WAG Main purpose for xcel?

[Deleted member 18037]

So if your DD makes it to JO optionals, will she stop competing Xcel at that point? Do you think she will be open to training more hours to be a successful optional or do you think that she will take the path with fewer hours and compete just Xcel?

Not trying to be nosy, we just don't have clubs here that compete both. It's seems very weird to me.

No it's fine. Clearly if she choses to keep going the time committment will be higher. And she will need to make a decsion. She will be older and hve a clearer idea on what she wants and is willing to give up. I imagine it will be easier because the kids who she runs around the neighborhood with will have their committments increase. So I imagine she will continue.

As far as Xcel and JO as she gets higher, I don't think that far ahead. So much can change (including the rules) or happen. Last year we did JO and IGC. this year XCel and not IGC. Right now it's level 4 skills and I keep an eye on one or 2 levels up, just to see what to expect and since they up train to get an idea of where she is at skill wise.

If out gym could only do one it would be either JO, or Xcel and score out and move to optionals.

Yeah, here, you do one or the other. You might move from one to the other, but not compete both. That would mean competing from September-June every year! :0

Our season isn't longer, it's Oct/Nov to Late April or into May depending on who goes to States and or regionals. Would be the same no matter what.

 

[kellyb]

Our gym's XCEL program is a great program for a lot of kids. It is designed for:

Kids who want to do more than rec, but were unable to achieve JO level Level 4 proficiency after 2-3 years of preteam.
Kids whose parents are not able to make the financial or time commitment to the JO program, or kids who have difficulty handling the hours and intensity of the JO preteam program, or want to do a variety of activities.
Kids who have been doing the JO program, and have either stalled in advancement or want a smaller time commitment. Kids are not forced onto XCEL from JO, but a few have chosen that route.

The stated goal of the program for those who start in the Bronze level and work their way up is to create happy confident gymnasts ready to compete for their High School Gymnastics teams. It appears to do a very good job of it, as many of them enjoy quite a bit of HS success. We have some gymnasts in that high school age range that move over from JO because they decide that HS gymnastics is for them.

The goal of the JO Program is to create Level 10 gymnasts who would like a shot at college gymnastics, who make Regionals and JO Nationals. Of course not everyone ends up in Level 10, but that is the ultimate goal.

Xcel is not used to fast track. Extraordinarily talented gymnasts are allowed to do more than one level a year in JO, with some just testing out. Most really talented do Level4 and test out out of 5 and go to 7. All of last years 4s are testing out of 5 and going to 6, with maybe one or 2 going to 7.

It is my belief that the spirit and purpose of Xcel is violated when teams put their JO gymnasts into Xcel meets with the intention of them doing JO the next season. Just because they can doesn't mean they should. Level 6 in JO is designed to let kids get to optionals a little faster if 7 is too much of a leap, and express themselves and have their own routines. They don't need Xcel to do that.

This debate/information sharing is interesting-- I may be sidetracking here- but I see high school gymnastics mentioned here. I am intrigued! I haven't ever heard of this as an option. Are there areas of the country where this is more prevalent? Just curious I don't think we have it in our area. It's one thing about gymnastics- that I feel a little sad about . I know they develop great camaraderie with teammates at the gym-but can't ever do that in the community of their school.

 

[skschlag]

Our season isn't longer, it's Oct/Nov to Late April or into May depending on who goes to States and or regionals. Would be the same no matter what.

So your compulsary season is the same as optionals? Our state has fall compulsaries, with state in december, and spring optionals, with state in March/April. Xcel runs the same as optionals, but goes until June for states.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

So your compulsary season is the same as optionals? Our state has fall compulsaries, with state in december, and spring optionals, with state in March/April. Xcel runs the same as optionals, but goes until June for states.

States are in spring, although compulsory JO levels have actually 3 states, Early (in Feb), Down and Up State both in April.

 

[profmom]

I remember a thread a while back discussing this, where the US is the only major country that still employs compulsory routines at the lower levels. The other countries are set up more like L7/8 where there is a defined skill set for each level but the routines are individualized to the gymnasts. I said it several years ago and I still believe it that eventually USAG will eventually move toward that design and away from the set routines we see in our present compulsory levels of 1-5.

Not entirely true.

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2013/06/compulsory-beam-china/

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/2013/04/chinese-compulsory-p-bars/
(Which has been shown to our boys' team approximately five billion times, accompanied by some irritable scolding and finger pointing.)

Keep in mind that in many other countries, the norm is not to enter competition at nearly as young an age or as low a level as in the US. I guarantee you that kids in other programs looking to develop top gymnasts are training skills and progressions in very similar ways as JO compulsory training. I'd be interested to hear what our CB coaches have to say, but I still don't think JO compulsories are going away any time soon, nor will USAG eliminate compulsories for entrance to elite competition (at least on the girls' side -- I think USAG will keep the NCAA/national qualifier path to elite open for boys/men).

Cbifoja, optionals still works that way -- a privilege to be earned after years of work -- on the JO side in my kids' gym. The girls will compete L4 and L5 and only move to optionals if and when they are ready for L7. There is only very minimal mobility from XCel to JO and no one competes both sides. I like this arrangement, as I believe it comports with the intent of the XCel program. We have a robust XCel program with some very fine gymnasts, and the Platinums and Diamonds are doing routines with a good deal of difficulty, but the additional hours spent working on form and doing strength and conditioning on the JO side produce a distinct difference in the look of the routines on the JO side. A lower level XCel girl might be doing skills that are the same or even a bit more than the skills done by a similar JO girl, but the emphasis on pre-competitive gym and compulsories in DD's JO program is on perfecting, not just getting, foundational skills. The pickiness of mastering compulsories pays off when they reach optionals. Your individual mileage may vary, of course, but I think this is pretty much how it works for the median gymnast looking at XCel versus JO unless a program is really a JO program that just does XCel to do more meets and let the girls have fun with individualized routines.

I don't think doing tons of hours is necessary to be successful at JO L1-L4, though on average a child working out 15 hours a week will have more spit and polish than one working out 8 hours a week. Once they head toward optionals, however, you're going to see increasing daylight between the gyms where girls work out efficiently for 15+ hours a week and those that don't.

 

[twinmomma]

Someone asked why not just see them as different, not necessarily lesser than. Which might be great, but the requirements are less intense, so ultimately it's seen as gymnasts with a smaller breadth of skills than JO gymnasts. And solely Xcel gymnasts are not the ones college recruiters are looking at - if that sort of thing is what you're looking for.