County Competitions

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Iwannabemargo

Numpty Watcher
Proud Parent
Seems my Facebook feed is chocka-block with county comps at the moment. Has anyones DD just competed / going to compete ?

I know we have have just had Level 6 and Level 7 county comps over the past 2 weekends. Lots of shineys for lots of smalls, and it seems lots of other counties are holding theirs too.

Next comp for us is regional grades - our region sees fit to hold it at completely the opposite time of year from everyone else !
 
We had our county competition recently to finish off our competition season. Lots of medals and smiles all around from the gymnasts- even bigger smiles from coaches who don't have to hear floor music on repeat through training sessions for at least a few weeks!
Now to start work on the new grades for next year.
 
I don't understand county competitions. Some of them are in levels and some in novice and pre novice. Some have 30 kids in and some have like 1 or 2 only which is pointless. Some are in the summer and some are qualifiers for regionals in the autumn and some are after regionals. They seem so random. I suppose they are just another chance to compete.
 
I don't understand county competitions. Some of them are in levels and some in novice and pre novice. Some have 30 kids in and some have like 1 or 2 only which is pointless. Some are in the summer and some are qualifiers for regionals in the autumn and some are after regionals. They seem so random. I suppose they are just another chance to compete.
Really? That's confusing - I assumed they were like the comps over here - departmental leads to regionals, then zones, then, if you have qualified at each stage, to nationals. But the UK system seems very complex, like this business of 'in' age and 'out of age' - here you just compete by age, so you can't be 'out' of age. Do they give you a handbook to guide you through it all?!
 
My youngest completes for the first time in just under 2 weeks, it is in our county and it is a tumble and trampette friendly, from what I gather it is going to be a busy one with loads of competitors in each each group and little chance of a medal (only going to top 3), it will be a great experience though and a change to compete at another gym (hasn't competed in own gym yet) and a chance to go as a team wearing their new team leotard. The competition is open for advanced rec groups upwards, I only hope that they will be separate categories as well as age groups as it would be fair for the advanced rec girls to compete against girls who do 6 hours compared to their 2.

Dd's group has started getting ready for the new grades and it all looks straight forward from the print out in their book, showing each pathway from Grade 6 and 5.
 
and a chance to go as a team wearing their new team leotard.

Dd's group has started getting ready for the new grades and it all looks straight forward from the print out in their book, showing each pathway from Grade 6 and 5.
Photo of team leo?

Some of us don't have the helpful book with the straightforward path laid out within.
 
A flow chart would be handy. I am totally confused.
It is not humanly possible to give a flow chart for county competitions! Each county has their own rules and own way of doing things, no 2 counties will be the same or it is very unlikely that they will be the same! The UK system is very very confusing! I have been in gymnastics for 13 years and still get confused from time to time!
 
Our County Championships were a couple of weeks ago. Just to make it a nice neat hat-trick of 3 comps in a row, dd was withdrawn due to injury. Don't ya just love paying comp fees for them not to compete?

We went and cheered on anyway as it was being held at our club which was a Brucie bonus.
 
Our county comp was on Sunday. Lots of medals (I think 4 of our 23 entrants missed out.) we had a bronze at level 5, county champ, 2nd and 3rd at in age 4, bronze out of age 4, nothing at level 3, county champ at level 2 and bronze at FIG lots of individual apparatus medals too. Great day all round!

We have a county comp in the summer too as a qualifier to regionals, there isn't a set number of gymnasts who get through, it's just those who score a certain amount on each apparatus. No medals are awarded at this one and scores aren't handed out to parents only coaches. Judges are happy to discuss where deductions came in so routines can be adjusted in time for regionals.
 
Our county seems to be very random, comps all over the place, I've given up trying to figure it out anymore!
Hopefully the BG regional team will release a half decent calendar for 2015 :)
 
I'm quite confused by the whole county thing as well. Because it operates outside of the national structure, it seems a bit random who competes and to what rules. One of my friends dd's competes in an area where counties are used as qualifiers for regionals and I'm pretty sure they take place twice a year, with lots of entries and medals.

Our club generally seems to have the attitude that if it fits in ok with progressions for other competitions they enter. If it requires changes to routines or to practice skills which aren't on the same progression path they don't bother. So some of our girls enter and some don't.

I think it's great that some counties take it seriously and a shame that some don't. To reach county level in most sports would be quite an achievement!
 
Depends how big your county is too of course. Some regions even do their grades in a county qualifier first before regional grades. And some do a county apparatus or team championship. I like the team champs idea. With gymnastics being an individual sport it makes a nice change to work as a team.
 
Did yours compete @Flossyduck @xrachx ? Maybe you can illuminate on how it went for yours and what the deal is in your region.

County level does sound like a big deal to me.

I can only say from what we've experienced since moving here in September.

We had a county competition back in October. It was all run by age group (10 and under, 11-12, 13 and over). Top four overall and top four on each apparatus went through to the regional finals this past weekend. Not sure what if anything happens after regionals though (DD came 7th so didn't go through, and her team mates that went through had no idea either lol).
It's open to anyone, but you're only eligible for this competition if you haven't competed grades or voluntary levels yet.

Grades are in March, voluntary levels in September, and then there are county comps done by level and split by age (some open to all, some only to non grade/vol levels girls) which run throughout the year, some progress to a regional final but most don't.

Think that covers everything I've been told anyway! :)
 
I would love to enlighten you, but someone would have to enlighten me first! I genuinely don't know how county level comps are worked out for us. They are earlier though and don't appear to lead to anything later on.

I hear talk of a county squad from mums at other clubs elsewhere. I don't think our club gets involved in that at all, despite surely having some of the best gymnasts. I might be wrong. It's not anything that's ever been suggested to us or anyone else dd trains with. When I've asked other parents they shake their head and look confused too. I also hear talk of a regional squad, which meets up to train monthly. Again, I think only some of the older girls have ever done that and I'm not sure if they still do. I remember one parent telling me it was a waste of time, which seems a terrible shame! I don't even know what the purpose of those squads is, or if they compete at all as a team.

It doesn't seem to be very joined up to anything in our region. In a couple of neighboring regions it is a much bigger deal. But again it could just be because you only know what you know and I don't know :confused:
 
I know back in the day west mids had county and regional squads. It was by trial- two day testing IIRC, one day of strength and flexibility, one day of skills. Suppose a bit like TOPS come to think of it.

It was back before HPC centres and all the clubs ran out of school halls or leisure centres, no national co-ordination for youngsters or elite track. So they picked the top x amount of kids and they went to squad training once a month. Meant clubs, coaches and kids could work together and share ideas. County was county squad, so each county had its own, then regional was the top kids in the entire w. mids. It was a fairly big deal to get in a squad.

County championships were basically voluntaries, grades were compulsories. No elite track and no progression by age.

Maybe they still have that set up as a sort of legacy, or as a pathway for the non-elite track kids?
 
Dd has been given her start time for her comp in two weeks time, she starts after 11 and it is 52 miles away (not as close as I thought it would be).

I don't understand much about the county competitions but next years new grades pathway seems ok to understand, I don't know if all counties and regions are following the same grades or if there will be any differences.

Dd is having a team photo on Thursday and will get to wear her new team Leo for that and not for training (they have to get changed near the end of their session).
 
DD has currently only done 2 piece comps (floor/vault) so can only really comment on that. She did county in late Spring/early summer and regional in Autumn. So far as I can tell there was no connection between the two - it was an almost completely different set of girls (although regional was a tougher field). Both were split into pre-novice (a joke really as RO BHS BHS was permitted), Novice and Intermediate. Each group was then divided by age.

I kind of think that there needs to be a level below pre-novice (which bans RO BHS, FHS, FT and BT) as if you start gymnastics a bit older you tend to be competing pre-novice with kids who've been training for years and whose routines have a pretty high start value. Perhaps that beginner level could be limited by skill and also by how long a girl has been doing gymnastics (although I guess that'd be tough to police).
 

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