Avery's gymnastics has been a pretty good roller coaster ride. I had a meeting back in February just to see where the coaches thought she stood bc I hadn't heard anything since she started in November. There were two girls in Avery's group that moved up to practice with the next level, but they didn't ask Avery. Since Avery had all her skills for Level 2 and the other girls didn't, it didn't make sense to me. The coaches just said that Avery wasn't ready mostly b/c she hadn't competed before but that she was doing well. I felt Ok after the meeting, but definitely not all warm and fuzzy. Then, about three weeks ago, the coach invited Avery to practice with the Level 3's on Friday nights (4 hour, VERY intense practices). My first question was "you think she's ready??" It caught me off guard b/c she just said a month ago that Avery wasn't ready. Well apparently they thought she was now.
But, they were WRONG. Avery practiced her first 4 hour, Friday night practice and cried most of the practice. She was exhausted and it was hard. But she told me that wasn't why she cried. She was upset bc she hadn't done any of the skills before and didn't know how to do them. When she tried a few times and still couldn't do it she got upset. She was very intimidated bc there were so many girls in the room - ranging from current levels 2-5 so the girls were more advanced than her. Not all of them could do the skills though, but Avery didn't know that. It was very hard for her bc she is a perfectionist and very competitive. She wants to be the best and when she's not its hard for her. So in the other group she IS the best but in this group she was definitely One of the worst (but only bc she had never done the skills. I think ability wise she's just as good or better than some of the girls). Her coach talked to her after practice and said how she needed to get her emotions under control bc she's NOT going to get all the skills the first time. She was giving her one more chance at the next Friday practice so I pumped her up over the next week so she would stay strong. She was so brave and didn't cry at all. In fact, she didn't even lose wind during conditioning but it was nothing like the week before. She was so proud of herself and I was proud too. Unfortunately I think the coaches had already made up their mind and said after practice that she just wasn't ready. She's "immature" mentally. Her body physically is really far ahead while her mind is on the opposite direction. Her coach said once her mind catches up with her body she is going to Soar - and be one of the best athletes they have. They don't want to break her spirit now though so they want to hold her back in Level 2 training for right now. Once she gets back from gymnastics camp in June, they want to try her with the upper level again to see how she handles it. They said she has 80% of the skills needed for level 3, and since then she has mastered her roundoff back handspring so she's probably 90% away from all the skills now.
The reason I feel good about her staying with the lower level is b/c I think it will be good for Avery's confidence. She should win lots of medals and place in the top 3 every time b/c she is far ahead of all the other girls in that level. She's never competed before so it will be good for her to see that all her hard work has paid off and she is the best in her group (coaches said the same thing). They also want to use her as a leader of that group b/c she is the oldest and most advanced in the group. I'm afraid if she moves to level 3 and doesn't place b/c she's a step behind the other girls, it will ruin her confidence and she won't want to do it again. The hard part for me though, with her staying at the lower level, is that she isn't learning new skills and she is just kinda stuck doing the same things she has done the last year. I'm afraid she will get bored since she isn't reaching her full potential. But we have to leave it up to her coaches to make that decision. They will do what is best for her and for the Team. They will put the girls where they know the Team will win all the events. Right now Avery is loving it so I'm not pushing anything on her. There is plenty of time down the road for that when she gets into the higher levels. Right now I just want her to have fun!
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