Parents Levels 1-3 Rec/Pre-team

[taylortumbles]

I love reading everyone's posts here. They are very helpful!

I rarely see any posts about Levels 1-3. Around here, we don't have any gyms that compete levels 1-3 so it is strictly considered rec or pre-team levels.

My daughter just turned 7 and started gymn late October. She has had seven classes and is off for Xmas break until January. She loves it and has completed the first of two beginner levels and is working on her second beginner level. She likes floor and beam the most, then vault, and isn't too keen on bars.
Skills she is working on;
Vault- running, hurdles, dive rolls onto port-a-pit
Beam- she does really well on beam. She doesn't need any assistance with the routine they do (front support, v-sit, knee scale, walk fwds, sdwd, arabesque, tuck jump dismount)
Bars- Has her tuck, pike, straddle swings down and front support. Working on a pullover but usually refuses to do it :/.
Floor- just got her step kick handstand last week Working on cartwheels and back rolls. Has her tripod, headstand, front roll, straddle roll.

Please share away!!!

 

[clrmom]

At my dds gym, they compete levels 2 and 3. They also have a preteam class for preschoolers/kindergarteners. The pre-team basically works on level 2 skills as well.

My dd is 8 and a level 2. They are just finishing their season with the state meet coming up in a couple weeks. She can't wait to start working some more difficult skills. My dd has had the most difficulty getting her skills on bars (the pull-over took her a long time to get.) However as the season has progressed, she has made great improvement.

On floor, the backwords roll was the most difficult to get.

Beam is her best event but she can't wait to work on handstands and cartwheels on beam when the meat season is over.

On vault they do a handstand flatback (or whatever it is called) with no running.

Sounds like your dd is doing great!

 

[Blazing15]

My daughter just turned 7 and is on pre-team. She is working on all her level 4 skills. They start testing in January to find out if they make the level 4 team or stay on pre-team.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Hi there! I know of a few parents here who have kids competing level 3...some because of age (can't compete level 4 until you turn 6)

I know next to nothing about levels 1-3 because my kids started right into a fast tracks or preteam program, except for my youngest son (4) who is in a preschool class. Come to think of it, I don't know anything about the optional levels either! lol. But I'm getting pretty good at level 4 terminology n such. My dd is 7 and on level 4, has competed about 5 meets and will compete again starting in Jan. My ds is almost 10 and will compete for the 1st time in jan as a level 4. I've never been to a boys meet at all, so that will be a brand new experience for me as well.

I haven't been much help, I guess, but I just wanted to say hi! and good luck to your little gymmie!!

 

[Kiwi]

Here in NZ they compete right from level 1. My DD is 7 and competed level 1 this year, I don't know how NZ level 1 compares with US level 1. The main skills they did were FLOOR: handstand, cartwheel, forward and backward rolls, BARS: glide swing, chin-up pullover, roll over to tuck hang VAULT: straight jump, step to handstand flatback, BEAM: pivots, straight jump, releve turn.

The system here has now changed from levels to 'steps', it's a whole new system. Next year she is going to step 3, because step 2 isn't that much harder than level 1 was (I guess it's about 1 and a half!). Step 3 skills include round-off and back walkover. I think the walkover will be her biggest challenge as she is still struggling with bridge kickover. Also the scale balance on beam as she can't lift her leg very high.

It's nice to see some other people who have kids at a similar level!

 

[maddiemei]

Hi. My DD is 7 and just finished competing level 3. She had her state meet in November and finished 2nd all around. She had a great season and I'm glad she got to do it. We switched gyms and they have her at level 4/prep op silver right now. She will be competing prep op silver in the winter, but I'm not sure about the fall. We won't find out until the summer if they move her up to level 5 or not. I kind of hope not because I think she should compete level 4, but she just got to go over the vault table tonight and loved it. She would be very sad to have to go back to doing a flat back vault .

Your dd sounds like she's doing great and will be moving right along in no time. It's so much fun watching them get new skills and seeing the huge smiles when they accomplish them.

 

[emandelsmom]

Ellie has competed levels one and two. She is repeating two this year due to tight shoulder muscles which made it hard to get the kickover. She has all level 2 skills and most of level 3. Still missing kickover but it is getting better. Can do all the level three bars, but needs to clean it up. Has trouble with the run on vault. Beam-working on handstands. She just turned seven in October.

 

[ejgymmom]

The gym that my daughter is at doesn't compete 1-3 but they do have a "junior team" that she's on. I believe she's learning the Level 3 skills and then in the spring they'll do some in house competitions to get them ready for Level 4.

Bars is actually my daughter's favorite, with beam definitely being the least favorite. She gets very timid at times up on the beam, but I guess it's understandable since those high beams are taller than she is! I'd be scared too!

 

[cher062]

In my area only L4 and up compete. Most gyms use the skils for L1 -L3 with their Pre-Teams and have 3 levels of Pre-team.

 

[Bajanswife]

Our gym competes L3, and my 7 yo DD is just moving out of it. Her strongest events were floor and beam at that level. Because of limited opportunities, she only competed L3 twice, and was somewhat inconsistent in them, which affected her AA score.

She has most of the L4 skills now - still working on connecting the BHS to the RO, and the beam dismount, but on Saturday she got her FHS on bars! Well, it needs a little work (she needs to get the cast at the end), but I think she has it sufficiently now that she wouldn't get a fall deduction.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

My daughter is 5 and competing level 3. She is having a lot of fun. It is really neat to see her personality come out. Gymnastics has taught her so much already. She is not even afraid to be the first one up on beam and everyone else seems to be afraid of it so they just let her go first. She says to me, "Mom, it's just beam!". Funny girl!

 

[MaryA]

My dd competed leve 3 when she was 6 and 7. Her first year, she totally did not have her level 3 skills. I think the only reason the coaches included her is because she was cute and they liked having her around! Her first meet she only competed 2 events (vault and bars, I think) but she didn't care. She was just so happy to be there and to get her participation award and her gift bag! I don't think she understood the idea of scores or awards or anything. Now she's a 9-year-old level 5 and she understands scores and placing, and she certainly likes to win, but I think that she has managed to hang onto that joy of "just being there." She didn't do particularly well at her first level 5 meet (hard after having a really good level 4 season), and scratched on bars (which bothered her a lot more than it did when she was 6!) but when I asked her the next day how she felt about her first meet as a level 5, she said "I wish I was still there right now!" I think there's a definite advantage to young kids competing at the lower levels (as long as it's allowed to be a fun experience and not a stressful one) because I think that they get used to competition before they even figure out what competition is.

 

[momofthreegirls]

I have three young daughters, all in gymnastics.

My youngest still does a "mommy and me" class, but will graduate to a preschool/kinder class in the summer when she turns 3.

My middle daughter is in a preschool level 1 class. She will move to level 2 kinder class in the summer. Right now she is learning the very basics.

My oldest daughter is on pre-team (level 3) and also is training for TOPs. Her class is split into two groups. The more advanced group is going to compete at our gym's home meet in January. This will be my DD's first "real" competition. Right now, her group is really focusing on the competition routines. After the meet, they will uptrain.

My kids are not superstar prodigies, but they enjoy going to the gym and burning off some excess energy.

 

[2littlegymnasts]

My dd's gym competes level 1-3. We also have a pre-team that is split up by age. One group is younger girls 4-7 the other are older girls that are just new to gymnastics. My DD is 5 and competing level 1 this year. She loves floor the most. She loves to compete. She does not usually place high, but she could care less. She is having fun the whole time there. I was concerned she would be upset if she didn't get the big trophy, nut she has really surprised me. She has been in gymnastics since she was 3, but has had to really work hard to learn the skill to compete. She finally got her pullover last week, but it is still not consistent. She is working hard on her back hip circle. Her vault is getting better too. It is run and straight jump on the spring board. She got her first 9 on that this past weekend. Beam has been a little hard for her, but she has improved there too. Right now they are still just working routines so practices are the same. Forward roll, backwards roll, cartwheel, candlestick, tuck jump on floor. She is really ready to learn some new tricks. She already has her RO and is dying to learn the BHS. We have 2 more meets then State meet. I don't know if he will move her up to level 2 with out her Back hip circle, but we are hoping it cliques soon. She has the level 2 vault(flat back), most of the skills for floor(needs to hold handstand longer and clean split jump).

Monique

B 5 year old lvl 1 K 3 year old rec

 

[emorymom]

In my immediate area most gyms compete L2. My 7yo dd is a 2nd year L2. She has been in a preteam or team program for almost 2 years. Preschool classes starting at 2.5 years. Free play in the gym starting at 14mos.

My almost 6yo son is preteam and expected to compete L4 next year.

In my case as they get older I am able to spend less time in the gym. Love 3 hour practices LOVE THEM.

 

[taylortumbles]

Thank you so much for sharing! I'm so excited to hear all of your stories and it is very interesting to hear how each gym runs their show!
I live in an odd area with a bunch of small cities and in between 2 huge cities (each being 1.5 hours away). Gyms haven't had much success staying open around here and we only have 1 actual gym in this area but many of the coaches are teenagers and they only have a hand-full of girls in their team program Levels 4 & up. I think with all star cheerleading getting so big they turned their focus more towards cheer and put gymnastics on the back burner . I was lucky to find a YMCA program that is excellent with certified adult instructors and clear cut developmental levels. They have a very large team program Levels 4-10 and are 1 of the only 3 programs in the state that offer acro-gymn. It is a bit of a drive, but not too bad so far. With nasty weather around the corner I'm a little nervous about the commute, but hoping for the best!

 

[IrenicMom]

My daughter is a 5yo L3. She'll turn 6 about a month after the state meet (which is in March).

She's been in gymnastics for 2.5 years now. This is her first year competing. First competition was in November, and while it was a bit crazy, she loved it and is eager for more. She placed 4th in her division.

In the past two weeks, she's gotten her 3/4 handstand on beam (which was her only missing skill - could hit the handstand, but not consistently landing on beam).

She's one of those "minimum age" kids. She's the baby of her team (of 40, which range in age from 5-9 year olds). There is one other that competes as a 5 year old - her birthday is the week after States.

My daughter and the other 5 year old both have an additional uptraining/strength and conditioning session a week, so they're training 6 hours/week. The practices are evenly spaced (Tu/Th/Sa) and the girls enjoy it, so for now, it's good. The other mom and I try to check in with one another frequently, since we're in the same boat.