Parents What does compulsories mean?

[Ex member]

I have seen this word come up on Chalk Bucket before and wondered what it means and how it relates to gymnastics. Does it relate to some sort of level or some sort of set routine within a level, sorry if it seems like a silly question, I really don't have much idea about the "other side of gymnastics", only really used to the rec side.

 

[2G1B]

compulsories are the lower levels of competitive gymnastics. All of the kids do the same routines vs "optionals" where each kid has their own routine customized to their strengths (but still fulfilling level requirements).

 

[MeetDirector]

TD -

In the USAG system, new levels 1 thru 5 are the "compulsory" levels. All athletes in a given level do the exact same set of skills in the same order on each of the 4 events. The compulsory levels are focused on foundational skill development. The new levels 6 thru 10 are referred to as the "optional" levels. In these levels, the athletes create thier routine on each event from a set of required, or available, skills for the given level. You will see the words "new" and "old" used when referring to a particular level because the level system just changed for this upcoming season so to connect between years past and now we refer to old level 5 vs new level 5, for example.

Each athlete, whether compulsory or optional, is judged on the execution of the skill, not against another gymnast. for most meets there will be a set of 2 judges per event (sometimes compulsory meets only have 1) to score each routine against a standard.

Hope this helps.