WAG Jo verses excel

[heartgym]

My DD loves Gymnastics and would like to do college gymnastics someday. Our gym is pushing excel program and is doing very little JO over the past year. I see many gyms are doing this. My question is is their a bad or good path to college? Does it matter if she goes JO or excel ? I have done some research and I am still confused.

 

[htimcj]

If you want a D1 school then you will need a JO program. Some D2 and 3 schools will take kids who have completed l9 with is basically as far as the Excel program goes.

 

[MeetDirector]

I beg to differ with htimcj, but if her goal is college gymnastics, get out of Xcel as soon as possible. I know that sounds blunt, but she is going to have to be on the JO track at the optional levels and you can't get to the JO optional levels without going through the JO compulsory levels. If your current club is moving solely to Xcel, and I understand the desire to do that for some business models, then it is not the place for an athlete with college aspirations. And by college, I mean any division (D1, 2 or 3); none of these schools are going to take Xcel-only athletes when they are so familiar with the product the JO program produces.

Good Luck

 

[wgagym]

That is not true. For D1yes, but many D2 and D3 schools will take kids from Xcel as well as high school programs. Why do I know this. Most of my teammates from high school went on to college gymnastics with a scholarship and had never done a day of JO training in their life. They did MAGA and then High School. Just saying that JO is not the only option.

 

[Pickle]

Some of the Xcel kids at our gym do go on to D3 schools. I actually think more xcell kids go to D3 from our gym than JO to anywhere from our gym.

 

[Natasha]

Does your gym have Optional Level (L 7-10) JO competitors? That is what you want to be considering. Depending on where you live, there is a trend in some high quality gyms/areas to not compete JO compulsory and to do Xcel instead, and then transition to JO optional program. If you are in an area that is doing this, then you have nothing to worry about. The key is to look at what kind of optional level gymnasts they have.

Edit: The gyms that do Xcel in place of compulsories do still have the kids compete a score out meet for L4 and L5, sometimes just by bringing a judge in.

 

[Natasha]

Some of the Xcel kids at our gym do go on to D3 schools. I actually think more xcell kids go to D3 from our gym than JO to anywhere from our gym.

Unfortunately there are very few D3 schools, and they are mostly in the Northern US. If you are from that area, that is a great option. If not, well….

 

[MeetDirector]

If not ... get on the JO track.

 

[2G1B]

In our area a lot of the top gyms are going away from having the girls do level 4 and 5 and instead are doing Xcel and then scoring out of 4 and 5. I know for sure that two of the top gyms in our area are doing this. So for level 6 or 7 they swap to JO; but before that the girls only do one score out meet for the levels, instead competing full seasons in Xcel.

 

[heartgym]

Gymtigermom this sounds like the path they have explained to me. I guess I have to ask specifically when they say 'optional s ' what that means or do some research.

 

[Natasha]

If your gym is in an area that tends to have meets put on Mymeetscores, you could track some of the L8-10 optional level girls from your gym and look at how they are doing, it would give you a starting point. Also, you should be able to ask how many L8-10 gymnasts are on the team. L6 and L7 is also considered optional levels, but really when you start getting to L8 the skills are more difficult and it will tell you a little more about the level of coaching.