I love this time of year! In our state, this is the beginning of the competition season for gymnastics. Each year the group of Level 4s I coach gets cuter and cuter and while it is so nerve wracking, I just love the first meet.

For those of you unfamiliar with competitive gymnastics, Level 4 is the entry level for competition in most gyms. Level 4 gymnasts are primarily 6-12 year olds and for most of them this is the first time they have competed or performed in front of an audience.

This afternoon my Level 4s will arrive at the gym (the first meet is a home meet, thank goodness) decked out in their new competition leotards and warm up suits. They all had their hair done in identical styles last night at practice and they will be looking so cute.

Our group is big this year - we have 19 girls on the Level 4 team, so they will be split into two groups - which is fine since we have two coaches. Only 5 of the 19 girls have ever competed before and all but 5 are ages 6, 7 or 8 so it should be fun. With the little ones it is always interesting to see who will remember their routine, who will not, who will fall on a random skill and who shines when the pressure is on. Basically coaching young level 4s in a meet is like going the craps table in Vegas - you just don’t know what the outcome will be on any turn.

You would think after all these years of coaching (23 to be exact) that I would not get nervous, but I do. It is more of an excited nervous, but I do sweat out every single beam routine, watch every floor routine with care, anticipate every vault and am there just in case on bars. You would never know it though! I am calm and cool on the outside - to keep my gymnasts focused and relaxed.

The best part about this first meet is the amazing transformation that happens to these young athletes after they have competed in their first meet. The little girls go from being girls who take gymnastics lessons to being GYMNASTS. Practices take on new meaning, the camaraderie among their team mates strengthens, and their self confidence soars.

Tonight I am a coach, then Sunday afternoon I get to swap hats and be a parent as my own daughter kicks off her 4th season competing. And that is a post for later this weekend…

Parents, do you stay and watch every one of your athlete’s practices? Depending on your child and their training situation, technically there is no right or wrong answer, but I’m going to give you my opinion anyhow.

Assuming your child is in a training situation which is healthy, safe and well supervised (which it should be), I don’t see any benefit to staying and watching every one of your child’s practices. Here’s why:

• As a parent, if you watch every practice you are less likely to see the gradual improvements that your child is achieving every day. Stay and watch once a month or so and you will be amazed with your daughter’s progress.
• Your child needs to learn to interact with other adults and her teammates without looking to you for approval/disapproval at every turn. For most children, the lure of looking out into the audience for parental approval after every turn is just too great.
• Certainly you have something more productive to do with your time - take a walk, go work out, do errands, or better yet, carpool so you only have driving duties one way giving you more time to do other tasks.

Some of the gyms I have coached at in the past (before I had kids of my own) actually had “no-watch” policies. I don’t agree with that philosophy either. As a parent paying tuition or players fees, it is your right to observe what your child is learning. Additionally, I would be very cautious allowing my child to participate in a program that regularly held closed practices unless there were multiple coaches that I knew well and trusted present at all times.

Years ago I had a student who’s Mother watched every practice. She would sit in the stands and count how many turns each child took and if her child got any fewer turns than anyone else, she would make a point of letting me know after practice. She was constantly comparing her daughter’s progress to the other girls and it put a lot of unnecessary pressure on her daughter.

On the other hand, there are a few situations where I highly recommend you stay and observe (or at least be close by).

• If your daughter is taking a private lesson with coach, there should always be at least one other ADULT present at all times.
• If your daughter is new to the class/team or just returning from an injury.
• If you or your daughter is not completely comfortable with the training situation.

I would really like to hear your opinion! Leave me a comment and let me know whether you think parents should stay and watch every practice or not, and why.

It doesn’t matter what sport your child chooses, at some point she will come to you and say that she wants to quit. It’s perfectly normal! Everyone has a bad day, everyone has a rough patch, and as a coach or a parent, it is your job to help your athlete get to the root of the problem, create a coping strategy, and get through the down time.

I was talking with a Mom today whose daughter had a rough practice recently and decided that she was done with her sport. The Mom was caught off guard and began questioning who wanted it more, her or her daughter. Now I know the little girl very well and know that not only does she have a lot of talent, she is also somewhat immature and doesn’t have the coping skills to deal with things when they get tough yet.

Since it is very likely that this is a phase and the athlete is just going through an adjustment of being in a new training group, I suggested that Mom make a deal with her daughter - stick with practice until the end of the month, after all, they have already paid for it. After each practice, the athlete needs to tell Mom one positive thing about the practice. At the end of the month, they will discuss whether it is time to try a new sport or to keep going.

I have a feeling that by the end of the month, all will be just fine. I have seen this situation play itself out hundreds of times over.

I also saw a good article today at the CBS site called 9 Tips to Keep Young Athletes in the Sport. The article recommends:

• Keep workouts interesting; use age-appropriate games and training to keep practice fun.
• Take time off from organized or structured sports participation one to two days per week to allow the body to rest or participate in other activities.
• Permit longer scheduled breaks from training and competition every two to three months while focusing on other activities and cross-training to prevent loss of skill or conditioning.
• Focus on wellness and teaching athletes to be in tune with their bodies for cues to slow down or alter their training methods.
• Encourage the athlete to play on only one team during a season.
• Don’t increase weekly training time, repetitions of exercises, or distance by more than 10% each week.
• Encourage the athlete to take at least two to three months away from a specific sport during the year.
• Athletes, players, and coaches should learn about appropriate nutrition and fluids, sport safety, and avoiding overtraining.
• If the athlete complains of nonspecific muscle or joint problems, fatigue, or poor academic performance, be alert for possible burnout, which may include physical symptoms like fatigue and lack of enthusiasm about practice or competition.

These are all very sound tips, too!