Voluntary Levels

[vbbf]

Does anyone have the results for the West Midlands level 5s?

 

[gymstar]

I thought the point of introducing the compulsory/elite track was to prevent very young kids being pushed into very hard skills too early? It was supposed to slow them down and concentrate on quality, rather than huge hours and burning out the very talented?

Stalders and double flic on beam at age 8/9 seems insane to me! It bent my brain when I saw in age level 4 regional kids doing BWO-BHS on beam- and they're not even elite track!

I agree - the code is set with skills that they can put in and those they cant - some put in extra skills but it doesn't necessarily give them extra marks and if performed badly they will lose more than the value of putting it in
Typically - Level 4 would be giant on bars - walk over flick on beam - floor they just need 2 sommies in one tumble - so a front sommie walk out round off flick tuck - some did put twists in at level 4 but doesn't always pay - sometimes better to do what is required and executed well
think Level 3 flick flick on beam is standard and an ariel of some sort - floor you will see twists up to double and on bars looking at giants with swing half
judging by regions seems so different - I heard SE were harsh - few vault bonuses and much lower beam scores

 

[gymstar]

I wouldn't expect a double flick until level 3 really. I seem to remember there are usually very few full twists at in age 4 at nationals. After all you don't need a full twist at compulsory 3. And out of age 4 usually about half and half with and without giants especially at the older end. A stalder at in age 4 sounds lovely! One of my favourite moves.

I love a stalder too! So nice when performed well - I prefer it to the short clear

 

[gymstar]

Have Scotland done theirs? What about South Durham - North?

 

[marie83]

Does anyone have the results for the West Midlands level 5s?

Not competed yet - comp is on 25th October.

 

[marie83]

Typically - Level 4 would be giant on bars - walk over flick on beam - floor they just need 2 sommies in one tumble - so a front sommie walk out round off flick tuck

Ah yes, but they do need a minimum of 2 acro lines (FIG rules) so those with only 1 acro line will lose big marks - 0.5 off sv (no dismount) 0.5 penalty for no attempt at dismount!
Happened to quite a few in west mids!

 

[Flossyduck]

Flossy, is your dd off elite track then if she hasn't done comp. 3 this year? I know you said your club is strict and you were half thinking about trying the ooa route...

If she's still elite track how does it work if you miss compulsories (injury, for example). Do you get a re-sit or do you just do it ooa the following year? I'm sure I've seen kids do l3 in the spring and then do the l2 resit in the autum with the voluntaries?

I guess she's off the elite track strictly speaking, but hoping still to be on track to become elite if that makes sense. There hasn't been a drop in hours or a change to her coaching. We're taking things as they come, but feel very happy with the support she's getting. She isn't the only one in this position that we know of. There are a couple of other girls in the region, who were previously in age and doing well, who are coming back from injury and missed out on compulsory 3.

As I understand it, there is no longer a re-take for compulsory 3 in autumn, so if you don't do it in spring, it's ooa or challenge. Re-takes are for level 2 and 1 and are in November. I am also pretty sure you can only do one level a year, but you can do level 1 and then espoir in the same year.

There have been some interesting changes in the last year at our club. They lost quite a few elite track girls - some to other clubs, some quit and some to the ooa group. More recently there's been a lot more cooperation between various groups and and more 'fluidity', which has worked well and means that girls like dd no longer feel they have to be one thing or another and can just get on with healing and then progressing. She's still not fully training, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Gymbee06]

Sorry to hijack but how do you know if your dd is on the elite track? My dd is at a uk gym that for us is great she is happy coaches seem happy with her haven't encountered any problems with them but as you know communication is not great between gyms and parents lol and I don't want to come across all cgm by asking them

 

[Jenny]

Well technically your dd could be said to be on the elite track if she is competing compulsory grades in age. I would say Elite gymnasts are those competing in the espoir, junior or senior British Championships.

But compulsory grades can be taken out of age now so you can still reach the British by a slower route if you are not on the elite track. Or through qualifying at one of the challenge cup competitions.

So if your club has a track record of competing compulsory grades through to the British and she is set to compete compulsory 4 in age then I would say she is on the elite track. Compulsory 5 varies so much from region to region I am not sure I would include it. Some are much harder than others.

 

[Faith]

Are clubs taking OOA seriously now then? It sounds as if your club are flossy, which is a good thing.

Many regions had no OOA this year, including ours. It seems you're either in age, or regional /grades. So clubs here definitely aren't seeing OOA as a real alternative to in age for potential elites- I suppose they want to put their time and effort into in age kids.

 

[Flossyduck]

Are clubs taking OOA seriously now then? It sounds as if your club are flossy, which is a good thing.

Many regions had no OOA this year, including ours. It seems you're either in age, or regional /grades. So clubs here definitely aren't seeing OOA as a real alternative to in age for potential elites- I suppose they want to put their time and effort into in age kids.

It's hard to tell how seriously it's really being taken to be honest, but some very positive noises are being made and the signs are good. I think it depends on the girl and the circumstances and I think it'll become clearer as things unravel over the coming months. Up until now the ooa pathway has been too new for anyone to get much of an idea who it's for and who might be on it, but maybe it's starting to come into its own. I'm aware that over the course of this year there are some girls in our region who are/were very good and for a number of reasons, including injury, weren't able to compete and are hoping to go ooa and have openly said so. No-one seems to be taking them any less seriously. And there are a few who had either switched to national grades or started a little later, who I noticed have recently been working on the compulsory range.

In the meantime of course the in age girls are definitely still getting the most time and effort, as you'd expect. But even the in age squad has girls who missed their level and are looking to re-take. If they're not ready then they'll become ooa too. That's when I think we'll see things get interesting.

dd is happy, loving being in the gym and feels supported and the rest is just technicalities.

 

[floppycat]

There is a level 3 retake in November in our region on the calendar. It will be interesting to see how many ooa gymnasts there will be next year, our club may be softening a bit too on their stance too. The jump to level 3 has been hard for girls that even qualified for nationals at level 4.

 

[Jenny]

oh that is interesting. I was told a few months ago that there would only be a chance to do compulsory 4 and 3 once a year. Maybe it varies by region.

 

[Frase]

Our coaches also don't seem all that worried about dd having fallen out of age. She also is still training the same amount of hours in the highest squad and still working on what looks like level 3 skills even though she missed level 3this year. I had a very brief chat with the HC about ooa comp vs national and I got the impression they were more in favour of thenatnlwit

 

[Frase]

Sorry hit send - in favour of the national with challenge cup route. She said it gives them a chance to compete at national finals which they otherwise wouldn't get.

 

[Uglybetty]

I suspect the national final is the reason our club seems to be favouring national grades for out of age girls....although I'm unclear yet whether they will then swap over at level 1 or compete challenge cup.

 

[Jenny]

I suspect people will mix and match between OOA compulsories and national grades for that very reason. It is a really nice experience to go to nationals. The difficulty with solely going the challenge route is that the qualification score for the British from challenge is quite high.

 

[Frase]

But if you go ooa compulsories wouldn't you still have to do 3 before 2 and then 2 before 1 therefore making it difficult to jump easily between national and compulsory routes?

 

[Jenny]

I know what you mean but I can see people doing 8 if not ready for 3. Then 3 OOA then 7 then 6 then 2 then 1. They would then hit British at senior age straight in.

 

[Gymbee06]

I haven't heard of a compulsory 4 being mentioned only levels for example in March we did grades June was levels down to 2 and last week levels again down to 2 I don't know the difference or if one is compulsory my dd competed level 5 in June and didn't compete last week