requirement. He finally did well on the mushroom at regionals last year competing level 6. This year he has left the mushroom. He has had some great scores 9.6 and then last week he got a 5.6.

The pommel horse is harder for the young kids due to their size but the mushroom they seem to do ok once they get the hang of it.

[La Condessa]

My eldest daughter did gymnastics for ~1.5 years, until January of last year, when her coach had a stroke. It is a small gym which he owns and runs by himself, so there've been no other options for gymnastics since then, and she has missed it terribly. He started the team girls back about 6 months ago, then added pre-team. My daughter was by far the youngest in a class that fed into pre-team, before it ended, and when we heard from a friend on team back in September that there were younger girls coming again, we stopped by to see if we'd missed a notice that he was restarting the next younger class (we've missed gym communication before). As it turned out, the younger girls who were attending were my dd's old classmates, who had all been moved up to preteam. Now, I totally understand why he didn't invite my dd--it's a much larger, more serious class with longer hours, she was only 3 the last he saw her, and while she kept up with the bigger girls, she was at the lower end of the skill-range in that class--but she could not understand it, and was just heart broken. She cried for three days, and whereas she had frequently been practicing her skills on her own up until that point, she mostly stopped "playing gymnastics" after that.

 

Now the coach has decided to try adding a very small class of younger girls mid-February to see if he can handle the added workload, and has invited my girls to attend. I hesitantly asked her what she thought, explaining that his body is not all the way healed yet, and he may try it and then need to stop. She is ecstatic, and has been talking about it nonstop and has resumed her self-motivated practice. I am very anxious--that he won't be able to keep it up and she will be heartbroken when it stops again, that this smaller, shorter, class with younger, less-skilled girls will turn out to be a disappointment to her, or that, realizing how she has matured and how far beyond the other little girls she is, he will invite her to join pre-team.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Hey y'all :)

 

Well, my daughter isn't competing this year. Last summer, our area got our own congregation and the meetings were on the night that the pre-team was meeting.  There was reason to believe that my daughter might move up to team giving her the opportunity to train on other days, but she had to get there and we weren't willing to miss Christian meetings for gymnastics.  Anyway, so we took a few months off then changed gyms.

 

At the new gym, my daughter is still not doing things she was doing over a year ago. It isn't the gym's fault. She has a few things going on. I really think that her past just gets in her way.  I can't change that.  We did discuss that she has the natural ability, size, etc to be beyond awesome.  But *I* don't have her past (and related behaviors, habits, fears, etc) to overcome.  

 

Anyway, so the new gym has rec classes through level four (our old gym didn't really have rec classes past the old levels 1-2, which is now really just level 1!).  So staying with rec is just fine.  She expresses that she *wants* to join team (try outs in April).  We'll see.  The main benefit of that would be that she would get considerably more hours for barely more money.  But unless she has some major change in performance (since she *does* have the skill set in there somewhere)....We'll just see. 

 

 

[Jennifer in MI]

Not to hijack, but can I ask some of you experienced gym moms... Is it ever okay to not have your paid for warm ups by the first competition? And if the music is not playing right, is it ever okay to ask your 15 year old gymnast to pull up each girl's music on her iPhone during a competition that she is competing in? And is it ever okay to change a routine during competition? And finally, if a gymnast asks for clarification on the change of routine at competition, is it ever okay to yell at the gymnast and tell her to get out and go home?

 

These all happened at our first (and last) competition this year. There is more outside of competition, but I won't go into all that here. Thanks!

What???  None of that is appropriate and I can't see any of it happening at our gym.  So, is your dd not coompeting this year?  Or did you switch gyms?

[plansrme]

Not to hijack, but can I ask some of you experienced gym moms... Is it ever okay to not have your paid for warm ups by the first competition? And if the music is not playing right, is it ever okay to ask your 15 year old gymnast to pull up each girl's music on her iPhone during a competition that she is competing in? And is it ever okay to change a routine during competition? And finally, if a gymnast asks for clarification on the change of routine at competition, is it ever okay to yell at the gymnast and tell her to get out and go home?

 

These all happened at our first (and last) competition this year. There is more outside of competition, but I won't go into all that here. Thanks!

 

We had one gym, one season, when our competition leos did not make it in by the first meet.  It was the gym's fault in that they didn't order them in time.  It was typical of that gym in that the head coach delegated a lot to an assistant coach who was lazy.  I was beyond annoyed at the impact her procrastination had on our cost per wear.

 

And definitely "no" on another gymnast's pulling up floor music.  Ever since my gymnast has had her own floor music, the girls have been instructed to have a back-up CD of their own music in their gym bags just in case.  After a year off of competition, I asked the coach of our newest (and last--see post above) what format the back-up should be in.  He said he always has four copies of each girl's music, in four different formats.  The other gymnasts do not need to be responsible for anyone's floor music except, in rare instances, their own.  Certainly not the rest of the team's.  Besides, how is what she pulls up on her iPhone the right cut?  The right song, yes, but gym music is cut to length and rearranged.  That makes no sense to me.

 

We have had a routine changed during competition if the gymnast isn't close to hitting a skill during warm-ups, or sometimes you'll get to a competition and find that the equipment is weird--the bars are too springy, or not springy enough, the beams are slippery, etc.  That happens sometimes, and once the skills get dangerous, you don't want them attempting a skill that is likely to get them hurt.    But certainly no gymnast should be yelled at during a competition for any reason.

[Kari C in SC]

What??? None of that is appropriate and I can't see any of it happening at our gym. So, is your dd not coompeting this year? Or did you switch gyms?

After that competition, 2 weeks ago, she went back for 4 practices. Mainly because she wanted to finish what she started and I am paid through March including comp fees. All total about $550. I told her coach that she was stopping gymnastics after the season. She is 15 and ready to move on. Then all crazy happened. I was still trying to make nice for just 2 weeks and 2 competitions, but after I told the coach we were leaving, she has been less than reasonable. On Monday of this week, I tried to meet with her and her mother, the office manager, physically, pushed me and my daughter out of the gym. I filed a police report and plan to file complaints with USAG and the BBB. I think I am going to try small claims court as well. It has been a long week.

[Kari C in SC]

We had one gym, one season, when our competition leos did not make it in by the first meet. It was the gym's fault in that they didn't order them in time. It was typical of that gym in that the head coach delegated a lot to an assistant coach who was lazy. I was beyond annoyed at the impact her procrastination had on our cost per wear.

 

And definitely "no" on another gymnast's pulling up floor music. Ever since my gymnast has had her own floor music, the girls have been instructed to have a back-up CD of their own music in their gym bags just in case. After a year off of competition, I asked the coach of our newest (and last--see post above) what format the back-up should be in. He said he always has four copies of each girl's music, in four different formats. The other gymnasts do not need to be responsible for anyone's floor music except, in rare instances, their own. Certainly not the rest of the team's. Besides, how is what she pulls up on her iPhone the right cut? The right song, yes, but gym music is cut to length and rearranged. That makes no sense to me.

 

We have had a routine changed during competition if the gymnast isn't close to hitting a skill during warm-ups, or sometimes you'll get to a competition and find that the equipment is weird--the bars are too springy, or not springy enough, the beams are slippery, etc. That happens sometimes, and once the skills get dangerous, you don't want them attempting a skill that is likely to get them hurt. But certainly no gymnast should be yelled at during a competition for any reason.

She had her standing at the music table with her iPhone hooked up to the equipment, pulling the songs up on YouTube and watching each girls routine and telling them when to cut it off. My dd is 15 and helps out in practice this exact way so she knows each routine and music. This was when she should have been waiting and warming up for her next rotation. While she was working on the music, he coach came over and said that their floor routines needed 2 of some element instead of the 1 they had been practicing for 5 months. She told her to add some things. She was working on the music and turned her and asked for clarification. She was yelled at and told to just do what she was told. When she went to practice, she asked her other coach if she could get the whole practice area because she was a bit unsure if she would stay in her lane with adding the new thing. Her assistant coach asked why she was changing it and she replied that the other coach had told her to. Now, I am sure my daughter said this with some attitude in her voice. She is my daughter! Her head coach heard her tell other coach this and proceeded to yell at her to get out and go home. My dd came over to us crying and I went and demanded she finish her floor routine. It was awful. She did finish and we left.

[plansrme]

She had her standing at the music table with her iPhone hooked up to the equipment, pulling the songs up on YouTube and watching each girls routine and telling them when to cut it off. My dd is 15 and helps out in practice this exact way so she knows each routine and music. This was when she should have been waiting and warming up for her next rotation. While she was working on the music, he coach came over and said that their floor routines needed 2 of some element instead of the 1 they had been practicing for 5 months. She told her to add some things. She was working on the music and turned her and asked for clarification. She was yelled at and told to just do what she was told. When she went to practice, she asked her other coach if she could get the whole practice area because she was a bit unsure if she would stay in her lane with adding the new thing. Her assistant coach asked why she was changing it and she replied that the other coach had told her to. Now, I am sure my daughter said this with some attitude in her voice. She is my daughter! Her head coach heard her tell other coach this and proceeded to yell at her to get out and go home. My dd came over to us crying and I went and demanded she finish her floor routine. It was awful. She did finish and we left.

 

Wow, that is NOT the way floor music is done.  Not in practice, not in meets, not ever.  It should be cut and loaded onto a flash drive, CD, etc., and never should it be on someone's phone, and never should it be manually "cut" by turning it off on youtube!  Geez.  

[Tess in the Burbs]

My dd has had a rough start this year.  She finally had a decent meet almost 2 weeks ago and took 1st on beam!  She medaled on floor too.  It got her back into things and her meet this weekend is very low key(home meet, small).  She qualified to state and now she's doing a lot of privates to fine tune things and firm up the skills she's not strong in.  She's doing the new Level 4.  

 

One thing I am perplexed by this year is the moving of girls NOW to new levels.  Our season started in Dec and states is end of April. But the level 5 State is end of March.  So some girls are still moving up....learning the routines.  And it's not the best of the group....it is the youngest in one case.  And another one I don't know about age...she may just be very good but I haven't seen her on top of podium every meet.  I haven't enough experience in this sport to figure it out, but it bothers my daughter to see someone scoring the same as her being given more opportunities.  And it's a few girls doing this....anyone care to offer insight?  I don't care, but the girls notice and question....my dd especially gets upset by it. 

 

[LLMom]

My 8 year old was invited to join team, but we cant make it financially. I am so sad for her. I was a competitive gymnast for a long time as well as a coach so i know what fun it is. How do you do it ladies?

[AnnaM]

Ohh fun! A place to post meet reports!

K did great at her first meet. She placed 1st on bars, 2nd on beam, 3rd All Around and she moved up a division.

We are in the process of scounting a new gym for after this meet season for various reasons.

[jenn-]

My dd has had a rough start this year.  She finally had a decent meet almost 2 weeks ago and took 1st on beam!  She medaled on floor too.  It got her back into things and her meet this weekend is very low key(home meet, small).  She qualified to state and now she's doing a lot of privates to fine tune things and firm up the skills she's not strong in.  She's doing the new Level 4.  

 

One thing I am perplexed by this year is the moving of girls NOW to new levels.  Our season started in Dec and states is end of April. But the level 5 State is end of March.  So some girls are still moving up....learning the routines.  And it's not the best of the group....it is the youngest in one case.  And another one I don't know about age...she may just be very good but I haven't seen her on top of podium every meet.  I haven't enough experience in this sport to figure it out, but it bothers my daughter to see someone scoring the same as her being given more opportunities.  And it's a few girls doing this....anyone care to offer insight?  I don't care, but the girls notice and question....my dd especially gets upset by it. 

 

Are you saying that there are some girls moving up from the new level 4 to the new level 5 mid season and learning the new level 5 routines?  If so, the coach may be planning on shoving them into level 6 optionals by the end of the season and they have to meet a minimum AA score at a meet as new level 5 before doing that.  That's what DD's old coach did with a select couple of girls before the changes came.  They had competed old level 5 and then over the summer competed an old level 6 meet so they could "test out" into optionals.

 

[Mommy22alyns]

Wow, lots of new faces!  Glad to see everyone.  Kari, that is appalling.  Tess, it can be so confusing figuring out who is moving where, when, and why.  Our gym scored a girl out of old 6 last spring so she could move on to optionals.  I don't know what they plan to do this year, and my DD is in the group uptraining L5 now!  It's a small group of  girls and regardless of their performance throughout the season, they're all training the same level.  This can be frustrating to me, as they've already divided the old 3's into repeaters and girls who are moving to L4.  It just seems like good gym communication NEVER happens.

[AnnaM]

We tried a tumbling class at the gym we are scouting and are very happy! My daughter was quite upset that we were even looking but came out of the class asking if we could totally switch gyms today LOL She looked so much more confident in this new gym. We can't completely switch until we finish our current meet season but I have talked to the coaches at the new place and they tell me she is definitely good for team so she plans on spending the rest of meet season working very hard and attempting to "skip" a level. My understanding is she has to compete at least 1 meet at the next level so she can't entirely skip it. We are kind of risking it by attending both gyms at once, but she isn't getting the tumbling she needs at our current gym (as in I don't trust the way they are teaching it and my daughter is getting hurt as a result) so in order to have a chance at making this gym's team she needs to be correcting her tumbling during the meet season.

[Mommy22alyns]

Anna, what level is your DD?

[AnnaM]

She is competing new level 3 this year, but is close to having all of the level 4 skills and most of the level 5. The big thing missing right now is her kip but that would be because her current gym isn't even working on it. She has the drive and I am sure with the right coaching could get the skills. She knows it is a long shot but is willing to put in the work so we will see :)

[tomandlorih]

Hey y'all :)

 

Well, my daughter isn't competing this year. Last summer, our area got our own congregation and the meetings were on the night that the pre-team was meeting.  There was reason to believe that my daughter might move up to team giving her the opportunity to train on other days, but she had to get there and we weren't willing to miss Christian meetings for gymnastics.  Anyway, so we took a few months off then changed gyms.

 

At the new gym, my daughter is still not doing things she was doing over a year ago. It isn't the gym's fault. She has a few things going on. I really think that her past just gets in her way.  I can't change that.  We did discuss that she has the natural ability, size, etc to be beyond awesome.  But *I* don't have her past (and related behaviors, habits, fears, etc) to overcome.  

 

Anyway, so the new gym has rec classes through level four (our old gym didn't really have rec classes past the old levels 1-2, which is now really just level 1!).  So staying with rec is just fine.  She expresses that she *wants* to join team (try outs in April).  We'll see.  The main benefit of that would be that she would get considerably more hours for barely more money.  But unless she has some major change in performance (since she *does* have the skill set in there somewhere)....We'll just see. 

Hi!

 

I'm sorry your dd has issues with her past that make it difficult for her.  I would just like to encourage you to be upfront with the gym about your religious convictions before you join the team.  I don't know how it is where you live but out here .. session times for meets can be anywhere from Friday evening through Saturday and Sunday.  Meets are paid for well in advance but session times don't come out until just a week or two before the meet and you can't get a refund.  If your session time conflicts with your services, even if you are willing to forfeit the money, the gym may not allow you to "skip" meets for which you are already registered.  

 

I'm sorry to be a downer, I just wanted you to be aware if you weren't already.  I'm glad your gym has rec opportunities for advanced gymnasts though.. just in case your gym is not willing to work with you!

[tomandlorih]

My 8 year old was invited to join team, but we cant make it financially. I am so sad for her. I was a competitive gymnast for a long time as well as a coach so i know what fun it is. How do you do it ladies?

Second and third jobs! =D  

 

Ours is a very tiny gym and is really cheap compared to the bigger gyms in the cities "around" us.  That comes with trades though.  We only have 1 coach, we don't train near as many hours and our scores show it.  Even if we did get the super good scores, very few levels have enough girls to even compete for team awards. My dd is the only level 5, for instance.  Makes for lonely meets. :(

 

She is so excited that this next meet, she gets to compete with the L4's.  She won't be eligible for medals but her scores will count.  She is thrilled to be having someone to talk to besides the coach while she waits between rotations.. lol      

[Jennifer in MI]

My dd has had a rough start this year.  She finally had a decent meet almost 2 weeks ago and took 1st on beam!  She medaled on floor too.  It got her back into things and her meet this weekend is very low key(home meet, small).  She qualified to state and now she's doing a lot of privates to fine tune things and firm up the skills she's not strong in.  She's doing the new Level 4.  

 

One thing I am perplexed by this year is the moving of girls NOW to new levels.  Our season started in Dec and states is end of April. But the level 5 State is end of March.  So some girls are still moving up....learning the routines.  And it's not the best of the group....it is the youngest in one case.  And another one I don't know about age...she may just be very good but I haven't seen her on top of podium every meet.  I haven't enough experience in this sport to figure it out, but it bothers my daughter to see someone scoring the same as her being given more opportunities.  And it's a few girls doing this....anyone care to offer insight?  I don't care, but the girls notice and question....my dd especially gets upset by it. 

Congrats t your dd!  It's so fun to see their hard work pay off!  Our gym just moved a bunch of girls up to the new level 6 so they could move up to optionals.  We've opted to keep dd back due to the hours she'd be training.  She JUST turned 8 and at the gym 15 hours a week.  If she moves up, they'd want her 20.

 

My 8 year old was invited to join team, but we cant make it financially. I am so sad for her. I was a competitive gymnast for a long time as well as a coach so i know what fun it is. How do you do it ladies?

((hugs))  I'm so sorry.  Can you ask the gym if they can work something out?  One of our moms cleans the gym for tuition.  Maybe an option?  

 

Ohh fun! A place to post meet reports!

 

K did great at her first meet. She placed 1st on bars, 2nd on beam, 3rd All Around and she moved up a division.

 

We are in the process of scounting a new gym for after this meet season for various reasons.

Congrats to your dd!!!

 

My dd just had her second meet.  First place beam, fifth place vault, second place floor, and third place bars.  2nd AA!!!!

 

[Jennifer in MI]

PS  Was anyone else at Circle of Stars this weekend????  Meg's group went on Friday.  And, her next meet, she'll move up an age group, so I don't expect she'll keep up with this kind of placing all season!

 

[AnnaM]

I wish our current gym would train more hours. We are in the same position with the scores just not competing because we don't put in the same amount of practice. I guess I also am considering that my daughter is pretty serious so she wants to push through a few levels and just can't get there on the number of hours she has right now. The move to the new gym will fix that though. Everything feels so...half-hearted where we are right now. It would be ok I guess if K wasn't really wanting to do well and putting in the work to prove that to me, but it just isn't working for her.

[Jennifer in MI]

I wish our current gym would train more hours. We are in the same position with the scores just not competing because we don't put in the same amount of practice. I guess I also am considering that my daughter is pretty serious so she wants to push through a few levels and just can't get there on the number of hours she has right now. The move to the new gym will fix that though. Everything feels so...half-hearted where we are right now. It would be ok I guess if K wasn't really wanting to do well and putting in the work to prove that to me, but it just isn't working for her.

I'm just curious.  How many hours a week is she there now?

[AnnaM]

Six. Most gyms in our area train for 9 hours at this level with some training as many as 12

[Mommy22alyns]

Hmm, yeah, DD did 9 hours at old L4 (new L3) and 12.5 for new L4 and 5.

[Jennifer in MI]

Dd is there 15 hours at new L3.  Our L4s are there 19!

[LMV]

 

Okay, states.  14 girls in her age group.

 

Floor, 9.725, 2nd.

Vault, 8.575, dead last.   :rolleyes:

Bars, 9.375, 9th.

Beam, 9.575, 5th.

 

37.25 AA, tied for 8th, but 8th would have been hers outright because she had the tiebreaker.

 

 

 

She's really in 2nd place, it was a tie:

 

 

 

 

I also have new videos up!

 

Belated congratulations Rebekah!  (This was old L4/new L5 states right?)

Her fellow runner up could share the podium a little better.

[LMV]

Six. Most gyms in our area train for 9 hours at this level with some training as many as 12

 

Our gym never competed before L5 until this year when they had to start competing L4 (because USAG essentially renamed L5 and now call it L4) so I'm not completely clear on all of this but I'm not sure your hours are that outside of what our gym would do.  I will say that our next to last developmental class meets six hours weekly.  This is the class that kids usually feed to team from (the highest developmental class is often for girls who aren't interested in team) and our L4 team trains 9-12 hours weekly.  Saturday practice is still optional for first year L4s as it was for first year L5s in Fall 2012. 

 

Hours beyond that...

L5-14

L6-16

L7-18

L8/9/10-20-24 depending on individual gymnast. 

[Tess in the Burbs]

We moved to a cheaper rental when team came up so financially it just worked out. This year we haven't needed to travel as much which helped on costs.

 

 

Meet tonight: 3rd on Beam and 4th AA!! We have a month until next meet...two clinics tomorrow to work with other coaches.

 

Oh, our 3's are 12 hours, 4's(dd) are 16, and the 5's are 20 hours.

[LMV]

Hey y'all :)

 

Well, my daughter isn't competing this year. Last summer, our area got our own congregation and the meetings were on the night that the pre-team was meeting.  There was reason to believe that my daughter might move up to team giving her the opportunity to train on other days, but she had to get there and we weren't willing to miss Christian meetings for gymnastics.  Anyway, so we took a few months off then changed gyms.

 

At the new gym, my daughter is still not doing things she was doing over a year ago. It isn't the gym's fault. She has a few things going on. I really think that her past just gets in her way.  I can't change that.  We did discuss that she has the natural ability, size, etc to be beyond awesome.  But *I* don't have her past (and related behaviors, habits, fears, etc) to overcome.  

 

Anyway, so the new gym has rec classes through level four (our old gym didn't really have rec classes past the old levels 1-2, which is now really just level 1!).  So staying with rec is just fine.  She expresses that she *wants* to join team (try outs in April).  We'll see.  The main benefit of that would be that she would get considerably more hours for barely more money.  But unless she has some major change in performance (since she *does* have the skill set in there somewhere)....We'll just see. 

 

Aww hugs to Tumbler!  If you want to talk about some of this feel free to message me because we've certainly had a bit of navigating to do regarding gymnastics with our daughter and there have definitely been times that the trauma of the past has impeded the process.  What has helped us (and what it sounds like you have been doing) has been to focus on our daughter as a person first and foremost.  Ultimately we want her to be healthy and happy and all decisions have been made towards that end.  For us that meant letting her do gymnastics on her terms even if that meant almost two years of L10 with floor struggles.  Our daughter's head coach and his wife actually became foster parents in part because our daughter impressed them as person and they came to see that they might be able to make a difference for another child as well.  

[AnnaM]

Our gym never competed before L5 until this year when they had to start competing L4 (because USAG essentially renamed L5 and now call it L4) so I'm not completely clear on all of this but I'm not sure your hours are that outside of what our gym would do.  I will say that our next to last developmental class meets six hours weekly.  This is the class that kids usually feed to team from (the highest developmental class is often for girls who aren't interested in team) and our L4 team trains 9-12 hours weekly.  Saturday practice is still optional for first year L4s as it was for first year L5s in Fall 2012. 

 

Hours beyond that...

L5-14

L6-16

L7-18

L8/9/10-20-24 depending on individual gymnast. 

 

I wonder if it is just dependent on the area. We are in Texas and things can get highly competitive. The main issue is though that I know from checking around when we were looking for a new gym, that every gym that I called that we compete against does at least 3 more hours a week of practice and it definitely shows. We compete placement at level 3 and higher so maybe that is the difference. I don't know, but I do know that where we are at is not sufficient for my daughter's goals (yes, they really are her goals :) )

[JumpyTheFrog]

At Tigger's last meet, they decided to give every boy a medal for every event. That was about 500 medals, plus they took forever announcing the ties: "There was a 4-way tie for 15 place, so standing in 19th place is________ [pause], standing in 18th place is __________…" The ceremony took probably 1 1/2-2 hours, and that was after waiting at least 30-45 minutes for the girls' ceremony before to finish up. Most of the boys on our team didn't stay for the team award because it taking so long, they hadn't eaten in forever, and many of them made the 4 hour drive a day trip!

 

I hope I never have to sit through a ceremony like that again. The previous meet was done, including awards, in two hours. This one was complete chaos. They never officially announced that it had started and never told the judges to begin between events. Some of the judges were used to being told the next event could start and waited and waited. For example, in one rotation, half the boys were done with their floor routines before the first boy started his pommel routine.

 

At least the score boards worked. At the second meet, they were in a spot where they couldn't be seen easily and were broken half the time.

 

</end venting>

[LMV]

I wonder if it is just dependent on the area. We are in Texas and things can get highly competitive. The main issue is though that I know from checking around when we were looking for a new gym, that every gym that I called that we compete against does at least 3 more hours a week of practice and it definitely shows. We compete placement at level 3 and higher so maybe that is the difference. I don't know, but I do know that where we are at is not sufficient for my daughter's goals (yes, they really are her goals :) )

 

I do think there are definitely regional differences and Texas definitely has some strong and very competitive USAG teams.  I also think that some kids and gyms just do much better with less hours than other kids and gyms for various reasons.  In some cases gymnasts who thrive in low hours gyms will thrive even more when they move to a more intense program.  In other cases these kids may have actually been thriving in part because they had sufficient time away from the gym for rest and recovery between sessions.  At the same gyms with a resourceful coaching staff, and or lower gymnast:coach ratios will often get a bit more mileage (i.e., better corrections, more turns on the apparatus, no down time due to targeted skill stations in between turns etc) out of the same number of hours.  If you think your daughter will fit better into another gym, she wants this, and you and DH are in position to make this a reality then I think that is great and hope it works out.  

 

Our daughter started out at a high intensity, high hours, gym.  She wasn't living with us then (and we didn't even know her then).  Her natural ability won out so she made team and competed well (and in that program if she hadn't been competing well she likely would have moved laterally to Prep-Opt/Excel).  They are definitely to at least in part be credited with her solid grasp of the fundamental basics.  Life outside of gymnastics got in the way of gymnastics and she came to live with us.  When she returned to the sport I had some real reservations and concerns but she really wanted to go back and just swing bars so DH and I agreed to let her try and see.  We heavily restricted hours at first for medical reasons and even now she trains 20 hours or less (and usually less) at L10 (much less than she trained at L6/L7 at her old gym) and (minus the floor issues which no number of hours would have helped) she has continuously thrived and progressed.  We (and her doctors) have some real concerns about her body handling more than twenty hours a week and she has gravitated more towards college gymnastics than elite in part due to this reason.  We haven't completely closed the door on the latter possibility at some point because life changes and things really may be radically different for her in a few years (and she is a bars girl so being a lower hours event specialist might be more accepted in this event).  She has been blessed in her second gym to have a head coach who after a few awkward months totally got the big picture and has really become her advocate (and in fairness to him I think he was always trying to be her advocate he was just a bit mistaken and misguided initially), he is also quite intelligent about training effect, intelligent enough to know what to cut without causing other problems (i.e. she doesn't cut conditioning and strength time but she does run less routines a week than other girls) and a resourceful and efficient guy.  I think she has been so successful with lower than average L10 hours in part for this reason.  

[JumpyTheFrog]

Our gym has the L4 boys go five hours per week. Many other gyms have them go nine hours per week, and one mom told me her son goes fifteen hours per week. Our gym usually places 4th or 5th out of about 15-20 gyms at meets. So while we aren't the best, it leaves me wondering what the other gyms are doing with that extra time.

[ElizabethB]

I wish our current gym would train more hours. We are in the same position with the scores just not competing because we don't put in the same amount of practice. I guess I also am considering that my daughter is pretty serious so she wants to push through a few levels and just can't get there on the number of hours she has right now. The move to the new gym will fix that though. Everything feels so...half-hearted where we are right now. It would be ok I guess if K wasn't really wanting to do well and putting in the work to prove that to me, but it just isn't working for her.

There are a lot of core strength things that she can do at home in the meantime that will help. Get a pull-up bar and have her do pull-ups and v-ups. Also, tons and tons of handstands, and splits twice a day if she doesn't have them yet. Our new gym (military move, we actually really liked the old gym) has a LOT more conditioning than our old gym and after a few months of heavy core conditioning, a lot of skills just came all at once. When we moved here this summer, she couldn't quite do a pull-up, now she can do 4. Coach Meggin is fun to watch on YouTube for handstand and conditioning ideas, she is funny and focuses on good habits.

 

If you can do a ton of quick v-ups getting your toes all the way up, that makes the kip fairly easy to get, plus you need a bit of strength. A good gym will walk you through the timing but you need a certain amount of core and arm strength even with good timing, the better the timing the less strength needed.

[AnnaM]

There are a lot of core strength things that she can do at home in the meantime that will help. Get a pull-up bar and have her do pull-ups and v-ups. Also, tons and tons of handstands, and splits twice a day if she doesn't have them yet. Our new gym (military move, we actually really liked the old gym) has a LOT more conditioning than our old gym and after a few months of heavy core conditioning, a lot of skills just came all at once. When we moved here this summer, she couldn't quite do a pull-up, now she can do 4. Coach Meggin is fun to watch on YouTube for handstand and conditioning ideas, she is funny and focuses on good habits.

 

If you can do a ton of quick v-ups getting your toes all the way up, that makes the kip fairly easy to get, plus you need a bit of strength. A good gym will walk you through the timing but you need a certain amount of core and arm strength even with good timing, the better the timing the less strength needed.

 

Thanks :) She does work out on her own quite a bit here at home. Our gym tends to only condition at leangth during the summer. There are many many reasons why we are changing gyms though. It isn't just a time thing. Thank you for the video suggestions. Handstands is definitely something she needs to work on.

[AnnaM]

Well we did it. We pulled her from her team after the meet yesterday. Her coach was completely uninterested in being there and sat texting on her phone instead of warming Keira up. Keira is now nursing a pulled muscle in her back. That was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I wrote the email this afternoon and this evening got "Ok, hope she feels better good luck." I don't think I could ask for much more so I am happy with that being over. I am calling the new gym tomorrow to get her situated in her new classes.

[Jennifer in MI]

Well we did it. We pulled her from her team after the meet yesterday. Her coach was completely uninterested in being there and sat texting on her phone instead of warming Keira up. Keira is now nursing a pulled muscle in her back. That was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I wrote the email this afternoon and this evening got "Ok, hope she feels better good luck." I don't think I could ask for much more so I am happy with that being over. I am calling the new gym tomorrow to get her situated in her new classes.

Great job mom!!!  How is she doing at her new gym?  I hope she loves it (and you do too!).

 

Meg has had two more meets.  Last weekend the scoring was brutal.  I don't have her scores in front of me, but it was BRUTAL!!!  She still got 4th place in the All Around.  She missed a skill on floor she never misses.  I thought she'd come off upset, but she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, I still got 8.8!  That means I did everything else right!!!"  Great attitude kid!  I hope she keeps it!

 

This weekend - a different story!!!  

 

9.15 Vault - her BEST ever!!!  3rd place

9.15 Bars - 3rd place

Beam - 9.05 - 4th place (this was low for her - her first event of the day and she was SO nervous after last weekend!)

9.275 Floor - 1st place

AA - 36.625 - Second place!!!!

 

AND, she was the fifth highest AA score of the day - for all ages and she just turned 8!  AND, she got the second highest floor score of the day - all ages!!!

 

This was the BEST run meet!  All participants got a CD with their child's professional photos from the day for free!  They took photos of the teams and put them on the banners for the winning teams.  (Her team got 2nd overall.)

 

I'm just so thrilled for her and one proud mama.  Last year she barely got one medal all year but she LOVED it!!!  This year she's having a great time.

[Uff Da!]

DD starts this week so I have to find her a leotard.  She is so excited.  I never did gymnastics so this will be new to both of us.

[ByGrace3]

Resurrecting the conversation! How are all the gym families?!? Has meet season started for your child? What level will they be competing this year? Anything new or exciting happening in gymnastics for your child?

 

We kick off meet season with an in house meet in December. My dd is fine tuning some things but looks like she will be ready...though she is still struggling some with her back tuck. Our gym has decided to let the girls score out of level 5 (which most including my dd did back in May) and then compete excel gold this year since they are not ready for 6.

 

Honestly, I don't understand it, but we just go with the flow.

 

Anyone have experience with the xcel program? I feel even more clueless than normal!

 

Anyone competing any meets in Florida is year? :)

[mom2scouts]

My dd just turned 8 and she's on our gym's pre-team.  Our gym starts competing Level 3.  I've been holding her back a bit because she's also a competitive dancer and we don't have the time or money to do both.  I'm not sure what we're going to do next year because she's going to have to make a choice which one she wants to compete. Whichever one she chooses will make me sad about the other one and I'm just not sure if I should encourage her to try competition gymnastics for at least a year or two while she's still young.