Parents Age for States

[MomIdidit!]

Hello!This will be our first states meet. Dd will turn 8 before the date of the state's meet. Will she compete as a 7 or 8 year old? Thank you for your responses.

 

[cbifoja]

In my state, kids compete in the age group they are on their state meet date so in my state she would compete as an 8 year old.

 

[B.Gold]

In our state it's generally a date range of birthdates.... Not a numerical age. Making her actual age at states not really relevant. The format is confusing too. Last year I tried to make a chart to figure out her group and I still got it wrong. But something like:

Child A 01\01\2007 - 5\15\2007
Child B 05\16\2007 - 11\01\2007
Child C 11\02\2007 - 02\18\2008
Etc...

 

[mandkmom]

Ours too is based on birthdate. My DDs group was only 3 month span but had 20 girls. Other groups had a year span. All just depends on the kids entered.

 

[flippin out]

In our state it's generally a date range of birthdates.... Not a numerical age. Making her actual age at states not really relevant. The format is confusing too. Last year I tried to make a chart to figure out her group and I still got it wrong. But something like:

Child A 01\01\2007 - 5\15\2007
Child B 05\16\2007 - 11\01\2007
Child C 11\02\2007 - 02\18\2008
Etc...

Think your dates are listed backward....you have the kids getting younger as the age groups rise in alphabetical order....

Say for level 3--
Ours looks something like this
Child A - 5/15/2009 - younger (meaning born after 5/15/09)
Child B - 11/3/2008 - 5/14/2009
Child C - 6/16/08 - 11/2/08
Jr A - 12/18/07 - 6/15/08

So the easy way to read this (at least for me....bc the way they put the dates next to ages groups read older to younger) is to start at the older age bracket and read it ....kids born between Dec 18, 07 - June 15, 08. Hope that helps

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Changes based on how many kids and what level.

 

[flippin out]

Changes based on how many kids and what level.

Yes, exactly. Our state went away from the age group 7yr old, age group 8 yr old years ago bc there may have been (50) 7yr olds that year and only (23) 8 yr olds......not a fair breakdown. So they now take the number of kids per level and start at the oldest and count out X number participants and cut off. So every age group has almost the same number of kids.

 

[duyetanh]

Yes, exactly. Our state went away from the age group 7yr old, age group 8 yr old years ago bc there may have been (50) 7yr olds that year and only (23) 8 yr olds......not a fair breakdown. So they now take the number of kids per level and start at the oldest and count out X number participants and cut off. So every age group has almost the same number of kids.

Yep. This is exactly how it happens here also.

 

[MeetDirector]

You have once again hit on my pet peeve. Please don't confuse an athletes competitive age with the award groups used by a meet director at a given meet.

An athlete's competitive age is very clearly spelled out in the USAG Rules and Policies as follows: "The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level." (R&P page 76). This means that whatever age the gymnast will be on the final day of State meet (for compulsory levels) is the age that she will be for the ENTIRE season.

Anytime you start throwing in groups, you are talking about how a meet director chooses to subdivide a specific level for the purposes of the specific meet. These age divisions have NOTHING to do with the athletes competitive age for the season.

An athlete's competitive age NEVER changes during a season, no way, no how. Anybody that tells you differently is flat wrong and they should read the Rules and Policies.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I don't think any of us confused it. Its just when most people ask they are really asking about what division of their level their child will be in. And it is very rare (at least around here). That they keep only 7 yr olds in one group, 8 in another and so on. They usually shoot for balance of kids in group. Except perhaps the older kids.

My daughter is 9, she will be 9 for 18 more actual days and then she will be actually 10, Early States are in Feb.

Depending on her meets this season, she has been in different divisions.. She usually starts the season up in the same age group as most of the kids on her team and in Jan, she ends up in the next group up. This typically happens to the girls with Dec/Jan birthdays.

But truly I know how old she is. In real life and for the rules.

 

[roll123]

You have once again hit on my pet peeve. Please don't confuse an athletes competitive age with the award groups used by a meet director at a given meet.

An athlete's competitive age is very clearly spelled out in the USAG Rules and Policies as follows: "The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level." (R&P page 76). This means that whatever age the gymnast will be on the final day of State meet (for compulsory levels) is the age that she will be for the ENTIRE season.

Anytime you start throwing in groups, you are talking about how a meet director chooses to subdivide a specific level for the purposes of the specific meet. These age divisions have NOTHING to do with the athletes competitive age for the season.

An athlete's competitive age NEVER changes during a season, no way, no how. Anybody that tells you differently is flat wrong and they should read the Rules and Policies.

What is considered the final meet of the season for optionals?
What is the final meet for optionals?

 

[Gymmommy71]

Our state meets do the range of birthdates thing and they'll call them things like 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 11A, etc. based on a span of dates that are usually about 3 months for popular ages (less subdivisions for the ages w/ less girls). I'm glad they do it this way otherwise it would be very hard to medal .

 

[cbifoja]

What is considered the final meet of the season for optionals?
What is the final meet for optionals?

Depending on level it could be regionals, westerns/eastern a, or nationals.

 

[SeaActually]

You have once again hit on my pet peeve. Please don't confuse an athletes competitive age with the award groups used by a meet director at a given meet.

An athlete's competitive age is very clearly spelled out in the USAG Rules and Policies as follows: "The gymnast's age for the competitive season is determined by the date of the final day of the competition at the culminating championship meet for that level." (R&P page 76). This means that whatever age the gymnast will be on the final day of State meet (for compulsory levels) is the age that she will be for the ENTIRE season.

Anytime you start throwing in groups, you are talking about how a meet director chooses to subdivide a specific level for the purposes of the specific meet. These age divisions have NOTHING to do with the athletes competitive age for the season.

An athlete's competitive age NEVER changes during a season, no way, no how. Anybody that tells you differently is flat wrong and they should read the Rules and Policies.

What is the competitive age used for (not elite, just regular JO)?

 

[MeetDirector]

Anymore, the competitive age isn't really used for much. In our early days in the sport it was how you determined what session you were in at a meet. Now, most meets that I have seen use the birthdate range method and just call the divisions Jr, Sr, etc.

For what its worth, to answer the OP's question, she will compete as an 8 year old (and should have been competing as an 8 yr old all season in your state).

 

[B.Gold]

Think your dates are listed backward....you have the kids getting younger as the age groups rise in alphabetical order....

Say for level 3--
Ours looks something like this
Child A - 5/15/2009 - younger (meaning born after 5/15/09)
Child B - 11/3/2008 - 5/14/2009
Child C - 6/16/08 - 11/2/08
Jr A - 12/18/07 - 6/15/08

So the easy way to read this (at least for me....bc the way they put the dates next to ages groups read older to younger) is to start at the older age bracket and read it ....kids born between Dec 18, 07 - June 15, 08. Hope that helps

Lol!!! Thanks!!! something about the number of the year getting higher at the same time the gymnast gets younger makes it really hard for me to wrap my brain around. Clearly, I need to ask for help when the time comes...

 

[skschlag]

Lol!!! Thanks!!! something about the number of the year getting higher at the same time the gymnast gets younger makes it really hard for me to wrap my brain around. Clearly, I need to ask for help when the time comes...

That is what the computer programs are for!!!

 

[MomIdidit!]

Thank you everyone for your inputs, I really appreciate all of the clarifications.

 

[MomIdidit!]

so while we are on the age subject.....are there pros and or cons to competing level 4 as an 8 yo as compared to a 7 yo?

 

[GYM0M]

so while we are on the age subject.....are there pros and or cons to competing level 4 as an 8 yo as compared to a 7 yo?

Meaning? Like will the competition be tougher? Or what?
IMO, about the same. Since 7 is the youngest you can compete L4, those girls are normally VERY good. But 8 is still young and several of those girls are EXTREMELY good too! It doesn't really matter what age or what group. State is going to be difficult regardless! At most there will be 5 girls on top of the podium for each division. If there are fewer 7 year olds, then statistically her chances of placing are higher. State is fun, don't get me wrong, but really and truly, if there's not a 1st place win, it's just another meet....on second thought, even with a 1st place win, its still just gonna be another meet......