Does a y3 child need to practice gymnastics at home to continue going to gymnastics

[StillStandingOnAMushroom]

Long background story for short question.

So my daughter (nearly 8, just going into y3) has been doing gymnastics for about 2.5 years. I have no expectations of her being an amazing gymnast; I sent her to gymnastics to help her develop her physical abilities, as she was a bit slower developing in this area. She enjoys the gymnastics lessons, and loves showing people her shoulder stands and her bridge, but she hasn't got any further than that. No cartwheel, no backwards roll, can't jump two feet together onto a gym horse. She's the only one in her class who can't do this. I know from chatting to the other mums that their kids practice at least a little bit at home. She has said things to me like "why aren't I like the other girls?" (Ie what isn't she as good at gymnastics as them) to which my answer is "well I think they practice at home".

But she's just not interested in doing any practice at home. I don't know if she's just going to get further and further behind her peers and eventually drop out because she feels like she's rubbish compared to them.

I've tried to encourage her to practice, but she just digs her heels in and refuses, which is maddening simply because she's so chuffed when she can do something new.

Do kids have to practice at home to get better at gymnastics? It could be that she is just at a really high class gymnastics club (quite by chance) and maybe they're more focused on the more able kids...

I’m not sure I would call it practice really. But that would have been how my dd played a lot of the time- doing cartwheels, making up routines etc rather than choosing arts and crafts, lego or whatever other kids like. If she enjoys it and you’re happy to pay then it’s fine. But it’s the same as anything. Once a week will only get you so far. Kids that love music will practice at home. Kids that love art will draw at home 🤷‍♀️ But there’s nothing wrong with a hobby you do once or twice a week for fun.

Do they have badges to work towards or anything similar?

Yes, but my DD at least doesn't know what she gets them for, and they're a bit obscure. It's usually 8 out of 12 things, and I think they are quite lenient with how they judge them as I'm fairly sure my daughter can't do all of those things. But I'm pleased they give them to her, because it keeps up her motivation for going. Just not for doing anything outside of the lessons.

My neighbour’s dd is mad about gymnastics and practices at home. It’s common sense that practice will improve technique and not wanting to practice will create a future problem if the club is about achieving badges or competing.

Yes, that's obvious. My question was more "is it possible to improve if you don't practice at home?" rather than "will practice help you improve?".

Having played a musical instrument for quite a while as a kid, practice of some sort was pretty important, so I'm just a bit dubious about how much longer she will be going for, which is a shame because she does enjoy it when she's there.

But then if you have riding lessons, you pretty much only practice on the day of your lesson, so once a week (I know some people do more, I'm talking generally speaking). And kids still learn to ride...

DD did gym just 'for fun' and yes, she practiced at home. Not rigid, strict practice as such but she was constantly cartwheeling, jumping, tumbling etc as part of her play at that age when we were in a big enough space for her to do it. This obviously meant that she improved between lessons.

I would also encourage her to look at other sports. Maybe she needs to find something more fun or more suited to her talent. Gymnastics is great for early skills as you said but from age 8 there are so many other great options - swimming, football, netball, all the team sports basically. Why not try a variety of things and see what she enjoys? She'll probably find something that she is happy to continue practicing outside of lessons.

Regarding extra practice - it's very common for primary aged school girls to practice cart wheels and the like on the playground at school, so I wouldn't worry about making her practice at home if she doesn't feel like it. At DD's school most of the girls did little other than gymnastics on the playground during breaks between y4-y6!

Bit of an odd question. I'm not really sure how it relates to primary education if it's an out of school club but surely it's obvious that, like anything in life, the more you practise the better you'll get.

Does she have to practise at home if she doesn't want to? Of course not. Will she have to accept that she's not going to improve as quickly as those who practise more if she doesn't? Yes.

If she has no interest in practising at home I'd question how much her heart is in it. Would it really be the end of the world if she did drop out? Ask her if there are any clubs she'd like to try instead, her answer may surprise you. Let her find something she enjoys, where she does develop a deep enough passion to want to practise at home in order to further improve, without it seeming like a chore.

Yes, you're right. I'll let her go as long as she's still enjoying it, but just expect it to peter out over the next year and see what else she's interested in. Thanks!!

My DDs used to do a lot of gymnastics at home, they were often cartwheeling or doing handstands etc. They weren’t really into playing with toys and tumbled around instead.

My daughter is 6 and just started gymnastics 6 weeks ago. She has improved dramatically in that time but could already do a hand stand and a cartwheel when she started.

Although more practice at home would help, to me is sounds as though she's really not interested and would benefit from trying a different sport. If you can convince her to keep going and practice at home, I'd recommend getting a gym mat, I got mine cheap 2nd hand and it's used daily.

I’d say with most things if you practice outside what you to and are good at it, then you’ll get better.

I practised my ballet school barre moves at home sometimes, not always and we didn’t have a barre at home so I had to improvise but it helped. My horse riding, I had no horse or pony so couldn’t practice outside the riding school I went to or not really. If you helped muck out or paid, you could get extra practice but I never did. Didn’t help I was kicked in the thigh (not my fault apparently) by one flighty mate at age 11). I gave up both these at 12/13 actually.

Maths I always hated so never really tried but extra tutoring did help a bit.

Your DD, I was a bit like her, but could do back and front flips or turnovers but due to eyesight (had to wear glasses all the time) I couldn’t do some gymnastics moves. This was round the Olga Korbut time so the gymnastics class I was going to go to wanted us all to be little Olga K’s. I was doing ballet at a similar age. Same with swimming, me and DB loved swimming for the fun of it but they wanted us up into competitions! We are both not competitive. I did get competitive at ballet and horse riding.

With your DD just see how she goes.

No she won’t get much better without practising at home-if it’s anything like ours they rotate round different equipment so she won’t have long enough on one thing to make much difference.
Maybe invite some of her gymnastics friends for a play date and they might encourage her to do some handstands etc at home.
otherwise just carry on taking her if she’s still enjoying it but don’t expect much!

I think 8 is the age that the ones that are not super keen and able start dropping away. So the difference with her and the other girls might get more marked. What about trampolining instead?

DD is a competitive gymnast, and she mostly does strength, conditioning and stretching at home. They can develop bad habits when practising harder skills at home, so coaches rather it stay in the gym. Obviously this doesn't apply to basics like cartwheels and handstands.

8 years old is quite late to not be able to do a cartwheel or basic vault. At our club, the majority of the girls at that age are doing back flicks, front somersaults etc. It sounds like gymnastics is not the sport for her, although it is an amazing way to keep fit if she's enjoying it.

I would go for trampolining too, it seems much more inclusive where we are and each child is working at their own pace.

You mentioned that one of the reasons for gymnastics was to help improve her physical abilities and co-ordination.

If this is something that doesn't come naturally to her, then she may enjoy something more structured. Golf, fencing, archery and some martial arts have stances and movements that are quite structured. This means they can be good for people who need more guidance on exactly how to stand and move; they rely less on instinct and feeling.

If she's not interested, why have you kept her at it for two and a half years?

The gym isn't a fun place for kids who are not into gymnastics, and she's clearly not progressing - I would get her into something else. The kids I know who do gymnastics were put in classes because they spent all their waking days at home cartwheeling in the living room and doing aerial discounts off their beds.

What would she like to do instead?
Jazz dance?
Karate?
Swimming?
Pottery?
Puppetry?

*dismounts

Rather than urging her to practice gymnastics, I'd encourage her to be physically active, e.g.:

Dancing
Trampolining
Jumping jacks
Skipping rope
Stretching (look at Livingleggings on YouTube)

That's really interesting what you say about the glasses. My DD has to wear glasses all the time, and used to have double vision. She was always scared of climbing trees because she didn't know which branches were real and which were the double vision.

My DD is 8 and goes to gymnastics once a week. She does lots of cartwheels and handstands in the garden and at playtimes at school so she has got quite good at those but other than that she hasn’t really learned anything new at the class. She still enjoys going and is a similar ability to others in her group but I don’t think she will get much better. I’m a qualified gymnastics coach but she absolutely won’t let me help her practice at home!!! While she is enjoying it I don’t mind paying for it as I think it’s a great activity and good preparation for other sports.

My nieces are aged 7 and 8 and both do gymnastics. The younger one is always tumbling and cartwheeling and handstanding at home whilst the older one doesn't. The younger one is progressing much faster in class however they are clearly different body types too so whilst practice often does make better (not perfect!) theres no doubt there are plenty of other factors at play too.

I think if she enjoys it then keep her going. Once a week is better than 0 times a week so she’ll still improve but obviously it’ll be slower than those who practise a lot at home. You’ve explained to her that she’s not going to be as good as the others if she doesn’t practise so it’s up to her really. But id imagine it will peter out before long.

my daughter is similar. She went to Acro for a bit and mastered a forward roll after about a year. Enjoyed the session but didn’t once practise at home. In school, all the girls are cartwheeling on the field and mine just sits there and has a rest 😂 however, we’ve discovered she much prefers (and is much better at) team sports and she now plays on a netball team. Although I wouldn’t say she practises that much at home either. I think they practise without being asked, the thing they love the most. Mine loves to sing. She will sing at home all day. So I’ve also started her in singing lessons because she’ll happily practise those.

There’s very little chance of a child improving at gymnastics without practice. New skills and tricks take a hell of a lot of practice in fact! But if she’s enjoying the classes does it matter if she isn’t improving?