WAG JO Compulsory Vs. Excel?

[coachvalerie8]

I am the head coach for a teeny gym in the middle of nowhere. I came in here about 6 months ago. I've coached at a much larger gym before and I love it here! As of now we have like 150 rec/preschool kiddos and 5 on team. We do USAG JO Compulsory only. We compete level 4 and up. The owner has discussed with me switching to excel. We have a small staff and I'm the only coach who is able to teach higher levels (3 and up). So we cannot handle doing both. I'm wondering what are the thoughts of you other coaches as well as parents and gymnasts on pros and cons of Jo and of excel. I know the girls get bored with compulsory but in the next few seasons we will have girls ready for optional a (a first for our gym). I feel like our program is starting to get stronger so I'd hate to bail on that, but maybe excel would be even better for everybody. Thoughts??

 

[beamer]

Hmmm.

It's hard to know where to start; there are so many pros and cons to both programs. My own DD is a 12-year-old JO L6, but I think she would be doing better as an xcel gold competitor.

So I'll just try and sum up the major points.

1. Time commitment: In general, JO levels require more time in the gym in order that kids can perfect routines to the standards required to score well at meets.

2. Inclusivity: More kids can compete xcel because less time is required in the gym. Also, friendlier judging and routines choreographed to kids' strengths keep kids interested in the sport longer.

3. JO levels 9/10 and college: If kids are interested in pursuing gymnastics at the college D1-D3 levels, JO levels 9/10 appear to be the only way to get there. Xcel platinum, I believe, maxes out at about a comparable JO level of 8. While some xcel kids may pursue college club gymnastics, competing at the divisional levels is unlikely.

My (disclaimer: parent, not coach!) thought is that since you are at a "teeny gym in the middle of nowhere" switch your program to xcel in order to err on the side of inclusivity. Since only a small percentage of JO level 9s and 10s go even go on to college gymnastics, you'd be providing the most benefit to the greatest number of your kids!

Just as a point of interest, if you only currently have five JO competitors, could you not keep these five moving along in JO while...

Ah, never mind. The Crazy Gym Parent scenarios are too epic, now that I think about that.

 

[Gymnast@<3]

if you want it to be more competitive i would sugest JO if you want to coach more for kids to have fun but learn how to compete exel would be better! good luck!

 

[wgagym]

Xcel can be plenty competeitve . The difference is that Xcel will be much more inclusive than JO mostly because of the flexibility to gear routines towards your gymnasts strengths, and if you are a small gym in a smaller community without a lot of kids that would probably be the best way to serve your community.

 

[iwannacoach]

The total gym program is probably too small to afford the training hours for JO. Figure a child at L3 would need 7.5 hours a week of training to be comfortable at meets, a L4 needs 10, and an L5 needs 12. That's about the minimum if you can use the time well and have enough equipment that you're not stacking kids on each piece, and that becomes a greater likely hood with each child added to the team.

The training hours and equipment are all going to cost $$. Team programs are usually a break even (at best) proposition and the 150 enrollment may be enough to support that, but with little room to grow beyond one group with one coach. If all that seems to stick to your situation, Ecel would be a good choice because you can work on skills that make sense to you and the kids, there's no rule to prevent the kids from being well trained, and you can switch over to JO whenever it makes sense to do so.