About gymnastics training hours for 6 year old

[Helpel]

This is quite specific and not strictly AIBU so sorry posting a bit for traffic...
My DD is in year 2 but is not 7 until the summer. She is part of a gymnastics development squad and currently trains twice a week for a total of 5.5 hours. I've just had an email from the coach to say from June this is increasing to 3 times a week for a total of 9 hours. Twice a week the sessions finish at 8.30pm which would mean a 9.30pm bedtime before we are home and settled.
AIBU to think this is too much for a 6 year old? I am tempted to ask if we can stick with the current pattern until she starts yr 3 in September but don't want it to affect my daughter's chances at competing if that's what she eventually wants to do. They start competing in May next year - I am thinking it wouldn't affect her that much to delay increased training by a few months...
My DD enjoys gymnastics and loves being good at it, but sometimes she grumbles about going to the training sessions as it is. Do we just give it a go and see if her passion increases? I think the logistical and late night issue would be easier to swallow if she became absolutely dedicated to it!
Has anyone been in this position? It would be great to hear from other parents of development squad gymnasts!

That’s a late finish for a 6 year-old. I have a DS who did gym to national level. He didn’t train later than 7.30 until he was about 9. He was doing 15 hours at that age, but the sessions finished at a decent time. He has a couple of 8.30 finishes now, although he’s no longer training all that seriously, and it’s a massive pain, even at secondary school age.

So many people have replied saying their kids do this level of training.... surely they can't all be destined to 'make it' or am
I missing something?!

Wow, that might be normal for gymnastics, but there is not a cat in hell’s chance I’d allow a six year old to spend 9 hours a week on any hobby, no matter how much she liked it.

Same, this is insane. Not forgetting a late bedtime every alternate night.

9 hours a week sounds a huge amount, for any recreational/sports activity especially when you're not even 7 yrs old.

Personally, I wouldn't do it for my DC, but I know with gymnastics the 'peak' is often in the early teens so huge sacrifices must be made in the pre-teen years...

I know this because I did competitive gymnastics from around the age of 7. In the end it got too intense and taking up disproportionate amount of time

I stopped aged 11 and then pursued other team and individual sports which I really enjoys and excelled at

Also, during the gymnastics years I developed what I now recognise to be an eating disorder- starving myself, getting up early to exercise, lying to my parents about having eaten at school, hiding food & throwing it away.

I was obsessed with my weight and losing more...I remember this so clearly during my last year at primary school...

Thank god I stopped these behaviours after giving up gymnastics and ate normally ever since, but looking back it was scary how I was showing all the signs of anorexia

This is just my experience, but for my DC, we're encouraging them to do other sports instead

A 9.30,pm for a primary school DC is too late in my opinion. They need their sleep.

A 9.30pm bedtime is too late, I meant!

Also 9.30pm bedtime is way too late for a 6 year old!

Gymnastics is an early specialisation sport. If they're lucky they might make it to their late teens as a gymnast but then what? It's not like there are many recreational adult gymnastics classes around. It is great for developing strength, flexibility and co-ordination but you don't need to train for 9 hours per week for that.

That's what I think. I know dd sport is different but one of the older club players went through the same hours of training and is currently placed as GB3.

Does anyone know what other activities/sports ask a primary school age child to practise for that many hours?

I developed eating issues too. Running up and down the stairs at home to lose weight, feeling anxious about eating 'bad' foods and begging my parents to take them away so I wasn't tempted to eat them. Witnessed other gymnasts being shouted at if they had gained weight and all of us encouraged to cut back on food as in 'Try not to eat much at dinner time tonight.'
Yay for being an elite gymnast in the 90's

Does anyone know what other activities/sports ask a primary school age child to practise for that many hours?

Swimming, football, ice skating, skiing - DD has friends in all of these that do similar hours at her age (8). Of course these kids aren’t all destined to make it. They do it because they enjoy it.

Swimming, football, ice skating, skiing

not swimming - two of my DC swim competitively and for the younger kids their coach has a number of sessions shouldn’t be more than half your age rule.

I listen to Ross Tucker’s Science of Sport and there was a good podcast on over specialisation and over training of children. Talked about “survivorship bias” and how parents get sucked into the excessive training narrative, with stories of all the training elite athletes did at a young age. And omitting swimmers like Adam Peaty and Ian Thorpe who have said they didn’t get seriously into training until early teens, Roger Federer and Ash Barty who played a lot of sports before committing to tennis.

The problem of course, is over investment in the sport as part of the child’s identity and where you go when they don’t end up at elite level.

Unfortunately for 6 year olds with talent, gymnastics at a competitive level requires a lot of work at a very young age. Getting to the top levels will only involve more commitment of time and quite a beating for a young body.

Is it going to be worth it for your DD?

I mean the competition part but also the time spent and the sacrifices that lie ahead. You are looking at more and more of her time and yours devoted to gymnastics as the years go on if she stays in the sport.

Sit down and look at a few questions with clear eyed honesty -
Is DD the one pushing to be involved in competitions?
What is DD sacrificing in order to get to competition level?
Is DD at age 6 in a position to be pushing this if that's what's happening here?

A cost benefit analysis is in order.

You also need to look at the motives of the coach and the culture of the gym. Talented young gymnasts make coaches look really good and boost their standing at national level. Some are unscrupulous and are willing to wear out an entire stable of talented, starry-eyed little girls in order to produce one champion.

I have read the posts from other mums of happy gymnasts, but I am quite negative towards the amount of hours expected of very young children. Realistically, only a few children from any club will be successful nationally, so it is just a hobby with many health benefits. Investigations in both USA and UK are taking place for their training methods, with (mainly) girls being pushed & pushed. Once children give up the sport what do they do, have to find another interest after giving so much time to gymnastics. Young children should not be out at sessions until 8.30 pm, that's too late. If your daughter really loved it & is always keen to go then find a compromise, but don't be bullied by coaches who are looking for talent.

You say you will be led by your daughter.

Under no circumstances should you be led by your daughter.

You do not let a 6 year old make important decisions, or even decisions on what to eat for breakfast.

Your child is in a gym, with a coach and her little troop of teammates, and she is experiencing the pressure that comes from the group and the milieu to stay in the group, to not disappoint the coach with whom she has formed a bond, or disappoint her parents who seem so happy that she has found her sport. At 6 , your daughter is well on the way to forming an idea of who she is, an identity. 'Gymnast' is part of that. She will not be in a position to lead. She needs adults to look out for her best interests.

Do not wait until your child feels gymnastics is intolerable and months or years later asks to stop. When a child is involved in a gym setting from a very young age (or dance for that matter) telling the invested parties that she's not going to do it any more can be incredibly hard.

You need to be the one making decisions here. If bedtime and a social life and school obligations are important to you - and they should be, because your child is 6 - you need to pull on your big girl knickers and make the decision which is in accord with your child's wellbeing.

not swimming - two of my DC swim competitively and for the younger kids their coach has a number of sessions shouldn’t be more than half your age rule.

That’s interesting. That rule definitely isn’t followed in the club where DD’s friend trains. I’d be surprised if there were kids as young as 6 there but the 8 year old is definitely doing more than 4 hours.

Do not wait until your child feels gymnastics is intolerable and months or years later asks to stop.

I do understand what you’re saying in your post, but I think it is a strange assumption to make that this child will find gymnastics intolerable at some point. Or that you shouldn’t do something because you might later want to stop.

MN is very anti gymnastics. But the friends I have in real life who did it as kids/teens have very positive memories, have encouraged their own kids to do it, and didn’t seem to have any problems calling it a day when they wanted to focus on school/social lives instead.

Mine were in the swim club for a bit. At 6 there was no way there would be lots of hours! Possibly 2 x week by 8, by 10 it ramped up and then obviously becoems the early morning/after school hours its known for - but at a much later stage and when a child is more capable of knowing what joining a squad entails. They haven't killed their chances if they dont do 8 hours a week at 6/7.

There are lots if ex gymnasts. Mine only did it for a few years (before doing competitive swimming 🤦🏼‍♀️ ) . However child 2 did gym at a different gym and there's lots of stories about gym 1. The nature of these places with tons of hours is a bit like a funnel - they get lots of kids doing x hours, then push the good ones to y hours , then add a few more hours to z . So there os literally be design lots that fall away at each stage or decide not to keep going. Yes there are a few for whom it is amazing but for each one there's stories like on this thread (of people who have been there note!)

I was going to say the same thing about that swim hours rule not being true in our club either. My DD (just turned 9) in theory should be doing 8.25 hours of swimming over 5 sessions in the squad she's in, plus almost 2 hours of pre-pool land training over those 5 sessions. She doesn't actually do that many though because gymnastics clashes with 3 of the sessions!

I was also going to comment on the assumption that the OP's child will find gymnastics intolerable at some point. My DD does acro gym so she is in a partnership - her two bases are 16 and 18 and definitely don't find it intolerable.

Also all the stories of abuse - our club is completely open. I sit and watch for hours as do many parents.

Not 1/2 the age in hours, but in sessions! So a 14 year old is going around 7 sessions/week (ish) but each session will be over an hour, obviously.

The interesting thing about swimming (and prob most sports where growth and timing of puberty plays a major role) is that only a small percent are good all the way through. My DH was bored at a swim meet once and noted the names of the State record holders - it wasn’t until the teen ages that household (in Australia) swimming names featured.

There’s also balancing of the needs of training with growth - in a sport where size matters there’s no point swimming 12 hours a week at 10 and this doing “doubles” with morning sessions and evening and thus not sleeping/eating enough to maximise growth.
Different to gymnastics where it’s better if they are tiny

DD did gym for three years.

was in the development squad and we pulled her out in the end after she was held in splits position for 45 minutes.

I wrote and complained to British Gymnastics about the coaching methods at the club but nothing happened.

Not 1/2 the age in hours, but in sessions! I’m so sorry, that is what you said! But then it does sound like primary swimming and gymnastics have similar requirements hours wise.

Totally agree- sometimes a kid just needs to be a kid. The most important thing for young children to do well at school imo is sleep- a 9.30 bedtime is a hell no for me