Parents 4th Level 4 Meet Report....

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S

starmaker

Olivia had her 4th meet this weekend and it was a close replica of last week. Great floor! OK vault! Bars were sloppy and went over on her mill circle again!! And her jumps and leaps lack aptitiude on beam!

Here are her scores:
FX: 8.65 down from last week's 9.0 (placed 5th)
VT: 8.55 gets lower with every meet. started the season w/ 9.125
UB: 7.95 this too seems to get lower with every meet.
BB: 8.35 (placed 5th)

AA: 33.5 (7th AA..I think)

Her Team won 1st Place again and she was thrilled!!! She insisted on a having her picture taken with the big trophy!!:)

Here's her video:
YouTube - Liv's 4th Level 4 Meet 6 year old
 
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Wow, some tough scoring there. I thought her floor was lovely - much improved from the first meet. I think she might have taken an extra step running to the leap. She does need more height on her jumps and leaps on beam, but that is still a pretty decent score. The mill circle is just plain evil! When is State for you guys? If she can put it all together in one meet, she will rock!

Meg
 
I agree with Megly. I think her floor was lovely, can't see that much in deductions. Beyond work on her jumps it is all lovely. I am sure once she works out how to put the brakes and the evil mill circle her scores will jump way up. Great job on the team AA.
 
She is such a poised and polished gymnast for her age. Well for any age really hehe. Although her leaps are a little low on beam they are neat. Another year and that will come I'm sure. I think floor deserved a 9 score. It was lovely. I'm sure I have seen much less good routines with 9. scores. Good luck for states. She pulled it out for states last year didn't she. Crossing my fingers for this one too. I am still amazed how good she is for 6!
 
I think she did great, floor looked like they scored her low tome too. That evil mill circle should be banned !!!
 
I cant wait to watch the video. I will have to try and check it out on my iPhone since YouTube is blocked at work.

:)
 
YIKES! I have to agree some tough scores there. I thought her floor was beautiful! The only obvious thing I could see was the very end and the hops backwards. The beam was beautiful and her bars when she finally stops going over the extra time looks like a 9! The vault, she just has to run and extend her legs..they start scoring at the run, not just at the mat. I know because my DD is not a runner either, LOL

I agree with the other comments though, for her age she looks very comfortable and poised! My DD did not look that poised until her SECOND year of 4 at almost 8. She going to do very well the rest of her season!
 
Nice job Liv!! I agree with everyone else. Her floor was beautiful. I don't know how they got that score out of it. Should have been at least a 9.0. She is looking just like I imagined she would at L4, such beautiful form and high kicks, just beautiful. Yay Liv! Like I say often after a routine of my DD's (since I always judge it better than the judges) "I don't care what the judges say, I thought it was beautiful!"

I think her beam is improving lots. Yes, she needs more oomph to her jumps and leaps, but that comes with time. She was not super wobbly and looked beautiful up there. Vault, I think she needs to RUN and it was a tad piked, but what do I know. LOL. Bars are coming along very nicely. The mill circle will eventually come. The rest of her bars look very nice. She looks so beautiful out there, very poised and graceful for her age.

DD has her 4th meet this weekend, she is hoping to get a 9 on bars and I am hoping she can put it all together finally as well. LOL. She knows her steps cost her the 9 this last time and really wants a 9 on bars finally. It is the meet that was her very first meet last year, the Halloween meet, so she is excited. It will mark one year competing! :D
 
The judging has been consistently tough this season. I don't know if it's Level 4 or just the whole state of Florida but Olivia just can't seem to cut a break. The floor judges were especially tough at this meet. Only 2 9's given on floor during Liv's session - a 9.05 and 9.125. That's it!

Thank you all for all your very nice encouraging words. I've starting to get a little concerned over her scores getting consistently lower and lower on vault and bars with every meet. Coincidently it's the same coach for both events and another coach for floor and beam. I don't know what it is. I think her bars/vault coach is phenomenal! I know he focuses alot more on uptrainig than floor/beam coach. Even all this month with all these competition he's still has them work L5 vault over the table, jump to high bar, squat ons, kips, even clearhips. I mean I love the uptraining but Liv is so focused on the higher skills that skills she has had for well over a year are suffering. She has had and competed a mill circle for over a year now and they are worse and less consistent now than ever:eek:. I don't know if I should try and talk to her coach. I hate confronting coaches etc. I am hoping he will give her the extra attention she needs on her L4 skills on bars. She is so strong. You would think bars would be one of her stronger events yet they seems to be falling apart. As far as the run on vault, I think it's a lost cause. She can run fast. I know she can becuase I tested it. My friends little boy is about a year older than Liv and I had them race in our back yard. The boy thought he had it won!! Boy, did Olivia run!! After a few races I asked Olivia why she doesn't run like when she's vaulting. She said it's hard to time the jump to springboard. Now that she is a little older (well older than last year) I think she is starting to play it "safe" at competition. I always thought of her as more of a risk taker but she is becoming more and more cautious (not fearful just cautious at competition).

I think I may even schedule a bars private this week. I know I just left a posting about Liv only ever having one but I think she needs so TLC on bars. We'll see if it makes a difference.
 
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DD has her 4th meet this weekend, she is hoping to get a 9 on bars and I am hoping she can put it all together finally as well. LOL. She knows her steps cost her the 9 this last time and really wants a 9 on bars finally. It is the meet that was her very first meet last year, the Halloween meet, so she is excited. It will mark one year competing! :D


She will definately get that 9 on bars. Her bars have improved tremendously!! Remember last year her dismount she would just fall off and now she's got that great curve up. Her leg cut, FHC, everything has improved so much! She has been due for a 9 on bars I think this whole season. I know it's coming! I am sooo proud of her!
 
J,

I know what you mean about the run and vault. My kid can RUN. She beats all the neighborhood boys all the time, she is fast. Running at a stationary object is difficult though and then they have to know just when to jump to hit the board optimally, etc. It comes with time. I do think that vaulting over the table has to be much different and could be messing things up a bit, but who knows. She just finally started running a little faster and with more purpose than last season. I know it will click with Liv, too.

Does this new gym have certain scores the girls need to move up? Do they seem more focused on keeping them challenged and getting the next level skills than making everything at L4 perfect? Could be just a different philosphy about the compulsory levels. Some gyms tend to want to have super high scores at the compulsory levels and work on every little detail. Some gyms seem to want just the skills solids and aren't as worried about all the little things. Maybe their focus is optionals and they just want them to have solid skills and work towards the higher level skills for later?

A private on bars might be what she needs. That mill circle is really tricky though. It took DD a long time to stop missing it or doing 2 in meets. She still messes up at practice sometimes. It will come eventually. So frustrating for parents. Especially since it doesn't carry on to any other level.

I definitely see huge improvements in her beam and floor. I knew she would look just lovely out there and she does. All the other things will come (bigger leaps, higher jumps) and then her scores will soar because her form and grace are already there. You will see. :D

They are scoring tough for sure. I remember how frustrating it was for her to watch YouTube videos and see girls getting 9s and routines didn't look much different from hers, she was like huh? I totally think she was robbed on floor. It really was so pretty.

Hang in there!
 
Abby will definately get that 9 on bars. Her bars have improved tremendously!! Remember last year her dismount she would just fall off and now she's got that great curve up. Her leg cut, FHC, everything has improved so much! She has been due for a 9 on bars I think this whole season. I know it's coming! I am sooo proud of her!

Thanks! You are so sweet. I am hoping so. She has been trying so hard. They look so beautiful this season, but she has just missed it each time, with little things, but it adds up. LOL. Her bar coach rocks and I am happy to see her finally looking so great on her favorite event. LOL. Hoping it all comes together for her this meet.
 
Way to go Olivia! We just love watching her! I agree with the other posts...floor was beautiful and I loved beam as well. Only thing I could pick out was what you said about her jump series. Really great job! Funny you could have been talking about Emma's bar and vault coach! He is the same. Once the girls have something...he's on to uptraining. Doesn't really care about the spit and polish needed for competitions. He loves the big tricks! Emma loves to learn new tricks too!:D
 
Mariposa,

There was a meeting a while back and I asked the same question. Is there an in-house mobility score needed to move up and the reponse was no, the decision to move up is made on a one to one basis. I liked that response becuase of what we had been through last season trying to get a 36AA. However, I am friends with many of the L3 moms and they are all stressing because they were told they need a 36AA and all the skills for the next level in order to move up. I also know that they have two programs: the reg. competitive Jr. Olympic route and a fast tracking route. I have not been told anything but from what I see in training it's seems like they are really trying to move things along for Liv. Our head TOPS coach (who happens to be the Tops State Manager) told me personally that Olivia's focus should be Tops and not so much L4. However, her L4 floor/beam coach is BIG on compulsories and has tried to keep Liv back. In the summer she moved her back down to L3 and some of the other coaches had a fit and moved her back to L4. I am happy to see she is doing good on "her" events(floor and beam). I am still afraid they might have her repeat L4 or even not allow her to go to states. I am trying not to give to much importance to what the other parents are saying as far as move ups. I am going to trust them (all of her coaches) know what is in her best interest. If the mill circle and her vault is the only thing keeping her from 36AA I will try to advocate for her to do L5. Her confidence and self-esteem has not been affected by not placing in L4. She is still have a grand ole time competing and is admant about L5. There is a meeting this friday about "move ups". I guess more will be revealed then....fingers crossed a 36AA is not mandatory.
 
The judging has been consistently tough this season. I don't know if it's Level 4 or just the whole state of Florida but Olivia just can't seem to cut a break. The floor judges were especially tough at this meet. Only 2 9's given on floor during Liv's session - a 9.05 and 9.125. That's it!

My Olivia had a meet like that last year in level 5. The winning score (the highest for our session, across all age groups) on floor was a 9.1! We all sat there in total disbelief at the scores they were posting. Our girls that routinely got 9's on floor were scoring in the low to mid 8's. It made no sense to anyone. Even the coaches, from every team, approached her table after every rotation. What does that tell you?? The only thing that saved her was that she judged consistantly low. It really upset a lot of people. I especially felt bad for the girls. There were a lot of tears shed that day.
 
Olivia's mom,

I love the idea that she is uptrained on the bars skills! And, after L4 you will NOT see that silly mill circle again so if she only does high 8's all season at L4 I wouldn't put that much worry into it. After 2 years at L4 and now doing L5, I would have rather seen my DD working that kip and squat on more over the past two years, especially during the second season of L4. My DD does not have a big of an issue with it as some of her L5 teamates do. Some of them were very good at L4 but without the bars they can't make good AA or even qualify for section or state on only three events! Some of them are getting 9's on floor but have to sit and watch the couple girls that can do bars. I am lucky my DD can do the bars fairly well, she needs to work on cleaning up the floor routine, LOL

Anyone can see your DD has the skills & poise, if given the opportunity if they offer to move her up to L5 I would go for it. I think she will do great as a 5! Actually, I think she will do better at 5 than 4. I think L4 is so huge and competative (Florida is much bigger than NJ, LOL) maybe that is why judging is tougher..the numbers will cut in half when she goes to 5.
 
Hi there! Wow, you guys have sure had alot of back to back meets. Doesn't leave much time to fix the little things before they are being judged again. I think Olivia is doing amazing. I have to remind myself that she is 6 years old! The little mistakes she is making have more to do with age I think than ability. You know she is strong and flexible and able to do things much more difficult than a mill circle. That "body awareness" comes from lots of repetition, and your gym seems to focus alot on uptraining once the kids have a skill (just my observation, I could def be wrong). On vault, she needs to try to pump her arms, even if she doesn't actually go faster, she will LOOK faster and more powerful. I thought her vault form looked good, it was more her run. I think her floor score got killed with the hops after her robhs. That happened to Kylie at her first meet (3 hops) and its the last thing the judges see. Her floor was sooo pretty though, she just looks so confident out there. LOVE her ending pose, guess it stuck after Cel. America.

I would be shocked if they didn't let her compete state. There is no reason for them to do that. L4 State is broken down into very specific age groups (like w/in 6 months of each other). I can't imagine there are many (if any!)girls her age who can beat her.

Congrats on the 1st place team and to Olivia for doing such a great job!!
 
My Olivia had a meet like that last year in level 5. The winning score (the highest for our session, across all age groups) on floor was a 9.1! We all sat there in total disbelief at the scores they were posting. Our girls that routinely got 9's on floor were scoring in the low to mid 8's. It made no sense to anyone. Even the coaches, from every team, approached her table after every rotation. What does that tell you?? The only thing that saved her was that she judged consistantly low. It really upset a lot of people. I especially felt bad for the girls. There were a lot of tears shed that day.


Olivia started on floor and was the first one up. As the session continued her 8.65 starting looking better and better. I don't understand why judges would do that to these little girls that have worked soooo hard for sooo long! It seems to be very cruel! I hope this doesn't become a trend in our area. But like you said as long as they stay consistent and are tough on every one than it shouldn't matter too much.
 
My Olivia had a meet like that last year in level 5. The winning score (the highest for our session, across all age groups) on floor was a 9.1! We all sat there in total disbelief at the scores they were posting. Our girls that routinely got 9's on floor were scoring in the low to mid 8's. It made no sense to anyone. Even the coaches, from every team, approached her table after every rotation. What does that tell you?? The only thing that saved her was that she judged consistantly low. It really upset a lot of people. I especially felt bad for the girls. There were a lot of tears shed that day.

Nettyinpa,

Whenever we did those Rutgers meets (Pumpkin Cup) we always had LOW scores, but as whole session scores were consitantly lower for all and we would place. It is frustrating though to be used to something all season and then get low-balled and not know why!
 
Hi there! Wow, you guys have sure had alot of back to back meets. Doesn't leave much time to fix the little things before they are being judged again. I think Olivia is doing amazing. I have to remind myself that she is 6 years old! The little mistakes she is making have more to do with age I think than ability. You know she is strong and flexible and able to do things much more difficult than a mill circle. That "body awareness" comes from lots of repetition, and your gym seems to focus alot on uptraining once the kids have a skill (just my observation, I could def be wrong). On vault, she needs to try to pump her arms, even if she doesn't actually go faster, she will LOOK faster and more powerful. I thought her vault form looked good, it was more her run. I think her floor score got killed with the hops after her robhs. That happened to Kylie at her first meet (3 hops) and its the last thing the judges see. Her floor was sooo pretty though, she just looks so confident out there. LOVE her ending pose, guess it stuck after Cel. America.

I would be shocked if they didn't let her compete state. There is no reason for them to do that. L4 State is broken down into very specific age groups (like w/in 6 months of each other). I can't imagine there are many (if any!)girls her age who can beat her.

Congrats on the 1st place team and to Olivia for doing such a great job!!

Gym mom fla, we've had three consecutive meets. Like you said there hasn't been enough time to see real improvements. And then they continue uptraining eventhough we have so many meets close together. Their focus doesn't seem to be on level 4 but on getting them ready for the next level. I know there are atleast a couple girls in Olivia's team that are hoping to be optional by Jan '11. And they don't train these girls seperate from Olivia. The other day they were spotting her tucked fly a way off bars. I was like....really?!?! I guess they have a bigger picture. Olivia is having a ball at gym! She is much happier now than last year. And at the end of the day that's what's most important. I love all the uptaining I just wished she were doing better on bars as a L4. Maybe a private or two might do the trick.

LOL I loved what you said about pumping her arms. It's true she would LOOK faster if she pumped her arms but I am trying not to say anything to her...(you know the whole Dr. Ali thing). You would think the coach would of address that to her.

Funny story... before her meet I asked her about her goals. Cognitively she KNOWS what she needs to do. She was like..."well on vault I need to run much faster and pop off the springboard. on beam I need to remain on releve throughout my turn and hold my dismount etc." She went on and on. I was like well....baby girl knows what she needs to do. Now it's a matter of transferring it over and actually doing it.

She received so many comments from her friends and coaches about her ending pose she decided to keep it. She was like...Coach L really liked it! She will do anything to please her coaches. It breaks my heart!

As far as states....well I know there are a few young genie's girls that are very very good. They would definately give Liv a run for her money.

She doesn't have a meet next weekend. But Julia has her first ice skating show. Then she has her last meet before states. She is doing Halloween Maddness hosted by TAG. I don't think many gyms are coming. I think it's going to be more of an in-house small meet.
 

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