Parents Xcel to JO??

[momof2gymmies]

Wow. Those silvers would be gold here for sure!

It can be frustrating since they are required by the gym to do two years at each level, so she will be competing silver again next year. Golds have to do layouts on floor, they have to do bwobhs on beam. It frustrates me because once upon a time she really wanted to do JO, but now at 10 is way too old at our gym, and there are not many other options near us. She is happy now, but it would have been nice if she had a chance. But, when she was 8 and made team I asked and the head coach told me she was too old for L4.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

It can be frustrating since they are required by the gym to do two years at each level, so she will be competing silver again next year. Golds have to do layouts on floor, they have to do bwobhs on beam. It frustrates me because once upon a time she really wanted to do JO, but now at 10 is way too old at our gym, and there are not many other options near us. She is happy now, but it would have been nice if she had a chance. But, when she was 8 and made team I asked and the head coach told me she was too old for L4.

That is crazy...I sometimes feel guilty I don't live in a place like Texas where it's ultra competitive, but maybe it's better in a way! We have two 12 year old Xcel Golds that will be starting optionals in the fall. That would blow your gym's mind I guess!! Good and bad to both scenarios I guess. Well good luck to her, it sounds like she is still an awesome gymnast!!!

 

[momof2gymmies]

nah she's average, but she's happy and thats what counts.

 

[wgymmom]

It can be frustrating since they are required by the gym to do two years at each level, so she will be competing silver again next year. Golds have to do layouts on floor, they have to do bwobhs on beam. It frustrates me because once upon a time she really wanted to do JO, but now at 10 is way too old at our gym, and there are not many other options near us. She is happy now, but it would have been nice if she had a chance. But, when she was 8 and made team I asked and the head coach told me she was too old for L4.

That's flat-out wrong. I would have found another gym immediately. My DD did old 4 at 9 and is pretty good. I can't stand when gyms won't let in 8 year olds!

That said, I definitely "get" not having gym options.

 

[wgymmom]

But while we're talking about Xcel/JO, what is the reasoning behind a gym competing year-round, alternating Xcel/JO with the seasons?

 

[GymRays]

At my gym on pre team we have 4 silvers 8-11, one 12 that will be moving to gold. Our 9 golds range between 8 -12 yrs old. Small gym yes, age is not a factor for us. We invite from the beginner girls rec group ( starts at 6) to our pre team. Some kids are just walking to the sport of gymnastics here at 6. Getting a 6 year old onto pre team is rare, they have to really show great potential. Our silvers are about a level 3 and our golds are about level 4. We are slowly gearing our routines towards compulsory 5 skills so they will be ready to score out to JO optionals. That is at least our model at the moment, this is our first year dropping compulsories and doing only Xcel. So we will see where it goes. (Post out of place, whoops).

 

[gymgal]

But while we're talking about Xcel/JO, what is the reasoning behind a gym competing year-round, alternating Xcel/JO with the seasons?

I allows the compulsory girls to get a feel for optionals, to discover their strengths and for many to shine where they might not in compulsory.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Very sad when an 8 yo is too old for gymnastics. My girl should just give up the ship as she is a 9 yo L4, ummm not

 

[twinmomma]

Very sad when an 8 yo is too old for gymnastics. My girl should just give up the ship as she is a 9 yo L4, ummm not

No kidding. It irks me to no end that gyms write off committed, passionate kids that don't fit this ridiculous box. My DD will be 9 next month and is training L4. She had a great L3 season but is struggling with some of the L4/5 skills (specifically on beam) that they are training. I guess she should give up now, because she may end up being 10 and an L4 repeater. The horror.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Shhh don't tell anyone my girl WILL be an apparently ancient 10 when she goes to states for L4

 

[cassafrass]

Dds gym has a 10 year old level 7 who competed 3 last season. She is already doing back tucks on beam and other level 8 skills.

 

[raenndrops]

But while we're talking about Xcel/JO, what is the reasoning behind a gym competing year-round, alternating Xcel/JO with the seasons?

One reason a gym would do this is to keep the compulsory kids interested (keep the money coming) and give them a taste of Optionals before getting to "real optionals."
Of course at our gym, there is only one season... everyone competes Late October/ Early November - Mid-March... Unless they are on the Jr. High team - THAT season is Early September - Mid-October (and uses Xcel Platinum rules with High School Bonus). After the HS season, the girls have a few choices:
1 - Compete where they should be in the JO levels
2 - Compete Xcel (Gold or Platinum, depending on their skills... just because JR High uses Platinum rules, doesn't mean everyone has full SV for their routines... if they are missing a Platinum SR, we try to substitute the Gold equivalent SR)
3 - Choose to be "Non-Compete" team members
4 - Drop off the face of the earth like we never existed until next year.

 

[Faolmor]

As an Aussie with no knowledge of the Excel system, can someone explain to me why there seems to be such a huge skill-range for the levels? How are the routines judged, if one kid is doing BWOBHS on beam, and another is doing a handstand (for an example)?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Can't speak to above silver but there are no extra points for difficulty so far. You get judged on the skill you do. All our silver girls are doing minimum requirements so they score better. All are capable of mor and do more in JO. And are scoring 9.8 inXcel vs 9.5 JO

Ian pretty sure the range is not as extreme as you example though it's more like cartwheel vs hand stand on beam.

 

[IreneKa]

Can't speak to above silver but there are no extra points for difficulty so far. You get judged on the skill you do. All our silver girls are doing minimum requirements so they score better. All are capable of mor and do more in JO. And are scoring 9.8 inXcel vs 9.5 JO

Ian pretty sure the range is not as extreme as you example though it's more like cartwheel vs hand stand on beam.

Not sure about beam, but I was watching DD's old Xcel Silver team compete on floor at the meet we hosted, and the skills ranged from ROBHS to ROBHSBT. The girl who did ROBHSBT got a huge score, but she is a third year Silver, so that didn't surprise me. I have no idea why they don't move her to Gold, but that's the gym that also told me that my 8 year old DD was too old for JO.

 

[GymRays]

As an Aussie with no knowledge of the Excel system, can someone explain to me why there seems to be such a huge skill-range for the levels? How are the routines judged, if one kid is doing BWOBHS on beam, and another is doing a handstand (for an example)?

For each lvl there are set requirements....like Jo optionals but no difficulty bonuses. So for bars at Gold you need a 6 VP / skills, a cast to minimum horizontal, one circling skill, and a dismount from the high bar.

So just off that you can see there are many options for how to full fill these.

So some gyms go the route of easiest, cleanest, bare minimum skills, and others train and put in harder skills. At Gold they can do A and B skills.

In our gym alone we have some golds doing bwo and bhs and others doing handstands and cartwheels.

 

[momof2gymmies]

Our gym has the philosophy that skills matter, not placement, so they have the kids compete the max skills allowed for each level. Of course, since they have to stay at each level for 2 years and basically have the same routines they do end up placing well their second year. We have been to meets where our kids are doing robhsbt, and another gym is doing two cartwheels at silver. The scoring is based off how clean they are, and it is much easier to be clean with a basic routine.

My bronze DD for example does a robhs in her floor pass. The very first meet she panicked since it was a new place, new floor, and ended up doing a ro back extension roll. She scored a 9.6 on floor. She has since put her robhs back in, but has not scored above a 9.1. Sure judging is different meet to meet, but her bhs is no where as clean as the back roll. She still has froggy legs most of the time. But, the gym cares more about her perfecting the bhs than they do about her score, so she has to keep it in.

My silver DD has a full turn on beam. Only a half is required at silver. She lands them all the time in practice. I have never seen her miss one. She has yet to land it at a meet. Her nerves get the better of her. But, since she can do it it stays in. Its not up for discussion with her coaches.

I think it all depends on the gyms philosophy. Our kids also are not suppose to look at scores, and do not get any of their score cards until practice after states. The gym then gives them all of them stapled together.

 

[GymRays]

Our gym has the philosophy that skills matter, not placement, so they have the kids compete the max skills allowed for each level. Of course, since they have to stay at each level for 2 years and basically have the same routines they do end up placing well their second year. We have been to meets where our kids are doing robhsbt, and another gym is doing two cartwheels at silver. The scoring is based off how clean they are, and it is much easier to be clean with a basic routine.

My bronze DD for example does a robhs in her floor pass. The very first meet she panicked since it was a new place, new floor, and ended up doing a ro back extension roll. She scored a 9.6 on floor. She has since put her robhs back in, but has not scored above a 9.1. Sure judging is different meet to meet, but her bhs is no where as clean as the back roll. She still has froggy legs most of the time. But, the gym cares more about her perfecting the bhs than they do about her score, so she has to keep it in.

My silver DD has a full turn on beam. Only a half is required at silver. She lands them all the time in practice. I have never seen her miss one. She has yet to land it at a meet. Her nerves get the better of her. But, since she can do it it stays in. Its not up for discussion with her coaches.

I think it all depends on the gyms philosophy. Our kids also are not suppose to look at scores, and do not get any of their score cards until practice after states. The gym then gives them all of them stapled together.

This is almost exactly how my gym is too.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our gym has the philosophy that skills matter, not placement

Our gym believes both matter. Our kids can do higher skills and do them well. They also uptrain. They compete both Xcel and JO,

They do the cleanest routine they can at a meet, work on their other skills and compete with them when they are clean.

 

[gymdog]

As an Aussie with no knowledge of the Excel system, can someone explain to me why there seems to be such a huge skill-range for the levels? How are the routines judged, if one kid is doing BWOBHS on beam, and another is doing a handstand (for an example)?

Well, there may be isolated instances of this, but I am in a state where the Xcel program is one of the biggest in the country. And I have never seen a BWO BHS on beam in Gold. Actually have not seen this in Platinum. So I guess that particular gym has that requirement, but it's very unusual.

It is true there's a skill range. Particularly in Bronze though, to me. Silver is pretty even here. Then Gold you start to see a lot of variation on bars. But if you meet the requirements you start from a 10. Going above and beyond doesn't help, and there are difficulty restrictions at each level.