Gymnastics - what is expected at 4 years old?

[Humptydumpty85]

My daughter turned 4 last week and has recently taken up gymnastics - she's been going to a rec class for about 5 weeks now and absolutely loves it, talks about it all the time and is constantly practicing at home. The club sent out a message to say they were holding trials for the development group for her age and were interested in children with natural ability, strength and flexibility. But how do you know what is just average for a 4 year old and what is something above and beyond and suggests 'natural ability'?

Apparently they will be looking at their splits, bridges and chin ups - my little one hasn't ever really tried these skills before. Is it expected that a 4 year old be able to perform these, or would they just be seeing how close they are to mastering them? Due to covid we haven't been able to watch the sessions so I've no idea how she compares to others of her age and I've no experience of gymnastics so I'm not really sure what they expectations are for this age group!

@BFrazzled yes true. I'd be happy for her to go if she was accepted. I think the suggestion to treat it as an extra session and not mention it was a trial is a good one.

@HGC2 that's amazing, sounds like she's doing really well! That might explain the trial situation then if the coaches are qualified to different levels.

Definitely send her.

Its not unusual I think to do a trial.

The things they ask her to do in the trial might be different to what she'd be asked to do in the general class as it wouldn't be fun for the other children in the general class to be asked to do things that are beyond standard age ability.

If she loves it and would enjoy doing more then there is no harm having a go. Don't tell her its a trial though or make a big deal about it but I imagine you wouldn't anyway.

We went to the trial last night (dd had no idea that it was a trial I just told her there was an extra gym session) she had a lovely time but we had an email today to say she's not been chosen. It's a shame but at least she's unaware of it!!

She'd love to do more sessions, not necessarily as a squad or anything, but just because she really loves them but it seems to only be an option for squad/development children at her gym. I think for now we'll just carry on enjoying the rec classes and maybe add trampolining or something similar in addition if she still wants to do more hours in future :)

Does your gym do a display team? She might enjoy that and it doesn’t require too high a skill level.
Also- enthusiasm and hard work is fundamental to gymnastics. So she’s already a natural there! 👏🏻

I wouldn’t dwell on it too much OP, in my experience natural ability is usually identified by the coaches within the classes after a child has been going for a fair while, pretty much everyone is average when they first start. Give it a year and you never know.

It's good to hear she enjoyed it and you know you gave her a chance to try it.

Thanks @Rollerbird she did enjoy it which is the main thing!!
@Naughtyperson972 you're right, who knows where she'll be in a years time. She's only done a few weeks so far so I'm sure she'll grow in confidence and ability 😊

@Isadora2007 I don't think they have a display team, I'll look into it though. We did see that after the trial the gym was used by a cheer group, dd saw a few minutes as they started and thought it was fab! I know nothing about cheer and it sounds a bit cringy!! But the small bit I saw when collect g her did look a lot of fun! So maybe something else that might suit her.

How about adding in some dance if she wants to do more? My dd is 5 and does Acro at her dance school (as well as other disciplines) which is a bit like gymnastics.

@ChocolateRiver that sounds like a good idea thanks, will see if there's anywhere near us that does that.