Average age of L4s on your team?

[3stars]

I was wondering if you could settle a curiosity for me - what is the average age of a L4 on your team? We have found in going to competitions in our area that our team is extremely young in comparison to the other teams we are competing against. Our L4s for the most part are in the 7-8 age range and we have a handful of 9 year olds. The teams we have been competing against have had a 9 year old or 2 and are very heavy in girls 10+ (a few had girls up to 13). This made me wonder if we just have a really young team or what was normal? Thanks for any input you can give. This is purely because I am curious.

 

[UnoMas]

Our team has mostly 7's and 8's with a couple 6 yr olds and a couple 9 yr olds.
Our old gym had the whole range of 6 yr olds up to 13 yr olds.

 

[Quadqueen]

At my DD's gym, there are a few 7 year olds, and a few 9-10 year olds, but I would say most are around 8.

 

[lhmom]

Last year, DD's team had girls ranging from age 6-10 and this year is about the same (one 6 yr. old and one almost 10 yr. old). However the biggest # of girls on her team were (and still are) between 7&8. That's the preference of DD's HC. She rarely puts older girls on the team unless they came from another gym and none have been older than 10 (for level 4).

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Typically, Pickle's gym has two teams of L4s. The younger team is 6-7 and comes through the pre-team/developmental program. The older team is 8-10 and comes through league or recreation classes.

But when Pickle was an L4, there weren't enough girls for two teams, so there was just one large team. The breakdown was:
Kindergarten: 1
1st grade: 2
2nd grade: 3
4th grade: 2
5th grade: 1

She was usually in the Child B age group that year which was the largest at every meet.

 

[Aussie_coach]

In Australia Level 4's tend to be a bit older than in the USA, our level 4 is quite similar to yours but because we have highly competitive levels for 1-3 the kids take longer to get there. The average age for level 4 here is 10-11. Not uncommon to have teenagers.

There are a few in the 7-8 range, but its not the norm.

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

DD is 8yrs and level 4, and like Aussie_coach said she is young for level 4 in Aus, most of her team are 11 years and older, including several teenagers.

 

[gymboymom]

I have a boy in L4, but my answer is about the same as above. I think (still learning) this is a young team for our gym, but looks about normal when I look at other gyms team pictures.
6 year olds - 3
7 year olds - 2
8 year olds - 3
10 year old - 1

 

[agymmom]

Our gym has one 7 year old, one 8 year old, three 9 year olds and 4 10-11 year olds.

 

[Bajanswife]

Our level 4s tend to be mostly 8 - 9, with a few who are 10 - 12. We don't start that young - they aren't even allowed on team until they are 6. We just don't have enough team coaches to deal with very young kids (generally speaking). So you will see the 6 - 7 year olds mainly in Levels 2 and 3. Occasionally a 7 year old will have started young enough and be good enough to compete one level 4 meet at age 7, but for the most part the girls are over 8.

 

[emorymom]

Our L4 team clusters around age 10. This year we have seven 10 year olds, six girls ages 7-9, and seven girls ages 11-12. The 7 year old transferred in from another gym where I believe she was on the L5 team last year (my son used to be at that gym so I knew who she was) but I don't claim to know that story. Our gym is very strict about how a gymnast needs to be performing to be at / move through the compulsory levels.

 

[Clover]

Our average age is probably 8 or 9, but our range is 6 - 12 or 13.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Big DD's level 4 team had one 6 yr old, and rest were 8-10 (4 total)
Little DD's level 4 team had one 6 yr old and the rest of 9-13 (14 total)

 

[momofthreegirls]

The average age of the 20 L4s on my DD's team is 8.0. (We got a printout of exact stats.) We have two 6 y.o.s, nine 7y.o.s, four 8y.o.s, and five 9y.o.s.

 

[Blessed4x]

Our L4 team is mostly 8 and below. My DD just joined preteam (L3) in August and she is the oldest there. I believe the AAU team has some older girls at L4.

 

[nevertooold]

Average age right now is 8.8, with many having a birthday before states so actual competition age average is probably closer to 9.5. Out of 20 girls, about a 1/3 are 6-7, another 1/3 8-9, and another 1/3 10-12. Last years team was closer to 8 as the average, with a couple in the 11-12 range. I have seen girls in our state compete level 4 as old as 16 but with our Xcel program growing we personally would steer most girls over 12 toward that instead. I would take a 13 yr old in level 4 though depending on the child, but older than that they would end up in an age group by themselves at states, which is awkward

 

[2gymmies]

Our level 4 team currently has 1 6 year old, 1 7 year old, 4 8 year olds, 2 nine year olds, 1 10 year old and 2 11 year olds (all of the girls 9 and older are on their second or third year of Level 4) and some of the girls will have birthdays before state so they actually compete an older age group. Our Level 5 group has all 9 and 10 year olds but 1 12 year old out of 12 girls. And our Level 6's range from 10 to 12 also out of 11 girls.

I think our Level 4 group doesn't normally have 11 year olds but it just worked out that way this year!

 

[vagymmomma]

We also average between 8 - 9 years old for level 4. Age range is 6 - 11 years (22 total girls). This has been very consistent for the least 3 years when DD was a level 4.

 

[LizzieLac]

Last year we had about 14 level 4s, ages 7-11. I have found that I can't tell how old the girls are by looking at them, though!

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Most of our level 4's are currently 10 or 11:
2 7's
2 9's
3 10's
3 11's
2 12's

Last season, when my dd was a L4, they were a bit younger:
1 7
2 8's
3 9's
3 10's
1 12

funny-the 7, 8 and 9 year olds from level 4 last season were the ones moved up to level 5, some quit, and a bunch new came on for this season.
Our 5's are mostly 9 and 10- one is 13 and one is 8. I guess for the most part, our gym just has an "older" team, lol. I think these are pretty much the norm around here, because the 9 and 10 year old age groups for level 4 are usually the biggest ones, with 8 year olds the next largest. seems like 6 and 7 are always combined into one age group.

ETA: I know how old they are because I do administration at the gym. and, it's true...you absolutely can NOT tell by looking at them how old they are!!