Competitive gymnastics

[Anonymous]

My daughter is starting down that path. First, is it worth it? It sounds like the time commitment will just keep increasing. At what age do girls burn out/quit and what sports are good for after gymnastics?

Also, we are in MD. Our gym mainly does USAG but I have heard some of the others focus on Mason-Dixon League which I understand is a little less pressure. I would appreciate feedback on the difference. We are going to stick with where she is for now, but I would be interested in hearing about other gyms that focus on MDL for the future.

[Anonymous]

It's a huge time (and money) commitment. What I've seen is that if kids stick with it past the first season, they go until the end of eleventh grade. For some reason, all but two that I know have dropped out when they hit senior year of high school. Is it worth it? I don't know. But, what I can say is that all of the kids on our team are on the honor roll, have no behavior problems in school and don't drink or smoke. They are very disciplined about eating well and taking care of their bodies. They tend to have good time management skills (otherwise they couldn't practice for a few hours a day and still keep up with school work).

I don't know anything about MDL.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone but your daughter can answer the question of whether it's worth it. I was a competitive gymnast, and for me, yes, it was absolutely worth it, I loved the sport and still do it (and yes, I'm old and have kids). I stopped competing at 14 and went on to do different high school sports (my high school wasn't very competitive, so I could do any sport they had basically). The strength, flexibility, and body awareness I got from gymnastics made every other sport that much easier to learn, and it also made me appreciate working out and keeping fit. Oh, and yes, it can be a HUGE time commitment at the higher levels. I think the most I worked out was around 25/28 hours a week.

If your daughter is very talented and competitive, stick with USAG. If she wants to do it for fun, then MDL may be a more appropriate venue and could allow for greater longevity with less chance of burnout/injury.

[Anonymous]

We are in the program at Hills in Gaithersburg and so far are very happy there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone but your daughter can answer the question of whether it's worth it. I was a competitive gymnast, and for me, yes, it was absolutely worth it, I loved the sport and still do it (and yes, I'm old and have kids). I stopped competing at 14 and went on to do different high school sports (my high school wasn't very competitive, so I could do any sport they had basically). The strength, flexibility, and body awareness I got from gymnastics made every other sport that much easier to learn, and it also made me appreciate working out and keeping fit. Oh, and yes, it can be a HUGE time commitment at the higher levels. I think the most I worked out was around 25/28 hours a week.

If your daughter is very talented and competitive, stick with USAG. If she wants to do it for fun, then MDL may be a more appropriate venue and could allow for greater longevity with less chance of burnout/injury.

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone but your daughter can answer the question of whether it's worth it. I was a competitive gymnast, and for me, yes, it was absolutely worth it, I loved the sport and still do it (and yes, I'm old and have kids). I stopped competing at 14 and went on to do different high school sports (my high school wasn't very competitive, so I could do any sport they had basically). The strength, flexibility, and body awareness I got from gymnastics made every other sport that much easier to learn, and it also made me appreciate working out and keeping fit. Oh, and yes, it can be a HUGE time commitment at the higher levels. I think the most I worked out was around 25/28 hours a week.

If your daughter is very talented and competitive, stick with USAG. If she wants to do it for fun, then MDL may be a more appropriate venue and could allow for greater longevity with less chance of burnout/injury.

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

It is a huge commitment to compete at a medium to high level, and it seems even bigger because the kids are younger. It's probably more of a commitment than some other sports - rec soccer or baseball may practice once or twice a week and have a game once a week, vs practices 4-5 times a week for instance. But also, the peak age for gymnasts is lower than many other sports. And of course, this means that the parents have to be on board with transportation to practices, meets, etc. I didn't realize it when I was a kid (my parents NEVER complained about how often they had to drive me to practice, or to meets early in the morning on weekends, etc), but now that I have kids in activities, I am even more thankful to my parents for what they did in allowing me to train and compete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

Mom of a competitive gymnast here. It's a huge time and money commitment. I have friends with kids on travel sports teams and I log more miles on my car, more hours of time and more dollars from my bank account than they do for sure. I spend hours of time each month arranging carpools. There is missed school, which means making up assignments in the already limited free time. During the week, there is virtually no free time between school, practice, homework and chores. Also, it's a year round sport and family vacations end up being to competitions. It's not a sport, it's a lifestyle, if you ask me. And, it goes on for what seems like an endless amount of years since, as you point out, they start young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

Mom of a competitive gymnast here. It's a huge time and money commitment. I have friends with kids on travel sports teams and I log more miles on my car, more hours of time and more dollars from my bank account than they do for sure. I spend hours of time each month arranging carpools. There is missed school, which means making up assignments in the already limited free time. During the week, there is virtually no free time between school, practice, homework and chores. Also, it's a year round sport and family vacations end up being to competitions. It's not a sport, it's a lifestyle, if you ask me. And, it goes on for what seems like an endless amount of years since, as you point out, they start young.

How old is your child? What was the commitment like when she first started competing?

[Anonymous]

As far as I can tell, the main difference between USAG and MDL at the lower levels is in MDL there is no compulsory round. Our gym has the girls do MDL until they get to USAG level 7, then they switch to USAG.

My daughter is in the middle of her MDL years and practices 3 times per week at 3.5 hours a pop. My other competitive athlete, who is younger, also pratices three times a week, but those practices right now are 1.5 hours each. At the moment, gymnastics is a much bigger commitment time-wise, the meets are farther away, and it is more expensive than my younger child's sport. But the gymnastics kid loves gymnastics and the younger kid loves his sport, so I would never try to steer one towards the other. Our kids picked their sports themselves.

If your kid wants to do it, then you do it if you can. But be aware, too, the more hard core gyms also carry risks. One of our cousins had to bench her daughter for the season with many tears all around. She was competing at the USAG 5 level and, because of the rigorous practice schedule at that gym, was at serious risk for a stress fracture of the spine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

Mom of a competitive gymnast here. It's a huge time and money commitment. I have friends with kids on travel sports teams and I log more miles on my car, more hours of time and more dollars from my bank account than they do for sure. I spend hours of time each month arranging carpools. There is missed school, which means making up assignments in the already limited free time. During the week, there is virtually no free time between school, practice, homework and chores. Also, it's a year round sport and family vacations end up being to competitions. It's not a sport, it's a lifestyle, if you ask me. And, it goes on for what seems like an endless amount of years since, as you point out, they start young.

I also have a competitive gymnast and this is pretty accurate.
My 8 year old practices 15 hours a week year round, we travel to 7-8 competitions that require hotel stays each year, and the total cost ends up around $6000/year. And it's going to take more time, money, and travel each year. It really is a lifestyle, but it means everything to my child, so it's a lifestyle we are happy to commit to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is it more of a commitment than other sports? Or does it just seem that way becuase they are so young when the commitment begins?

Mom of a competitive gymnast here. It's a huge time and money commitment. I have friends with kids on travel sports teams and I log more miles on my car, more hours of time and more dollars from my bank account than they do for sure. I spend hours of time each month arranging carpools. There is missed school, which means making up assignments in the already limited free time. During the week, there is virtually no free time between school, practice, homework and chores. Also, it's a year round sport and family vacations end up being to competitions. It's not a sport, it's a lifestyle, if you ask me. And, it goes on for what seems like an endless amount of years since, as you point out, they start young.

How old is your child? What was the commitment like when she first started competing?

Not a she. He started competing at age 9.

[Anonymous]

The moms have nailed it. My niece just "retired" last month at age 17, going into her senior year (USAG). She is still privately getting coached for college scholarship route. The cost is about $10,000 a year at her optional level. I contribute about $1k a year and go to 2 of her competitions a year. PP is right, you tend to plan your vacations around the gymnastics competitions. Just got back from Orlando. She practices about 25 hours a week (maybe 30 during comp season) which is far more than any other sport I know of other than high school football two-a-days. My niece is disciplined, honor roll, and has 6 pack abs...she wouldn't give her experience up. However, she has endured several injuries and missed tons of kid stuff. It starts to get pretty intense around level 8 or so as far as being more proned to injuries (imo). It is a serious commitment for both the kid and the family. I would advise to take it one year at a time and do a serious check in with your kid. My niece is made it on her high school's very competitve dance team for her senior year and she's excited she can be a teenager her last year. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a huge time (and money) commitment. What I've seen is that if kids stick with it past the first season, they go until the end of eleventh grade. For some reason, all but two that I know have dropped out when they hit senior year of high school.

Sounds like an interesting gym, but that's really not at all characteristic. Most kids drop out between 5th-8th grade. USAG membership numbers show around 20-25,000 level 4 (intro level) and 15,000 level 5 (first required level), so it's true there's a significant drop even between two relatively easy intro levels. I have to estimate somewhat because the last stats I have are from 2008 and I know the level 4 number is up since then. But then there's a massive drop off, almost by half, between level 5 and 6. So somewhere around the intermediate levels there are big decreases. For many kids this corresponds to middle school age and an inability to overcome fear of increasingly difficult backwards skills.

Of course some these kids go to prep op programs, but anecdotally speaking many of them quit for other sports that aren't such a big time, emotional, physical commitment.

Many people aren't cut out for gymnastics, and even less are cut out for high level gymnastics. Prep op programs are a good alternative.

As far as whether to pursue it, I love gymnastics but it is expensive, so be aware of the financial commitment and whether you can afford it. If she enjoys it let her do it and don't get crazy. It's for the kids, and your child's attitude will take a cue from you. If she quits after a few years, she gained some valuable experiences and it's probably for the best. Nothing wrong with that. High level gymnastics is heartbreaking. I still think it's amazing, but it's not something I would try to push my kid into. Just take it year by year.

[Anonymous]

I think that time commitment of 25-30 hours sounds about right for any serious competitor at a high level. Let your daughter be your guide if you can afford it. Either way, don't pressure her to keep going because of you past financial outlay and i am sure you will do right by her.

[Anonymous]

Any feedback on Silver Stars or Dynamite?