Your gyms requirement for level 4

[momof5]

I got to thinking after I read another post that every gym seems to have different ways of picking kids for the team and different philosophys for what skills they need to be able to do to be moved to team. My dd gym has a week long tryout camp that they use to pick the team and preteam. I know that last year the girls picked for team were unable to do shoot thrus, mill circles and front hip circles. Not one had their backhandspring and no one had their beam dismount. I guess they figure that they will be able to do them by the time they start competeing in Jan. This year one of the coaches said that the requirements were going to be a little tougher but she wouldn't say specifically. I was wondering how your gyms move kids to team and what skills they need to have?

[mariposamama]

I am not sure exactly what they look for at DDs gym. Of the new level 4s, a few came from pre-team or training team and 5 (including my DD) came from a 2x a week developmental class. None of them have their mill circle or front hip, but several are pretty close. They all had their BHS with a spot, some without, some had their ROBHS with spot. I know that all of our girls moved at once, which was good as they are all the youngest and it helps that they can stick together.

It is interesting how all gyms are different. I know DDs old gym had harder requirements. I don't think my DD would be on team had we stayed at her old gym, she might have never been "team material" at that gym.

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

I know 75% of our team girls come from developmental programs and pre-team. Maybe 25% will come from classes. Right now on our pre-team of the 14 girls 10 have their shoot through, 10 have their RBHS, 0 have their front hip circle, and 1 has their mill circle. Mind you this is a group of girls aged 4-12. They have not officially announced who is moving to team yet but I am sure the announcement will be soon. We don't make changes till June.

[Aussie_coach]

Well things are a little different in Australia because competitive gymnastics can start from level 1, so most gyms offer competition teams right from this stage. But we look for kids who seem to have a real love for the sport and are prepared to make the committment. It comes as much from the childs (and parents) desires as it does from their ability. Some kids just want to be recreational and have fun learning skills coming once or twice and week. And others would be in the gym every minute of the day if we let them.

[Shawn]

Our gym starts competing at L2 but advancement to all the levels is about the same. In May, the coach places the girls on whatever level she expects they will compete in the next season. She looks for average scores of 36 at the meets and the average of their two best AA scores (among other things, I'm sure) to help determine if they get to move up. In my DD's case (and a couple of others), she already had all of her L3 skills and her "best average" L2 score was over 37.5, which was high enough to let her skip L3 and go into training L4. Then they have until the end of July to get all their L4 skills without spots. If they don't, they can't compete that level in January and will get moved back a level. However, the coach is very careful to only move girls up in May whom she is confident will be able to get the skills. It is not her goal to have to move girls back.

I'm not entirely sure how the move from pre-team to Level 2 is determined. I do know that pre-team trains the L2 skills so they probably get to move up if they have them all and are ready to learn the routines, although I'm sure the coach has other things she looks for (maturity, willingness to listen and work, etc). Anyway, I hope some of this helps.

[flippymonkeysmom]

It is hard to say. When my dd started level 2 was the intermediate class, level 3 was pre-team and then they started competing at level 4. In order to move to level 4 they had to have all their skills consistently by themselves. In the gym she is at now they just started competing level 3 and the girls are selected by the coaches based on work ethic, strength, flexibility and skills. From there they move up levels based on scores and the coaches discretion.

[Megley]

Our gym moves girls to team from preteam. I am not sure how the coaches determine who moves up. I know that most of the girls don't have all the skills before they move up, but our competition season doesn't start until December so they have a long time to get the skills. We have yet to have any girls not get all skills by the first meet. We don't have L2 or L3 so the route is developmental, then preteam, then Level 4. My dd had her front hip, shoot through and mill circle (some of the time), and her vault, but not her beam dismount or ro/bhs (did have standing bhs) before she was moved up last May, but many girls did not have the front hip yet. Moving up after Level 4 is decided at the end of the summer when the coaches assess how the next Level skills are coming along.

Meg

[midwestgymmom]

Our gym moves them up around the end of summer and occasionally adds a girl or 2 during the season if they are ready. Coach doesnt even want any of the girls thinking bout levels til she decides at the end of summer. As for the level 4s most of them dont have all their skills but get them as the season progesses.

[nettyinpa]

All the level 4 girls on dd team came up from the developmental team. Most of them moved up every year from Mighty K's, to Invitation Only up to Developmental. Then, last spring, they all got an invitation to be on the team. Also, before they can compete level 4 they must be 6 years old. My dd just made the cut off, turning 6 in August. I'm still waiting to see how they do it for Level 5. With level 5 comes the contract to sign, the fund raising, the volunteering, etc. So, it should be interesting.

As far as the skills go, a lot of posters here know that my dd did not have her ROBHS until a few weeks ago. Weeks after states. If they wouldn't let her compete without the skills needed on every event, she only would've been able to compete beam and vault. Her front hip circle on the bars finally came toward the end of the season but the ROBHS never came. She does it now, and is working on doing the 2 BHS needed for the level 5 routine. So, she is progressing!

[Panda-girl's Mom]

My daughter moved up from preteam to Level 4 with 6 other girls. Preteam was invitational only based the owners opinion. None of the girls had level 4 skills prior to getting on the team. They only competed vault for the first couple of meets, eventually they got all of the skills and competed all around. As you know from my previous posts this was very stressful and I almost wished she had another year to prepare. I think the coaches philosphy was at least they are competing and if they want to do all the events seeing other girls do them will push them to make them try harder. I am not sure if this was good or bad but my daughter has really come along way in the past year.