WAG What level does gymnast compete and what skills are they training?

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LizzieLac

Proud Parent
Hi,

I was wondering a little about different gyms' approach to competing vs. training. What level does your gymmie compete and what skills are they training in the gym? Do you like this approach or do you wish it was done differently? If so, how would you like to see it and why?

Thanks!
 
My Dd competes Level 9 and is training level 10. During meet season they run X number of routines and then if they hit them they move on to working the Level 10 skills.

I like this approach especially after L8 because the girls have a lot of time to get the skills they will need for the next level as opposed to trying to get them all in a short amount time.
 
our gym operates similarly to Ingwe's. They do x amount of current level routines and if they stick and there is more time, they can uptrain. There tends to be more of a focus on uptraining (next level of skills) beginning in January, when meet season is 1/2 over for them. Still, it would be nice if they started working on the big skills for the next level earlier. DD is L6 and they just recently started working on giants, and they still only do them rarely. It gets a bit frustrating for the girls because they hear from the coaches that they must have x skill (in this case, giants) to move up, but then they don't have the opportunity to work on them.
 
DD is level 7. She competes 7 and works routines 2 days a week. She up trains and conditions every day(except Sunday:)
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We train up and compete down, my level 5 have all of her 6 skills except for the flyaway. The only reason she doesn't have it, is because she is scared. Her team is working on them, and many have it. She is working on BWO on beam, some FHS, front tucks, fine tuning level 6 bars form, etc... She is competing level 5 this year. Our gym likes the girls to be copetent on all skills, needed for the next level, before moving up
 
My dd is competing and training level 7. During the off season they uptrain. During meet season (right now) she is working on routines mostly and then other level 7 skills that she doesn't have yet. I imagine if she gets all the available level 7 options then she might be able to start on level 8 stuff, but we aren't there yet.
 
Ours compete what they are competent in and uptrain throughout the season. Our L5s have all of their L5 skills and are working, to varying degrees of success, on their L6 skills.

So my daughter is working on her BWO on beam and MOSTLY landing it but not consistently enough for competition. She is being spotted on her flyaway but can't do it by herself. She is just now being allowed to throw an unspotted ROBHSBT but sometimes it comes in low and wouldn't be good enough to compete at our gym.

In addition to uptraining L6 skills, some gymnasts get to work higher skills. So Bella has worked some spotted/matted BHS on beam, giants in strap, half on/half off over the resi into the pit, ROBHSBLO. Again, nothing close to being competition ready.

We don't sandbag and we don't scratch events because a skill is missing. You must have your skills to compete that level but when you have them, THAT is the level you compete.
 
Competing 4 and training 5 (plus a little 6). I love our gym's approach. Like Bella's Mom above, you must have all of your skills to move up. Our HC will move girls as quickly as they have the skills. Our Level 4s were all evaluated for Level 5 between fall and spring.
 
I think some of it depends on how meet seasons run. I think some areas have two seasons per year and some one? We have one, from late fall to spring, and only rarely does someone change levels during a season. Over the summer, they uptrain a lot, for example, the L5's (who already had the L5 skills going in) spent the summer perfecting L5 skills and uptraining L6 and L7 (and even drills for more advanced skills like yurchenkos and giants which they are obviously not ready for but are doing early drills for). Once fall hits, they work on perfecting the current competing level (which sometimes changes over the summer if they get enough new skills). They still do uptraining for L6&L7 skills, but not as often. Like others said, if they do a certain number of routines, they can uptrain. This also increases a little in January and once states are over we don't see another routine until fall.
 
Our seasons are much shorter (around 3 months) than those that run Fall through Spring. Compulsories are in Fall and optionals in Spring. So, during season there isn't much uptraining and practice is mostly about nailing routines or skill repetitions. Once season ends, it usually turns to a combination of training for the next level and extra conditioning.
 
Our gym is small enough to allow for the uniqe differences in training. We have level 4's training robhsbt because they tumble together as a group twice a week and girls work on their own levels. We have 5s that are training fhsft. Our sole level 8 (we love her) training level 9 and 10 tumbling because that's where she is at. The same thing spreads to beam, vault and bars. My little pre-teamer is doing squat ons, transfers and kips because that's where she is at.
 
DD is level 7 and is mostly just doing level 7. There is a tiny bit of uptraining going on like yurchenko drills on vault and a different series on beam than what she will compete, but for the most part she's just trying to get her level 7 stuff solid.
 
My oldest is currently training L2 and not competing yet. When she moves to the next level (whether it's new L2 or old L3 at the time) she will be eligible for team. The gym has recreational classes through L4 and team kids are in at least one rec class one level above their team level. She has her pullover and is perfecting her back hip circle and her L2 vault. They have been working routines on all four events to prepare for the exhibition that they do in May as well.
 
DD is competing 7 and training 8. The nature of the uptraining is gymnast specific on certain events. For example, they practice next level series on beam. So some girls are doing a round-off currently, so they work on BHS on beam. DD is competing a BWO-BHS, so her uptraining is BHS-BHS. Same on bars - if they don't have giants, they work giants. Those with giants are training pirouettes. All of the 7s are training flipping vaults on the vault table.

I LOVE this approach. Our last gym didn't have that same vision. I think it's more important at level 6 and above though.
 
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We compete one season, so compulsories have states in the spring. My DD is competing level 5 and training level 6 and level 7 skills. She has all of her level 6 skills including FT, BT, clear hip, flyaway, BWO and full turn on beam. She is even working BHS on beam, layout on floor, FHSFT and giants, but still has some work to do on the level 7 stuff! :)

We have changed our approach to training recently and the girls LOVE it! The change required a lot of girls to repeat a level to allow them to spend more than 50% of their time in the gym uptraining skills. Previously, most still needed work perfecting the skills they were competing. Coaches wanted the girls to be able to uptrain and challenge themselves in the gym in a way that would enable success in the current year and get them ahead of the curve for the coming years.

So, very often levels 5-7 are mixed groups working on an event during practice. This has been really motivational for them and fun, and they love uptraining the new skills. I will say the transition to this approach was a little hard at first, since it required repeating for more than half of the team, but the uptraining that it allows is benfiting them tremendously.
 
Competing 9 and training some harder 9/10 skills, once she gets a skill that's allowed at 9, it can be added into routine. DD's second meet included 2 new skills that she was not doing before first meet. They work x number of routines plus x number of individual skills daily.
 
At Dd's gym, the upper levels tend to up train on an individual basis. I really like this because it doesn't hold back or push the girls too fast as a group. They uptrain all year, though the biggest gains are usually in late spring through late summer when they are not working routines. Usually in meet season, the group has a certain number of routines/skills that need to be done, then they can use the rest of the rotation to uptrain. They do progressions of skills based on where they are, what they are interested in learning and what fears they have. Dd is a solid level 7 and is training most level 8 skills and some level 9 (obviously in various levels of proficiency - tumble track vs floor, low/high beams, pit bar vs bar set).

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Our seasons are much shorter (around 3 months) than those that run Fall through Spring. Compulsories are in Fall and optionals in Spring. So, during season there isn't much uptraining and practice is mostly about nailing routines or skill repetitions. Once season ends, it usually turns to a combination of training for the next level and extra conditioning.

This is about how ours works as well - during the short season, there is very little uptraining. Occasionally, a girl may be able to move to uptraining once she has nailed a pre-determined number of routines, but it tends to be only a couple of girls, for maybe a few minutes, on just one skill on beam and bars.
 
We have an incredibly long season (November-Beginning of June for our level 4s!). Due to this our kids uptrain year round. My level 4s are working cartwheels & back walkovers on beam, most are starting to connect 1st and 2nd halves on bars (a few are still working kips), most have their 2 back handsprings on floor and are working on standing back tucks, front tucks, front handsprings, and getting over the vault table.

Our level 5-9 athletes workout on the same days and are currently in three mixed groups. A few optionals in each group, a few 6s in each group, and a few 5s in each group. I coach mainly beam for these girls and each level has their own assignment. On Mondays they have dance, Wednesday is acro, and Friday is Dismounts [Optionals are also in Saturday and work connections]. The level 5/6s are working on back handsprings (2 feet and step outs), connections (mostly bwo + bwo right now), dismounts (handstand punches, cartwheel punches, round-off punches, back handspring punches...where they can do it), and increasing flexibility and height on jumps. The optionals are on a slightly different plan since they have a shorter season..more focus on routines.
 

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