WAG Top developmental JO programs in each state

[reluctant]

I think what is confusing is that the author has selected these gyms as "top" JO gyms, without explaining what criteria she used to select them as "top" JO gyms. Did she list every gym that met certain criteria? Did she analyze data from every gym in the country (goodness!) If so, what were those criteria? I am personally curious as to whether reputation had anything to do with the selections as well, as one of the PP suggested.

People may be wondering why an unlisted gym was not included as a "top" gym, as at least one poster above has done.

Some explanation about what criteria she used to select "top" JO gyms, along with some explanation about her methodology (data collection and data analysis, because as some have already noted, there are some errors), would have been nice.

I imagine they started by looking at state meet data: specifically data for level 9 and 10. In Georgia for instance, there are not that many gyms who have more than one girl who competes level 10 at the state meet (I think there were 9 gyms) so that would be the first cut.

 

[ayyyrial]

You have to ask what the goal of the program is. Retain gymnasts over time, no matter the level? Win team or individual medals at all levels? Get gymnasts to level 9/10; qualify them to Nationals? Get gymnasts to NCAA; get them college scholarships? Get gymnasts to elite; onto the national team?

Looks like this article was focusing on the ability of a gym to train an athlete to level 9 or 10, and the success of those athletes at that level. But it also seems to include the number of state AA champions at every level, and doesn't take into account the size of the program. E.g. I think there's a big difference between a gym with 5 L9s/10s where the whole program has 100 kids versus 30 kids.

It's also hard to look at these things because typically there will be some changes, often major changes, in a program between the time when Sally is a seven-year-old L4 to when she is a seventeen-year-old L10. It's a very interesting topic, though - I'd love to look at more variables in assessing the different program options in a state.

 

[mommyof1]

Never trust a ranking system that does not reveal its methodology.

The information is interesting and suggestive, but without knowing where they got their data, how reliable it is, and how they weighted it, it's hard to know for sure what to make of this.

I am not convinced the author used any type of index to select the gyms on the list. I get the impression she subjectively selected the "top" gyms by eyeballing a limited set of variables (perhaps number of L10s competing at states, number of L9s competing at states, and number of state champions) and then collected additional data to fill out the profiles of the gyms that made her list.

I agree that the author should be commended for highlighting the percentage of "homegrown" gymnasts.

I have a colleague who is forever trying to come up with ideas for a sports-related article. It could be interesting to try to model JO gymnastics program effectiveness. Hmmm...

 

[sce]

While I agree that the list is not perfect, I think we need to not pick it apart. Someone went to the effort to compile information that many people do like to consider when narrowing down top gyms in an area.

 

[mommyof1]

While I agree that the list is not perfect, I think we need to not pick it apart. Someone went to the effort to compile information that many people do like to consider when narrowing down top gyms in an area.

I suspect that at least a few of the people "picking it apart" come from fields where having this type of product picked apart is the expectation, and have been on the receiving end numerous times.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Our gym didn't make list oh well...it's #1 to us!!! #goflips

 

[ayyyrial]

I think the concern is that if you create and publish a list called "Best Developmental JO Clubs in Each State", you should probably talk about how you decided what "best" is. Otherwise, it's not very useful since we don't really know what the list is even measuring. The way it is now, we only have a guess based on the stats the author included. Also, it sounds like some people on here know that some of the numbers provided are incorrect, so it would be nice to know where the author found those numbers.

It is a cool project and it's nice to have these numbers in one place (though it's not very useful if those numbers aren't accurate). I don't think it's a bad idea, it's just not done yet. I'd love an updated list with more info.

 

[gymmom11]

Well the list is developmentsl JO programs, so that would not be consuderin elite or hopes.

Yes, I understand.. my point being we don't do extra hours for toPS training.. our compulsory levels are just that, compulsory JO.. and without TOPS/HOPES/ELITE tracks at our gymnour girls aren't conditioning or training nearly as much.. and in addition, we lose many great gymnasts to the other gym mentioned in our state due to the fact that they train elite track with supplementary hours and we do not

 

[gymbeam]

I'm in the field of clinical research and so this type of thing really makes me cringe. As others have said, without knowing methodology and sources this is meaningless. Unfortunately not everyone will recognize that. Fortunately it isn't really that big of a deal. LOL.

I'll also add that another issue I see with the data is there are many athletes who have had two mymeetscores accounts created somewhere along the line and unless you checked every single person to see if there was a duplicate account for them, you might miss that they did actually start at the same gym they are competing for in Level 9 or 10.

We have a girl at our gym who has two accounts and her scores have actually gone back and forth between the two over the years.

 

[Seeker]

We have a girl at our gym who has two accounts and her scores have actually gone back and forth between the two over the years.

This is true -- my daughter actually has 3 accounts. She had 2 ever since a gym change after L4, but then she made the State Team for L8 Regionals and a new one popped up under gym name "Team Alaska" (or something like that! ).

 

[mom2newgymnast]

This is true -- my daughter actually has 3 accounts. She had 2 ever since a gym change after L4, but then she made the State Team for L8 Regionals and a new one popped up under gym name "Team Alaska" (or something like that! ).

My daughter has 2 accounts too. One is her name spelled correctly and the other is her name minus a letter in the middle. What's sad is it is a common name/hard to misspell and yet there are 7 meets over 3 years where it was spelled incorrectly?? Crazy. (Yes, I know that isn't mymeetscores fault. I guess it is our gym that has issues entering her name when registering for the meets. It's still crazy that it has been spelled wrong 7 times though!)

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

My DD also has 2 accounts on mymeetscores, due to her name being misspelled. I didn't realize how common this was...

 

[Mrs. Puma]

My DD also has 2 accounts on mymeetscores, due to her name being misspelled. I didn't realize how common this was...

With my recent USAIGC experience (not that this will affect this particular conversation) I've noticed that it's super common to have multiple accounts. Some meets will list Bronze as "B", some as "BR", some as "B1", ect...you add in misspellings and the fact that a lot of these girls have been in JO or Xcel at some point, it seems like more IGC girls than not have more than 1 account. Puma Jr has 3. I wish there was a way to tie them all together. Can you imagine what a huge undertaking that would be?! Ok, who volunteers? LOL

 

[coachmolly]

With my recent USAIGC experience (not that this will affect this particular conversation) I've noticed that it's super common to have multiple accounts. Some meets will list Bronze as "B", some as "BR", some as "B1", ect...you add in misspellings and the fact that a lot of these girls have been in JO or Xcel at some point, it seems like more IGC girls than not have more than 1 account. Puma Jr has 3. I wish there was a way to tie them all together. Can you imagine what a huge undertaking that would be?! Ok, who volunteers? LOL

I used to work at a non-profit and was in charge of the client database management. After going in to find a client's information only to find they had numerous accounts, I made it my mission to combine all duplicate accounts. It took a ton of time to sort through all the entries, find duplicates, confirm duplicates were indeed the same person and merge accounts, but it was actually one of the more enjoyable aspects of that particular job. And it was very satisfying to get that mess cleaned up. It was on a much much smaller scale than Mymeetscores, but it's possible you could find a small group of people willing to take on the task slowly!

 

[Texasmomof3]

My dd had four different mymeetscores profiles just from level 3. (She is now a lvl 8, and it hasn't gotten much better.). It seems every meet spelled her name differently.

She is also missing scores from multiple meets on both mymeetscoresonline and mymeetscores. In addition, both systems show her with different placements than the actual medals she received at the meets in more than one meet.

Both systems are a bit of a mess.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

I used to work at a non-profit and was in charge of the client database management. After going in to find a client's information only to find they had numerous accounts, I made it my mission to combine all duplicate accounts. It took a ton of time to sort through all the entries, find duplicates, confirm duplicates were indeed the same person and merge accounts, but it was actually one of the more enjoyable aspects of that particular job. And it was very satisfying to get that mess cleaned up. It was on a much much smaller scale than Mymeetscores, but it's possible you could find a small group of people willing to take on the task slowly!

You're hired! Lol actually that would be up my alley too. Both mymeetscores and meetscores have these issue so do you want to divide and conquer? LOL

 

[cadybearsmommy]

You can actually email mymeetscores and tell them the different profiles of your gymnast and they will combine them for you. Takes a week or so but definitely worth it!

 

[Mrs. Puma]

You can actually email mymeetscores and tell them the different profiles of your gymnast and they will combine them for you. Takes a week or so but definitely worth it!

good to know!

 

[Texasmomof3]

You're hired! Lol actually that would be up my alley too. Both mymeetscores and meetscores have these issue so do you want to divide and conquer? LOL

What is their email address?

 

[Mrs. Puma]

What is their email address?

@cadybearsmommy ?