Hi from Maryville, TN

[GymAunt]

Just dropping in to say HI. I have two nieces in gymnastics, one competative and one just for fun right now. The youngest is 7 and having fun.. but not very serious. The 10-year-old is the serious one! You can see the intense concentration on her face as she practices and competes and she has already said her goal in life is to make it to the olympics. She's getting a late start, but making up ground quite fast. She started competing last year in Level 3 and is competing this year in PREP Optional. She'll have her second meet in PREP Op 1 in a couple weeks, then the first weekend of March she'll compete as PREP Op 2 in a meet in Charleston, SC!! The jump in level was quite a surprise for everybody, but she's super-excited to be learning new elements and showing off her skills!

<proudauntmode> On a side note, her first meet at Level 3 she placed first in the A.A. and 3 of 4 events, with a 2nd in the remaining event. Her lowest A.A. place at Level 3 was 4th. Her first PREP Op meet was the last weekend of January and she placed 6th in the A.A. for the 10-11 year old group (total of 15 competitors in that age range). Her coach told her the girls from the other gyms had been level 4 competitors last season and were using the same routines they used in L4. ie. they had a lot more practice at that level and my niece had less than 1 month practicing her PO1 routines. </proudauntmode>

[JBS]

Welcome to the site GymAunt...sounds like you have a great family.

[gracefulone]

Welcome. Just curious, what skills does she do? By us, PREP OP is for girls over 13 who would probably never made it to optionals. Most of them competed five or six. They do watered down routines, and seem to get really high scores- but I don't understnad the requirements/judging.

[gym law mom]

Here, what is referred to a prep-opt is called Eagles. I think on the east coast they call it Mason-Dixon. Eagles has teams from Level 4 on to an optional level. They even have their own pre-team program. As I understand it, the Level 4s/5s do the USAG compulsory routines. The meets are much more laid back and the judging is not as strict on deductions. The girls don't have as much practice as the traditional club teams and the cost is less also. Some kids leave the club teams and go to Eagles because they don't want to put in all those hours, parents can't afford the club program, they are involved in another activity and don't have the time for the regular USAG program etc. Kids here start in Eagles around 8 or 9.

[cheez_4me]

Oh wow! I actually compete for Mason Dixon/Eagles myself! I live on the east coast so its called Mason Dixon for me.

I totally agree w/ your explanation, although only level 4's do the compulsory routines. After that are levels A, B, C and D. A-D are optionals.

[gracefulone]

Oh, ok. That's a lot dif. than our version of prep-op then.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I didn't know prep-op was so different between states.