Boys competing with girls

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My daughter competes in the YMCA league. All of the events are "girls" events. There is a boy on her team. Do you think he has an advantage over the girls? :confused:
 
come on, the boy is competing on beam? are they 4 year olds?? geesh...
 
come on, the boy is competing on beam? are they 4 year olds?? geesh...

He is 9 yrs old and level 4. He went to regionals and was the only boy so he took 1st place in each event. I am not saying that he isn't good because he is. My husband thinks it is very unfair and that he has an advantage over the girls because of his strength. I am not sure if the strength advantage outweighs the flexibilty disadvantage.
 
Where are you from? I only ask because I saw a YMCA boy competing at a meet earlier this year in Westfield, MA.

I think that it shouldn't be allowed, actually. There are boys teams for a reason, and I think that boys should be on a boys team.
 
When my DD was 6 years old she competed in a meet that had 6-15 year olds in it. She, the 6 year old, came 1st AA and 1st on floor and beam. Some in the audience thought it wasn't fiar that she was competing against such older kids, until they saw the results, then they said it wasn't fair that older kids had to compete against such a cute little girl.

She was the best at that meet. That is all it means. The boy was judged better on that day. Meets are like that, Ireally wouldn't think too much about one meet.

Perhaps there was no league for the boy and it was the best fit for him

Gymnastics, the marathon not the sprint, means that parents will see their kid come 1st, last and everything in between.
 
He is 9 yrs old and level 4. He went to regionals and was the only boy so he took 1st place in each event. I am not saying that he isn't good because he is. My husband thinks it is very unfair and that he has an advantage over the girls because of his strength. I am not sure if the strength advantage outweighs the flexibilty disadvantage.

okay. i give. i don't understand. are you saying that he took place on BEAM also? they're only 9 and your husband might be more understanding or he's just wrong.

nothing unfair about it if competing floor? trampoline? tumbling? uneven bars i suppose? vault, no problem?

but balance beam?? do these parents work for the aclu and there is something else at play here?

or is this another case of someone that lives in an area where there is no other program, and one for boys, within several hundred miles?? clarity please?

in the meantime, i'm going to try to wrap my mind around the concept of a boy competing balance beam.:confused::beam:
 
I could probably compete any of the USAG compulsory levels but you wouldn't get me there in a leo. Hopefully, he's wearing shorts or pants.

Many boys can be just as flexible as the girls or just as weak. Boys and girls have roughly the same level of testosterone until puberty. In general, most boys tend to be less flexible and coordinated but is not an absolute tendency.

I just hope he doesn't ever split the beam. I can't imagine him doing the girly movements or floor routine so hopefully they compete in something similar to USAIGC where they just need to hit certain requirements.
 
Um he is competing Womens events at sanctioned meets???

Boys should do men's gymnastics and girls do womens otherwise why have the 2 different catagories to begin with.

sorry I don't agree that a boy should be allowed to compete with the girls and I think I would be a parent that would be writing to USAG on that one.

There is no reason why the Y can't have him train as a boy instead of a girl.
totally against this.
 
the post said ymca. although ymca is a member and sits on the board of directors of usag, usag cannot tell that organization what to do. they could recommend.

i believe this is unprecedented and would like to wait for clarification. what state, where held, and what ymca as there could be several. AND demographic location. lets wait and see...
 
A boy competing in women's gymnastics events??? Good grief! What is this world coming to? In my opinion, it should not be allowed. It's ridiculous. Enough said.
 
We are in Maine. There is a boys program about a half our away from our gym. I never really thought about an advantage/disadvantage until mu husband brought it up. I was just wondering what everyone else thought about it.
 
When my DD was 6 years old she competed in a meet that had 6-15 year olds in it. She, the 6 year old, came 1st AA and 1st on floor and beam. Some in the audience thought it wasn't fiar that she was competing against such older kids, until they saw the results, then they said it wasn't fair that older kids had to compete against such a cute little girl.

She was the best at that meet. That is all it means. The boy was judged better on that day. Meets are like that, Ireally wouldn't think too much about one meet.

Perhaps there was no league for the boy and it was the best fit for him

Gymnastics, the marathon not the sprint, means that parents will see their kid come 1st, last and everything in between.

I am not complaing that he placed better than my daughter at regionals so please don't think that. The were in seperate groups for awards. My daughter scored higher than him on 2 events and he scored higher than her on 2 events. All season I have gotten my daughter to focus on setting her own goals and not focus on the other teammates. Her goal is to try to improve her score each time and not how many ribbons she gets or where she places.
 
We are in Maine. There is a boys program about a half our away from our gym. I never really thought about an advantage/disadvantage until mu husband brought it up. I was just wondering what everyone else thought about it.

Drive the half hour and get him into a boys program if he really likes gymnastics.

Although the basic skills are the same and the younger tot and preschool classes you might not notice a difference - a boys program is very different than a girls program.

My son was in gymnastics since he was 3 he is now 17 and is a team Jr Coach. After he dislocated his knee at 16 he stopped competing. I also have a 12yo girl on the team at L7 and I can say their training is very different, the events are very different it's like comparing oranges to apples - both are fruit and sweet but they are still different.
 
We are in Maine. There is a boys program about a half our away from our gym. I never really thought about an advantage/disadvantage until mu husband brought it up. I was just wondering what everyone else thought about it.

1/2 an hour isn't that far a drive to go to gymnastics. That's what I drive and I have the short drive. There are some on our optional level team that drive an hour and a half to get there.
 
Maybe there is hope for me after all....I am a 37 yr woman and I would LOVE to do rings!!! LOL

MAG is designed for mens bodies....WAG for womens....It must be cute and all watching him do the girls events but once that wears off, well......I don't know....
aren't you kind of setting him up for disappointment???
Take him to the boys program where he can really be successfull....if it is just for fun, then, I guess who cares...but if he really is into it...then put him in the right program...
 
For many, many, many years I drove from Vermont to CT, from Vermont to New York, and in Vermont a 2 hr drive one way to train at a gym in Vermont. Vermont has very few gyms and only one would take me as an adult gymnast at that time. I say, do the right thing. Make the sacrifice and drive the boy to a gym with a men's program. It's the healthiest thing to do for the kid. Please think about it for the his sake.
 
When I first started my club we had 2 boys (about 9 and 11)and 3 girls on our interclub team (rec - but "competes" at fun meets). Our total club size was about 20 kids and didn't have much equipment so there was definitely no other option for them. The boys did not train beam and did have a rings routine that they could do if the host gym had rings set up. Their bars were more strength moves like pike/straddle/tuck-ups, chins ups and swings. Floor was done to music but we picked something they liked and it was mostly tumbling. They were at a huge disadvantage when it came to flexibility though - they were essentially stuck at their level because neither were anywhere near a bridge kickover. (and training an hour and a half a week doesn't help much). Overall though it was a positive experience for them and us.....but if there had been a boys gym anywhere near us we would have recommended it to them!
 
Same here rec coach, there is no boys programmes close to here and therefore we have boys in the gym up until they are about 9, after that we cannot accomodate them as then meets are regulated. But in our regional comp league we have CR1 and CR2 in which boys and girls compete the same skills as it is rec developmental.

I am sure many of the boys, and girls in fact, would not be doing gym if they had to drive an extra 30 minutes, parents are often not that commited. The boys in our club have a blast, and yes they do beam, balance is never a bad skill for either sex.
 
okay. i see geography is a problem. overall, better to be exposed to gymnastics than not at all. the overall benefits outweight the deficits.

with that said, at some point i hope those parents consider driving the 1/2 hour. since i'm doing a little research for that other thread [which i'm about to post] i haven't had time to check ymca rules to see if they allowed, lets say, a level 8 boy competing girls events.

so, i'll get back to you on this one later.
 

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