ACRO grades and questions.

[coco bongo]

Hi, this is my first time posting here so thank you for taking the time to read this thread.

My DD (age 9) is in an acro group which she has been in for 1.5 years now. She competed for the first time this weekend in the Scottish Championships and won silver medal. She is competing at level 2 but her coach has said she is moving to level 3. I am wondering if anyone can explain these grades to me. My daughter says that level 1 and 2 used to be called Preparation group A and prep group B. I know the grades go up to grade 6 and there is also 11-16, 12-18, 13-19 and out of age. I am confused as some of the kids competing in level 5 were aged around 14. I just can't grasp the correlation between the grades and ages.

I am also curious to know how other kids get into gymnastics. My daughter was spotted at a rec class and asked to go for a 6 week trial with the club, after which she was selected to join them. She train 4 x weekly (12.5 hours). Our fees are only £50 per month. Am I right in saying that is extremely cheap? I spoke to others at the weekend that are paying about £60 per week.

Thanks for taking the time to read. x

 

[Jenny]

I know nothing about acro but welcome. Well done on her silver medal. I would say £50 month is cheap and £60 a week is extortionate!

 

[coco bongo]

Thank you very much for the reply Jenny and for the warm welcome. My daughters club does receive a lot of funding from National Lotteries and Sports Scotland and I believe the only club in Scotland that gets this funding. I may be wrong on that however. It works out that we are paying £1 per hour which seems like great value to me. I was just curious after speaking to other parents at the recent competition. x

 

[Faith]

As far as I know age has no correlation with grade in acro- or at least there never needed to be. Mainly because with pairs and trio's you need a mix of ages within a group- it's hard to find an 8 year old who can lift another 8 year old safely . SO generally the bases are bigger and older, with smaller, younger tops. Although a quick look round the BG site it does appear they've brought some age restrictions in. Probably because clubs used to accelerate talented littlies through the grades by partnering them with a very experienced base.

Scottish gymnastics may be different ( it was when I was up there ), but the BG competition handbook is here:

http://www.british-gymnastics.org/technical-information/competition-handbooks/acrobatic\

I have a book with all the grades in but I think it's hopelessly out of date now.. AS with all BG stuff anything like that is now behind a firewall so us public can't access the technical info. Wish they'd be more open about it!

If she got silver has she qualified for british then? Exciting!

 

[coco bongo]

Thank you so much Faith. I will go have a look at the booklet. I understand what you say about the grades etc and age because of tops and bases. What I can't grasp is some kids go from grade 3 to 11-16 and skip out grade 4, 5 and 6. I would ask her coach but they never have any spare time and like you say it is like the secret society. I don't even know if she qualified for the British. I do know know that everyone who got gold qualified for the Celtic Cup at the end of the month. I know that if the gold medalists drop out then my DD trio can step up to compete in their place.

 

[coco bongo]

Also wanted to ask..our club said kids cannot compete until age 9 here in Scotland. Is that correct?

 

[Jym]

Hi

Yes, your daughter is right, Grades 1 and 2 used to be Prep A and Prep B - they changed their names following the introduction of the NDP 8 (National Development Plan 8).

The grades go from 1-6 pairs, plus out of age; and 2-6 groups, plus out of age.
Gymnasts need to be in their 9th year to compete and there can be no more than 7 years (in year of competition) between the oldest and the youngest. There are also restrictions on the lower grades maximum ages - no older than 11th year for Grade 1, no older than 12th year for Grade 2 and no older than 16th year for Grade 3.

If the gymnasts do not meet the age rule gap, then they compete 'Out of Age', however the top must be at least in their 11th year and the base must be at least in their 19th year.

Grades 1 to 6 are the NDP grades, which is a participation pathway, the 11-16, 12-18, 13-19 and Senior levels (FIG) are performance pathways and lead to international competition (British Championships, Tournament, European Championships, World Championships etc). Gymnasts can dip between the two at their coaches discretion, but not within the same year.

The winners of the Regional NDP's go on to represent their club and region at a British Final.

Hope this is helpful

 

[coco bongo]

Thank you very much for such a detailed response Jym. I found that extremely helpful.