WAG College gymnastics questions

[Livelovegymnastics]

Hello, I'm a new member of Chalk bucket. I have questions regarding college gymnastics.
-How can you get noticed by colleges?
-Is social media (such as Instagram) important for getting recruited?
-What would you say is a good age to reach level 10?
-Any other information you think is important
I appreciate any replies.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Welcome to Chalkbucket. I hope you’ll find this to be a great resource as I have over the years. As to the answers to your questions, I’ll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

I have seen many state that they get noticed by colleges through personal YouTube channels, Instagram, contacting coaches of colleges you are interested in, and competing in big meets like Nationals. I’ve heard that you don’t really need to start Instagram until level 8 at the earliest. Coaches aren’t looking at or recruiting the popular compulsory instagymmies. And I don’t think it’s necessary to start contacting coaches until level 9. I’ve also heard that you want to reach level 10 by ninth or tenth grade. There really isn’t a rush to hit it before then. Multiple years of level 10 can lead to injuries and lots of unnecessary pounding on the body.

Gymnastics is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. It takes a lot of talent, hard work, and honestly luck to make a college team. The only way to guarantee a college scholarship is to take all of your gymnastics tuition money that you will pay from now until graduation and put it in a savings account. Very few who start gymnastics make it all the way to level 10, and even fewer make it to a college team.

 

[gymgal]

Grades...Grades...Grades First and foremost, you need to have the academic standing to be admitted into the colleges so keep up your studies.

In this current time, social media to showcase your skills is a very important part of the recruiting process. You can do it through you tube as well. Having a social media presence beyond your skills (the SM divas) is not needed and often discouraged to avoid controversy.

For the best shot for high ranked teams, being a strong L10 by freshman year is recommended but there are gymnasts who score a spot on these teams after being a level 10 for only a couple of years. It really depends on what you have to offer the team at the time that they need a particular specialist. For lower ranked D1 teams, sophomore/junior year are fine as long as you come into L10 strong with routines that transition to college well. For D2/3 Junior/senior year but again, the coaches want to see you being ready to compete those skills and routines well.

Regionals and Nationals are good times to be noticed but honestly, the recruiters are mostly looking at the younger age groups for those, unless they have unfilled spots in the next year or 2. Start emailing the coaches once you are a L10 or if you are a specialist where you have a L10 10.0 SV routine/vault. They can't answer you until summer before Junior(?) year but they will be paying attention and will already have their favorites long before then.

 

[rlm's mom]

Regarding age to reach level 10... there's no specific age but college coaches spy out possible recruits in their sophomore and junior years so preferably the gymnast should be a level 10 by sophomore year. Even better by freshman, bc the first year at level 10 is usually rough.
My DD is a level 10 sophomore currently and has been posting all meets this season to her youtube channel. Been doing instagram for about 5 years already although coaches are not looking at younger gymnasts.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I’m not an expert, but I do think social media is important nowadays. Instagram and maybe YouTube. My dd’s coaches said that freshman year is when she should really start posting actively. As far as age, they said,in their experience, that qualifying to Nationals in sophomore year should be the goal. If you qualify earlier, that’s great too of course. And since level 10 is definitely an adjustment and first year level 10s might have a harder time qualifying, level 10 by freshman year is better. And she was also cautioned to be realistic (I.e. she’s not Florida or LSU or UCLA material unfortunately). Sad to hear, but they were being truthful.

 

[gym_dad32608]

Everyone is unique and in unique situations, some are in small states, some rural areas, some metropolitan, big gym, small gym, etc. There is no exact formula. The most important thing you can do is perform well, particularly at regionals and nationals. Its the only thing you can control and will be the most effective at getting noticed by colleges. Ideally, you have at least 2 years level 10 so by 16 but there are plenty of D1 athletes that have only 1 year L10. Everything else is secondary, social media helps only in facilitating communication with many programs easily. You might also get mixed reviews from recruiting counselors from people, just depends on the situation you're in. I guess one other factor that you might be able to control is going to meets that are Nastia qualifiers and performing well. Many college coaches attend these meets. I had the opportunity to meet with coaches from Utah, Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Michigan State, Ohio State, Alabama and several others because they were there scouting L10s at these meets. Good luck!