WAG What I would love in a perfect world

[CCGymbug]

Reading though how varied the hours are I would love if gyms competed against those with similar training hours. Or if there was standardized hours throughout JO and xcel. Our silver girls train 4 hours/week. Another parent posted their gym does 14hours. When looking for a gym I was told to look at scores. Well, someone who trains more should be getting higher scores. I would love to say forget age groups and just compete hours:hours....yes its nice to dream.....many of our silvers were in the 37's and 1 is going to regionals so not bad for 4 hours I guess......

 

[cadybearsmommy]

We are similar, our bronze do 6 hours and our silvers do 6.5. DD will be moving up to gold next year and will increase to 9 hrs plus an hour of dance. Hoping she transitions ok with the added time.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I definitely see your point but not sure how they would regulate it. There's no real way to know if the gyms are being honest about the hours they train, etc. Gymnastics is fun but not always fair unfortunately. I would be in favor for more states adapting rules about repeating with very high scores, I don't think they should outright forbid it, but I bet if they said anyone who repeats with a score of 37 and up cannot have their score count for the team score, you would see some changes there.

 

[bogwoppit]

Hours makes no difference as there will always be gyms who keep girls back a level to score high and win big. Best to accept that there is no level playing field, not matter what.

 

[gymdog]

Unfortunately any way states have tried to do these kinds of things people game the system. It is sad but it is a reality. I have yet to find a system that people haven't gamed and sometimes it makes it worse. My state basically doesn't have any divisions at all and I'm fine with it for that reason. But I agree in a perfect world people wouldn't have homeschool programs that are competing level 3 and 4.

 

[ascarter1]

I definitely see your point but not sure how they would regulate it. There's no real way to know if the gyms are being honest about the hours they train, etc. Gymnastics is fun but not always fair unfortunately. I would be in favor for more states adapting rules about repeating with very high scores, I don't think they should outright forbid it, but I bet if they said anyone who repeats with a score of 37 and up cannot have their score count for the team score, you would see some changes there.

If/when you get to optionals, this becomes less and less of a problem. Dd is training lv 8, so we have been in optionals for 2 years now, and I can honestly say that in those two years, I haven't once felt like that!

But dd competed 2 years in compulsories, and I felt like that more often than not! Sandbagging is an issue in compulsories! For sure!

 

[Taurus]

I don't think it's a fair vs unfair thing - for example, one high school may have more $$ to spend, can pay for a better coaching staff, equipment etc - at least in a gym, you can choose where you spend your money - you could find a high-end gym with better coaching, longer hrs etc / it's a lot like going to an Ivy League college vs CC - you can choose where to spend your money. However if you're in a one-gym town, maybe not so much..

 

[raenndrops]

Reading though how varied the hours are I would love if gyms competed against those with similar training hours. Or if there was standardized hours throughout JO and xcel. Our silver girls train 4 hours/week. Another parent posted their gym does 14hours. When looking for a gym I was told to look at scores. Well, someone who trains more should be getting higher scores. I would love to say forget age groups and just compete hours:hours....yes its nice to dream.....many of our silvers were in the 37's and 1 is going to regionals so not bad for 4 hours I guess......

It's not necessarily the number of hours… it's how they use them. If there is a lot of standing around doing nothing, the time is a waste.

It's kind of the same premise as a private doesn't need to be as long as a typical practice because the girl is "ON" the whole time.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Our State (in Australia) does have what's called compulsory upgrade. Basically if the gymnast gets above a certain score at states she is then required to move up to the next level the next year and can't repeat.

The bonus is that the child then doesn't have to test for the next level, she automatically receives her badge, so she could then skip a level without scoring out.

Many of our competitions are also divided by the number of hours the gymnasts train. They may have a novice division or a limited hours division for those who do less hours.

 

[LilyChow7]

Yes Victoria (Australia) has a limited hours division. Don't quote me on this but I believe levels 4-6 is 10 hours and under and levels 7+ is 12 hours and under. Girls that compete limited hours usually only compete in there state. To qualify for a state team you have to compete in the unlimited hours completion but limited hours can compete in both limited and unlimited. Coming from a club that only offers limited hours training I believe it is a much fairer playing field.