All-Star Need Advice From Tumble Coaches Please

[Beans100]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

I don't think that's the way to put it. But I also think you need to step back from the situation.

Technically, you're daughter is a level 1 athlete. While she may be able to stunt level 4, she can only tumble level 1. It is going to be much easier for the coach to teach an athlete who has a backhandspring to stunt level 4 than it is for the coach to teach a girl to do a backhandspring.

Now, I also understand that you want to see your daughter excel and you may feel that being on level 1 might not motivate her to do better or that she won't enjoy the season, therefore wasting your money. Does your daughter have an opinion? Is she willing to accept being on a level 1 team when she's aiming to be on something higher? See where she stands on this. Perhaps she's okay being on level 1 and not stressing on the backhandspring.

 

[TealShades]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

Would your daughter be nuggeting for tumbling if she's put on 4.2? If so would you be okay or comfortable with paying that much money if she's nuggeting for some of the routine? Or would it be more worthy if she was able to participate in all areas of the routine? Does level 1 get the same time/commitment/coaching as level 5?

 

[mamabear]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

I would think since you are a coach, you would understand the reasoning of why she is being placed where she is. If she is struggling and not throwing the skills needed, she shouldn't be on a higher level. If she was placed on level 4.2, she would be chasing not only level 2 tumble skills, but also be trying to stunt while skipping level 3. That is a lot of pressure and definitely seems too much to handle if she is already struggling!

As a coach, I am sure you understand how important it is to build a team around the entire team. and not just one person. Let your cp, regain her confidence and shine for a year, and then she will be placed next season at the level she has earned.

I not only paid comparable prices to what you are saying this season for level one, but I drove over an hour each way to get there. My CP strengthened her skills and her confidence. Staying another year on level 1 was the best thing that could have happened to her. I would suggest take a step back and trust in your fellow coaches. They will get her to the levels you want soon enough.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

From a coaching perspective, no kid is going to be happy on a team on which they are constantly CHASING the skills.

Example: Your kid has Level 1 skills. If placed on a Level 2 with zero Level 2 tumbling, she is constantly going to be chasing that BHS.

She's going to constantly be concerned with:

"Can I throw it?"

"Are they going to replace me?"

"I don't want to nugget this season for tumbling."

Being the one without the skills is more pressure than you realize.

At times, it does wonders for their confidence to be on a team where they can contribute tumbling-wise.

As to your "don't want to pay $ for her to be on Level 1" comment, I'd think you'd be even more upset if you paid for her to be on Level 2 as a nugget due to no skills?

 

[dawgshow]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

Yes. And I say that as a mom who has BDTD. It's you.

 

[Amy L]

Maybe the issue is me. I just cannot get my head around level 1. Honestly I think she needs a *filler* bc she had a very small amount of lv1 girls who are no where close to 2 so my daughter is getting bumped to fill a spot only bc she don't have the bh. Otherwise she told her she would be contender for 4.2...so how can I get my head around my daughter being good enough for level 4 stunting if she had a bh, but then she might be put on a level 1 team. Is it me?

Seems like a lot of smaller gyms use 4.2 like that. My daughter did her first season of cheer on a 4.2 team and had no tumbling or any other experience. I have seen some very good 4.2 teams but there are a ton of really janky ones who go to that level because there is much less competition than at Sr 2. I think it's "easier" to teach level 4 stunting but we also saw some teams who looked flat out scary who frankly should have just gone down to level 1 or 2.

Like on her old team I think about 2/3 of the girls had level 2 tumbling. But they also had a lot of "headsprings" that got into the routine just to get more points for quantity. They had a fun routine and even won a lot last year but they weren't very clean compared to the really good 4.2 teams. They got a lot of points off for technique.

My kid has all her level 1 tumbling solid now and has coincidentally been working on a BHS for about 2 weeks. In two weeks she has got to the point where she can throw a reasonable looking one with a spotter but only one of those bent arm frog looking ones without a spot. So I'm not sure that 2 weeks is reasonable unless she already has all the fundamentals for the BHS but she is just mentally blocking it. And if can normally throw it but she has a mental block, adding a 2 week deadline might be too much pressure.

I will say the one drawback of having your child do their very first season on a 4.2 team is that now her skills are all wonky and uneven. My daughter ended up having much higher stunting skills than tumbling. So if I had to pick a level she actually had all the skills for it would be something like level 3.1 which doesn't exist. :-/ She is working really hard to get her tumbling up to speed but if we had a gym around here that had teams from levels 1-5 I would have sent her there. We just live in a small town and there aren't a lot of places she can cheer so here you kind of have to take what they put you on.

 

[Crazy Cheer Mom]

I know that some of it is me. And i also know she is only level 1 based on Tumbling. I'm not disagreeing with it from a coaches POV. And I've told my CP that. HOWEVER the more I think about it I think she shouldn't have told her if she got it in 2wks she'd be considered back in the 2 realm at all. She did not have it last yr at all on 2,she did not nugget. But now my CP thinks there is a chance so she's dead set on 'chucking it'. Which I don't necessarily agree with. Maybe level 1 should've been the only option given, without a chance for 2 .

 

[Crazy Cheer Mom]

I don't really know what the coach is thinking with the 2wk deadline. We will be 'gym rats' for the next 2wks as she was told she needs to be in every class available until teams are chosen. There must be a method to the madness. I'll just take my anxiety meds to get through it.

 

[Beans100]

I know that some of it is me. And i also know she is only level 1 based on Tumbling. I'm not disagreeing with it from a coaches POV. And I've told my CP that. HOWEVER the more I think about it I think she shouldn't have told her if she got it in 2wks she'd be considered back in the 2 realm at all. She did not have it last yr at all on 2,she did not nugget. But now my CP thinks there is a chance so she's dead set on 'chucking it'. Which I don't necessarily agree with. Maybe level 1 should've been the only option given, without a chance for 2 .

And this is how injuries happen. I hope the coaches don't let her do something that isn't safe.

 

[Crazy Cheer Mom]

And this is how injuries happen. I hope the coaches don't let her do something that isn't safe.

In all defense of the coaches CP was throwing it with the spot just standing there if needed. It's in CP's head so is this why the pressure was put on her? To break the mental?

 

[Amy L]

In all defense of the coaches CP was throwing it with the spot just standing there if needed. It's in CP's head so is this why the pressure was put on her? To break the mental?

Sometimes that works. I've seen kids say to the tumbling coaches "Just make me throw it" and they do. I have one who probably would shut down if she was told she had to have it by a certain time though.

 

[dawgshow]

This mindset (and not just aimed at OP) reminds me of parents who refuse to retain their children in early grades in school. Instead they keep forcing the kid to work through new material and old, while getting them tutors to catch up. The kids end up frustrated, hating school, failing or dropping out at the first opportunity.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

I'm mad that the coaches told her to throw her BHS in 2 weeks or she's off level 2. That's the kind of pressure that can lead to more mental blocks. A few might push through, but if she's been regressing all season, I'd think not.

I also understand where you're coming from with the stunting. I've been an athlete where I was placed on a lower level team than I was capable of for a few years (after numerous years of being successful on the higher level team), and I hated it. There was no motivation for me to get better or get new skills cos even when I did, I was placed back on the lower level team again. My teammates constantly asked me why I wasn't on the higher level teams and I never got clear consistant answers from coaches that made sense. I almost quit cheer over it as those years sucked me dry - I hated coming to the gym and usually left in tears all the way home. The lack of pressure may be just what she needs though. Make sure you talk to you CP throughout these 2 weeks and the season, and truly understand what she is saying and feeling. It may work out on level 1 and it may not, but please let her be the lead on what she is feeling from this

ETA - my negative experience was as an adult, so it is slightly different from the kids

 

[Crazy Cheer Mom]

I'm just gonna let her roll with it and decide (although she is adamant she doesn't want Level 1). She's doing good right now in the class she is in this morning so we will see what happens in 2wks.

 

[Beans100]

I'm just gonna let her roll with it and decide (although she is adamant she doesn't want Level 1). She's doing good right now in the class she is in this morning so we will see what happens in 2wks.

Good idea.

I'd suggest staying out of her tumbling stuff for a while and just letting her do her thing. When you pick her up you can ask, "do you feel good about class?" or "what did you guys work on today" or "what do you want for dinner?" instead of asking "did you throw your backhandspring?" If she already has pressure from her coaches, she probably doesn't want pressure from you. When I cheered, I liked that my mom was just a mom and she didn't really care what went on at practice and class. She didn't even know I was throwing fulls until I got hurt doing one.