Parents biggest age group for level 3?

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gymhorsemom

Proud Parent
My daughter (8 in the Fall) will be repeating pre team with the goal of competing level 3 in Fall 2016. So she will likely be competing level 3 right around her 9th birthday. Is this old? It seems pretty normal at our gym (which is not a very competitive gym) as well as at our former gym which was more competitive. But we happen to know several girls who did/will compete level 3 at age 7ish so I'm wondering what is more common.
 
This is something that varies greatly from gym to gym and meet to meet. Meets in my area will generally split girls in a session into 3 equal age groups, and would say that, on average, younger is 8 1/2 and under, middle is 8 1/1 to 9 1/2 or 10 and older is 10 and up. I would say 9 years old is right about "average" for level 3.
 
My DD competed level 3 as a 6 year old at our old gym. Then we changed gyms over the summer due to a cross country move. At new gym 6 or 7 year old level 3's seem to be extremely rare, with most 3's being about 10. DD only trained this past season at new gym (she didn't compete), so she will be competing level 3 as an 8 (almost 9 year old) this coming fall. That seems to be on the young side for this particular gym which is very competitive.
 
On the whole, I would say our L3 team is actually older than our L4 team. We tend to put the kids who show a lot of promise earlier into TOPs to "fast track" and go straight to L4, whereas our L3 team is mostly drafted from upper level rec classes or preteam. So we have several 7yo L4's while most of our L3's are in the 8-10yo range, some as "old" as 12. Our oldest L4 is 10.
I'm sure you will find this varies a LOT from gym to gym, I know a lot of gyms would think most of the kids we accept to team are "too old" for their JO track..! ;)
 
We have ages 6-13 in L3, but 7-8 year olds tend to make up the majority. Age trends vary greatly from state to state. DD competed L3 (old L4) at 6. Some meets she was up against 9-10 year olds, others ("state") ages were within 6 months (either side) of her birthday. However, I've got a friend that has a rockin' 8 year old that's competing L2 bc that's common in her area. Sometimes, the gym that hosts the state meet will publish the age ranges on the meet schedule. You could check a few of the neighboring states to see what's most common in your region.
 
DD was a 9yo level 3 last year. 8 and 9 year old groups were the biggest and the toughest in our state. 5-7 yo and 10+ yo usually placed much higher with lower scores that 8 and 9 year olds. A 10 yo girl on our team placed 1st at states with 36.4, while a 9 yo placed 5th with 36.8.
 
On the whole, I would say our L3 team is actually older than our L4 team. We tend to put the kids who show a lot of promise earlier into TOPs to "fast track" and go straight to L4, whereas our L3 team is mostly drafted from upper level rec classes or preteam. So we have several 7yo L4's while most of our L3's are in the 8-10yo range, some as "old" as 12. Our oldest L4 is 10.
I'm sure you will find this varies a LOT from gym to gym, I know a lot of gyms would think most of the kids we accept to team are "too old" for their JO track..! ;)
Okay part of this makes sense, but part doesn't. I get fast tracking the promising ones to level 4. but, if you have older level 3s, wouldn't you also have a group of older level 4s? I assume they get to move up once they complete level 3.
 
I don't know for artistic, but I gotta say, this makes me have the feels for T&T. Especially considering how old my kids were when they found gymnastics. The largest group for L3 at all my DDs T&T meets has been 11/12. Also the largest group for L4. It's great that she gets nice bid groups to compete against, and doesn't feel like an outlier like my other DD.
 
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dd is the youngest level 3 on her team - she just turned 8. The majority are 9-10 with a few 11-12 year olds thrown in.
 
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All of our L3s are 7. We take in older transplants in the higher levels, but the kids that start out and grow up with the team are all young. Our hc is really committed to having the kids start at the same age and he picks the kids for the preteam program to make it that way. I don't really get it, I guess he likes to have the kids at the same emotional/ developmental level. I know they would never take a kid on as a level 3 who was older than a young 8. Our team more or less occupies the child A age group at many meets, at least in compulsories. I think each gym does things differently, and there are lots of kids age 10+ competing level 3 around here.
 
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Actually, the "older" ones seem to drop off more than the younger ones. Out of the whole group of L3's from last year, only one actually went to L4 (the others quit along the way). The rest of the 4team is made up from the girls we moved straight into that level, skipping L3. Our L5 team varies from 8-12yos. Next year, IF the current L3's stay on and become L4's they will be a little older in general than our current L4 team BUT we will also have a few very young, very talented kids going straight into L4. (Hope that made sense). Our training hours and expenses go up a LOT between 3 and 4 so it's a drop out point for many families... When my Dd was in 4, the team ranged from 7-13yo so it can definitely vary a lot.
 
As PPs have said- it varies. My DD just finished her level 3 season. She was 8 most of the season, turned 9 right before states. At states there were 12 age groups- 5 younger than her and 6 older. So I would say that 9 or 10 is the median.

But at some smaller meets there more older kids in general. Just depends on what meets you and the other teams end up at. You'll never know who you are competing against from meet to meet so I finally just stopped trying to figure it out.
Around here the younger age groups tend to be more competitive.
 
My dd's group is training for level 3 right now. If she makes it she'll be 7 1/2 when the competition season starts and would be the youngest. There are kids ranging from 7-10 on her team right now. I think 8-9 is probably the average around here, except for a couple of the best gyms which lean younger.

All of our L3s are 7. We take in older transplants in the higher levels, but the kids that start out and grow up with the team are all young. Our hc is really committed to having the kids start at the same age and he picks the kids for the preteam program to make it that way. I don't really get it, I guess he likes to have the kids at the same emotional/ developmental level. I know they would never take a kid on as a level 3 who was older than a young 8. Our team more or less occupies the child A age group at many meets, at least in compulsories.

I think one of our competitors is that way (probably the best gym in the state actually). Last season, as a level 2, all of their girls were in the two youngest age groups, mostly the youngest. My dd was always in the youngest age group too (usually as the only one from our gym in that group) and so she was always competing against these girls. They were all young and GOOD. The first time my dd finally got on the podium, it was her in 2nd surrounded by like 9 girls from this other team. She told me later that one of the girls looked at her puzzled and said something to her about who is she and how did she get up there. lol.
 
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I read somewhere that 7 is the average age for a child to begin gymnastics. That would explain why a young 9 would be "median" age for L3. It appears (at least in our state) that gymnastics participation peaks at 9-10-11 years old in general, so there are lots of kids that age across all levels. Participation begins to drop after that. I think the more competitive gyms do a good job of identifying kids for team and preparing them, and if they are a big gym, they have more young kids to pull from, creating large, young teams. I've noticed small gyms tend to have older teams in general.
 
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Dd is 7 and finishing up her second season as a level 3. For our gym, we always have a handful of littles--6 year olds, a Handful of 7 year olds and the rest are scattered. There is no age limit, last year there were a few 12-13 year olds, I think the oldest this year just turned 12. The older girls generally compete 3 then score out of 4/5 so they end up with girls closer to their age.
 
We just had a meet, and I was volunteering inside the gym, and made a comment to another mom, because there was a large group of age 14+ level 3 athletes competing. I just thought good for them, and what a love they must have for the port to be that age and level 3. They were having a blast competing together too. It was amazing to see!
 
9 and 10 year old seem to be the most common at L3 from what I have seen. DD was 7.5 when she moved up to L3 and turned 8 right before comps. She was always in the youngest age group
 

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