WAG Xcel Rant

[dmbgymnast]

As competition season steadily aproaches, I realize that I am very angry. For those who don't know I am in the xcel program, where I'm borderline gold. As meets come closer to the forefront of my mind, I am reminded of my fellow competitors and the gyms they represent. Most gyms in my area are really great, and have my full respect. Others enrage me.
Oftentimes, gyms will use xcel as a way to bypass compulsories. They train their girls up to gold, where they then score them out of 4 and 5, so they can be optionals. I get it. Compulsories aren't fun to compete, and I doubt very fun to coach. This doesn't mean that you can take advantage of a program meant for gymnasts who may never leave compulsories, to better your gym.
As a gymnast who WOULD never get out of compulsories, it feels like crap to be competing against girls who WILL be high level optionals. Knowing that there are girls who don't stand by what xcel stands for competing against you, it makes you question why the hell you are even out there. Why can people use something that is so vital to you being in this sport as a way to make themselves look better?
I know that that's just how it is, and that life is unfair, but it infuriates me. To know that you're standing on the podium alongside a girl with talent coming out of her butt who's gym won't appropriately use this amazing program is so frustrating. I realize that there's changes being made, but this won't stop for a while. I will stand by xcel to the day I die, but knowing that there's people in the program who aren't in it for the right reason almost makes my faith waver.
I just wish xcel would be used as it was meant to be: to give disadvantaged kids a chance to be in a sport they love.

 

[gymdog]

Personally I agree with you. A lot of people will say "well USAG allows it" - which is true, but really only in the sense they can't disallow it. But I agree.

 

[gymyogimom]

Not comparable since scoring is more arbitrary (imo) but in dance those who train more than a certain number of hours a week are compete against those at the same training hours, which seems somewhat more fair.

Some Xcel gymnasts are excellent and not there just because they won't make it to optionals... The families can't afford the cost/time commitment for Jo. But overall, I can understand your frustration.

 

[raenndrops]

Xcel is supposed to be lower cost, lower hours option designed to keep gymnasts competing. It may not be fun to compete against gymnasts training higher hours and using Xcel to bypass compulsories, but there are also gyms that train lower hours and still use it while training to score out of L4 and L5.
It seems like your bigger irk is that they train more hours. You could always do conditioning at home (often, the extra time is spent because they do more conditioning). Conditioning can make you a stronger gymnast.
Also, while it stinks to go against these gymnasts, they are also just trying their best. It all has to do with gym philosophy. As long as they are appropriately placed for their skill level, then it is actually "fair" ... Or at least as fair as being in a small meet in which a 10 year old Xcel Gold who never competed higher than Old L4/ New L3 (and never scored high enough to move up with our gym's low standard for move up) has to compete against a 16 year old who had previously competed Old L6/ New L5 (and scored high enough to move up). It just makes it that much sweeter when you beat them - even if only once and only on one event.

 

[bookworm]

I'm not clear on why you feel you need to burden yourself with the "if onlys" or "they shouldn't be's" of Xcel...it's a program that works for you and while you may not agree with it, works for others in different ways. Like some have said, they may be there because their family can't/won't commit to a more intense JO program but regardless of the whys, don't let this engulf you with negative energy. You control what you do and go out there and be the best Xcel gymnast you can be ( paraphrased from what Nellie Biles tells Simone)

 

[2G1B]

FWIW, those girls training higher hours don't always win in Xcel. My older DD did do gold last year rather than 5, is about to score out of 5 and will compete 6or 7 this season. Her bar routine was a solid L6 routine. She regularly lost to girls who didn't do Kips and certainly not fly aways. For her though, she needed to keep workin towards her goal so never ecen considered watering down her routine.

 

[txgymfan]

Nothing is "fair" ( except my mom's middle name). I could write 50 sentences about my life compared to someone else's and begin each with "it's not fair". Someone else could write 50 sentences and compare their life to mine and say the same.

Enjoy your sport, do your best and don't worry what others are doing.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Life is not fair.

No matter what you do in life, some one will always have more or do less in a ton of combinations.

Your responsibility is to do the best with what you have.

With regards to gymnastics, it is not equal. It is fair in that you know what is expected. Some think it's not fair that a lesser skill can score better then a more difficult one. Some think it is unfair that another gym does more hours.

And I'm sure there are many who don't even have the opportunity you do. For any number of reasons. To them you are the fortunate one. To them it's unfair you get to do what you do.

It is not however the girls you are competing against fault that their gyms use the program differently.

And don't make assumptions. Not all JO kids train more then Xcel. And not all training is the same.

Our gym trains less hours JO then most. Even less hours then many Xcel programs.
Our gym also makes the most of every minute the kids are there. My kid trains harder in one day then she did at her old gym in a week. And she trains less hours. And we regularly go up against gyms that do more hours then us. And by regularly I mean every meet. Is it even? No, but it is fair. Because everyone is doing the skills for the level they are competing.

Work your program. Make your corrections. Build your strength. Set your own goals. And stop looking at what everyone else is doing. There is a place for you in a sport you love doing. Take advantage of every bit of time and coaching you can.
Don't worry about what you can't change. Change what you can. Which is you and your gymnastics.

I am reminded of this..... I felt bad I had no shoes, until I saw the man who had no feet.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I understand your vent, I really do. There are some things gyms do around here that frustrate me too. But keep in mind you don't always know the whole story. Our current gym doesn't compete compulsories at all. After gold, some girls go to platinum and some go to L6 (if they are ready and if optionals is something they want to try.) However, we don't train outrageous hours or do extremely high skills for the level. Our golds train 9 hrs plus one hour of dance which is pretty standard around here and compete minimum to moderate routines. They do work higher level skills in the gym mostly in the summer like most gyms. To some people, it may look like they are trying to "cheat" the system. But the truth is, our team (with the exception of 1 or 2) is made up of girls that would have struggled through compulsories. My dd started out training L3 at her old gym, and struggled so much we had her switched to bronze. She still struggled and didn't score well. We changed gyms and she repeated bronze and did much better, competed silver last year and will compete gold this year. She only got her kip this summer (after three years of competing) and it's still unlikely she will compete it in gold b/c it is still sloppy. If she would have stayed with JO, she would have likely been stuck in L3 for 3 years. She had a skills explosion this summer and has managed to score out of 4 and 5 (not with great scores by any means) and if she continues to progress over the next year, she may get the chance to compete optionals next year. It bothers me when I think that other may think that she "cheated" the system to get there. To me, she just took an alternate path b/c the "system" just doesn't always work for everyone, especially for gymnasts who start out slow and are uneven with their skills on events by compulsory standards. If she had been forced to stay in compulsories while her bars caught up to the rest of her skills on other events, she would have likely become frustrated and quit. Instead she's been allowed to progress at her own pace and it still may not be enough for her to be successful in optionals, but I'm willing to let her try it since that's what she really wants. It's very possible she may move back to the Xcel program if she finds that optionals are just not for her.

Also, keep in mind you have gyms with very strict regulations for their compulsories and will often put very talented gymnasts in Xcel b/c they are "too old" (at age 7 or 8 no less, SMH) or don't have the "right body type." We see posts like these here all of the time. These girls should have been given a chance in JO and they dominate in Xcel and often switch to another gym later that will give them the chance to do optionals.

I see locally a few gyms that hold back their Xcel gymnasts to repeat levels after they score 38plus and are state champions. Is it fair to everyone else? No, but it's just one of those things you have to learn to shake off, b/c as many have said life isn't fair and gymnastics is no exception.

I'm going to assume you are an older gymnast since you are posting here (teenage age maybe?). If that's the case, I think you are really unlikely to see the super talented, fast track type gymnasts that are breezing through Xcel to get to optionals in your age group at meets. These are usually younger girls that are taking this route. I would be willing to bet most of the girls you will see in your age group are in very much the same situation as you.

I do wish you the best of luck this season, keep striving for your personal best and don't let the way other gyms do things get to you. When it comes down to it, you are on your own personal journey, so make the most of it and enjoy this time in a sport you love!

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I feel your pain. We have a somewhat similar problem here. We have 3 compulsory levels (B, C and D) that everyone has to compete and after that there are two separate paths for different gymnasts. The normal path is for average gymnasts who just want to compete optional levels for fun and maybe get to national championships later on. The other path is the "elite" path and it's for young gymnasts who meet certain criteria (skills and physical abilities are tested) and get a high enough AA score in level D. BUT elite path only competes the spring season and the normal path competes in the fall and the spring, so many times the gymnasts who have met the criteria to move up to the elite path during the spring season compete in level E the next fall before they move up to the number levels (elite path) for the spring season. And off course they win all the medals and the gymnasts who are "real" level E's go home empty handed. But yeah, that's life. I'm happy that it's just the fall season that we have to deal with it and during the spring season they compete against other gymnasts who train about the same hours and who are not going to move to the elite path.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

I agree. Here in Texas we have Xcel, but we also have a state-specific program (TAAF) that is similar. Its very plainly stated goal and purpose is to give children an ALTERNATIVE to high-hours club sports and let them retain the ability to do other sports as well.

We are at a high-hours, high-performance USAG gym. I looked into some of the TAAF gyms in our area and one of them trains the same number of hours as DD's gym. They're not even headed to JO later, they're just shooting fish in a barrel. It is frustrating.

 

[Gymmommy71]

I've learned over the years w/ competitive activities that unless you are competing in the most advanced level for that age, there are always going to be those that level down in order to win. I've seen this in dance where there are dancers who dance 20 hours a week that compete in the intermediate division because they know they won't win in advanced, I've seen it in competitive cheer where teams w/ many members who have level 5 skills will complete in level 2 to get bids that they know their gym won't get if they compete higher, and it is no suprise it happens in gymnastics too. Heck, you could even say that ex-elites who drop down to level 10 are doing the same thing and really the only place you don't see some form of under-competing is at major elite meets and things like Worlds .

I agree that taking a JO potential athlete doing JO-type hours and competing them in Xcel is unsportsmanlike. I feel the same way about gym's that make these kids repeat compulsory levels multiple times when they would clearly be successful enough at the next level (maybe even 2 levels higher). Luckily my DD has never been a part of a team that asks her to do this stuff because I'm not sure what I would do.

 

[raenndrops]

I've learned over the years w/ competitive activities that unless you are competing in the most advanced level for that age, there are always going to be those that level down in order to win. I've seen this in dance where there are dancers who dance 20 hours a week that compete in the intermediate division because they know they won't win in advanced, I've seen it in competitive cheer where teams w/ many members who have level 5 skills will complete in level 2 to get bids that they know their gym won't get if they compete higher, and it is no suprise it happens in gymnastics too. Heck, you could even say that ex-elites who drop down to level 10 are doing the same thing and really the only place you don't see some form of under-competing is at major elite meets and things like Worlds .

I agree that taking a JO potential athlete doing JO-type hours and competing them in Xcel is unsportsmanlike. I feel the same way about gym's that make these kids repeat compulsory levels multiple times when they would clearly be successful enough at the next level (maybe even 2 levels higher). Luckily my DD has never been a part of a team that asks her to do this stuff because I'm not sure what I would do.

We even had it (unintentionally) in Baseball when I was a kid. There were several GIRLS that were good enough to move up a level, but he next level up coach refused to let girls on his team… so we were all stuck playing with the level below (It was coach pitch… next level up was Little League - kid pitch). CP had 6-12 year olds. LL had 8-12 year olds. There was no softball in our town, so we all played baseball. My last year, we had an all star all girl CP team just to show the LL Coach we were good enough. We kept winning against them and won against other LL teams in the league (from other towns - we played travel ball). The only team we NEVER beat was even worse than our LL team - had "ringers" on their towns teams (High school students should NOT be playing on teams for ages 6-12 or even 8-12, but they had 3 boys from their high school team playing summer ball in CP, LL and Pony League… for 13-15 year olds.) They weren't caught until someone spotted a player DRIVING away from a CP game! A coach demanded birth certificates from League officials.

 

[Pirouette]

OP, I totally understand your frustration. My older DD just finished her 9th year of competition dance, and over the years, we have seen leveling down in all shapes and forms. It is what it is. It stinks to lose to competitors who work the system just to win.

Maybe that's why, when my younger DD left dance to pursue gym at age 11, and competed Silver as a 12-year-old, we had already learned the valuable lesson that each performance, competition, dance routine, whatever --- she's out there competing against herself, her own previous levels, and her own goals. When she placed on beam, it was awesome - why? Because she held that handstand longer than she ever had before, and she stuck that dismount landing better than she ever had. So I encourage you to set those personal goals, work hard toward achieving them, and recognize that you are a winner - even if you aren't on the podium every time. Sorry if that sounds like a cheesy greeting card, but it's how we approach things in this house. She enjoys gymnastics a lot more knowing that it's about her personal growth, no one else's.

 

[emorymom]

Gymmommy71 is right.

Don't do gymnastics for placement. Do gymnastics to do gymnastics. That is really the only reason to be there, particularly if you are an Xcel doing Xcel-type hours.

If you want 20 hours/week of Xcel, maybe you can switch gyms.