my personal experience with TOPs
like i said in the chat there's not really like requirements. i don't think TOPs has anything to do with judges either, more coaches.
what TOPs is is a program designed to find young girls with the right supposed physical/psychological skills to be good gymnasts and foster that talent. the main requirement is that you're between the ages of 7 and 11.
every summer gyms that do TOPs do skill evaluations set up through national coordinators. it's a lot of basics, but it changes every year. look on the USAG website. from there if you do well enough, you d national testing in october. if you perform really well there you can get invited to national camp in december. there's 3 groups. diamond for 7-8 year olds and a and b for 9-11 year olds depending on how well you do.
i had the chance to do national TOP B camp when i was 9 (in 2000). it was before it was at the ranch, it was in tulsa, but it was still an awesome experience. the idea was to get girls prepped for pre-elite. it allows you to qualify for elite by skipping the JO levels and go straight to qualifying meets. unfortunately b/c of family issues and gym locations i didn't get to go down that track, but a lot of TOPs participants do go on the elite track.
that said, it was a great program, but a LOT of hard work. it's not just something you can wake up and be like, oh i'm going to do this! if u don't want to really dedicate yourself. but it's totally worth the time and an amazing experience. i'd encourage all gymnasts in the age group to go for it.
hope that helps.
:: USA Gymnastics :: is the main TOPs USAG page for the details