Parents How does your gym level up? Is this typical?

[TxGymMom1]

My daughter's gym has a new system in place for leveling -- and it seems odd to me. At our in-house JO in July, a gymnast must earn ALL 9's in order to compete that level this season - this is supposed to be across the board, for all competing gymnasts. So in my daughter's case, she has JUST now started learning level 3 routines/skills, and in less than two months time, she must earn ALL 9's at our JO in order to compete level 3 -- otherwise she would have to compete level 2 AGAIN -- even though she easily earned ALL 9's throughout the season. Although I have a lot of confidence in her abilities, I think it will be a stretch to receive ALL 9's on a new routine. She doesn't want to quit team, but also is totally bored with level 2. UGH! How does your gym handle leveling?

 

[kaloss]

None of our girls are expected or required to have 9s at the beginning of the season...unless they are repeating a level.

 

[gymmomx2]

When does your season start? We just had the same discussion with our DS's coach yesterday and were told he may need to have all his routines to a certain level of competency 4 months before the first meet

I am not a fan of this policy, it seems kids can improve so much in that amount of time and repeating a level already MASTERED is a huge waste of time. They should let kids compete the next level with the goal of scoring 9's by the end of the season.

 

[Clover]

That does seem a bit odd. However, if it is an "in house" meet as you say perhaps the judging will take into account how early it is for the girls.

 

[GYM0M]

From her user name, I would expect she is a fellow Texan. Compulsory season starts mid August. At our gym, we don't have a required move up score. It is based solely on coach's discretion. There are pros and cons to each system. Texas is such a competitive state. IMO, there are 2 possible scenarios for the implementation of this new policy. 1) your coach wants the gymnasts to be able to be competitive in their age group and level (Jr divisions tend to be fierce!). Or 2) there are several parents harking for a move up whose gymnasts are just not ready and by implementing this policy, your coach doesn't have to be the bad guy when Suzie A moves up, but Suzie Z needs to stay down. Is it a bit unfair or discouraging? Probably. If it's any consolation though, it's been my experience that in house meets typically score high. We brought judges in before our first meet last year and beam judge scored her new L4 routine at a 9.7! She didn't see anything above a 9.2 until District Championships.

 

[TxGymMom1]

When does your season start? We just had the same discussion with our DS's coach yesterday and were told he may need to have all his routines to a certain level of competency 4 months before the first meet

I am not a fan of this policy, it seems kids can improve so much in that amount of time and repeating a level already MASTERED is a huge waste of time. They should let kids compete the next level with the goal of scoring 9's by the end of the season.

It sounds as though we may go to the SAME gym! JO is mid-July and the first meet is about one month later! From my experience just last season, NO-ONE scored ALL 9's at JO -- my daughter had all 8's but then for the entire season had an AA score of 35.5 - 37.5! Totally ridiculous to repeat a level when they obviously have "mastered" the skills associated with it!

 

[TxGymMom1]

From her user name, I would expect she is a fellow Texan. Compulsory season starts mid August. At our gym, we don't have a required move up score. It is based solely on coach's discretion. There are pros and cons to each system. Texas is such a competitive state. IMO, there are 2 possible scenarios for the implementation of this new policy. 1) your coach wants the gymnasts to be able to be competitive in their age group and level (Jr divisions tend to be fierce!). Or 2) there are several parents harking for a move up whose gymnasts are just not ready and by implementing this policy, your coach doesn't have to be the bad guy when Suzie A moves up, but Suzie Z needs to stay down. Is it a bit unfair or discouraging? Probably. If it's any consolation though, it's been my experience that in house meets typically score high. We brought judges in before our first meet last year and beam judge scored her new L4 routine at a 9.7! She didn't see anything above a 9.2 until District Championships.

Awesome score for a first meet! It seems at our JO last season, the scores were ALL very low compared to results from even the first official meet. I mean, what if a child is just having an "off" day, ya know? I agree, Texas is very competitive -- but still if you bore the lower level gymnasts to tears, how long are they going to even want to compete? I like the idea of looking at scores from the previous season to determine whether a gymnast can move up -- and then if they do not score as well THAT season, hold them back! Seems fairer

 

[TxGymMom1]

That does seem a bit odd. However, if it is an "in house" meet as you say perhaps the judging will take into account how early it is for the girls.

I REALLY REALLY hope they do!

 

[Committed]

I agree that in-house meets typical score higher than 'regular' meets. DDs gym has several different factors of moving up, depending on level. They do have to have 100% of the required skills by a certain date. I think a new rule is that you have to get 9s, but that's during the season. DDs group won't even start learning routines until July, with a first meet in August!

 

[sevenatenine2]

If that's really their plan, it's completely stupid. I can see that making sense in order to compete 3p, but 3A makes much more sense then going back to 2. 3A is offered in Texas JO and some gyms (Texas Dreams comes to mind) don't even bother with 3p at all.

 

[TxGymMom1]

I agree -- they may lose a few gymnasts with a lot of potential. We are actually considering a move so that we would have an option in gyms!

 

[TxGymMom1]

If that's really their plan, it's completely stupid. I can see that making sense in order to compete 3p, but 3A makes much more sense then going back to 2. 3A is offered in Texas JO and some gyms (Texas Dreams comes to mind) don't even bother with 3p at all.

thanks for your response -- my reply is above New to this site and didn't hit "reply" to you!

 

[ShesAMonkey]

At our gym, move-up is determined by scores at the previous level, and also whether the gymnast has all of the skills for the next level. So, to move up to level 3, the gymnast has to score at least ______ (I have no idea what that score is) during the level 2 season.

To expect kids to score a 36.00 AA at the beginning of the season seems a bit extreme to me! Others have said that an in-house meet would probably score higher than a normal meet (we don't have in-house meets at our gym) but even so! Is their expectation that all of their gymnasts score above a 36.00 AA for the whole season?

 

[TxGymMom1]

At our gym, move-up is determined by scores at the previous level, and also whether the gymnast has all of the skills for the next level. So, to move up to level 3, the gymnast has to score at least ______ (I have no idea what that score is) during the level 2 season.

To expect kids to score a 36.00 AA at the beginning of the season seems a bit extreme to me! Others have said that an in-house meet would probably score higher than a normal meet (we don't have in-house meets at our gym) but even so! Is their expectation that all of their gymnasts score above a 36.00 AA for the whole season?

SOunds extreme to me too -- and very discouraging, to say the least! They haven't said, or I haven't heard expectations for the whole season, but I would assume it's the same. Prior to now, her coach said in order to move to the next level, you must score all 9's during the previous level -- which certainly seems more FAIR and reasonable! This was the belief the girls have had until now ... so abruptly the rules have changed. Not too cool IMO.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Ours gym levels up with a score the previous season (35+ at two meets) and the subjective opinion of the HC as to gymnasts ability to master new skills over the summer.

 

[lovemygymnast]

Our gym uses 2 scores of 35 this year but also based on the child's ability to get their skills over the summer also. Although, I've heard for the upcoming year, they'll expect mostly 37's or have to repeat.

 

[cassafrass]

Wow! Only 23 girls total got a 9.0 or higher on bars at level 6 Ohio state meet. I think it was like 11% with all age groups combined. Of those scores, 10 of them were below 9.1.

 

[sevenatenine2]

I would probably ask why 3A isn't a better option. If they give you the "We are too good to compete 3A," spiel, it's bull. Go look at www.txusag.org and you can see that the 3A scores are actually for the most part, pretty competitive. Also, you can move from A to P after a few meets when they ARR scoring 9s all across. My suspicion is that they are using the threat to get the kids to bust their butt all summer!

 

[GYM0M]

I would probably ask why 3A isn't a better option. If they give you the "We are too good to compete 3A," spiel, it's bull. Go look at www.txusag.org and you can see that the 3A scores are actually for the most part, pretty competitive. Also, you can move from A to P after a few meets when they ARR scoring 9s all across. My suspicion is that they are using the threat to get the kids to bust their butt all summer!

I was thinking the same thing! Lol!

 

[Clover]

OK. I have to ask. What is the whole A and P thing you have going on down there in Texas?????