Parents Does your team have annual try outs?

[Flyaway]

Just curious about what other gyms do.

Do they hold annual try outs for team? Or is it once you make the team you're always on team?

If gymnasts do have to try out every year, is it just compulsory level girls or do optionals have to try out too?

Is it open to anyone (rec kids welcome) or invite only?

What is evaluated?

If your gym doesn't do try outs, how do they choose the team?

 

[John]

Dani's gym has open evaluations just need to ask. Here is how her trial process went.

I made a phone call and inquired about team tryouts:

• Was given general information and a contact name and number.
• Spoke to that coach and emailed a list of skills.
• Dani visited the gym on a Saturday just to see it and see the team practice.
• HC/Owner walked thru the lobby and did not recognize her. Asked her a few questions and gave her a tour and did some introductions.
  
• Dani's evaluation was a week in duration (not optional). She was asked to attend every practice. The HC/owner, he is the optionals coach, had her rotate with whatever group he was with level did not matter.
• When the week was over he spoke to us and gave us his thoughts asked to see some routine videos from the old gym.
• His thoughts were. I love her tumbling she is very powerful. Her beam is what he expected. Love her vaulting skills. Has she ever done bars? She will train level 7 give me a year to see what we can do she is weak. End of conversation. LOL
• We committed and she joined the team and gym 2 weeks later and was invited to the end of year banquet.

 

[CLgym]

To my knowledge -- Neither gym we've attended has held annual try-outs, or open try-outs of any kind for team or pre-team. JO teams are fed through a pre-team program, selected by invite only. Coaches are on the look out for talent in the preschool/kindergarten classes, I guess. Of course, there are private try-outs for team gymnasts trying to transfer from another gym.

At current gym, there is internal testing for level placements throughout the summer. On occasion, a gymnast who is struggling for whatever reason will be directed to Xcel (following a meeting with the HC).

Xcel programs were handled differently at the two gyms. I believe our current gym offers Xcel as an option for rec girls who reach a certain skill level. On the other hand, our first gym treated Xcel as a "JO B-team" and filled it with the pre-team gymnasts who didn't get picked for the HC's highly-selective JO team. Notably, this gym also had several other team tracks (even less competitive than Xcel) that were filled somehow through the rec program.

I have no idea what is evaluated when team or pre-team invites are made. At first gym, there was a very strong emphasis on body type and age -- much more than skill level. This was not a secret, it was open gym philosophy. Current gym is more inclusive (wider range of ages and body types), although JO still skews pretty young.

 

[duyetanh]

Yes in terms of joining team.
Once you are on team, parents meet with coaches at end of season to discuss season and what they feel is best plan for child moving forward.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Just curious about what other gyms do.

Do they hold annual try outs for team? Or is it once you make the team you're always on team?

If gymnasts do have to try out every year, is it just compulsory level girls or do optionals have to try out too?

Is it open to anyone (rec kids welcome) or invite only?

What is evaluated?

If your gym doesn't do try outs, how do they choose the team?

Dd's gym does not hold try outs for the JO team. I don't know about the process for Xcel. The JO team is chosen mostly through the preschool training group. The training group is invitation only. If someone wants to join team from another gym or is new to the area, than they arrange to be evaluated by several of the team coaches.

For the most part, once you are on the team, you are on the team. I am sure there are some exceptions. In general, the training groups all move up together. It's pretty rare not to move up a level at the end of the season, at least for levels 7 and below. Occasionally someone will skip or repeat, but it's not common. Of course level's 8 and up are different, but I have no experience there yet.

 

[suebee]

Dd’s gym is similar to what CLgym described as well. Preteam is invite only from rec. Team is invite only from pre-team. No tryouts of any type to enter either of these.

Kids are invited to pre-team all year but kids are asked to join team from preteam only at the beginning of the summer. No one joins team mid-year, unless coming from another gym. Kids are not ever accepted during competition season, unless they just moved to the area from somewhere else.

There are usually no specific evaluations or tryouts to move up on team. Whether you move up is decided by coaches based on their constant evaluation. I suspect kids are sometimes not offered a spot in the next level and instead offered a spot in Xcel. Gym does not have kids repeat levels until optionals, so if you aren’t ready to move up, I think they push you to Xcel.

Kids who are already on team at another gym can try out for team by practicing with the team for a week, I think. Whether they are invited to join the team seems to depend on the coaches’ opinions, their skills, work ethic, and whether there is space on the team.

 

[DebraNC]

At our first gym team was invite only, at our new gym they do have try outs but you have to be invited. Everyone goes Xcel at both gyms. The old gym then moves from Xcel to Level 6. New gym's goal is to get everyone on the JO track after a strong silver year. I think they start at 4 or 5, but I'm not positive, we aren't there yet.

 

[raenndrops]

Our gym has tryouts for girls who want to join team.
The advanced rec class parents are invited to a parent meeting about team (there are 3 of these meetings on different days and times to accommodate different availability).
There is an online sign up for tryout slots (max of 5 girls in a time slot and 10 time slots over 2 weeks).

The girls are judged on the skills for Level 2 and 3 (some L2 skills and some L3 skills). They need to have 95% of the L2 skills tested and 75% of the L3 skills tested.

Once you are on team, you do not need to tryout again. Move ups / repeats are determined in August/September/October for L3/4 and L4/5 and L6/7 and L7/8 and L8/9. If they competed L5 last season, they move to L6 as long as they met the minimum score (which they all did).

For the Xcel Girls, they know if they are moving from Gold to Platinum (barring any unforeseen circumstances) in April... so now, the 2 moving up know.

If you join our team from another team, you get to come to practice for 1-2 weeks to see if it is what you want. You are placed in the appropriate training group. If you join team between Labor Day and Christmas break, you are given the option to compete during the current season. If not, you have to wait until the following season. If you join January-March, you have to wait to compete, so you train with the next level up training group.
If you join April-June or August (we only have rec camp in July, so technically, you can inquire about switching, but don't actually get to see a team practice until August), then you sign the team paperwork with everyone else in August.

 

[Flyaway]

@raenndrops that sounds very organized!

 

[rjb123]

I don't think that DD's gym does annual try outs. When she moved to pre team, her rec team coach just handed me a paper and told me to sign her up for the class listed. I followed directions and here we are! LOL! It worked well for her, and I don't *think* they do try out now either. When a girl is coming from another gym, they do a practice or two with the team in the appropriate training group. Then the level coaches or HC will talk to the parents/ kid after the practice. I do know in the lower levels DD has said that the coaches will ask the girl what gym she came from, state, scores, did she go to regionals, etc.

 

[twinmomma]

Couldn't tell you about the girls/boys teams, but T&T we have annual tryouts. This year, coach has told the returning kids that they won't have to come to tryouts, but that they are being evaluated NOW for move ups to the upper training groups. We have three training groups with various levels in each. Our upper level group has our 7s and up. Middle group is mostly the 4-6s, and the lower level group is a mix of 2-4. Move ups this year I would guess would be on their highest event level, as T&T you can be different levels on each apparatus.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

No. If you come from another gym, they will evaluate the gymmie and offer a spot somewhere, not necessarily team. I don't think they turn anyone down just put them where they think they need to be to start with. Now if the parent doesn't like the spot offered, they move on.

So when we came over mine was a L3 at the old gym, they bumped her back to L2.

Once they are at the gym, its skill based if they have the skills for the level safely they move up. If they feel its better they stay back, that's how it goes. Now that the kids are getting to upper levels they also get input from the kids.

So last summer there were some cusp kids, L6 or L7 and they gave consideration to what the kids wanted. There were few who wanted to stay 6 so they did. Mine wanted to move up so she went to 7.

Based on skill current skill acquisition (as long as they stay healthy and have no blocks). Most of the 6s will go to 7. Most of our 7s going to 8. Our 8 is a possible 9, repeat 8, that I could see going either way.

We only have one team, so there is no Xcel options, we used to have 2 seasons but since NY no longer does Early States, its JO only or rec. We have had kids who have topped out JO wise move to other gyms and programs rather then do a 3rd year at L2 or L3......

 

[kiwi2406]

At our gym, once you are on team, you are on team, but if you aren't holding up to scratch, you may be required to repeat a STEP, which in the long run, isn't that big of a deal but will sometimes lead to parents pulling their children unfortunately.

Our team is invite only, and we feed through a pre-comp level, which we don't really put anyone on who is older than 10. Older girls get other opportunities to compete though, such as through their school, or at mini in-house meets/ regional meets.

If someone is coming from another gym, they are asked things like what STEP they're at, how many hours they trained previously, if they up-treained anything etc, just so we have some background information of where they will fit in best, and choose where to place them from there, whether that be in the STEP that were competing/ training towards, or occasionally at a lower one, if they have taken a substantial break from training.

When girls are considered to be placed on team, the things looked at are their work ethic, drive, body/ air awareness, the ability to stay tight, some form of natural strength and flexibility/ natural talent, and their ability to learn quickly/ pick up skills quickly. If they or the parents personally express interest for a rec gymnast to be put on team, they will be looked at closely by coaches and will work towards getting them to the appropriate level.

 

[triplethreat+1]

Our gym does not have tryouts. Kids in the rec programs are invited to team or pre-team, anywhere from preschoolers being invited to a hotshots group to teens being invited to a house league group. Every spring gymnasts are given a group recommendation (exact level to be determined in the fall). There is quite a lot of movement between groups from year to year. I believe parents/ gymnasts can request a 'less intense' group placement than they were given. There are coach-parent interviews in the spring as well.

 

[RosellaJam]

Current gym hold open tryouts once a year towards the end of the year and training group/level placements are determined from that. Current team members find out near the end of the season what level they will be in for the following year, no need to try out again.

The previous gym DD was at was strictly only looking for girls with elite potential and they held open tryouts usually twice a year but would allow anyone to tryout throughtout the year as well. Group placement was loosely based on age. Every gymnast was continually evaluated and parent meetings were held every 3 months for the younger girls (6 to 12 months for older girls) where the coaches would discuss your daughters progress with you and let you know if there were issues with skill progression. If the gymnast wasn't progressing fast enough then they would have to leave the program. It sounds really awful written down but it is actually a really supportive gym and DD did really well there. The only reason we switched was because of cost.

 

[SMH]

Current team: no official tryout. The coaches (I’m assuming) are constantly evaluating, as often shift training groups around throughout the year. The gymnasts receive a paper evaluation with their expected level for next season after state competition.

There are two pre teams ( one ages 4-6 and one 7 and up) that are invite only through rec classes, they have a formal evaluation once a year, (around the same time team kids receive their evaluations), for team placement.
There is also a ‘talent opportunity day’ where kids who are not on pre team can tryout.

 

[Annikins]

Our squads do quarterly assessments of things like strength, fitness, flexibility. A whole evening is spent counting press-ups, sit-ups, etc. Also the coach takes into account competition results, attitude to training, skills achieved. Once a year the groups are moved around a bit to put everyone in the right places for the following year.

Promising young rec children are spotted by the coach as they are doing classes. Someone coming in from another club does a trial session with the group they would be with. Then they might be invited to join on a trial basis for six weeks. Then you're in apart from possibly being moved groups once a year as above.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Open tryouts for pre-team and Xcel. When we finish the competitive season, we look at our groups and offer a trial period (usually 2wks) to preteam girls we feel can move up to L3. Every now and then we scout advanced rec classes for L3 but usually we try to get them into pre-team first.
Once you’re on team, it is more or less presumed that you want to keep doing team unless we hear otherwise. We will place the kids in their new training groups and send out info about changing hours etc.
There are always parent meetings for each level and you can request personal meetings if you have any concerns.
If kids are wanting to move to Xcel or quit gym altogether, it is always appreciated when that is discussed with your coaches, we have had a few surprises...

 

[mommyof1]

Annual tryouts for those first entering the team program. Tryouts are publicly announced and seem to be pretty open, but parents are required to meet with the child's rec coach before the child is invited to tryouts.

No tryouts for kids continuing on preteam or team. Decisions are made by the coaching staff based on the child's performance and progress throughout the year. Some coaches are relatively communicative about placement decisions, but most are not and there is always a lot of disappointment when placement letters come out and kids are blindsided to learn that they are repeating a level or being bumped to Xcel when they want to continue in JO.

Kids transferring from another team attend one or two trial practices with the group they will join.

 

[Taxidriver]

No annual try outs once on team always on team.
Kids are invited from rec or those coming from a different club come to a trial session.
I’m from UK so competition structure is a bit different, training groups are mixed around as and when is best no set time of year.