gymnastics

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Anne Rogers - 26 Jul 2007 05:40 GMT

anyone out there had a child take gymnastics to a highish level?
particularly a boy?

I signed DD up for a parent and child gymnastics class as I wanted to do
something with her and it fitted our schedule, DS came along too and was
incredibly keen, so I ended up signing him up too, not really expecting
anything in particular. It's turned out that he's quite good at it, not
just at the doing of it, but he also has the right attitude and will
repeat something over and over again until he gets it right.

This is an area I know nothing about, I don't know how you tell a good
gymnastics coach from a bad one, or a good program from a bad program
and so on. His current set of classes finishes next week and takes a
months break. The place he does it currently is at the gym we belong to,
it's in a relatively small room, with no fixed equipment, so they have
to get it out and clear it away as part of class. This also means that
he never sees anyone doing gymnastics other than the children in his
class. So, I've looked to see if there is a full size gym locally and if
they offer a preschool program, which there is and it must be popular as
they have over 20 different class times just for his age group.

I'm trying to figure out if the time to move is now, the big gym is
slightly further away, but probably makes up for that with the vast
number of times available, the disadvantage is that not being the same
site as the sports club, means no childcare facility for DD and having
to hang around or find something to do that takes 50minutes, rather than
being able to fit in a quick work out. Price doesn't help decide it as
they are pretty much the same, though at the sports club they will
prorate if you know you are missing some classes in advance.

Cheers
Anne

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Ericka Kammerer - 26 Jul 2007 13:35 GMT

> anyone out there had a child take gymnastics to a highish level?
> particularly a boy?
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> they are pretty much the same, though at the sports club they will
> prorate if you know you are missing some classes in advance.

    I think the best thing you can do is ask around and
go to the gym and observe classes (ideally at different levels).
If there's a competitor anywhere nearby, observe there and get a
copy of their policies as well so you have a point of comparison.
Ask parents of kids who are several years older than your child
to see what's coming down he pike if he continues.
    I think when it comes to activities that are demanding
on growing bodies, it's really important to have instructors
who are knowledgeable and careful to avoid injuries. If you're
thinking of possibly doing competitive gymnastics, that can
ramp up quickly in terms of the time commitment (not to
mention the financial commitment), so you can fairly rapidly
get to the point where quality of instruction makes a real
difference.
    I think it's always a tough call when to switch to
somewhere more "serious." On the one hand, I think it's always
good to have high quality instruction from the get-go. On the
other hand, being in a more serious environment can either burn
a kid out quickly (if they don't like the competitive and
possibly high pressure environment) or throw you in the deep
water all too quickly (if the child takes off and wants to
get serious about training). It's not often that you find
really high quality instruction in a low pressure environment
with these things.
    Ultimately, I think all you can do is gather as
much information as possible and make the best choice you
can at the time.

Best wishes,
Ericka

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betsy - 27 Jul 2007 21:38 GMT

> anyone out there had a child take gymnastics to a highish level?
> particularly a boy?

I have 3 kids in gymnastics, including a boy, but they are not at a
high level. I am concerned about overuse injuries don't particularly
want my kids to get to a high level quickly. Because of this I only
let my kids take gymnastics one day a week. They do other sports
thoughout the week and they do practice gymnastics at home too, though
I have to work to limit my oldest.

> class. So, I've looked to see if there is a full size gym locally and if
> they offer a preschool program, which there is and it must be popular as
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> slightly further away, but probably makes up for that with the vast
> number of times available, the disadvantage is that not being the

If they have 20 different classes for his age, I am guessing that
these are co-ed classes. As you probably know, the men's events and
women's are different. At some point, he will graduate into boy's
only classes. I am not a gymnastics expert, but I think that the
women's events in the early levels are more fun and suited to very
young boy's bodies than the men's events. If he rushes through the
skills too quickly, he may reach a level where boys and girls are
segregated before he has the maturity or desire to participate in the
boy's classes. It might be good to find out how the different gyms
deal with boys in particular over time and when/how they begin to
separate the sexes and begin to have boys concentrate on the men's
events.

--Betsy

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Anne Rogers - 31 Jul 2007 03:53 GMT

>> anyone out there had a child take gymnastics to a highish level?
>> particularly a boy?
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> thoughout the week and they do practice gymnastics at home too, though
> I have to work to limit my oldest.

He doesn't do any other organised sports, but he's a very active child,
I'm not sure overuse is particularly likely when you jump from 1 session
to 2, more when you start doing it every day, but that's not really a
worry now, I've no plans to sign up for more than 1 session.

>> class. So, I've looked to see if there is a full size gym locally and if
>> they offer a preschool program, which there is and it must be popular as
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> separate the sexes and begin to have boys concentrate on the men's
> events.

It was more whether they had any variation in skill level, we even by
age 4 there can be a lot of variation and it doesn't really depend on
what classes they've been to before, there is another boy in DS's class,
he'd 9mths older, but just right now, DS is a smidgen ahead in skill
level, but DS has been doing it 3mths and the other boy since he was
tiny, as this other boy is just about to turn 5, by September he'll be
in a whole level higher. The gym we might go to seems to run on school
years, so the class should stay the same for the year, or at least won't
have new people join the moment they turn 4, where we are currently, it
runs in shorter chunks of time so kids can move up or join several times
during the year, so the class could change frequently and until May it
will be the same class he's already been doing for 3months, but could
have people joining it who are at a lower standard than he was 3months
ago, let alone now. I'm only really bothered about that due to concern
about the bordem factor, repeating skills is practice and will build up
strength and in part is a skill that has to be learnt, but there's only
so much range on the same set up of equipment, for example DS, has
totally got the hang of using the spring board to gain height and is
ready to try simple vaults, the other kids haven't, so he's not had the
chance, which is fine so far, but at some point he's going to wonder why
on earth he keeps doing it!

Cheers
Anne

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Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / July 2007

gymnastics