WAG Xcel skills question

[SurpriseGymMom]

i keep seeing Xcel brought up as an excellent choice for gymnasts who are "uneven" in their skills (which I do agree with, BTW!).
But.... They do still have to be *somewhat* proficient across the board. There's definitely tons more freedom and choices but it's not completely open, KWIM?
As far as I understand anyways.... Like you cannot compete a "L7 worthy" floor routine with LO etc and then compete a pullover/BHC/swing dismount on low bar. Like there are certain requirements for each level and if you can't hit one of the choices then you can't compete that level (like for Gold you have to include upper bar, correct? So you must have at least a squat on or other way of getting to the high bar. And you must do at least a FHS vault, not HS flat back..?)
Likewise there are things that are NOT allowed in certain levels, like you can't compete a RO/BHS/LO pass in silver..??
So while it's true that there is leeway and freedom, you can't compete several levels apart in skill sets is what I'm trying to say. You can substitute things and there is way more choices than JO gives you for "problematic" areas, but you still have to stay within the allowed skills for the level, right? You won't be able to utilize advanced tumbling skills while being a super beginner on bars or beam.
Am I completely off base here? Perhaps those are just gym rules, but it sure seems as if our Xcel coaches are trying very hard to do it "by the book" according to USAG...

 

[raenndrops]

In Xcel, it is possible to be an event specialist and not compete certain events all season.

Also, my YG has the skills for 3 events at the Gold level. She is behind on beam. She competed Gold and just took the SV deduction on beam (9.0 SV). She also does not have a squat on... she does a nonstandard climb (like girls often do if they miss their squat on).
She is working a front tuck half and Robt on floor, handstands and full turns on beam, and kips and flyways on bars.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I think you have a point, it's not complete freedom, but it's definitely more freedom than compulsories. I think it also gives more time to get the upgrades since you don't necessarily have to make big changes every year. For instance, my dd's bronze team kept their same bar routine, and the same beam routine (except for a different dismount) b/c it met the requirements. It gave them more time to work on upgrading their floor and learning the new vault. Next year if they move to gold there are some that will likely keep the same floor skills they are competing now b/c they meet the requirements and work harder on the beam and bars upgrades required for gold.

And also like raenn said there is always the option of scratching events or even taking a lower start value if necessary. And if you are very clean in Xcel you can afford to take a lower start value and still score well.

It's a lot like optionals from what I've seen. Routines are composed to suit the gymnast's strength but no you aren't going to see a kid competing bronze skills on bars and platinum skills on floor or anything like that. Just like you wouldn't see a kid competing level 6 floor and level 10 vault.

 

[IreneKa]

Of course Xcel is not a complete "freedom", there are rules and regulations, you can't just compete whatever you want. But in each level there is a big spectrum of skills from minimum requirements to maximum requirements, so you actually CAN compete skills several JO levels apart on different events.
Take Silver for example. On bars you can compete pullover, cast BHC, sole circle dismount. Which is basically a L1 routine. At the same time you can compete ROBHSBT on floor and BWO on beam, which are L5 skills. So, I think it is possible to utilities your strong tumbling skills, while still working on basics on bars.

 

[gymdog]

Well I don't think there are a lot of issues with kids having a RO BHS LO that can't squat on and jump to swing on the high bar, you don't even have to kip in Gold. It's pretty open. In JO same level you do RO BHS layout you need multiple kip cast handstands on bars. Squat on and just jump to swing on the bars is no numeric level. It's sub 4. So the Xcel platform allows a pretty wide range of skill across the apparatus. They had to designate levels somehow.

 

[coachmolly]

The requirements are less specific, so kids are better able to work around weaker areas. I don't think it would be a case where a kid is doing giants on bars and ro-bhs-bhs on floor, but in smaller but still significant terms. For example, our Gold team has a few girls who seriously struggle with a single event, but are very competent on another and they are much better able to work around those problem areas than they would be in level 6 (and obviously that working around is not at all possible in compulsories, these particular kids would not have been able to get past level 3 or maybe level 4 as a result of 1-2 events but are beyond that skill level on another).
For example, one of our Gold girls cannot tumble. She is very slow twitch and has some major shoulder/upper back flexibility issues. She can manage a ro-bhs, but it is full of deductions and certainly cannot tumble out of it. She also cannot manage a cw on beam (she can somehow do a switch leg cw), and back walkovers are there, but they aren't going to make it to beam at all. In JO, getting her to level 4 would have been a stretch because of her floor and beam. However, on bars she does a routine of kip-back hip-squat on-uprise-back hip-flyaway. We've kept her in the gym by playing to her strengths. Xcel allows her to do this routine on bars while keeping up on the other events by being a little creative- ro-back tuck on floor, forward roll and switch leg cw on beam. She still feels challenged and is not dealing with the frustrations of major blocks on 1-2 events she would face in JO. So while not necessarily a major discrepancy in skill, it would absolutely have forced her out of the sport in compulsories, but Xcel has allowed her to work around it to her advantage.