Parents Just a vent about sandbaggers!

[gymdoc]

So we went to cheer on our teammates at a L5 meet this weekend. It is known to be a tough meet, as the best teams in the state all go, and many of them plan to compete L7 in the spring so they are really good

However, there was one girl on bars who had all her casts to full handstand and her CLEAR HIP was to handstand as well. She scored a 9.8 Our coach said she got deductions for doing a C skill, lol. It was a beautiful routine, but come on, let that girl move on to level 7 already!!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I think I know the meet/gymnast you are talking about. Have you looked her up in mymeetscores? If it's who I think it is, she is pretty amazing! I'm not sure it's sandbagging exactly because she isn't repeating and I think it really was her first level 5 meet. I heard that they are only competing a couple meets at level 5 and then moving on to level 7. Not that that is much consolation to her age group competitors. She's pretty impossible to beat! Of course I could be completely wrong about who your are taking about in which case maybe it is a case of sandbagging.

 

[gymbeam]

nope, not sandbagging when you're not repeating and moving up each season and training just like all the rest.
just a really talented girl and an awesome coach apparently!

 

[gymbeam]

ps: you talking about everest meet?

 

[Natasha]

Most optionals don't compete until January, so it makes sense that talented kids are going to compete a few meets at 5 in the fall to score out and then go 7 in Spring. And, any kid who is going 7 in less than 3 months should have their cast HS, as it is a deduction for every cast that does not meet HS in optionals. I would only consider this sandbagging if the kid did L5 last year as well or continues L5 next year. Doing 1 level a season is not sandbagging.

 

[Gymmommy71]

So we went to cheer on our teammates at a L5 meet this weekend. It is known to be a tough meet, as the best teams in the state all go, and many of them plan to compete L7 in the spring so they are really good

However, there was one girl on bars who had all her casts to full handstand and her CLEAR HIP was to handstand as well. She scored a 9.8 Our coach said she got deductions for doing a C skill, lol. It was a beautiful routine, but come on, let that girl move on to level 7 already!!

How did she get a deduction for doing a C skill in a compulsory routine? You don't get deductions for doing skills so well that they count as B and C skills.

 

[gymbeam]

good point, gymmomy71. if its the child i'm thinking of, her deduction had something to do with her flyaway.

 

[gymdog]

I think the coach was joking.

But it's not sandbagging if it's her first level 5 meet and she's not 14 (in which case she could petition out) she would have to compete 5 at least once and it's appropriate to compete it a few times. That is amazing though! Now if it were a whole team doing that then I'd wonder.

 

[gymdoc]

So I hadn't looked her up - I guess she's entitled to ONE level 5 meet, lol. She is just so obviously ready for bigger and better things! And yes, the coach was joking about her deduction on the C skill.

The different gym philosophies are so interesting to me. There were those posts a few weeks ago about kids being rushed through L4 and L5 with barely their kips and tucks, and then other girls, like this one, who are clearly talented and ready for optionals, that spend years getting there!

 

[gymbeam]

If we're talking about the same girl, she has neither been rushed nor spent years getting there. You can see on mymeetscores that her first competition was at age 7 in Xcel Bronze division in January 2014. She then competed a season of silver, a season of 4, now doing 5 and she will compete level 7 in January 2017 at age 10.

Her gym has moved her up at a normal pace. If anything, she has moved quicker than others who repeat levels, or who also do level 6 or who take a year between 5 and 7.

The truth is she is just friggin' amazing!

*For the record, her gym has another gymnast with amazing scores who my daughter sometimes has to compete against in a different level. I sometimes wish I could fault the philosophy or something, but the girls really are where they should be... fair and square.

 

[Ali'sMom]

We have a girl whom my DD competes against, who is utterly amazing to watch. Her floor routine as a 13/14 year old L6 was choreographed that she could take it to college with her (with upgraded skills, of course), it was amazing to watch!

I've been watching her since L3, at small meets she is in my DD's age group. I know she hasn't been rushed, nor held back. She has done one level a year. So I truly appreciate watching her, and I hope she makes it to a college team. Another mom who hasn't been aware of her (because of different age groups, etc), just recently said "Well, if she's THAT good, she should be a couple levels ahead, that's just not right". I explained I didn't agree. This girl shouldn't have to be pushed through just because she's good. (I think it was Aly Raisman who said that being up against Simone, she's considering silver to be the best she could get. At a small meet, DD saw this girl's name, and said "I'm going for SILVER!!!" And she got it, and she was thrilled)
On the other hand, at the same meets, my L6 DD would also be up against girls from another gym who spent 2-3 years as L4, coming in 1st-3rd places since their FIRST year as L4. Those girls were definitely ready for L7 and some were ready for L8, skill-wise. THOSE are the girls who I had a VERY hard time appreciating.
(As a matter of fact, at one meet, the first girl I just spoke about beat all the girls on the other team and I was THRILLED! LOL!)

 

[Ali'sMom]

If we're talking about the same girl, she has neither been rushed nor spent years getting there. You can see on mymeetscores that her first competition was at age 7 in Xcel Bronze division in January 2014. She then competed a season of silver, a season of 4, now doing 5 and she will compete level 7 in January 2017 at age 10.

Okay, I'm usually pretty good about finding these scores, but for the life of me, I can't
Under the top 100, I just went through all the L5s who scored 9.8 (and higher) on bars, and none fit that profile.
Can someone help out a curious fellow gym mom?

 

[gymbeam]

her most recent meet isnt on mymeetscores yet. its on beyondthescores though and should be on mymeetscores anytime because the first day of the meet is on there- just not the second.

 

[Ali'sMom]

her most recent meet isnt on mymeetscores yet. its on beyondthescores though and should be on mymeetscores anytime because the first day of the meet is on there- just not the second.

Now that, I can handle
Thank you!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

If we're talking about the same girl, she has neither been rushed nor spent years getting there. You can see on mymeetscores that her first competition was at age 7 in Xcel Bronze division in January 2014. She then competed a season of silver, a season of 4, now doing 5 and she will compete level 7 in January 2017 at age 10.

Her gym has moved her up at a normal pace. If anything, she has moved quicker than others who repeat levels, or who also do level 6 or who take a year between 5 and 7.

The truth is she is just friggin' amazing!

*For the record, her gym has another gymnast with amazing scores who my daughter sometimes has to compete against in a different level. I sometimes wish I could fault the philosophy or something, but the girls really are where they should be... fair and square.

We are definitely talking about the same girl. I know that some of the level 5 parents at dd's gyms were rather relieved to hear that they will only be competing at a few meets this season.

We have a couple of girls at dd's gym that were level 4's last year that have been training for level 7 since the state meet. They took them to a small, local meet to score out of level 5 and they will be competing 7 this winter. We also have a large group of level 5's (all were level 4's last year) that have been training level 5 and uptraining recently that will compete 5 all season and then compete several meets at 7 this winter.

I think both dd's gym and the gym referred to by the OP are doing the "right" thing in not having the girls that are so clearly ready for level 7 compete a full season of 5 and dominate there which they most likely would.

 

[Aussie_coach]

If you have a super talented athlete it is important to pace them. Rushing through the levels to hit optionals as young as possible, means continually increasing their training hours before their bodies may be ready to handle it.

If this kid is going to be 10 in January 2017, that means she will be too young for the 2020 Olympics. If her goal is the highest level of the sport then she will need to wait until 2024 to do this. That is 8 years away, pacing her now will ensure she is more likely to still be in the sport in 8 years.

 

[Sasha]

Sounds like a wonderfully talented girl in a supportive program from all the comments. Nice.

I will also agree with people citing that because there are a good number of gyms that do a 5/7 fall/spring season (double season), the Level 5s at these gyms have to be quite far along in skills. This strategy often means repeating of early levels for many, even the reasonably talented ones who did well in L4/5, but aren't quite there in the 'big' skills for L7. So it looks like they are sandbagging, when it is actually just keeping 4's and 5's actively competing until they are ready to make that jump to L7. The most talented may not need to repeat in this model, but many successful girls will repeat.

Our gym competes L6 for nearly everyone, so there are fewer repeaters at 4 and 5, as they have 'longer' to get to L7 and above.

 

[triplethreat+1]

So, I don't understand. If they did well at 4/5, but don't have their skills for 7, why not do 6? Why the push for a 5/7 season?

 

[Seeker]

Most gyms in our area don't do L6, so if you're not ready for the 5/7 back-to-back season, then you do a full season of L5 (ending in Dec) and don't compete again until the following Optional season (generally starting in Jan), so it's a full year w/o competition.

 

[gymbeam]

So, I don't understand. If they did well at 4/5, but don't have their skills for 7, why not do 6? Why the push for a 5/7 season?

i would imagine that's what usually happens. or, like seeker said they just wait out a whole year.