WAG Accurate answers on competing in college gymnastics

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Greyhound

Proud Parent
I have read so many conflicting versions of information regarding college gym from many different sources and I am utterly confused. Whether it is from this board, articles elsewhere, coaches, etc. My guess is that there is no one answer, but here is my question. At what point is it no longer realistic for a gymnast to set college gym as a goal? I keep hearing that if a gymnast is not a very strong 9 or solid 10 by sophmore year in high school they missed the boat. We have two gymnasts in our gym that were offered full rides as sophmores last year, yet we had a senior and junior get offered full rides last winter, and a senior offered a walkon spot just this week, all D1 schools. My dd is in 7th grade and is repeating level 8 because she is missing a beam and bar skill for L9. She wants to do college gym, but is the window closing on her? I don't know anymore. Thanks for any insight.
 
It sounds like your gym, like ours, has some strong connections with college programs. I think being L10 by sophomore year really maximizes opportunities to get D1 scholarships, but not all scholarships will go to girls who are exceptional L9s or good L10s by their sophomore years. If your DD is in seventh grade now and doing L8, I wouldn't count her out at all, but I think the picture will be MUCH clearer when you see where she is as she starts her freshman year of high school.
 
Sounds like you are in a gym that has some experience with getting their girls to college gym. I would just sit down with her coach and ask for an honest opinion. Obviously, things may happen that would change that - injuries, fears, other sports, boys, puberty, etc. But I am sure the coaches have some sense of what they are thinking for her.
 
Is the window closing, you ask. Yes, but not quickly. Level 10 by freshman/sophomore is the latest.

You definitely need to talk to her coaches. BUT, don't rely on only her coaches. You need to educate yourself on the process to become a college athlete and also (maybe even more importantly) what the life of a college competitve gymnast is REALLY like. This last one may shock you; it did us.

Good luck.
 
Can I ask when the age to reach the upper levels to have a shot at college gym dropped? Will they drop more?

My DDs gym has a coach who is in her late twenties. She started competitive gymnastics in 8th grade, made it to level 10 by her senior year, and ended up with a D1 scholarship. That all sounds so impossible these days, that I have to wonder if things used to be different? I don't have a horse in this race, but I'm curious. It seems like pretty soon the only girls who can even dream of college gym are those who are born in their grips.
 
It can be really discouraging to see 10 year olds giving verbal commits (just pulling this out of nowhere with a slight exaggeration), but my 12 year old is going into L7 and they haven't given up on her yet. Our HC has plenty of experience.
 
If you don't mind doing a little digging, go to collegegymfans.com and use mymeetscores and youtube, checkout the "story" of a handful of recent gymnasts recruited to NCAA gymnastics. You will see paths are varied. And there is no, one-path-fits-all.
 

1. Is the window closing, you ask. Yes,
but not quickly. Level 10 by freshman/sophomore is the latest.
You definitely need to talk to her coaches. BUT, don't rely on only her coaches. You need to educate yourself on the process to become a college athlete and also
2. (maybe even more importantly) what the life of a college competitve gymnast is REALLY like. This last one may shock you; it did us.

Good luck.

This!! Yes to both, unfortunately...
 
My opinion is that the window to top 10 teams is closing fast. The kids that are being recruited by Top-10 to Top-15 schools are 2nd/3rd year level 10s in their freshman year (and/or elite), and almost all commits to those schools have verballed by Freshman year, maybe sophomore. Going down another 10-15 in the rankings: those kids are mostly committed by end of their sophomore year and are either multiple year L10s who got better their freshman year, or 1st year 10s as Freshman who knocked it out of the park and probably went to nationals. Schools ranked 30s or below, you might have a shot if you're a first year 10 as a Junior/Senior. Walk on spots are probably more available - we had two last year who were 1st year L10s as Seniors and they got walk-on spots to teams that were ranked in the 20-30 range. But walk-ons don't get scholarships for athletics, so plan on paying. There are always going to be exceptions, but the window closes fastest at the top.
 
Your dd could be a Level 9 in 9th grade, and level 10 as a Freshman/Sophomore she has a good shot at a lower ranked school. I would say that for girls on the cusp, it will be more important to be a strong and confident L10 as a Freshman/Sophomore, than it would be to be a young/fearful/injured 8th grade L10.
 
A lot of circling the issue of what college gymnastics life is like, so what is it really like? We know it is a lot of hard work, but details would be helpful.
 
7th grade level 8/9, no, still sufficient, but keep in mind that it's just more dependent on the gymnast's strengths, how she does in competition, etc than it is on what level she competes at what time. So you probably seem to see conflicting info because it is really hard to predict for an individual kid. Also, some gymnasts may only want to go to go to certain school for certain reasons and personal things like this impact the recruiting process as well as academics (opens more doors for competing at Stanford or Ivies - the latter doesn't offer scholarship but kind of recruit a team through admissions).
 
A lot of circling the issue of what college gymnastics life is like, so what is it really like? We know it is a lot of hard work, but details would be helpful.

There are many of us here whose kids want to do college gymnastics. Some portion will actually make it there, so it'd be nice to know what's in store for those that do.

I agree... I wish someone would just come out and tell it like it is.
 

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