Parents Question about US Competition levels and ages

[kitkat]

Our club will be attending a competition in the US. I have looked at some of the results and I am confused on how they break up the groups.
In Canada they are level and age. Sometimes the age is a couple of years together.

Is it the same in the US? The ones I looked at said junior or senior.
Do all level 9s or 10s compete against each other no matter if you are 11 or 15?

Thanks for the replies.
Kat

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I'm new to this too (a whole two meets under our belt, lol) but in both meets it has been divided according to the birthdays of the gymnasts. They take all the gymnasts in the level ( in our case L4 ) and divide them into as equal size groups as possible. This means my June birthday kid competed in child B group in her first competition directly against one of her teammates with a November birthday (same year as her) and in the next meet she competed in Jr A directly against a different teammate with an April birthday, while her November birthday teammate competed in a younger age group. Clear as mud? So the age groups can differ totally from meet to meet depending on the birth dates of the gymnasts attending. hopefully I explained that ok, and I'm not sure that's how it works in optionals (since dd is L4 and in the compulsory levels). Good luck!

 

[cbifoja]

A lot will depend on the size of the meet.

My DD was the only one in her age group at her first optional meet. Yep, 4 first place events and all around champ. Never saw that happen before.....

When she was a L3, she was 7 and there were LOTS of 7YO L3s so they would divide them up into 7 Jrs. and 7 seniors. This year, she is in the youngest age group and is frequently grouped in a 9YO/10YO group. These are usually labeled things like Child, Jr. A, Jr B. That is kind of a signal that they sliced and diced them according to bday rather than just their number age.

However, in her first meet as an L7, it is a small local meet and that level is one big age group so she will be competing with all ages, even the 14 and 15 year olds (she is 9).

Bigger meets seem to have "tighter" age groups than the small, local meets.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Good question. I'd like to ask the same. DD will compete in a flight of 65 L8s at Buckeye.... It's one of about four flights of L8. I know our gym has kids in that flight ranging from DD tat the youngest (9) to 16 year olds. Will they compete against each other?

 

[MeetDirector]

KitKat -

First things first; level 4's compete against level 4's, level 10's compete against level 10's. What you saw in the meet results was the phenomenon of age grouping solely for the purpose of awards at a meet. Depending on how big the meet director wants to make an award group and as a result, how many awards will be handed out, the age groups could be large or small. I usually like my age groups to be around 14 gymnasts meaning I would go out 7 places for awards. After I get good size groups, then I figure out where the birthday break points are in each level to get these groups. Sometimes, it is everyone in an age (ideal) and sometimes its not. When its not, then I come up with a name for the age group (junior, senior, 10 year younger, etc). Then I set up my software and it keeps track by age group of the scores and generates the reports at the end of the meet.

Hope this helps.

 

[MeetDirector]

Flip Twist -

In the bigger meets with multiple gyms going on at once as well as multple sessions, take what I said above and apply it to each session or flight. They won't compete against girls in other sessions or flights. Another way to look at it is that the girls compete against the other girls that were judged by the same judges.

 

[happychaos]

Good question. I'd like to ask the same. DD will compete in a flight of 65 L8s at Buckeye.... It's one of about four flights of L8. I know our gym has kids in that flight ranging from DD tat the youngest (9) to 16 year olds. Will they compete against each other?

In our area we use the word flight differently..... it refers to the group of gymnasts competing together on an apparatus. We would use the word "session" to describe a group of 65 L8's competing together, and we would say there are four sessions of L8. I am now curious how other people use the word "flight"...

But to answer your question, she will only be competing against the girls in her session. You said there were 65 girls, so there would probably be about 4 age divisions. Those four divisions might be something like; 10 and under, 11 & 12, 13, 14 & up. It just depends on the ages of the girls competing. If the ages are skewed older you might see something like 12 & under, 13, 14, 15 & older.

 

[AmandaLynn]

Usually, at the bigger meets in my area there are multiple sessions of certain levels, sometimes two or more "gyms" going at a time, and often two "flights" within the same gym.

Then, each flight has four "squads". One beginning on each event.

As for awards, you would compete for event and AA placement against kids in the same gym and session. They would take all of the squads from all flights, and break them into age groups. Then, awards would be given out for each age group in the session.

Team awards are sometimes given per session, but sometimes, they will only give one set of team awards per level and will combine all of the teams, over numerous sessions for given level and give the team award at the end of the last session for that particular level.

Clear as mud?

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Thanks everyone. So what I'm hearing is that my 9 year old likely won't be in awards with the 16 year olds, but the exact breakdown of if she is with say, 12 year olds, will depend on who is there that day and what the meet director plans. Kids in other flights or sessions aren't scored against her. Her team will likely be known at the end of the weekend, once all L8s are done.

 

[AmandaLynn]

Around here, kids in different flights, but in the same gym and session would be in the same awards ceremony.

 

[kitkat]

So she is competing at Buckeye which I understand is pretty big. In her group L10 there are 41 gymnasts on that day (Friday).
There is another L10 with 64 gymnasts in it on another day (Sunday)
Will they break up the 41 gymnasts by age? All of our girls from our club are in that group and they range from 11 (my daughter) to 15.
And if they do break it up will be it like age 12 and under, 13-15 and over 15? Or something like that?
Sorry its very confusing...

 

[Quadqueen]

Yes, they'll break up the 41 gymnasts into age groups, probably 3 or 4 of them. They try to break them up equally, so it really depends when their birthday falls. If there are a ton of 13 year olds, for instance, the age groups could be 11-12, 13, 14-15 and 15+, all with about ten gymnasts (or more if there are 3 age groups). That's just an example.

 

[Natasha]

They may do it by ages, or they will take all 41 gymnast in her session and put them in order by birthday and then split them into equal groups, most likely 2-4 groups for the purpose of awards. Either way, I am sure at age 11 your daughter will be in the youngest age group.

 

[Quadqueen]

agree with gymtigermom...being 11, her age group may have a bigger range than some of the older groups, because there won't be many 11 year old L10s.

 

[kitkat]

Thanks ladies...I figured it would be something like that...

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Thanks ladies...I figured it would be something like that...

And from my recent experience at a meet in Florida, your girls will probably compete together through the rotations, they will just be "split up" for the purpose of awards.

 

[MaryA]

Sometimes they break them up into fairly evenly-sized groups, but I have also been to meets where one age group has a ton of kids and another will have only a couple and you just wonder why they didn't adjust the age groups to make them more even?

 

[IreneKa]

Sometimes they break them up into fairly evenly-sized groups, but I have also been to meets where one age group has a ton of kids and another will have only a couple and you just wonder why they didn't adjust the age groups to make them more even?

I hate when they do this. That happened at our meet this year, they broke the girls down by age, there were about 18 8 year olds, and only 2 9 year olds. DD just turned 9 a week before the meet, so she was in a 9 yo group, got all 1st places, great. Since it was a meet hosted by our gyms, I asked the people who worked at the score table. They said that's how the software divided them. I hope they'll get some new software next year.

 

[raenndrops]

I hate when they do this. That happened at our meet this year, they broke the girls down by age, there were about 18 8 year olds, and only 2 9 year olds. DD just turned 9 a week before the meet, so she was in a 9 yo group, got all 1st places, great. Since it was a meet hosted by our gyms, I asked the people who worked at the score table. They said that's how the software divided them. I hope they'll get some new software next year.

The software can be "overrided" ... our coach changed the available age groups so they would be more even. I know this because I was the one entering names, levels, and birthdates In our case, there were still inequities in the age groups due to scratches the day of the meet (6 kids in one age group all scratched).

 

[billise]

I would have her try the older age group. And if you do decide to go that route make sure you encourage your DD to keep her "attitude" (for lack of a better word) in check. In other words, no tears, don't look board/miserable. She needs to smile and be enthusiastic and follow directions. At the beginning levels the child's attitude/behavior plays a big role when it comes to selection for pre-team/team. I've seen "talented" kids get passed over for team because their attitude/behavior makes them difficult to work with. The coaches need to know that the girls they pick are going to be willing to do what they are asked even when they don't want to do it. A big example is conditioning. For most girls it's boring and they don't want to do it, but it's a big part of practice at the pre-team/team level. The coaches don't want to and shouldn't have to deal with a meltdown every times it's time to condition.

Good luck to you!