WAG Skipping the new level 3

[Leekelhank]

My daughter is 10 years old. She started gymnastics two years ago coming from ballet. The coach allowed her to practice with the team girls on the old level 3 but not compete with them as the competition season had already begun. We only compete August-December USAG.

Then when the changes took effect, they decided to start her off at the new level 2, we wanted her to start at the new level 3, but decided that her coaches knew best. She is competing level 2 now and has a personal best of 36.455 with nothing but nines on all four apparatuses and first place on bars and floor. She has her back handspring (she has had it for over a year), cartwheel on beam, handstand, and front hip circle which are all new level 4 skills, although they are not perfect.

When we received our team contracts we were disappointed to find out that they had only moved her up to a level 3. In the past, the gym has skipped girls a level when they had the necessary skills, so we were hoping this would happen for her as well. It took a good 6-7 months this year for the girls to get their back handsprings and it seemed like they worked on this a lot through practice. How boring will it be for my daughter to watch all her teammates learn this skill that she already has it. My daughter has been crying and feels like her coaches do not have confidence in her.

So we met with the coach and he explained that he feels it is better for her future if she stays progressing one year at a time in the compulsory level to establish a firm foundation. He wants to see her score 38's and 39's next year and not just be an average gymnast with a 36.455. He suggested we keep her in level 3, but he would move her to 4 as long we understood that there was no guarantee she would do well and that she may even have to repeat that level. He also reminded us that their is no level 6 in the gym, so she is guaranteed to go from 5 to 7 later.

This coach is not the one that works one on one with her. In fact, I don't believe he has worked with her for longer then a couple of hours. His wife, is the one that works with her everyday. She told me she believed my daughter could do it because she is a hard worker, but she had to speak with her husband.

Now we are left deciding what to do. My daughter just turned ten and her goal is to at the very least be eligible for a NCAA scholarship. So to sum it up, she is going into her third year at gymnastics. She is currently competing level 2 with a personal best of 36.455. She wants to skip level 3 since she already has the necessary skills (although not perfect) and move on to level 4. I would love to hear from other coaches out there. Its so hard to decide what the best thing to do is.

 

[txgymfan]

I moved your post to the appropriate forum. Personally, I would let your DD skip the level. Tell the coach you understand that she may not place as well but she appreciates the opportunity to strive for the higher level.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

First off, out here, 36's for a first year at any level are not "average" scores. We see 38's from kids...who are repeating extra years at the same level.

Can she kip? That would be the only deal breaker at our gym for new level 4. I wouldn't want to see her held back in level 3 at 10 years old. If she won't be discouraged with average scores, I think she will like the challenge of L4 better. Good luck to her!

 

[billise]

Handstand on beam and front hip circle are new level 3 skills, so if she is still trying to perfect those maybe that's why they want her at level 3 rather than 4. But you know your DD best so if they are willing to mover her up and you think she can handle it then why not give it a try.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Kip seems to be the "break" skill for new L4. Our gym selected only girls who had already competed old 4 or either had or were close to getting their kips plus had jump to high bar and were solid on fhc, fhs vault, cartwheels on beam and BHS.

If she has a solid kip and ROBHSBHS, I can't see a reason why she couldn't give L4 a shot.... But I'm not her coach. Only her coach can tell you why they felt it was the best place for her. A score of 36+ is really good!

 

[gymmiemom]

I also would like to know if she can kip? My DD has all the L4 skills and actually most of the L5 skills, but is struggling with her kip. She's only 7 so there is no huge rush, but our gym has a strict no kip, no L4 policy. I am so over the darn kip! Not only do I stress in private, but my DD is obsessed. She knows if she doesn't have it by midseason (January) she won't get to move up until next fall; assuming it comes by then!

If she has her kip, then yes I would let her skip. But again our gym is more skill based then score based on move ups .

 

[happychaos]

For me it would totally depend on what the gym does in terms of uptraining. If she repeats L3, will she spend the next year nit-picking those skills, or will she be mostly training L4 and higher skills. If she will be mostly uptraining, I would let her repeat.

 

[Leekelhank]

Thanks everyone! Her personal best was actually a 36.475, so it was even higher then I thought. She has never scored lower then a 35.550 and this is her first competition year. At her gym they don't consider this good enough and it is really affecting my daughters self esteem. I had no idea that a 36 was above average! She has all the new level 3 skills, but they want her to have them without any deductions before moving to 4 and she struggles on the front hip circle as far as it being perfect. Her ROBHSBHS is beautiful, IMO. She does not have her kip yet, but has spent very little time training on it, as her focus has been to this years competition. She spent a weekend at the University of Florida Gator camp where she worked on it and they said she did it there, but she has never been allowed to do it at her gym. She told me sometimes she tries to do it when no one is looking (lol) and she almost has it again.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts as I feel I cant go to anyone about this without looking like a crazy gym mom!

 

[Leekelhank]

There is no uptraining at her gym. You train to get the skills you are competiting in and only after state competition they start training for the next level.

 

[mariposa]

When will she be competing the new level? Is she finishing this current season (you said August thru December) as a level 2 and states as a 2? Or moving up now and finishing the season as a level 3?

 

[Leekelhank]

She wont compete in the new level till the last week of August/first week of September 2014.

 

[Gymnast194]

My coach says that your not allowed to skip levels anymore. You he to have a record that says you competed that level.

 

[Leekelhank]

They told us she could skip but they couldn't guarantee she would do as well and they wanted her to get 38's and 39's. I am not sure the no skipping thing applies to participation levels 1-3.

 

[mariposa]

She wont compete in the new level till the last week of August/first week of September 2014.

That is hard when they determine levels like that so far in advance. Maybe discuss an option of seeing if she gets her kips (high and low bar, and that squat on is tricky, too) consistently and if she doesn't by say, June, then do level 3 and if she does, so level 4.

 

[Leekelhank]

That is hard when they determine levels like that so far in advance. Maybe discuss an option of seeing if she gets her kips (high and low bar, and that squat on is tricky, too) consistently and if she doesn't by say, June, then do level 3 and if she does, so level 4.

I like that idea!

 

[Amber]

There are a few more skills she needs to skip level 3: Floor: FHS, straddle jump, backwards roll to handstand, full turn on floor, bigger, higher leaps, jumps, etc. Beam: vertical handstand that needs to be held, wendy dismount, split jump over 120 degrees; Harder arabesque, etc. Bars: kip makes up most of the routine, and there is a tricky half turn dismount that looks simple, but needs to be very precise; and vault: this is actually a huge change from new level 2 and 3. Now its the vault table...and at 10 yrs old, the judges will be expecting power and height off the table. My DD, 8, just had her first comp at level 4, and it really opened my eyes how many more skills there are at level 4 than level 3. The dance elements on floor are trickier too. So a BHS BHS on floor and cartwheel on beam are great, but watch some youtube videos and see if she has the other skills. Also, my DD was "really close" on her kip for 8 months :0! If you can watch the videos and say, "Yes, she has 90% of all the skills", then I say try to get her skipped. But, rushing the entrance into exponential harder skills/levels may hurt her in the long run. I personally would not skip Level 3, but maybe do a year of 4, score out of level 5/6 and start new 7 at 13. And, in the meantime, like our gym, for repeat girls or girls on the fast track, push for doing kips on bars for level 3 comps (which is allowed). It will give her some confidence to be doing level 4 skills at level 3. Good luck !

 

[Leekelhank]

There are a few more skills she needs to skip level 3: Floor: FHS, straddle jump, backwards roll to handstand, full turn on floor, bigger, higher leaps, jumps, etc. Beam: vertical handstand that needs to be held, wendy dismount, split jump over 120 degrees; Harder arabesque, etc. Bars: kip makes up most of the routine, and there is a tricky half turn dismount that looks simple, but needs to be very precise; and vault: this is actually a huge change from new level 2 and 3. Now its the vault table...and at 10 yrs old, the judges will be expecting power and height off the table. My DD, 8, just had her first comp at level 4, and it really opened my eyes how many more skills there are at level 4 than level 3. The dance elements on floor are trickier too. So a BHS BHS on floor and cartwheel on beam are great, but watch some youtube videos and see if she has the other skills. Also, my DD was "really close" on her kip for 8 months :0! If you can watch the videos and say, "Yes, she has 90% of all the skills", then I say try to get her skipped. But, rushing the entrance into exponential harder skills/levels may hurt her in the long run. I personally would not skip Level 3, but maybe do a year of 4, score out of level 5/6 and start new 7 at 13. And, in the meantime, like our gym, for repeat girls or girls on the fast track, push for doing kips on bars for level 3 comps (which is allowed). It will give her some confidence to be doing level 4 skills at level 3. Good luck !

We actually sat down with and watch the USAG DVD together. The one that shows all the skills for each level and had her tell us what she has and what we have seen her do and do well. I would say the only thing she has not done is the kip on high bar, the dismount with the half turn off of high bar. She did her kip on low bar at camp, but has not done it since because no one has asked her too. She also did numerous front hand springs of the vault table at camp as well, and the coach their even video taped it for us. The dance elements, leaps, and jump I am not concerned about because she has a few years of ballet under her belt and that is something she does not struggle with, thank goodness.

 

[happychaos]

Thanks everyone! Her personal best was actually a 36.475, so it was even higher then I thought. She has never scored lower then a 35.550 and this is her first competition year. At her gym they don't consider this good enough and it is really affecting my daughters self esteem. I had no idea that a 36 was above average! She has all the new level 3 skills, but they want her to have them without any deductions before moving to 4 and she struggles on the front hip circle as far as it being perfect. Her ROBHSBHS is beautiful, IMO. She does not have her kip yet, but has spent very little time training on it, as her focus has been to this years competition. She spent a weekend at the University of Florida Gator camp where she worked on it and they said she did it there, but she has never been allowed to do it at her gym. She told me sometimes she tries to do it when no one is looking (lol) and she almost has it again.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts as I feel I cant go to anyone about this without looking like a crazy gym mom!

Oh my goodness!!! I swear your DD goes to my DD's former gym. I totally thought my DD was an average gymnast until her first meet. To my surprise, I learned not every gym trains and repeats girls until they score 38.5 (old L4). The only girls she couldn't beat were the ones from her own gym. And the kip thing??? Our girls scored mid-nines on bars and placed top 3 AA at state and had never worked kips. Ever. The coaches meet with parents soon after state and said that since the girls didn't have kips, they would repeat (yes, this is NINE months before the next meet season, and about 3 weeks after they started working kips).

From what you have described, it certainly seems reasonable that your DD could get the skills for L4 next season. Even if she doesn't, she should still get the chance to TRY.

 

[lhmom]

Also, there are many gyms who start their girls at the new level 4 (old 5) since I believe that is the 1st level that requires a qualifying score to move to the next level. Level 3 (old 4) and below are not required to have a minimum score to move on. DD's gym has always used the level 3(4) as a chance to gain competition experience and really work on form before moving to the higher levels. Good luck to your daughter!

 

[my4buffaloes]

I would let her skip, she will get those L4 skills in no time. Technically you aren't allowed to skip, but the first year of required competition is L4, so she should be fine not competing L3. Good luck! And have you thought about looking at other gyms to see how they would handle your dd's situation? To expect 38s and 39s before moving a child up is a LOT! If that is really how they are going to treat compulsories, she will likely never get to optionals there because honestly very few girls ever score in the 38s and 39s (at least around here). At the very least JUMP at this opportunity to skip L3.