A
Anonymous (1883)
I've noticed that some gyms in So Cal don't compete level 5 at all. (Wildfire and Azarian specifically). They will usually repeat an over-prepared Level 4 gymnast rather than compete them in 5, and then make the jump from 4-6 in the spring. It's usually successful strategy and gives them a lot of state champions in Level 4, and leads to a much smaller Level 5 field than 4 or 6.
From our experience Level 5 scoring and judging is very difficult and maybe they just don't want to see their gymnasts scoring in the 35-36's... when they could dominate repeating Level 4 and then if up-trained properly do well in 6 also. The downside is I do see a lot of young gymnasts struggling to make the jump from Level 4 bars to Level 6 bars though, so it's not always the best option for all gymnasts.
From our experience Level 5 scoring and judging is very difficult and maybe they just don't want to see their gymnasts scoring in the 35-36's... when they could dominate repeating Level 4 and then if up-trained properly do well in 6 also. The downside is I do see a lot of young gymnasts struggling to make the jump from Level 4 bars to Level 6 bars though, so it's not always the best option for all gymnasts.