WAG What tends to be the largest age group for level 7?

[htimcj]

DD will be 11 when competition season starts in Dec. I was wondering if that puts her right in the thick of things with large/many age groups around that age or a bit on the younger side? Last year she was either in the second youngest group or the youngest group depending on the size of the meet. Just wondering if that trend will continue. It seems kids come out of the woodwork for level 7

 

[GymBeeMom]

Im not sure what the largest group was but 11 years old was pretty big in our region.

 

[happychaos]

In our state the groupings are 9 and under, 10, 11, 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, and 15 and up. No idea how the new levels will change things, but as of last year 11 was on the young side of average for 7 here.

 

[gymmomtoo]

I think 11 or 12 is the biggest group for level 7--I don't know how the changes will affect that though.

 

[wallinbl]

It will be interesting to see if level 7 is bigger or smaller than last year. Many gyms around here seem to be jumping from old 5 to new 7, so I'm wondering if many/most of last year's 5's and 6's will be in new level 7, making it larger than normal.

 

[MaryA]

For level 7 states, in our state, it was divided by birthday. So, for example, kids with birthdays between 1/14/2001 and 6/29/2001 might be the "junior C" group, or something. The dates were chosen to divide everyone into equal-sized groups, but it makes it hard to say for sure, "there are x number of 11-year-olds competing." I do know that when DD was a level 6, the 11-year-olds were the biggest group at states, so I'm guessing that 12 is probably the biggest age group for 7's.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Dd was 12 for the whole season and it was a really good age group to be in. It seemed 11 was the biggest. frequently the groups would be 9 or 10 and under, 11, 12, 13 and up. The very first meet the groups were 11 and under, 12 and 13 together and 14 and up. Dd had barely turned 12! Oh well, nothing you can do about it. And it likely changes from year to year anyway.

 

[vagymmomma]

Agree, 11 - 12 seemed to be the largest L7 groups (and probably the most competitive groups) in our area as well.

 

[cbifoja]

Agree, 11 - 12 seemed to be the largest L7 groups (and probably the most competitive groups) in our area as well.

I've always been told that the youngest age group was the most competitive because it contained all the little phenoms. Thoughts?

 

[vagymmomma]

I think it depends on how you define competitive. In Virginia, the youngest girls (who tend to be amazing) have limited competition - maybe 2 - 5 girls at best. I was referring to competition in terms of numbers and all around scores on average. They tend to all make regionals but there's just not as much competition in terms of numbers. Just over a 37 would have been around 3rd place for the smaller girls at L7 this year in VA. That would have been around 15th place across age 12 - with many, many more girls. Every year and state is different though, so I'm trying not to over generalize.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

For level 7 really depends on how the state divides them up. In So Cal if your kid is 11, but they don't have a lot of 9, 10 and 11 year olds, they put them together to make a larger group. (doesn't happen much in So Cal because in level 7 we usually have complete groups of 20 to 25 in each age group (9,10,11), then they sub divide up the 12, 13 year olds). Think of a pie chart, equal pieces. But your state may differ and in the past our state has done different things with the youngest division.
EDIT ADD< And now that I think about it, at state here in So Cal (effective this past year) they divided up the kids into the specific age divisions that they will be in at regionals, making it pre set. So long as we keep having level 7 regionals with the same qualifications (rankings not by score), they will continue to divide this way. What region are you in? If you have level 7 regionals this may make your state division smaller.

 

[htimcj]

For level 7 really depends on how the state divides them up. In So Cal if your kid is 11, but they don't have a lot of 9, 10 and 11 year olds, they put them together to make a larger group. (doesn't happen much in So Cal because in level 7 we usually have complete groups of 20 to 25 in each age group (9,10,11), then they sub divide up the 12, 13 year olds). Think of a pie chart, equal pieces. But your state may differ and in the past our state has done different things with the youngest division.

My state is small so I am thinking our in state meets will have 11 and under as a group, maybe 10 and under. I would imagine when we go to Vegas and Phoenix 11 will be in their own groups or even multiple group. Some of the Utah meets might be that way as well.