Parents L2 vs L3 Placement Questions

[krstew29]

So feel free to tell me if I am being crazy and just need to chill out and be patient. 7yo dd competed the old L2 last year. Right after states last month (about 1/2 of the team competed states, including dd, and it was the top half of the team), the coach sent out an e-mail to the parents whose dd competed states explaining that she was going to try to get them to skip new L2 and go straight to L3. She was going to work them on the new L3 skills and thought these girls would all pull it off. So last week they moved one girl on her team (she is clearly the best) to the old L3/new L3 group and yesterday they moved 2 more girls to that group (one of them is on par skill/score wise with my dd). So yesterday that L3 group was 8 girls. DD was grouped with the preteam and the rest of the old L2 team (also should add that dd's coach has been out this week). No one from the gym has said anything about placements and no invitations have gone out yet (they usually hand out formal invites). They haven't said anything about the requirements to get to L3, although I assume a big one is the ro bhs. None of those 3 girls have any of those new L3 skills (and the old L3 girls are clearly more advanced than the 3 from dd's team). Yesterday in DD's group they were working on the L3 skills-- the vault and floor (bhs, bridge kickovers, backward roll to push up position).

So my questions are 1) Do I address this with the coach (what is DD missing to go to L3) and if so, when? 2) Given this scenario, what is ideal-- having dd be a L2 and probably score very well at competitions or have her move up to L3 and not score as well? 3) Do you think they are still trying to figure out placements? There appears to be shuffling of girls at other levels just about every practice now. DD will be crushed if she doesn't skip, so I am just trying to figure out how I can tell her if this is the case. Thanks.

 

[EastCoastGymMom]

How are they moving kids if that group's coach is out? I think you should just wait until they hand out the formal invitations. I'm sure they are fully aware that your dd *really* wants to move up to L3, so you probably don't need to mention it again right now. It sounds like they are moving a few up to see how they do and possibly even up the groups. Will you have a meeting with her coaches when they pass out the formal invitations to next year's groups?

 

[IreneKa]

My DD is in L2\L3 group now. They are going to tell us at the end of August who will be competing which level. DD just learned her ro bhs yesterday (Yay!), but still lacking a couple of bars and beam skills. Still, I'm pretty sure she'll get them by the end of the summer.
My point is, there is still time, don't start panicking now. Sounds like they are working on their L3 skill, so if she gets them they'll move her. It never hurts to ask though.

 

[munchkin3]

I think the coaches themselves are trying to figure out placement. It seems that the new dance requirements put a HUGE spin on things. I asked my director what she thought and she said these are like routines from perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. Much more artistry and more polish. DD has all her new L3 skills and is working new L4 skills. She competed old L3 and did very well. most of the girls are uptraining and even STILL, they said they will not be ready for the first meet in September!

This means in my mind, that although they have all their skills for whatever level, even with some serious uptraining, the coaching staff thinks the challenge is with the dance and choreography. I personally think they are overreacting, and that the girls will be fine in 2 months. Our gym has always put serious emphasis on excellence at lower levels in order to have solid optionals.

Give it some time and it will be clear where she belongs in a few weeks. By then the coaches will be clear too.....

 

[krstew29]

Thanks all. It's very confusing as to what is going on with her coach being out. They usually have these groups on Tuesdays: pre team, old L2, old L3, old L4, optionals, and then XCel starts later. For the preteam-old L4 groups, they only had 3 groups instead of 4 yesterday so I don't know if that is because they were down a coach. I did notice that there was an old L4 girl doing Xcel and an Xcel girl in the L3 group. I probably wouldn't have posted except I heard a mom saying she thought those were the team placements and I also have dd asking me what is going on. I sure wish they would communicate better!

It's very interesting in what you are saying about the choreography/dance being more challenging. The girls who competed old L3 last year are significantly closer to getting the new L3 skills than any of dd's old L2 team so I guess we'll see how it all plays out.