WAG Same Level and Team, Different Session for State?

[agympro]

My DD is a level 3. Her state meet is coming up and the schedule says the "younger" girls will compete in the morning of competition day and the "older" girls will go in the afternoon. How does this work for team award? Will there be a younger group team champion and an older group team champion? That seems so not fun after the team has worked together for several years to win team awards. It also seems that using that method could create a very small team if most of girls from a given team fall in one of the age groups.

 

[Clover]

It probably differs by state, but at ours there is both a team award for each age group and an overall team award. The overall team award is given out during the last session. And, yes, some small teams would not be eligible for the age group award, but they still would be in the running for the overall team/level award.

 

[2G1B]

In our state this is how the girls are done for the state meet (different ages in different sessions) and it is how the boys are for every meet. And at least here the team awards are only given (for girls' state and for all boys meets) after the last session of that level. So only one team award per level.

 

[profmom]

At states for the girls in my state, there's only one team award, and it's awarded after the last session. But for the L4 and L5 boys, they do one overall team award and one team award for the youngest age group, just because it's so much harder for most of the littlest guys to put up big numbers. The girls are in multiply split sessions, but they can generally get the boys' levels into one or at most two sessions at L4-L5, and the L6 and up guys never have to be split up.

 

[PalmTree]

My DD is a level 3. Her state meet is coming up and the schedule says the "younger" girls will compete in the morning of competition day and the "older" girls will go in the afternoon. How does this work for team award? Will there be a younger group team champion and an older group team champion? That seems so not fun after the team has worked together for several years to win team awards. It also seems that using that method could create a very small team if most of girls from a given team fall in one of the age groups.

I do think it takes away the fun to not compete as a team all together, but I guess they have so many gymnasts at State that they need to break it up? I don't know. As a coach, I usually have 1-2 kids in EVERY session of every level, so two very long, very tiring 12 hour days...so buy your coach a coffee or something

Oh, and our team awards are always at the very end of the last session of each level, so no team awards until all age groups are done.

 

[happychaos]

We have only had one meet ever where DD's whole team competed in the same session. That's just how it works here. Team awards are given after the last session for that level. It isn't until the higher level optionals that an entire team gets to compete in the same session.

 

[MaryA]

For level 4 and 5 states (new level 3 and 4) everyone from DD's team who qualified for States competed together. She was "level 4 AA state champion" but that was just in her age group at that particular session. If her team had been assigned to a session with "better" teams, her score might not have gotten her on the podium at all. I don't remember how team awards worked. It's been a long time. Starting in level 6, States were divided by age. So if you are the 10-year-old level 6 state champion, it means you competed with ALL of the other 10-year-old level 6's in your state who qualified, not just the ones who happened to be assigned to the same session as you. Ever since level 6, DD has competed at States alone. Of course, she would rather be with her friends/teammates, but she has gotten used to it. She has the full attention of her coach (sometimes two coaches) and she often makes friends with someone else in her rotation group so she has someone to cheer for and chat with. Team awards are not awarded till the last session. But every state does it differently, and obviously your state starts dividing them by age at a lower level than my state does. If I had to guess, I'd say that team awards will not be awarded till the last session, but your coach or your states USAG website would probably have more information. If your DD ends up in a session by herself, there is nothing you can do about it, and unless someone else very close to her age joins your gym at her level, she may end up by herself every year, the way my DD has. Talk up the good stuff... getting to have her coach all to herself, getting to make new friends, getting to go watch her teammates compete during their session (we generally try to do this)... because the fact that it's just not very fun to compete without your teammates doesn't change the fact that it will probably happen this way every year.

 

[MeetDirector]

The higher you go, the more likely you will be competing with fewer of your teammates. It is all about numbers. And yes, most states do the team award after all gymnasts in that particular level have competed; one team champion per level. The ones that competed in an earlier session get to come back and celebrate with the team and the parents of the earlier competitors get to pay another session admission fee.

 

[HoldThePhone]

Ours is broken up by age group as well. I know from our gym the girls who competed my daughters level last year had some sessions with multiple girls from the team, but a couple with only 1 girl from our gym in them. We also have a novice and experienced division depending on what scores qualified you to state, so even the same age group of girls could compete in different sessions if one qualified experienced and others didn't.

 

[GymMom67]

Our competition season is in the fall. This past fall, our team was split up like that at almost every meet. They would just give out one team award at the last session for that level. Whichever girls happened to be competing in that session would accept the award on behalf of the whole team.

 

[fuzi]

State championships are usually by age groups, and these age groups can sometimes be as small as a a few months age range. Team award in all three states I have coached/lived/judged were after the final session of the weekend. Often the gymnast(s) in the last session claimed the award on behalf of their team, because depending on the setup and location, gymnasts who competed Saturday morning might not be around Sunday evening, especially if the meet is far away.

 

[htimcj]

That is how it works for the levels that have a lot of girls. This year there will be two sessions of level 3 and 4 with the younger ones in one group and the older girls in the other. Team awards will be awarded after the last session.

 

[agympro]

Thanks everyone. I'm just hoping the team award will be given after the 2nd session of level 3's instead of the final session of the entire weekend. My daughter's team gets a big kick out of celebrating together so I would love for them to end their year that way if they can win a place at State.

 

[Quadqueen]

It should be given after the final session of level 3s. They wouldn't wait till the final session of the entire meet if there were no level 3s in that session.

 

[wgymmom]

For our states, there's one team award, but sessions are broken down by AA scores throughout the year. L3's (and old L4's) had three divisions, new L4 had two.

 

[gwenmom]

Out state is broken down at Lvl 3 by the score at sectionals and then by age. 4&5 are not just by age.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Our state meet for up to Level 3 AAU, is broken up by age group, and by scores. If a gymnast scores a 35 AA 2 times during the season, they must compete Experienced; the others compete in Novice. And Experienced and Novice are then divided by age groups. So there could be 1 girl competing in one session, and 4 teammates together in another session, depending on age and score. There are 2 team awards given after everyone competes, 1 for Novice and 1 for Experienced. AAU 4 and up compete like USAG, simply divided up by age and they compete with all girls in the state that are their age. 1 team award is given when all gymnasts in that level have competed.