Age and competition-- I know we have gone over this before but still confused

[GymGirl's Mom]

Hello. DD competed USAG L3 last year in Region 7. She competed her 1st meet as a 6 year old and turned 7 before her next meet. All subsequent meets were competed as a 7 year old.

I am confused by USAG Level 4 though:

Again, this season her 1st meet she will still be 7. All subsequent meets she will be 8- including States. Is it going to be the same as it was for Level 3? Will she compete 1st meet at age 7 and all subsequent meets at age 8? Or will she compete all meets at age 8 b/c at States she will be 8?

The USAG website seems to indicate this- but our gym hasn't mentioned it to us. Is it meet specific- up to the meet directors how they want to determine age- or is it an across the board set in stone rule-- how age for meets is determined by USAG.

I realize a child must have REACHED the minimum age to compete before competing- for example- you have to be 7 before you can compete Level 5- you can't compete it if you are 6 but turning 7 before States. I get that. I am just curious about how- what age- my dd will begin the season.

I am not worried about it. I really have no problem with her competing either way- as a 7 year old for 1 meet, or as an 8 year old for all meets. Just curious and trying to understand and get a grasp on the USAG rules.

 

[Blazing15]

According to our coaches she will compete as an 8 year old. You are going through the same thing we are. My daughter is 7 and will do two meets while she is seven and then she turns 8. She must compete as an 8 year old. It goes by what your age is by state.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

Thanks- I actually considered posting this on the 7y/o L4 board- but was wondering if we were all confused by this.

So, I assume DD will compete all meets as an 8 year old then.

 

[gymnastics123]

From my experience, it depends on the state. Somes states compete based on the age they are at state and other states compete based on current age. Also, remember you have age brackets. For example my daughter was a level 7 age 9 last year. Most of her meets she competed '11 and under' and some "12 and under" depending on the number of girls competing.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

Yeah- Last year the brackets tended to be 5-6, 7-8, 9+ for Level 3. But sometimes there were so many 7 and 8 year olds they competed in their own 7 year old, and 8 year old bracket. I find it all depends on how big the meet is and how many of each age are competing as to how they define the brackets- trying to keep the age brackets as even as possible as far as numbers go.

 

[flipper's fan]

At an invitational, it is the meet director's choice whether to use the age at the meet or the age at states. At a sectional it would be the age at states.

 

[gym law mom]

Many times at the smaller local meets they just group the girls the way it makes sense with the number they have for age groups especially for the lower compulsory levels. So, your dd may do a meet as a 7yo and then the rest as an 8yo or all as an 8yo. As you said it doesn't really matter that much.

 

[thefellowsmom]

In our state, they take all the girls and then break them evenly into age groups so the groups are of relatively equal size. So the groups could be totally different from meet to meet, depending on the group of gymnasts. There is a complicated explanation of this on the state website that I didn't totally understand, but it sounded like it worked in a similar way for sectionals and state as well.

 

[MaryA]

Same thing happened to my daughter. Because our state doesn't do States at level 3, she competed at whatever age level she happened to be at each meet (she has a Feb. birthday, so it changes late in meet season). But since level 4 and up do States, once she moved up, she's been competing at EVERY meet of the season at the same age she'll be at States. So even in October meets, she'll be competing as an 11 year-old, even though she'll still be months away from her 11th birthday.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

as i have posted several times before...it changes every year in every state. the age groups are determined by the amount of kids in a session and per judgements allowed at each event according to what format the competition is. each age group is determined by how many "8 year olds" will be in a certain competition on any given day. it is done this way to balance the groups and not go over the allowable judgements per event.

don't waste energy trying to figure all this out as it changes all the time and each and every meet. and state meet. and regional meet. and national meet. and done by birthday cutoffs. and every year. and what format. and...and...and...whew.

 

[cher062]

We were always told that what ever age you are on the day of states is the age you are considered when competing but there are exceptions to every rule. Alot of invitational want to give out the maximum amount of awards so they adjust the groups. Some times it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to the groups other than to have an equal amount of girls in each group.

if you have 2 season like we have her for L4 - 6 then there is a Sept - Dec season where you might be one age and a Jan - May season where you might be the next age.