WAG Male Division in Xcel

[dmbgymnast]

At a meet I was at today, there was a male xcel silver division, with only one boy in it, but I thought it was interesting. I know at regionals last year there was a male xcel platinum, so it has happened before. As far as I knew, xcel was only for WAG, not for MAG. Does anyone know any rules about this? It is a YMCA, so maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[raenndrops]

It could very well be a YMCA thing. For teams that do not have a boys team, they can allow boys to compete on the girls team - on the girls events.
They can even do it at Nationals, but their placement cannot displace a girl (only time Nationals will recognize ties).
They follow the same rules as girls at whatever level they are. Also, they do not have to be in a separate division... they could be in direct competition with you, but the meet organizer decided to separate (possibly to encourage more boys to participate).

 

[munchkin3]

I have been saying this for years! I wish there was the equivalent X cel program for boys gymnastics! Currently if your 8th or 9th grade boy wants to continue doing gymnastics and perhaps do something additional in school, they can't. The JO program makes it impossible to allow anything less than 15-20 hours a week in the gym. To compete safety at L8 or L9, you MUST put the hours in........if only there was a program that would allow some kind of competition with a less demanding schedule! As my dear son said, 'why should I spend 3-4 hours everyday at the gym, when I could do 1-2 hours 3-4 days a week doing_______'
Don't even get me started on the notion that these boys should be able to continue doing gymnastics even if puberty does them no favors! I know countless boys who rocked through compulsories, and had a rough time through puberty ultimately quitting.

Realistically though, I know there are just not enough guys interested. There are barely enough guys to keep regular gymnastics going!

 

[profmom]

Munchkin, from the chatter around here, I think USAG is planning to introduce a program in the next quad that has exactly that market in mind -- boys who want to be able to do cool gymnastics stuff through high school but not devote 20 hours a week to it. The idea is very much like XCel with all routines being optional rather than compulsory.

 

[munchkin3]

That would be great! I hope it comes soon!