Parents Typical age level 2?

[flipnastic]

I'm just Curious...my dd went to her first meet yesterday (level 2). My assumption was that there would be mostly 5-6 year olds competing, but the majority of the girls..especially the dominating teams who scored mostly mid-upper 9's, seemed like they were quite a bit older..maybe ranged from 7-9 y/o? Anyways, I was really surprised...but, they looked amazing (not super surprising..an extra year makes such a huge difference in body coordination/awareness.) I was just surprised, and wondering if my observation in the age gap was accurate or typical? Do some gyms have a certain minimal age to compete level 2? Or could it be that these teams really are full of girls who are incredibly talented with crazy good coaches? (I don't think tha is the case...I would be shocked if there was any coach who could bring out near perfect routines in more than a couple of 5-6 year olds, but maybe I'm wrong?)

 

[gymbeam]

If our gym did level 2, then the kids at level 2 would be mostly 2nd graders so what would that be? About 7? A few would be 6 and a few would be 8 but majority would be 7.

 

[scgymmom322]

How fun that your daughter had her first meet! Mine starts competing in two weeks! She is so excited!

My daughter turned 5 in March and is doing level 2. On her team, there is another girl who is almost exactly the same age, one six year old and maybe six or so 7-9 year olds. I was told by my daughter's coach that her and her other little teammate would probably always be the youngest or close to youngest at their meets. My 7 year old is doing level 3 (she did not compete level 2) and on her level 3 team, there are two six year olds, 3 seven year olds, and about 10 girls who are 8 and up (not sure how old they are, but some look like they could be up to 11?).

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Our gym has what they call a "novice" team that competes Level 2, but only one meet just for fun. It's more or less a pre team for them. They range in age from 5-9ish. The older girls are usually just girls that started in gymnastics later and you have to start somewhere. However, they don't really score super high, as it's more of an introduction to competition for them. They usually do very well later on once they start practicing more hours and have more body awareness and build up more muscle from conditioning, etc. I think there are some gyms that take L2-L3 a little more seriously and in that case sometimes they have girls that could easily compete a level or two up from what they are actually competing but they keep them up training and then sometimes later skip a level like L5 to go to optionals.

 

[flipnastic]

How fun that your daughter had her first meet! Mine starts competing in two weeks! She is so excited!

My daughter turned 5 in March and is doing level 2. On her team, there is another girl who is almost exactly the same age, one six year old and maybe six or so 7-9 year olds. I was told by my daughter's coach that her and her other little teammate would probably always be the youngest or close to youngest at their meets. My 7 year old is doing level 3 (she did not compete level 2) and on her level 3 team, there are two six year olds, 3 seven year olds, and about 10 girls who are 8 and up (not sure how old they are, but some look like they could be up to 11?).

Oh, so so fun!!! She had her "game face" on the entire meet and it was just adorable...good luck to your little ones in a couple weeks!!!!

 

[Flyaway]

Our gym competes level 2 and takes it pretty seriously- there are some littles at that level (5 yo) but also some older (7-9 yo). Just depends on how early they start and how old they are when they get into pre-team. Some with skip some compulsory levels eventually, others will trudge though each level. It's completely individual.

 

[Lilou]

At our gym, the L2 are anywhere from 5-9, with one 9 year old. Another gym we considered told my then 5 year old that all of their L2 were 5-6 and if we waited a year, my daughter would be too old for their L2 pre-team. I think it all depends on the gym.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd was 6 when she competed level 2 and she was usually in either the youngest or second youngest age group at meets and the youngest on her team. Our gym seemed to be in the 6-7 age group for level 2 back then. But this season they are even younger and a lot more of them! I think there are something like 16 level 2s and they are all 5&6.

I think the older level 2s do score better, but you would expect that since they are older and more in control of their bodies. But they aren't directly competing against the younger ones anyway (unless you are at a very small meet maybe), so it all works out fine.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Most, if not all, of our level 2's are 5-6 years old. Our level 3's are usually 6-8, and then our level 4's are usually 7 and up (w/ most of the first years being 8 or 9). A new to team kid over 7 that can't at least do level 3 skills would probably start in XCel silver at our gym just because of age...if they get skills very quickly, they may be able to transfer into JO if they get what they need for level 4 by age 9-ish. Our gym likes to keep our L2/L3's pretty much exclusively really young girls and use XCel for the "late starters".

 

[Deleted member 18037]

6-8, avg 7.

Part of the difference is prep and focus. 7 and 8 yr olds have more then 5-6 yr olds.

It's not good or bad. It's age appropriate and normal.

It's also comfort at meets. My daughter did local meets at 6. We were happy she got through her routines, remembered to present to the judge before and after, sit nicely why her team mates to their turn. Age 7 skills better and meets were old hat. Then fast forward 2 years, she even gets performance and selling it better.

She behaved as expected at 6, and 7, 9. It's a process, a journey, not a destination.

 

[LindyHopper]

Mine was an 8/9 year old 3rd grader when she did level 2. And she was dead in the middle agewise.

 

[CTMOM]

My YDD competed level 2 last year. She turned 6 right before her first meet. She was the youngest by 2 years.

 

[HoldThePhone]

DD competed L2 @ 5 as well. She was always the youngest, by a year plus usually. We ran into another 5 year old once or twice, but mostly 7-8 year olds were the norm.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

We don't have a level 2, but our preteam group that is the equivalent is 6-7. The entire group was K and 1st grade when they started and will be 1st and 2nd grade when they move on.

 

[mommyof1]

L2 is a non-competitive preteam level at my daughter's gym. She turned 9 smack in the middle of her first L3 season and was right at the median age-wise, both on her team and at meets. The vast majority of the girls on her team were 8 or 9 years old and in third or fourth grade. The youngest turned 8 during the season and the oldest turned 12.

Sometimes I wonder whether the kids of ChalkBucket parents tend to skew young for their level in comparison with the general population of gymnasts.

 

[GymDad9.9]

I saw a couple of Level 3 girls at our meet this weekend who looked like they might have driven themselves to the meet.

 

[gymjunkie]

Our L2s are considered recreational gymnasts. If they continue with competition, they move to xcel after L2, so they are often older. They don't come through our developmental program, so we usually don't "discover" them until they are ages 7-9.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Level 2 is serious business in our state. The team at dd's gym ranges in age from 6-13. It's based on skill, so age is not a factor in where they're placed on team, unless it's a level with a minimum age requirement. Level 1 ranges in age from 5-11. I've seen level 2s at meets that were certainly teens. In my experience here, levels 1-3 are all ages, 5- whatever.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our DD was 5/6 for level 2 and actual didn't age in for a few early meets (apparently some small meets at area gyms have a liability policy for meets that sets an age minimum for competition?!) but she was always in the youngest 1 or 2 gymnasts. Average age in our group was 7 but there were several 8 year olds. No 9 year olds bc our gym has an unspoken rule that you have to make level 4 by the time you turn 10 (preferably by 9) or they move you to xcel/prep op.

 

[NY Dad]

My DD just started level 2 at YWCA. (I'm not sure if the ages tend to be different at the YWCA than other gyms.) She thinks there's one 6 year old, three 7 year olds, 3 eight year olds and 2 nine year olds.

They don't compete at her gym until level 3.