I have read where some of you have a fall and a spring season and you may compete two different levels, is that correct? How does it work? We have our first meet in December and then compete all spring and end of up with states in April/May. Are some states different? We have had kids do one meet at a level and move on to the next, but how are your seasons structured and what states are these?
Parents 2 Seasons?
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We have the Compulsory Season Levels 3-6 in the fall. Meets begin in September and end w/ States in December. Then in January the Optional Season begins Level 7 & up. However, we can also still do Levels 3-6 in the spring season. States are in April.
Hope that helps. I have read quite a few posts for gyms that don't begin meets until the spring season. Our gym does both seasons, some do not.
Some kids are able to advance to the next level after a season but I have found that a lot of them do both seasons at the same level. Last year our level 4 team competed compulsory in the fall and then 'Rookie 1' in the spring. Rookie 1 was basically still level 4 but they did not do the compulsory routines they were able to have their own music and routines - just had to contain certain elements (which were basically the level 4 elements - ROBHS, full split etc on floor, I think they left bars and vault the same, changed up the beam routine but had same elements).
Hope that helps. I have read quite a few posts for gyms that don't begin meets until the spring season. Our gym does both seasons, some do not.
Some kids are able to advance to the next level after a season but I have found that a lot of them do both seasons at the same level. Last year our level 4 team competed compulsory in the fall and then 'Rookie 1' in the spring. Rookie 1 was basically still level 4 but they did not do the compulsory routines they were able to have their own music and routines - just had to contain certain elements (which were basically the level 4 elements - ROBHS, full split etc on floor, I think they left bars and vault the same, changed up the beam routine but had same elements).
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Billy
Just for complication, we add AAU, too, which competes from January through states in April. At our gym, levels 2 - 4 are AAU and compete in the spring. Then the girls switch to USAG for levels 5 and 6, which competes in the fall. Then USAG optionals compete in the spring again. So girls on level 4 now will compete starting in January 2009. Then when they finish L4, they'll train and compete L5 in the fall of 2009. If all goes well, they'll train L6 for a year to compete the following fall and then move straight in to L7 immediately for January. I hope that all made sense!
Here in NJ we begin our L4 season in the Fall (Sept is our first meet) and ends in Jan at our L4 states. Our L5 season begins around Feb and ends in May. So some girls can do a "double season". 1/2 our L4 team did that this year. However, to really add confusion into things, there are also some Invitational meets held "off season" or "pre-season" to allow girls at new levels to try their routines earlier. Our gym does not participate in any, we do TOPS training and conditioning in the off season only.
My DD is doing a second L4 season this year, and then may do the L5 season too. But, I would rather her do the L4 season and then just train during the L5 season to compete the following year. I think it would just be too much stress (and too expensive!) for us.
We also had a L5 girl skip L6 and go right to training L7. Alot of gyms do this too.
My DD is doing a second L4 season this year, and then may do the L5 season too. But, I would rather her do the L4 season and then just train during the L5 season to compete the following year. I think it would just be too much stress (and too expensive!) for us.
We also had a L5 girl skip L6 and go right to training L7. Alot of gyms do this too.
We are in AZ. We have a fall season for compulsories with states in December, starts in September. Optionals have Spring season and Spring states. The compulsories though can also compete in meets during the Spring season. Not sure if all gyms are like this. We only have USAG competitions.
My DD might not be ready for the first meet, or 2 or 3 in the fall. It is nice that if she is ready by the end, she can compete in the spring and still get to go to some meets.
My DD might not be ready for the first meet, or 2 or 3 in the fall. It is nice that if she is ready by the end, she can compete in the spring and still get to go to some meets.
States can do as they please with compulsory levels as the state championship is the farthest the girls can go. So, I think you'll find a lot of variation by state. In Iowa, we have a fall compulsory season with a state meet in December. Certain clubs will have compulsory sessions at their optional meets, but there's no spring "state" for levels 4-6. USAG Iowa does not compete below level 4.
I think you'll find all optionals have a spring season, regardless of what state they're in, because regional championships are in April.
I think you'll find all optionals have a spring season, regardless of what state they're in, because regional championships are in April.
CO sounds just like Iowa. USAG Compulsory season is Sept. to Dec. They only compete L4-6 here and just raised the qualifying score for L4 states to 34 AA. Apparently, with the 33AA it was turning into a marathon state meet. This year, L6 will have a very early state meet(Nov. 22) due to when Thanksgiving falls and they didn't want the L5 and L4 state meets(each seperate weekends) to be right before Christmas. So, we'll probably see some gyms sending their L6 teams only to the earliest meets to get the bugs out and get going on their state qualifying score.
Optionals compete starting in very early Jan with states based on dates for regionals(except L7). There are no compulsory meets in state after Dec. So, if a gym wants to let their compulsory girls compete, they would have to go out of state. No AAU here either. The only other gym program is Eagles(a rec type league)
Optionals compete starting in very early Jan with states based on dates for regionals(except L7). There are no compulsory meets in state after Dec. So, if a gym wants to let their compulsory girls compete, they would have to go out of state. No AAU here either. The only other gym program is Eagles(a rec type league)
Our season starts in late fall... November/December being the first meet for all levels.
However, since we live in the Missouri/Kansas border and some of the gyms at missouri gyms and others are kansas gyms... We have an option of competing when Mo starts there compulsary season which is in the fall. HOwever, I never see it work that way... The Kansas gyms wait till late fall while the Mo states are in december, their compulsaries end up at all the big Kansas meets all through the winter. So Missouri gyms seem to have a Sept-March season but Kansas gyms just do the Nov-March...
However, since we live in the Missouri/Kansas border and some of the gyms at missouri gyms and others are kansas gyms... We have an option of competing when Mo starts there compulsary season which is in the fall. HOwever, I never see it work that way... The Kansas gyms wait till late fall while the Mo states are in december, their compulsaries end up at all the big Kansas meets all through the winter. So Missouri gyms seem to have a Sept-March season but Kansas gyms just do the Nov-March...
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Billy
Wow, you guys have a high qualifying score to states. In GA AAU, girls only need a 29.00 AA to qualify. But, levels 3 and up are divided into two divisions, novice and experienced. Any girl who scores 35.00 AA twice during the season must compete as experienced.
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flippymonkeysmom
Our compulsories compete in the fall with a December state meet. Optionals and prep-opt compete in the spring with state meets in March and April. A lot of girls will compete level 6 in the fall and go right to 7 in the spring. I decided not to have my dd do that - I felt it was too much (not to mention that much more money). She did compete one meet at L7 just to get the feel of it and did score high enough that technically she could go right to 8. I'd rather her do a full season of level 7 though - as many have said - it is not a race.
FMM--Our gym offers the 6/7 season. Most of the girls that do it are 2nd year Level 6s. If you're selected, you can opt out and just do the L6 season then spend the off season working on the L7 skills. Now, the girls that do want to do the 2nd season, don't start competing in any L7 meets until about mid way through the season(sometime in Feb), so they have more time to just work on all the L7 routines. All of the girls that did the double season did make states as L7s although not many will move to L8. All I heard from them was how glad they were that the 2nd season was over----parents and girls.
The disadvantage for them was they were busy cramming in L7 skills last summer and during the fall compulsory season. Meanwhile the girls who were just doing L7 all year, were already uptraining on L8 skills. So, now they are trying to learn L8 skills this summer and it is tough----I think the vault transition is one of the toughest and several girls had struggled with giants, so they are putting alot of work in on those. Several girls/parents have already decided to take it a little easier this summer and do a full year of L7 instead of trying to push to L8. As you said, its not a sprint.
The disadvantage for them was they were busy cramming in L7 skills last summer and during the fall compulsory season. Meanwhile the girls who were just doing L7 all year, were already uptraining on L8 skills. So, now they are trying to learn L8 skills this summer and it is tough----I think the vault transition is one of the toughest and several girls had struggled with giants, so they are putting alot of work in on those. Several girls/parents have already decided to take it a little easier this summer and do a full year of L7 instead of trying to push to L8. As you said, its not a sprint.
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flippymonkeysmom
GLM - I see the same thing by us. The ones who went right to 7 are going to do another year at 7 anyway. In the meantime my dd has been able to really work skills and has quite a few of her 8 skills. I figure that will just make her that much stronger as a 7 this year. She is just going into middle school next year - I don't want too much added pressure.
Here in Northern California we had the same problem with the Level 4 State meets being so long. Last year NORCAL raised the AA score to 35.00 and I heard that there was a limit to the number of girls that could compete at States. It still was a big meet running from Friday night to all day Saturday and Sunday.
Our gym debuts the compulsory girls at their new levels in the Spring so that when the Fall comes they already have a meet or two under their belts. Then they have a couple of months to work out the kinks and polish things up to be able to qualify for Zones and States.
Just to elaborate on the NJ post. In NJ, Levels 4, 6 & 7 compete in Fall with States in January. Levels 5, 8, 9, & 10 compete in Spring.
In regards to the conversation about skipping 6 to 7. At dd's gym only once did we have girls skip and that was back when the floor routines changed a few yrs ago. The coaches felt that the girls wouldn't score well with the new more "dance-y" routines, so they scored them out. The coaches has since regretted that and won't do it anymore. Those girls ended up competing 7 for 2 seasons. L6 is really a hard level, but I think those girls that do it reep the benfits. Their form is tip-top and it really makes going to 7 so much easier. My dd competed 6 and did pretty well, but she excelled at 7.
We're getting ready for L8 here and time will tell how she will shape up for this season. Luckily, she still has about 4/5 months to get everything down.
In regards to the conversation about skipping 6 to 7. At dd's gym only once did we have girls skip and that was back when the floor routines changed a few yrs ago. The coaches felt that the girls wouldn't score well with the new more "dance-y" routines, so they scored them out. The coaches has since regretted that and won't do it anymore. Those girls ended up competing 7 for 2 seasons. L6 is really a hard level, but I think those girls that do it reep the benfits. Their form is tip-top and it really makes going to 7 so much easier. My dd competed 6 and did pretty well, but she excelled at 7.
We're getting ready for L8 here and time will tell how she will shape up for this season. Luckily, she still has about 4/5 months to get everything down.
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Billy
That's pretty much how our gym works, at least for the levels that compete in Spring (January through April). They do work a few new skills during meet season but they really concentrate on the new level beginning in May. By August, they are expected to have all the skills without a spot in order to officially "move up." Then they spend August through December putting the routines together and perfecting everything.
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