Parents Ages for meet levels

[SophiaPD]

Do Child A, B, C, D/Junior A, B, C/Senior A, B, C categories have set ages to them, or do they vary by meet? Does anyone know what they mean for Ozone (TN)? Thanks!

 

[RTT2]

Age groups vary for every meet. It depends on the ages of the kids who have registered. Most meets do three to four age groups, and the cut off can vary widely depending on the ages of the competitors, but from what I've seen there is typically about a 4-7 month range.

 

[amiandjim]

Yes, most meets will literally list the girls out by date of birth and then divide them as evenly as possible into age groups. The names vary and do not mean anything. The exception to this is meets such as regionals and nationals where the age groups are predetermined by date of birth so can vary in size. We actually have a meet coming up that I wonder if the age groups are predetermined this way because looking at last sessions, they are very uneven. Junior A might have 22 girls and senior A might have 10. Haven’t really seen that before.

 

[raenndrops]

Yes, most meets will literally list the girls out by date of birth and then divide them as evenly as possible into age groups. The names vary and do not mean anything. The exception to this is meets such as regionals and nationals where the age groups are predetermined by date of birth so can vary in size. We actually have a meet coming up that I wonder if the age groups are predetermined this way because looking at last sessions, they are very uneven. Junior A might have 22 girls and senior A might have 10. Haven’t really seen that before.

But you have to remember that while the age groups are pre-determined, they cannot account for last minute scratches. Our home meet had even age groups ... until the last minute scratches (and any other scratches that happened after the scratch deadline). We ended up with one age group with 7 and the other age group for the same level with 12 (There were originally 28 girls total in the level).

 

[amiandjim]

But you have to remember that while the age groups are pre-determined, they cannot account for last minute scratches. Our home meet had even age groups ... until the last minute scratches (and any other scratches that happened after the scratch deadline). We ended up with one age group with 7 and the other age group for the same level with 12 (There were originally 28 girls total in the level).

Oh I totally get that. This was pretty extreme though to be scratching. I noticed it just looking around and then started checking more carefully. For the last 2-3 years, pretty much every session I looked at had widely different age group sizes. Example: in one level 4 session, 10 junior A, 11 junior B, 21 junior C, 21 senior A, and 17 senior B. This would mean there were 10ish scratches in two different age groups which seems like a lot. Especially since it occurred in almost every session. Maybe I’m wrong and there are that many scratches, idk.

ETA: I know some meets do adjust age groups for scratches. Last year mine was changed to a different age group the day of the meet.

 

[raenndrops]

Oh I totally get that. This was pretty extreme though to be scratching. I noticed it just looking around and then started checking more carefully. For the last 2-3 years, pretty much every session I looked at had widely different age group sizes. Example: in one level 4 session, 10 junior A, 11 junior B, 21 junior C, 21 senior A, and 17 senior B. This would mean there were 10ish scratches in two different age groups which seems like a lot. Especially since it occurred in almost every session. Maybe I’m wrong and there are that many scratches, idk.

ETA: I know some meets do adjust age groups for scratches. Last year mine was changed to a different age group the day of the meet.

If we know BEFORE the program gets printed, we can change age groups for known scratches, but because we also print the cards with the gymnast info (including age group), to make changes the day OF would be harder. And some coaches may know about scratches, but forget to send them in, so when they arrive in the morning and get their cards, they are turning in scratches for all sessions.
We have small meets (all done in 1 day), so we don't have huge variance ... of course in Level 8, we were expecting 9 and only 2 were there (and one of them scratched 3 events). The Xcel Silvers all scratched. 2/3 of the Level 9s scratched. Xcel Platinum was supposed to be 13 ... 6 came. Exactly half of the Xcel Golds scratched. 8/15 Level 7s scratched. 9/28 Level 6s scratched. Level 5 had the fewest scratches with 3/18 ... but all in the senior age group. 11/44 Level 4s scratched. And 10/58 L3s scratched (ended up with exactly even age groups) . We did know about some scratches in advance, but at one level, we couldn't adjust age groups because the group was split between 2 girls with one birthdate and 2 with another birthdate ... and we only needed (at the time) to move 1 girl, lol.

 

[amiandjim]

That is a LOT of scratches!!

 

[CLgym]

@amiandjim -- I have seen super uneven groups at a few meets too, and have wondered if maybe the age groups (Child A/B, Junior A/B, Senior A/B, etc.) are set based on the total number of meet participants at each level, but then when individual gyms/gymnasts get divided into sessions it ends up uneven. Just a theory!

ETA: Saw this on the website of a big meet re: age groups --
COMPETITIVE AGE AND AGE DIVISIONS
...Based upon the ages of the gymnasts entered in the meet, the age divisions will be set so that the numbers of gymnasts in each age division within each level are approximately equal. However, the mix of ages can vary considerably from one session to another session of the same level. This means that the age divisions within any one session of a given level may not be as equally balanced as the age divisions are across all sessions in that level.

 

[amiandjim]

@amiandjim -- I have seen super uneven groups at a few meets too, and have wondered if maybe the age groups (Child A/B, Junior A/B, Senior A/B, etc.) are set based on the total number of meet participants at each level, but then when individual gyms/gymnasts get divided into sessions it ends up uneven. Just a theory!

ETA: Saw this on the website of a big meet re: age groups --
COMPETITIVE AGE AND AGE DIVISIONS
...Based upon the ages of the gymnasts entered in the meet, the age divisions will be set so that the numbers of gymnasts in each age division within each level are approximately equal. However, the mix of ages can vary considerably from one session to another session of the same level. This means that the age divisions within any one session of a given level may not be as equally balanced as the age divisions are across all sessions in that level.

That had never occurred to me but does make sense! Thanks. Seems a strange way to do it since I figured they make the sessions and then make the age groups after that but what do I know?

 

[Peachy88]

One meet we went to the sessions was half xcel silver and half level 3 so the level 3s were split into only two groups, junior and senior. It was weird having our 6 year old be labeled a junior but just how it goes! Also meant she was competing against 8.5 year olds. Another meet was by age, so 7U, 8, 9 etc. there were very different sized groups for sure but medals were based on a percentage, (seemed about 25% placement.)

 

[Mamabear]

Do Child A, B, C, D/Junior A, B, C/Senior A, B, C categories have set ages to them, or do they vary by meet? Does anyone know what they mean for Ozone (TN)? Thanks!

Have they already put out the age groups for Ozone?

 

[MeetDirector]

Do Child A, B, C, D/Junior A, B, C/Senior A, B, C categories have set ages to them, or do they vary by meet? Does anyone know what they mean for Ozone (TN)? Thanks!

Allow me to clear this up once and for all (again). The categories, age divisions, age groups, whatever you want to call them, have one purpose and only one purpose - these groupings define the group of girls competing against each other for the same awards. In other words, these groups are award groups. Further, the groups are specific to a level within a session; award groups do not cross session boundaries. Big meets that have more than one “gym” happening at once (Chicago Style) will have award groups defined for each “gym”.

Award groups are completely, again - completely at the control of the meet director. Th Meet Director can name them anything they want to call them. A specific number of girls is determined to be in each award group; normally based on how many awards a meet wants to give out (read that as $$). The meet scoring software will order the girls in a level within a session by birthdate and then allocate the desired number into each group. With the latest meet scoring software, award groups can be changed “on the fly” to balance numbers after scratches.

Bottomline - award groups are specific to a given session within a meet and do not carry over from meet to meet.

Hope this helps.

 

[amiandjim]

Allow me to clear this up once and for all (again). The categories, age divisions, age groups, whatever you want to call them, have one purpose and only one purpose - these groupings define the group of girls competing against each other for the same awards. In other words, these groups are award groups. Further, the groups are specific to a level within a session; award groups do not cross session boundaries. Big meets that have more than one “gym” happening at once (Chicago Style) will have award groups defined for each “gym”.

Award groups are completely, again - completely at the control of the meet director. Th Meet Director can name them anything they want to call them. A specific number of girls is determined to be in each award group; normally based on how many awards a meet wants to give out (read that as $$). The meet scoring software will order the girls in a level within a session by birthdate and then allocate the desired number into each group. With the latest meet scoring software, award groups can be changed “on the fly” to balance numbers after scratches.

Bottomline - award groups are specific to a given session within a meet and do not carry over from meet to meet.

Hope this helps.

Given this information, it makes it even more bizarre to me that a large, successful meet (Nastia Qualifier this year) would consistently have such uneven age groups. I do not understand the reasoning behind having 7 girls in one group and 36 girls in another within the same session.

 

[SMH]

Given this information, it makes it even more bizarre to me that a large, successful meet (Nastia Qualifier this year) would consistently have such uneven age groups. I do not understand the reasoning behind having 7 girls in one group and 36 girls in another within the same session.

That makes no sense. It seems to me that lining the gymnasts up by birthdate then splitting them into even(ish) groups is the easiest and most fair way. But we’ve seen all sorts of odd ways to split up gymnasts.

 

[amiandjim]

That makes no sense. It seems to me that lining the gymnasts up by birthdate then splitting them into even(ish) groups is the easiest and most fair way. But we’ve seen all sorts of odd ways to split up gymnasts.

Exactly! It’s not a huge deal, obviously, but just doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[SMH]

Exactly! It’s not a huge deal, obviously, but just doesn’t make sense to me.

I always tell my gymnast placements are relative and to work on improving her scores from meet to meet- and she’s mostly good with that, but it’s still a bummer for her when she’s in the huge age category (almost always) and places lower in her group than a (usually older) friend who is in the smaller category, but scored lower.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Allow me to clear this up once and for all (again). The categories, age divisions, age groups, whatever you want to call them, have one purpose and only one purpose - these groupings define the group of girls competing against each other for the same awards. In other words, these groups are award groups. Further, the groups are specific to a level within a session; award groups do not cross session boundaries. Big meets that have more than one “gym” happening at once (Chicago Style) will have award groups defined for each “gym”.

Award groups are completely, again - completely at the control of the meet director. Th Meet Director can name them anything they want to call them. A specific number of girls is determined to be in each award group; normally based on how many awards a meet wants to give out (read that as $$). The meet scoring software will order the girls in a level within a session by birthdate and then allocate the desired number into each group. With the latest meet scoring software, award groups can be changed “on the fly” to balance numbers after scratches.

Bottomline - award groups are specific to a given session within a meet and do not carry over from meet to meet.

Hope this helps.

Of course age groups do not carry over from meet to meet. But it is possible to set up age groups within the meet scoring system for the entire meet for each level or within each session. Most of us break down age groups separately for each session, but one can’t say for sure what other meet directors have done without access to their setup.