All-Star How Quickly Do You Progress?

[cupieqt]

I know it varies from person to person, and perfection is required (at least in my gym) but how soon do you move on to the next skill? We introduce skills pretty quickly and most of my athletes are working on a range of skills in tumbling and stunting but the average athlete in my gym will go from L1 to L2 in a 6 months to a year then from L2 to L3 in about 4 months and from there things go even faster. We aren't fast tracking b/c we require the perfection to be there but I'm just curious about what the average length of time is in other gyms.

 

[fullpass]

This is interesting and I'd love to hear from others on this. Our old gym placed you based on where you were at try outs and any advancement during the season was completely up to you. That def made things slower for my cp
She's now catching up in our new program but I don't anticipate the timeframes you had mentioned. Major props to your team for achieving those goals and stressing perfection!

 

[cupieqt]

thank you! I find most of our athletes are pretty well groomed already b/c we are based in a gymnastics facility so we find a lot of talent in our recreational classes. But even in those recreational classes, we stress making progress however we can (they may never be a super tumbler, but learning something is expected). Our customers pay for cartwheels so that's what we provide. I have several athletes that came to me from another gym (cheer only) and they had cheered level 1 for two years and had not gotten their back walkovers yet....some are very close now and some got them by the 3rd practice and they started with us in early May.

I just feel very strongly about it all the way around. It makes my teams better, the customers are paying for results.....and my number one reason? I would have LOVED to have gotten this kind of training when I was a kid. All I needed was for my gymnastics teacher/cheer coach to treat me like I was an olympic gymnast and I would've become one. I missed out because my teachers were just getting through the hour. I don't decide if these kids have amazing ability or not, they do.

 

[cupieqt]

Why is it taking so long? That seems like a really long time to me. What do you work on at practice?

 

[garretttt]

ive had my layout for forever and have yet to get my full...im so mental about tumbling.

 

[cupieqt]

I know you get out of it what you put in to it, and I understand having to work through tumbling blocks can take a while. I'm a coach, not a magician (or a beautician haha) but I--and the rest of our staff--wouldn't have let you go for so long without getting you flipping somehow...front, back, left or right, sideways, whatever. You'd be doing more than what you are doing in 3 years.

 

[cupieqt]

May I ask what other skills you are all working on? I find a large variety for individual athletes is a good way to achieve breakthroughs/progress overall. The more skills you acquire, no matter how "easy" the more confident you are in your abilities and the stronger you are altogether. You need body awareness and spatial awareness for ALL tumbling skills. It's those abilities and muscle memory that make you a better tumbler.

 

[justpeachy]

My daughter is 7, and has gained a new skill every Summer. She seems content with that, though now that she has her back tuck she seems to want to move a little faster.

I guess it's different for everyone though.

 

[cupieqt]

My daughter is 7, and has gained a new skill every Summer. She seems content with that, though now that she has her back tuck she seems to want to move a little faster.

I guess it's different for everyone though.

Yes everyone is uniquely different and your daughters progress is pretty typical to me. Once they have the skills needed for tucks, pikes and layouts, they progress pretty quickly for us. I have some that stall for a while at tucks, but not many and that's usually because those are the athletes that tucks may be their equivalent of an arabian through to double. I set the bar higher with each skill they achieve though, so even my "remedial tumblers" do pretty well.

 

[cupieqt]

Last season I was working on front handsprings, front walk overs and front tucks. But I switched gyms and now Im only working on BHS.

ETA: For the two years where I wasnt working on BHS's, the only thing I was doing was cartwheels, round offs, and attempting handstand bridge kickover( It never happened).

I don't understand why they don't have you working more than a bhs? You could still acheive the front limber if you continue to work it. Repetition and consistent training is key. Do you work on any combo skills? Even lower level stuff like r/o though to back roll bwo?

 

[flyer4life]

I worked BHS for a year and a half at a gym where I was not happy, and then switched gyms to a gym where I am very happy at, and within a month I got my back handspring. Within about 3 months I got my RO Tuck. Then I lost it, and now I have a mental block on running tucks I'm very very very mental about tumbling, so I progress really really really slowly.

 

[fullpass]

Bow maker- you don't need to worry about anything but being comfortable with your own progress. Cheerleading isn't a race to level 5. It's an amazing, fun team sport. Enjoy!

 

[cupieqt]

Bow maker- you don't need to worry about anything but being comfortable with your own progress. Cheerleading isn't a race to level 5. It's an amazing, fun team sport. Enjoy!

Nobody said it was a race-- I'm just curious about how quickly people progress. I also wondered why they haven't worked her on other skills when she told me about her experience. She has answered all of my questions (thank you BowMaker!) and satisfied some of my curiosity about how thing are done elsewhere. Progress is just really important in my area so I wanted to compare.

 

[cupieqt]

I worked BHS for a year and a half at a gym where I was not happy, and then switched gyms to a gym where I am very happy at, and within a month I got my back handspring. Within about 3 months I got my RO Tuck. Then I lost it, and now I have a mental block on running tucks I'm very very very mental about tumbling, so I progress really really really slowly.

Mental blocks will definitely slow you down a bit but I'm glad it hasn't stopped you! Sounds like you found the right gym so that's awesome. Things happen quickly when you're enviornment is good!

 

[cupieqt]

I guess their focus right now is playing catch up with getting my BHS. The only thing I do during tumbling is round offs and cartwheels for warm ups and the rest of the time is just BHS or BHS drills.

Gotcha. Do you need the bhs for competition? I focus on one skill more than others if I know that athlete needs to get it for something so that makes sense.

Btw, thank you for indulging me : ) I didn't intend to make it sound like a race like fullpass said above. I am just curious about others experiences with progression and expectations of progress in a certain amount of time.