Parents Age for States

[Gymmommy71]

I find that the younger age ranges tend to be the most competitive (as in higher scores at the top places). If you want to win more medals w/ lower scores, being on the older side is where that's at - but long term it's really not about medals in the lower levels and depending on your kid's personality, they may be more motivated by competing in lower age a higher level even when they don't get as many awards (provided skills are there of course).

 

[Deleted member 18037]

so while we are on the age subject.....are there pros and or cons to competing level 4 as an 8 yo as compared to a 7 yo?

Again, what are you really asking? Because it is just not about a number. 7 or 8, its very rare they are grouped only by year. So she could be in a group for awards purposes of 7 & 8 yr olds or 8 & 9 yr olds or they could have a group so large that it can be older 8 yr olds in one division and younger 8 yr olds in another. It is beyond your control.

Age doesn't matter. If they made it to states they are at the very least competent at the level.

There are so many more variables that are more important then age. How many hours a week a kid goes. What they do in those hours. Coaching. Conditioning. Maturity (which doesn't always correlate with age). Meet experience (again does not always correlate with age).

Attended a larger meet then usual. 2 of our comparable gymmies. The kid who scored a 37+AA took 4th, the kid who scored 36+AA took 1st in her division. Both had good days. A different day, different age groupings, different competitors, with the same scores and placement could be the opposite.

At states a difference of 0.05 can make a difference in placement.

As our coach tells our girls and I tell my daughter. It is just another meet. We expect best effort, be it the first in house mock meet of the season or states. Just do your best, with the expectation that you will have improved (personally) over the season, because you have been making corrections and working hard.

 

[duyetanh]

Meaning? Like will the competition be tougher? Or what?
IMO, about the same. Since 7 is the youngest you can compete L4, those girls are normally VERY good. But 8 is still young and several of those girls are EXTREMELY good too! It doesn't really matter what age or what group. State is going to be difficult regardless! At most there will be 5 girls on top of the podium for each division. If there are fewer 7 year olds, then statistically her chances of placing are higher. State is fun, don't get me wrong, but really and truly, if there's not a 1st place win, it's just another meet....on second thought, even with a 1st place win, its still just gonna be another meet......

Yep. This.

 

[MomIdidit!]

all of these responses have been extremely helpful, thank you so much! states are in February.....I love the thought that it's just another meet. dd had one meet thus far, we have a few more to go before Feb.

 

[cbifoja]

At the compulsory level, it really is just another meet since you can't qualify for anything else. I never understood putting pressure on a compulsory gymnast just for the sake of saying you are a title holder for one year that no one really other than you will remember.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

saying you are a title holder for one year that no one really other than you will remember.

To the little girls who win it though it is a really big thing.......................................

 

[cbifoja]

To the little girls who win it though it is a really big thing.......................................

Probably to some. It was never a big deal to DD. So because of her attitude, I don't see it as worth putting pressure on a kid just because it's "state" meet. I guess for kids to whom claiming a title is important, they would probably feel more pressure.

 

[duyetanh]

Probably to some. It was never a big deal to DD. So because of her attitude, I don't see it as worth putting pressure on a kid just because it's "state" meet. I guess for kids to whom claiming a title is important, they would probably feel more pressure.

I respectfully disagree about the pressure, and if I come across as offensive that is not the case. But pressure depends on who the child is in terms of mental make up, and how they handle pressure. I know girls who are repeat compulsory state champions and they do not put pressure on themselves, more like they rise to the occasion. These girls never sought to be repeat champions, it just happened. At the other end of the spectrum there are girls who put so much pressure on themselves just to compete and get through their routines without major issues.

And yes, while in the big picture of life, it's just another meet, don't think the wins aren't important if they happen. At the same winning and losing are a part of life, especially in sports, and learning to be gracious in both and to accept both are a big part of the process. And I personally believe that a win is something to be proud of, be it a state meet, or an in house one. It should not matter if the child is level 1 or elite.
My 2 cents...for what it's worth...

 

[duyetanh]

ETA: There are obviously all kinds of winning. For my dd, winning is doing her routines without major falls.

 

[meganliz77]

I respectfully disagree about the pressure, and if I come across as offensive that is not the case. But pressure depends on who the child is in terms of mental make up, and how they handle pressure. I know girls who are repeat compulsory state champions and they do not put pressure on themselves, more like they rise to the occasion. These girls never sought to be repeat champions, it just happened. At the other end of the spectrum there are girls who put so much pressure on themselves just to compete and get through their routines without major issues.

And yes, while in the big picture of life, it's just another meet, don't think the wins aren't important if they happen. At the same winning and losing are a part of life, especially in sports, and learning to be gracious in both and to accept both are a big part of the process. And I personally believe that a win is something to be proud of, be it a state meet, or an in house one. It should not matter if the child is level 1 or elite.
My 2 cents...for what it's worth...

I completely agree with this. My DD is usually the "rise to the occasion" kiddo. She turns a switch before competition. She sets out not to win, but to do her best, stick her routines and reach/surpass her self identified goals (i.e. Cast to horizontal, vertical handstand on beam... Whatever she feels is important). She placed last year at States for level 3 and had a first place vault, and placed again this year as a level 4. She is proud of that! Sure, she had placed at other meets along the way, but for her competing against all of the other 8 yo level 4's and holding her own -- she thinks that's a pretty cool thing... And then she moves onto the next meet or the next level... Or whatever.... She's a naturally competitive child though, so maybe that's the difference!

 

[gymdog]

You have once again hit on my pet peeve. Please don't confuse an athletes competitive age with the award groups used by a meet director at a given meet.

An athlete's competitive age is very clearly spelled out in the USAG Rules and Policies as follows: "The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level." (R&P page 76). This means that whatever age the gymnast will be on the final day of State meet (for compulsory levels) is the age that she will be for the ENTIRE season.

Anytime you start throwing in groups, you are talking about how a meet director chooses to subdivide a specific level for the purposes of the specific meet. These age divisions have NOTHING to do with the athletes competitive age for the season.

An athlete's competitive age NEVER changes during a season, no way, no how. Anybody that tells you differently is flat wrong and they should read the Rules and Policies.

I'm a little confused by your post. The rules in R&P are for meets under the jurisdiction of the state and regional administrative committees (so state meets and regional meets) and they have the option (obviously in level 9 and 10 it's predetermined by national meets) to either divide it by age (I.e. 8Jr, 8Sr) or equally divide the birthdate ranges (child A and so on). I can promise that there are states that still use the ages so a 6 year old competes with 6 year olds, etc. I would agree that if we were to go by majority then yeah, I think the birthdate division is more common now.

But there are also invitationals that use the date of the invitational to determine age. We're going to a large one that does. Because I have gymnasts who will have a birthday after this meet and before our state meet (which again uses ages) they will compete in a different age category in the same season.

But most invitationals here that use ages use their age at states.

 

[Bess]

What is the competitive age used for (not elite, just regular JO)?

I believe competitive age is still used for the super young ones in determining if they are old enough to compete a level. For instance, Little Bit only could only compete in 2 meets last season as a L3 bc she did not turn 6 until the 3 weeks before state. She's repeating 3 to get a full season in bc she would have run into the same problem as a L4 ad turning 7. Once she turns 7 we are good to go....I thin there are minimum age requirements at L8 again but she is sooooo not gonna run into that problem lol

 

[gymbeam]

I believe competitive age is still used for the super young ones in determining if they are old enough to compete a level. For instance, Little Bit only could only compete in 2 meets last season as a L3 bc she did not turn 6 until the 3 weeks before state. She's repeating 3 to get a full season in bc she would have run into the same problem as a L4 ad turning 7. Once she turns 7 we are good to go....I thin there are minimum age requirements at L8 again but she is sooooo not gonna run into that problem lol

but is that competitive age or actual age? because based on definition of competitive age earlier in the thread, its how old you are by the culminating competition- not at that moment. kwim?

 

[Bess]

but is that competitive age or actual age? because based on definition of competitive age earlier in the thread, its how old you are by the culminating competition- not at that moment. kwim?

Lol- I have NO idea at this point. So is competitive age what you are as of December 31st of each year? If that's the case, I can see this only mattering for the purpose of Elite and TOPS (I am assuming HOPES as well). Is that right?

Using Meet Director's quote-
"The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level."

I guess my point would be this would be applicable only if the child met the minimum age requirements to begin with....In our case while she turned 6 before the state meet she still could not compete at all until she turned 6 bc that was the minimum age for that level. She could not compete at a meet in January/February as a L3 at the age of 5 just bc she would be 6 by the time State rolled around in late March

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Using Meet Director's quote-
"The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level."

I guess my point would be this would be applicable only if the child met the minimum age requirements to begin with....

Yes and it is spelled out clearly in the rules.

 

[profmom]

https://usagym.org/pages/women/pages/overview_jo.html

For eligibility to compete, they have to have reached the minimum age for the level by the time they compete. Beyond that, they compete as the age they will be as of the culminating meet of the season (states for L3-7, regionals for L8, and nationals for L9-10). But the competitive age is increasingly NOT used to determine awards at meets, and most meet directors don't explain how they make the determinations anyway (i.e., whether their 9 year old age group is based on birth dates or competitive age).

Bottom line is that at all but the smallest meets, they will compete against kids who are roughly the same age as they are. The only question is how broad or narrow the age bands will be. And there's really nothing at stake in competitive versus actual age on the girls' side, because there are no limits on national eligibility aside from reaching the minimum age for L9 or L10, which I would guess is almost never an issue.

 

[Bess]

Yes and it is spelled out clearly in the rules.

yes, thank you. I was just trying to correct/clarify my statement made earlier in the thread

 

[kayjaybe]

It seems to vary meet to meet for my dd. And I try not to get caught up with the age groupings because, honestly, there is nothing you can do about it. Last year dd was 12 for most of her L7 year, but turned 13 before states. Some meets she was grouped with other 12 year olds, sometimes it was a larger group, like 11-12, sometimes she was classified as a 13 year old, because that is what she would be at states. At one meet, she was in an age group for 12+, so she was competing against girls up to age 18 (and I know there was an 18 yo in that group because she was from our team.)

I find for invitationals they use age the day of the meet, because not everyone may be from the same state and state meets are at different times.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

It's probably for the best to try not to worry about age groupings for right now. Honestly they vary so much from meet to meet, we have been in age groups with girls almost two years younger than us and we have also been in age groups with girls 3 or more years older (it was a 9 and UP group with 25 girls in it!). It all depends on how that particular meet decides to group them. At our state meet the girls are divided in sessions based on age, and then even further divided into age groups within that session. So the girls in the age group at our state meet tend to be very very close in age, within weeks or months of each other.

We have already accepted that DD will inevitably be in whichever age group is the absolute toughest lol. We always end up with the highest scorers from the entire session in our age group. And usually if she had been one age group up or one age group down she would have either won the AA or placed much much higher. It used to be very frustrating, but we have just come to expect/accept it. DD would still love to win that first AA one of these days (she's been 2nd/3rd multiple times and has been 1st on events but the first AA continues to evade her lol) and while I would love to see that happen for her b/c I know what it would mean to her, we try to encourage her to put more stock into making personal improvements in her scores and less about the placement in the age group, b/c it's just one of those things that you have no control over.

 

[MomIdidit!]

cadybearsmommy.....Thank you for the advice, I plan on taking it since there is nothing we can do about it now. my dd will be the only girl on her team of ten that will compete as an 8 yo since most of the girls will be turning 8 after states.