Parents Process for moving up a level?

[JumpingQueen]

Hello! Curious to hear the process at other gyms for making the team (moving up from Pre-team to whatever first level competes) or moving up a level. Ours is a really formal testing process and only available once a year (happens right after the end of a season). You have to have mastered each skill for that next level to move up and it’s months before the season or you repeat. Is that typical?

 

[duyetanh]

Every gym is different honestly. But to have all your skills for the next level immediately after you finish states at a lower level seems a bit much.

 

[josie55]

I don't know that it's typical, but my dd's gym has a similar process. They have a testing period of about one month and it's quite formal (essentially the skills must be mastered.) At the end of the testing period, gymnasts are told whether they made team, are moving up, will be repeating, etc. Testing doesn't start right at the end of the season, though; it takes place several months before the first competition of the next season. Once testing is complete and girls are placed, they spend the next three months working routines and perfecting skills. The standards are high, but on the plus side the team does well and you don't see kids competing skills that they are not safe doing.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

Our gym announces training levels for summer and the level you will actually compete is given at the end of summer.

 

[GymMom4]

For our team it’s all very clear as to expectations. Parents of compulsory girls know that kids will have from end of season until toward the end of summer to work on the next level’s skills and then they have parent-coach meetings to talk about progress and placement for the coming season. If kids have skills mastered or close to it, they move up. If not, they don’t. The want the kids to be safe and successful. And it’s not uncommon to repeat level 4 at our gym, in fact it’s pretty standard since it’s such a big jump from level 3. They want the kids to have a solid foundation of those skills since they do a short season of 5 and then move right to 6. For optional girls we know by about October which level the girls will compete.

 

[Seeker]

Every gym is different honestly. But to have all your skills for the next level immediately after you finish states at a lower level seems a bit much.

Agree this is a rather lofty expectation. Would be curious to learn about their training plan and how much focus there has been on those higher level skills and how much practice time they’ve been allowed. Also, are they able to show a skill on an extra mat, on low beam, into pit, etc. or does it have to be full out?

 

[MILgymFAM]

At my DDs current gym it’s all very fluid for optionals because they’re all training in one small group for L6-9 (now 10). They all just keep working and the coach decides their level about a month before it’s time to register for meets, but many girls do move up mid-season as well.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Child and skill dependent. End of season. Full time up training begins. Kids are then “training” Lx

Final decisions made sometime around the middle of August.

We have no preteam. Rec kids filter to L2. Any child coming from a different gym. Coaches check out their skills, strength and form and place them. Before the mandatory L4, they don’t care what level you were, they place you where you fit based on how they do things. Most of the kids that come from other gyms typically end up back a level.

 

[PRY9]

Ours continue to train with their same team after states until school is out, although they are focusing on upskills. Once summer session starts, they are split into new groups - moving up, possibly moving up, and probably repeating. (they don't call them this ; ) ) Mid-August an email is sent out with team placement. There is no parent meeting or discussion.

 

[PRY9]

There is a testing day in May to initially make the team. I don't believe they allow rec/pre-team kids to test in any other time of the year. They have added a few gymnasts at other times of the year, all the ones I know of were due to moving to the area or gyms closing.

 

[mls529]

There is a testing day in May to initially make the team. I don't believe they allow rec/pre-team kids to test in any other time of the year. They have added a few gymnasts at other times of the year, all the ones I know of were due to moving to the area or gyms closing.

Yes, the process of moving from pre-team to team is different than the team girls being placed into a level for the next year. Specifically for pre-team, both gyms we have been at require the basic skills for the next level to move up. For example, they won't move a pre-team girl who doesn't have a BHS into level 3. I am sure there are exceptions if a girl has almost all skills and is really close on 1 or 2 skills.

In my experience, it is only one time a year that girls are moved from pre-team to team (typically April/May) and then only one time a year that a girl is assigned a team level to compete for the year (typically August).

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

General “testing” at the end of season for getting from preteam to L3, and we look more at where the gymnast is at as far as basics, form and strength. We work all L3 skills or at the very least drills for them in preteam so we have a pretty good idea of which girls will get the skills in time. They do NOT need to have the skills for the new level beforehand, but should be pretty well on their way...
I coach both preteam and L3 so I have a plan for each kid well in advance. Every now and then we will have a kid who just isn’t panning out for team that year (usually effort or emotional maturity) and then we keep them in preteam another year but make sure they get to work the appropriate skills to make sure they move up next season.

As far as moving through the levels after that, it is up to the coaches and a decision we discuss extensively before end of season. We always try to place a kid in a Level where they will be challenged but not completely behind, and have a chance at personal successes. Sometimes this means staying another year at a Compulsory level.

Optionals is a totally different ball game, lol!

 

[triplethreat+1]

We have parent/coach meetings at the end of the season (spring). The coach will give an estimate of what level they think the gymmie will be competing next year, but this can change as late as November (and we have had girls move up mid-season). Girls need to have all their skills competable by then with a few exceptions (eg stride circle for lvl 2)
Our work-out groups are based more on age and learning style, so each group has a small range of levels (eg my dd's is 2-4). Coaches make decisions on groups but do usually allow kids to move to a less intense group.

 

[John]

This year, my first year experiencing move ups, our coaches met individually with each athlete after their season has completed. From DD and her friends, I was informed that the coaches told them the plan for offseason and the plan for the next competition season. It seemed even proposed routines were already planned for. Parents were given no communication.

 

[raenndrops]

Hello! Curious to hear the process at other gyms for making the team (moving up from Pre-team to whatever first level competes) or moving up a level. Ours is a really formal testing process and only available once a year (happens right after the end of a season). You have to have mastered each skill for that next level to move up and it’s months before the season or you repeat. Is that typical?

I have heard of gyms like this before. Usually, these are the gyms that regularly uptrain during the season and the girls compete where they can be successful from the start... after all, they have the skills by the end of the previous season for the next level.
These gyms often have girls competing X level while mastering Y level skills and doing drills for Z level skills.

 

[duyetanh]

This year, my first year experiencing move ups, our coaches met individually with each athlete after their season has completed. From DD and her friends, I was informed that the coaches told them the plan for offseason and the plan for the next competition season. It seemed even proposed routines were already planned for. Parents were given no communication.

I am sorry you weren’t given any communication. I don’t think it is too much to have one meeting a year...even some very good coaches on this forum who have many, many athletes are able to pull this off...I think it’s important. It helps keep us in the loop.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Our girls are always uptraining and we have an in-house meet about a month before the first official meet of the season (one for compulsory and one for optionals). The decision on who to move up is usually made around this time. Most girls have a pretty good idea of what level they will be doing, whether they will be repeating their current level or moving up to the next level. My daughter was supposed to be a 9 this year, she couldn't get her level 10 bars skills and she did the in-house meet as a 9, but about a week after the meet she got her level 10 skills and they moved her to 10. So it's very fluid in our gym. Though they do want the girls to have received a 35 AA twice in the previous year and to have qualified for state to be able to move up.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

As for moving from pre-team to team, we have a tryout once a year for those girls trying to move to level 3 (that is the level our team starts at). I believe the tryout is held in April or May.

 

[SMH]

Within a month or so of state ending, each gymnast receives a paper evaluation with a short statement about each event, and included is their ‘projected’ level for next season. The coaches don’t meet with each gymnast individually, but have times open to meet if need be.
There may be more discussion with the gymnasts at the optional levels, but my kiddo is compulsory and they don’t directly discuss move ups or levels with them.

 

[mommyof1]

All level placement decisions are announced in May, after states. Kids moving from preteam to L3 do not usually have the L3 skills at move-up time. Kids moving from one competitive level to the next seem to have almost all of the skills for the next level, with the exception of a few skills that haven't been uptrained during the season (e.g., vault moving from L3 to L4, flyaway moving from L4 to L5). As far as I can tell, the coaches have a pretty good idea of their plans for each kid at least eight or nine months before move-ups are announced, and the end results don't vary much from those plans. There are no midseason move-ups, except for some possible fluidity at L8 and above.

The level placement comes in a letter that is not to be opened at the gym and not to be discussed with any other athlete. In many cases the placement is a total surprise to the child and/or parents. This year my daughter is lucky to have a relatively communicative coach, so we know what to expect and why.