Competitive gymnastics or ballet?

[Anonymous]

DD prefers ballet, but likes both. Now, you will all laugh your heads off, she's only 6
She generally knows what she wants and sticks with it: for example, she demanded and got violin lessons at 3, and is doing well with her little violin.

My best friend's DD is a competitive gymnast, and when we go to her meets I see all these girls with bandages and hear about 3 hour practices 3 times a week, and parents paying for expensive costumes and travel...

Is ballet like this too? Is it in the same price range? I suppose all serious sports require time, effort and money, but could anyone tell me if it is comparable or worse or better? Hard question, I know.

Obviously, she might not be good enough for those competitive levels. But in case she is... I'd like to know what we're getting into.
Thank you for your comments.

[Anonymous]

I don't know much about gymnastics but I do about ballet. I took ballet from the time I was 3 until I was 18. And my vote would definitely be for ballet. Ballet is a discipline that stays with you for life not to mention the perfect posture and grace that you learn. Ballet does not get competitive unless your child is extremely talented and wants a spot in a ballet school.

Lessons in the beginning are very reasonable and she should start slowly - maybe twice a week.

[Anonymous]

Much less travel for ballet, even if she eventually gets into dance team. The body image/eating disorder pressure is similar at the higher levels. Dance is probably easier on the body, and easier to keep participating in if she turns out not to be an elite participant.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, at the younger ages, I'd say ballet is much less expensive/time consuming.

Granted, the nutcracker and recital fees on top of the monthly expenses can add up, but it is totally up to you whether your child does these.

[Anonymous]

Dance can get very expensive. DH's nieces got heavily into dance via the ballet studio. They now take hip hop, modern, ballet, jazz, etc. They have recitals twice a year, purchase and wear 4-7 costumes per recital (at $85 apiece), and take classes six days per week. They are 10 and 12. The worst part is they're not even very good. They've invested an amazing amount of time, energy, and money and the girls don't even have the fundamentals of ballet. They enjoy it though and since Grandma pays for it all, no one seems to find.

[Anonymous]

Mind

[Anonymous]

Ballet. Much better for the spine, knees, shoulders, etc. Much less travel.

[Anonymous]

Let her do both but be clear and firm that she will only be able to do recreational level - so one class per week for each activity.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but very interested. My DD is five. She has always been very (almost bizarrely) muscular, graceful, and athletic generally. So far we have had her in ballet lessons, but we think she would really enjoy gymnastics and honestly, I could see her being in the Olympics someday or being a professional ballerina. We have gotten strong encouragement from every teacher she has ever worked with in any sport, and she also has a personality that is very competitive, focused, and driven. We figure she is going to be at a high-level in any sport she pursues because she seems to be naturally gifted and she is just such a hard worker and pushes herself so much already at this age.

I would love to hear opinions from those who have more experience with competitive levels of Ballet and/or gymnastics about the environment for those who are at the upper level of these two sports. I really want to steer her in a direction that will allow her to use her strengths, including her competitive personality without triggering her weaknesses (mostly that she is very perfectionistic).

I could see my kid being an Olympian, but I could also see her being anorexic. Should I steer her away from both gymnastics and ballet in favor of something that is a team sport like soccer? She really seems to enjoy these two sports that have the added aspect of graceful movement. She is also not a very good team player, as she tends to have little patience with those who are not at her level.

[Anonymous]

Depends on her body type if she really wants to be competitive. If she is naturally skinny with good turn out then ballet. If she is more muscular then gymnastics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but very interested. My DD is five. She has always been very (almost bizarrely) muscular, graceful, and athletic generally. So far we have had her in ballet lessons, but we think she would really enjoy gymnastics and honestly, I could see her being in the Olympics someday or being a professional ballerina. We have gotten strong encouragement from every teacher she has ever worked with in any sport, and she also has a personality that is very competitive, focused, and driven. We figure she is going to be at a high-level in any sport she pursues because she seems to be naturally gifted and she is just such a hard worker and pushes herself so much already at this age.

I would love to hear opinions from those who have more experience with competitive levels of Ballet and/or gymnastics about the environment for those who are at the upper level of these two sports. I really want to steer her in a direction that will allow her to use her strengths, including her competitive personality without triggering her weaknesses (mostly that she is very perfectionistic).

I could see my kid being an Olympian, but I could also see her being anorexic. Should I steer her away from both gymnastics and ballet in favor of something that is a team sport like soccer? She really seems to enjoy these two sports that have the added aspect of graceful movement. She is also not a very good team player, as she tends to have little patience with those who are not at her level.

Have her take a gymnastics class and ballet and see what she and the teachers think. I think that once she is on a preteam for gymanstics you will have a better sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but very interested. My DD is five. She has always been very (almost bizarrely) muscular, graceful, and athletic generally. So far we have had her in ballet lessons, but we think she would really enjoy gymnastics and honestly, I could see her being in the Olympics someday or being a professional ballerina. We have gotten strong encouragement from every teacher she has ever worked with in any sport, and she also has a personality that is very competitive, focused, and driven. We figure she is going to be at a high-level in any sport she pursues because she seems to be naturally gifted and she is just such a hard worker and pushes herself so much already at this age.

I would love to hear opinions from those who have more experience with competitive levels of Ballet and/or gymnastics about the environment for those who are at the upper level of these two sports. I really want to steer her in a direction that will allow her to use her strengths, including her competitive personality without triggering her weaknesses (mostly that she is very perfectionistic).

I could see my kid being an Olympian, but I could also see her being anorexic. Should I steer her away from both gymnastics and ballet in favor of something that is a team sport like soccer? She really seems to enjoy these two sports that have the added aspect of graceful movement. She is also not a very good team player, as she tends to have little patience with those who are not at her level.

Yes. Soccer is amazing. I had these tendencies and soccer let me focus on what my body could do. Plus, I was comparing my (very slender) body to other soccer players not other dancers or gymnasts. Soccer will force her to be a good team player which I promise will serve her well for the rest of her life. I once had a boss who said he wished he could ask job candidates if they had a sibling and played team sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but very interested. My DD is five. She has always been very (almost bizarrely) muscular, graceful, and athletic generally. So far we have had her in ballet lessons, but we think she would really enjoy gymnastics and honestly, I could see her being in the Olympics someday or being a professional ballerina. We have gotten strong encouragement from every teacher she has ever worked with in any sport, and she also has a personality that is very competitive, focused, and driven. We figure she is going to be at a high-level in any sport she pursues because she seems to be naturally gifted and she is just such a hard worker and pushes herself so much already at this age.

I would love to hear opinions from those who have more experience with competitive levels of Ballet and/or gymnastics about the environment for those who are at the upper level of these two sports. I really want to steer her in a direction that will allow her to use her strengths, including her competitive personality without triggering her weaknesses (mostly that she is very perfectionistic).

I could see my kid being an Olympian, but I could also see her being anorexic. Should I steer her away from both gymnastics and ballet in favor of something that is a team sport like soccer? She really seems to enjoy these two sports that have the added aspect of graceful movement. She is also not a very good team player, as she tends to have little patience with those who are not at her level.

Yes. Soccer is amazing. I had these tendencies and soccer let me focus on what my body could do. Plus, I was comparing my (very slender) body to other soccer players not other dancers or gymnasts. Soccer will force her to be a good team player which I promise will serve her well for the rest of her life. I once had a boss who said he wished he could ask job candidates if they had a sibling and played team sports.

Versus what it looked like, I meant to add.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but very interested. My DD is five. She has always been very (almost bizarrely) muscular, graceful, and athletic generally. So far we have had her in ballet lessons, but we think she would really enjoy gymnastics and honestly, I could see her being in the Olympics someday or being a professional ballerina. We have gotten strong encouragement from every teacher she has ever worked with in any sport, and she also has a personality that is very competitive, focused, and driven. We figure she is going to be at a high-level in any sport she pursues because she seems to be naturally gifted and she is just such a hard worker and pushes herself so much already at this age.

I would love to hear opinions from those who have more experience with competitive levels of Ballet and/or gymnastics about the environment for those who are at the upper level of these two sports. I really want to steer her in a direction that will allow her to use her strengths, including her competitive personality without triggering her weaknesses (mostly that she is very perfectionistic).

I could see my kid being an Olympian, but I could also see her being anorexic. Should I steer her away from both gymnastics and ballet in favor of something that is a team sport like soccer? She really seems to enjoy these two sports that have the added aspect of graceful movement. She is also not a very good team player, as she tends to have little patience with those who are not at her level.

Calm down, stage mom. With all due respect to the undoubtely superstar abilities of your 5 year old, there is no way you can answer these questions at her age.

[Anonymous]

Let her do whichever she prefers, or even better, take classes in both. Same for the 5 year old (I was 5 when I started gymnastics and knew immediately it was what I wanted to do).