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marie83

Coach
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Hi all,

I'm Marie. I've just registered here having had a quick look around! Not sure how many other people here post on gymworld, but I am a regular poster there.

Just to introduce myself:

I am a level 4 gymnastics coach from England and have been coaching for 11 years. My gymnasts are British level 5 (aged 8 this year) and British Grade 14. They have their grade 14 competition on 4th April so busy getting them ready for that at the mo!

I also do a little bit of training myself - only 3 hours a week just to keep my hand in, but am hoping to do a veterans competition (very low level) later on this year.

I am also on youtube here: YouTube - mariec83's Channel
and twitter: Twitter / carrigan175

Well I think I've said enough! I look forward to posting here and getting to know everyone!

Bye for now,

Marie
 
Welcome to the CB, nice to have you here. I have been trying to get aquainted with the new British 14 level system. I have two girls in gym 12 & 9 we are in Quebec, tough I am from Manchester originally.
 
Thanks for the welcome messages :)

I have been trying to get aquainted with the new British 14 level system. I have two girls in gym 12 & 9 we are in Quebec, tough I am from Manchester originally.

It is certainly a bit confusing at first. I wrote a post on it over on another forum. I'll repost it here:

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]We have regional grades, national grades and also levels and compulsory grades

Regional grades are the easiest.
Grade 14 (minimum age 8 in year)
Grade 13 (min age 9 in year)
Grade 12 (min age 10 in year)
Grade 11 (min age 10 in year)
Grade 10 (min age 10 in year)
Grade 9 (min age 10 in year)

National Grades are slightly harder and go to National Finals

Grade 8 (min age 10 in year)
Grade 7 (min age 11 in year)
Grade 6 (min age 12 in year)
Grade 5 (min age 13 in year)

Compulsory Grades are for elite gymnasts and are a qualifier for National finals.

Comp 4 (9 yrs)
Comp 3 (10 yrs)
Comp 2 (11 yrs)

Elite Status:

Espoir (12/13)
Junior (14/15)
Senior (16+)

All skills in Grades are Set and gymnasts at grades 14 and 13, 8,7,6 and 5 and compulsory grades have to do something called Range and Conditioning. They must pass this part of the competition in order to pass their grade.
[/FONT]

________________________________________________________________

8/9 yr olds have to do grade 14 and 13 (If they choose to enter) after that they can either go down the regional, national or elite pathway (if going elite they go straight after 14)

Basically 14 is the equivalent of old grade 6 (practically the same skills)
13 is the equivalent of old grade 5.

After that they are quite different. Apparently The regional route is aimed at gymnasts who train 10-15 hours a week and the National route is for those who train more hours, but not sure that is official, just what I've heard!

Hope that helps a bit, If you want to know more, I can try and help!

Marie
 
I have seen a few L14 routines on youtube, I can see how it is like the old club L6. SO regardless of the skill level of the 8/9 year old they HAVE to do L14 & 13? Can they do just one comp and progress?

Does every level have range & conditioning? It is something we don't have here, but I like the idea.

Thanks Marie, the last time I was in a UK club was in 2006 in Kendal, they gave me great insight into the system, nice to get the scoop from you.
 
Yeah that's right, the youngest they can be is 8 in the year to compete at 14 and they can't do 13 until next year! My Group have their grade 14 comp in 2 weeks and are all 2001 born gymnasts. Most of them are far more capable than this, but they aren't allowed to compete any other grade until next year. I am hoping they will go down either the compulsory or national route.

As long as they score 50 or above at grade 14/13/8/7/6/5 they can move on to the next grade
At 12,11,10,9 they have to score 40 (no range and conditioning so lower score required)

All apparatus is marked out of 13.5.

The regional grades 12-9 don't have range and conditioning.
 
Very different than our Canadian system, girls can begin to compete when they are 9 at any level they have the skills for.

We also have a developmental programme for 4-10 year old that really concentrates on form and boody shapes. THough we don't have many elites so who knows if our system works. Here cities are so far apart and the population is so low that gymnastics is a tough sport to focus on.

How do you keep your 8/9 year olds moving along when they have to focus on perfecting L14/13 routines, especially when you know they are capable of a lot more. Is the number of training hours restricted, or is it up to the individual clubs?
 
How do you keep your 8/9 year olds moving along when they have to focus on perfecting L14/13 routines, especially when you know they are capable of a lot more. Is the number of training hours restricted, or is it up to the individual clubs?

Well to be honest, I feel that the more advanced skills are more important than perfecting the grades 14 skills at the mo. That might sound weird as I do really believe that basics are important, but, for example, my gymnast's bar routine for grades is reverse pull up, 1/2 turn, 2 pike leg lifts, pull up, 5 tap swings. Rather than spending ages on that and the girl's getting bored, I am also working them on kips and cast to handstand which is more challenging for them. Beam is similar, the hardest thing is a 'roll back' which you've probably seen on the videos on youtube. My girls have continued to work on backward walkovers and cartwheels.

As for training hours, there are some guidelines which BG reccommend, but they aren't set in stone.

Gymnasts aged 8-10 shouldn't really do any more than 18 hours per week, depending on whether they are going the elite path or not. My gymnasts train between 9 and 12 hours per week at the moment.
 

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