Parents How do your state meets work?

[gymmiemom]

Hi everyone. This is our first year going to state, since it's DD first year competing. Our state seems to have a very low AA score in order to qualify. A whopping 30.0. I feel like this is ridiculously low, but admittedly we are new to the sport. We also live in a sparsley populated state, so maybe that is the motivation behind it, but now we are learning that are like 80 some L3's qualified so they are going to have to be split into 2 sessions, because the facility hosting state can't accomodate that many girls. I can even see having a lower qualifying score for the optional gymnasts (since there are sooooo few where we live), but not the compulsory levels. I guess I just have a hard time grasping the fact that some one can qualify to state at the very first meet they have ever competed in (like my DD did) so easily.

Am I completly wrong in my thinking?

The meet is in 2 weeks, so I'm curious to see how it ends up working out. Of course there is zero information to be found online in regards to my state, so time will tell I guess!

What is your states qualifying score?

 

[dmytv]

for level 2 and 3 there is no qual score. every other level is 32. They organize competition by age. Comps are in the fall and opts are in the spring.

 

[Gymmommy71]

In my state, PA, there are no states for level 3's and under. Level 4 and 5 you need a 34.00 AA to qualify (this just needs to be obtained one time at any USAG sanctioned meet). For Level 6 you need a 32.00 and for Level 7 a 33.00. I am not sure what Level 8-10 are... Although those aren't amazing scores, I'd say you at least need to be competent on all 4 events, or at least really good at one or two so that you can make up for shortcomings on the others, to go to States. It's is not uncommon for girls to not make it, especially if it is their first year in a level. At our state meets, only the top 25% in an age group get a medal - because of this our state medals mean more - my DD's goal this season is to get one on floor and/or beam ...

 

[Mom2Brats]

Apparently in NV, there is no qualifying score for state. In ND, it was a 32 AA, at least for compulsories.

 

[cbifoja]

Our state is low too and my daughter has qualified both years of competition at her first meet. Usually our whole team qualifies unless someone scratches. Then we have two state meets. One for the two lower compulsory levels and then one for the two higher compulsory levels, optionals, and XCEL. We do this since there are so many L3s and L4s!

 

[2G1B]

For my girls (AAU 2 and 3) they have to have a single AA of 29! If they have 2 AAs of 36 then they have to compete in the advanced group.

I have no idea of how the awards will work since this is our first year doing competitive girls.

for the boys I'm assuming that they don't have to have a minimum qualifying score. DS competed in state last year and will again this year. It is my understanding that all of the boys go to state. And then for level 5 on up, only those that qualify go to regionals.

 

[sglemon]

Our state does not compete level 2 or 3. Level 4 needs a qualifying score of 33. We had over 680 girls compete at level 4 states last year, but the age groups for awards were 25 to 30 girls each. I like to say there were 9 session, but I could be wrong. Anyway, my dd competed as a 9 yr old, the 9 year olds were split into 6 groups, which basically broke down to every 2 months. The girls my dd competed with had Birthdays, within 2 months of hers. It works really well and many girls can call themselves State Champions! But one drawback with that many girls, the AA score to win is usually in the mid 38 s, with even some 39 s

 

[gymgal]

This has always bothered me too. With such a low qualifying score, going to states essentially means very little - just another meet. I would much prefer at least a qualifying score of 34, maybe even 35 or 36. I know there would be a lot less girls (and less money brought in) but at least it would mean something to the girls who qualify, half of whom still won't earn medals there.

I kind of understand the 34 needed to qualify for states/regionals in the upper levels, as you are more apt to have girls who "specialize" in an event, with super high scores, but may not do so well in the others.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Don't compete 2 or 3 here. Level 4 state doesn't have a qualifying score. For 5 and 6 its 32.0. Level 7 is 35, level 8 is 33.5 and levels 9 and 10 is 32 I'm guessing level 3 is such a beginner level that they want most to be able to compete. Get the girls to be very excited about gymnastics and want to continue

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

I have no idea about Level 3 here in NJ, as far as States.
Levels 4-8 first have to qualify to a Sectional meet, with a 30.0. They then have up to 3 chances (3 Sectionals) to score 32.0 to qualify for States.
Levels 9-10 do not have Sectionals. They can qualify at any in-state meet with a 32.0

 

[profmom]

Just a gentle reminder that some gymnasts really do work very hard to get their 32s and 33s (or on the boys' side, their 45s). I'm glad that so many folks on the boards have gymnasts for whom getting a score above 35 is expected at every meet, and I wish your girls all the best of luck at states, but I don't think it's a terrible thing to err a bit on the side of inclusion. My sense is that around here, most but not all girls and boys make it, though there's probably some significant variance from level to level.

Here, the qual scores are pretty low for compulsories (around 32), jumps to 33.5 for L7, and then drops back to I think 32 for levels 8-10.

 

[gymmiemom]

Thank you everyone for your replies! It's interesting to see how it varies state to state. I know 80 girls seems like a very small number to some of you, but here our gyms are so small. Maybe it would be better if they split state into two different events, but at this point we can barely get a gym in our state to host a meet, let alone have 2 states.

Of course, it's great that so many kids get to compete at states, there is no denying that! It's just frustrating to think that they could solve capacity issues by bumping up the qualifying score by 2 or so points. We all have to travel so darn far just to get to states or any meet for that matter and it's annoying when L3's could possibly be split into two sessions on 2 different days. That requires a hotel stay for us if we want to be present for team awards. That's the way it stands at the moment, we will see if changes in the next few days.......

Profmom: I hear you. My DD just got her first score above a 35 at the last meet we went to

Best of luck to all your girls and boys!

 

[lhmom]

In our state, they only require that the child competed all 4 events to qualify for state at level 3 and 4. But there are not many gyms that compete level 3, so they had 2 sessions at state this past year. Level 4 had 3 sessions and it was based on the girls' highest season score prior to state. At level 5, the gymnast has to have a 31 AA score to qualify for state. Not sure about the upper levels.

 

[Natasha]

Qualification scores here are also very low (less than the required mobility score at compulsory level). I always thought it was strange that you can qualify for states without qualifying to move up to the next level. It seems it should at a minimum be the mobility score.

 

[sglemon]

Thank you everyone for your replies! It's interesting to see how it varies state to state. I know 80 girls seems like a very small number to some of you, but here our gyms are so small. Maybe it would be better if they split state into two different events, but at this point we can barely get a gym in our state to host a meet, let alone have 2 states.

Of course, it's great that so many kids get to compete at states, there is no denying that! It's just frustrating to think that they could solve capacity issues by bumping up the qualifying score by 2 or so points. We all have to travel so darn far just to get to states or any meet for that matter and it's annoying when L3's could possibly be split into two sessions on 2 different days. That requires a hotel stay for us if we want to be present for team awards. That's the way it stands at the moment, we will see if changes in the next few days.......

Profmom: I hear you. My DD just got her first score above a 35 at the last meet we went to

Best of luck to all your girls and boys!

Our state meets are always held at outside venues, from civic centers, to high school and sports complexes. A gym will host it, but the equipment is brought in, the host gym doesn't use their own equipment. I am not sure where the equipment comes from, but The host gym will be responsible for setting everything up, of course, and completely running the meet, etc... It usually generates quite a bit of revenue for the host gym.

as far as sessions go, you could host 3 or 4 sessions a day depending on how the gym sets things up

 

[gymmiemom]

Our state meets are always held at outside venues, from civic centers, to high school and sports complexes. A gym will host it, but the equipment is brought in, the host gym doesn't use their own equipment. I am not sure where the equipment comes from, but The host gym will be responsible for setting everything up, of course, and completely running the meet, etc... It usually generates quite a bit of revenue for the host gym.

as far as sessions go, you could host 3 or 4 sessions a day depending on how the gym sets things up

We hosted our home meet at an outside venue because our gym is too small. We had to haul our own equipment though. We even had a gym 3ish hours away, nice enough to bring their floor because it was nicer than ours. I am pretty sure that there isn't anywhere to get equipment here. We have no HS gymnastics program and no college ones either. I am pretty sure if that was an option, gyms would be very willing to do it. It would be so awesome though if we could do something like that!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

We have a college not too far away (45min from our gym) where gyms host invitationals as well as States. There is a flat rental fee that includes use of the college's equipment and labor for setup. Very convenient.

 

[skschlag]

I know it is hard to have so many, but it is so cool at the lower levels for the kids to get that experience. For state, the boys just have to have touched equipment during the year at a meet. for regionals, We have the flip issue here. The boy's scores for level 6 regionals are high. the 7-8 yo need 53, 9-10 need 54 and 11+ need 55. Looking at our schools for the year at the bigger meets, it seems that less than half of the kiddos will qualify. Of course, many times the scores are slightly higher at state, but that is so hard.

 

[gymgal]

Just a gentle reminder that some gymnasts really do work very hard to get their 32s and 33s (or on the boys' side, their 45s). I'm glad that so many folks on the boards have gymnasts for whom getting a score above 35 is expected at every meet, and I wish your girls all the best of luck at states, but I don't think it's a terrible thing to err a bit on the side of inclusion.

I think we all have different views of what states should be. I believe that states should be a sort of championship to end the season where as the regular season meets are inclusive of all gymnasts. If the state qualifying scores are set so that most gymnasts qualify, then it is nothing more than another regular season meet. Personally, I have no problem hiking the scores even higher to 36 or more in the lower levels (meaning that my dd would not have made it some years). Then "making it to states" really would mean something and something to strive for.

Just to give a reference - In our state, level 8's have to vie for only about 50 slots to go to regionals. Last year that meant that slightly less than 50% made it, with the cut off score around 35. Level 7's had only about 30 slots out of 200 gymnasts, with the lowest score being almost a 38. Now that's something to strive for!!! And the girls who don't make it don't feel left out because there are so many who didn't make it. With the lower levels not having a regional championship, I just feel the state meet should have more meaning...

 

[skschlag]

I think we all have different views of what states should be. I believe that states should be a sort of championship to end the season where as the regular season meets are inclusive of all gymnasts. If the state qualifying scores are set so that most gymnasts qualify, then it is nothing more than another regular season meet. Personally, I have no problem hiking the scores even higher to 36 or more in the lower levels (meaning that my dd would not have made it some years). Then "making it to states" really would mean something and something to strive for.

Just to give a reference - In our state, level 8's have to vie for only about 50 slots to go to regionals. Last year that meant that slightly less than 50% made it, with the cut off score around 35. Level 7's had only about 30 slots out of 200 gymnasts, with the lowest score being almost a 38. Now that's something to strive for!!! And the girls who don't make it don't feel left out because there are so many who didn't make it. With the lower levels not having a regional championship, I just feel the state meet should have more meaning...

Yeah..that is our regionals (5 and up). For the others, state is the culminating event of their season. IMO, for the lower level, it is all a celebration. so, it may be like any other meet, but it is everyone in one place. For the lower levels learning the sport, I think it is great.

That being said, in our state, level 3s do not compete. (I know that will change next year for girls.) Boys start at 4, but even that is changing a bit to fewer meets and more fun stuff for the lower levels.