WAG Level 9???

[MinnieGymMom]

My daughter is 11 years old and she just finished her level 8 season strong. At state meet she got a 37.475 and placed 2nd, and at regionals she got a 37.225 placing 5th. She's very exited to work fun new skills this summer but in wondering if you think she has skills good enough to move up to level 9 next year. I know that it's the beginning of summer but I'm just wondering if she has a good foundation. Here's what she has.

Beam:
BHS BHS series
Standing tuck
Round off back tuck
Switch leap
Straddle jump

Bars:
Pirouette
Double back
Stadler (inconsistent)
Front giants with spot
Toe hand with spot

Floor:
Full
Front full
Double back in pit
Layout half to punch front

Vault:
Piked yurchenko

 

[raenndrops]

At my gym, for sure

 

[ayyyrial]

At level 9, even if you fulfill all the requirements you start from a 9.70. You need connection bonus to get to a 10.0. It's totally fine to not start from a 10, especially as a first-year level 9, so I'm just looking at the base requirements.

(I'm assuming the RO-back tuck is a dismount on beam)

The biggest things that would hold her back that I see are:
-Beam dismount is not up to level. At L9 you need a minimum of a B dismount, which would probably be a back full for her if she's been working backwards dismounts.
-No flight element on bars; only one bar change. With a bail, straddle back, or Pak she would be able to fulfill both requirements.

Vault is fine; a piked Yurchenko starts from a 9.70.
On floor she could definitely start from a 9.70 even without the double back.

 

[Seeker]

My daughter is 11 years old and she just finished her level 8 season strong. At state meet she got a 37.475 and placed 2nd, and at regionals she got a 37.225 placing 5th. She's very exited to work fun new skills this summer but in wondering if you think she has skills good enough to move up to level 9 next year. I know that it's the beginning of summer but I'm just wondering if she has a good foundation. Here's what she has.

Beam:
BHS BHS series
Standing tuck
Round off back tuck
Switch leap
Straddle jump

Bars:
Pirouette
Double back
Stadler (inconsistent)
Front giants with spot
Toe hand with spot

Floor:
Full
Front full
Double back in pit
Layout half to punch front

Vault:
Piked yurchenko

My daughter competed L9 this past season, so I have a few questions/comments below...

Beam --
Beam series -- BHS-BHS is acceptable; many also compete BHS-BLO
Round off back tuck -- is this the dismount? Will need to try to upgrade to at least a layout for L9. My dd competed a BHS-Full as her dismount.
It's important to know where her connections are in her skills as that is how she gets bonus (she will need .3 in connection bonus to get to a 10.0 SV)

Bars:
She will need some other "bar transition" -- bail is probably the most common, but there are other options.
Pirouette is good, but she should be working Blind Change as well. The real key is how it's connected (getting bonus applies here too) both in and out of the skill.
Double back dismount is good -- how she connects into it is key for connection bonus.

Floor:
My dd's passes were:
RO-1.5-FP
FHS-FLO-FP
RO-BHS-1.5
Her front full and double back are good, but she will need more than that (although double backs at L9 were more rare than not -- we saw them at Regionals and Nationals, but it was not a standard skill). She may score better doing slightly easier connected tumbling...just depends on where her strengths are. What dance does she have?

Vault:
The Yurchenko Pike is worth 9.7 in L9 -- you see a lot of them, especially in the beginning of the season. To get a 10.0 SV, she would need a Layout, but a well executed Pike will likely score quite well.

Good luck to her!

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd also competed level 9 last season. This looks like a good base but there is a long way to go if the expectation is to score well. Yes, lots of kids have less than 10.0 start values and I would say even many good competitors may have a 9.9 on an event and like seeker mentioned a 9.7 vault is very common, but connections are king in level 9 so let me expand a little on what seeker spoke about. The top scoring routines are very difficult at level 9. I would say my dd was middle of road this season due to injury stalling out her season build up.

One note, there is no difficulty bonus in level 9 so for example, you will see double backs in the highest level floor routines but there is no bonus for them so they still need that .3 bonus elsewhere. Not that they shouldn't do it, the judges are definitely leaning toward favoring difficulty and the up to level deductions are getting more intense each year. At least it feels that way.

Beam -

Common ways to get connection on beam are a BHS-Salto pass. Some do a back layout step out and some do a back tuck or pike. This connection of a B and C skill is .1 bonus.

Almost everyone connects a C jump or leap to their back tuck. The most common being a switch leap to back tuck. This is .2 bonus.

You could also connect two difficult jumps/leaps or do a BHS BHS double down dismount.

Bars

Connections on bars would be a blind change or pirouette or circling element (clear hip, stalder, toe on) before the release move.

Release moves take a lot of time to learn so my guess is she is already working on something at least at the drilling level.

Another common place to get bonus is the dismount. My dd did a clear hip into her double back. Also, kids will do blind change to front giant pirouette then giants into their dismount. There is bonus is that front giant series as well.

Floor

The most common way to get bonus on floor is connection in tumbling passes. Punching out of the 1.5 is almost universal. A tuck is .1 and a pike is .2 in bonus.

Then the front pass is another. There is a tenth fro a front layout front pike. That would go to .2 if she could connect that front full she has to something.

You can also get bonus for connecting two C level leaps/jumps but they have to be directly connected so not good enough to just have two C in your pass. A switch side leap directly into straddle full is very common to get this bonus.

Then there is up to level deductions. If you don't have a 10.0 start value or even if you do but aren't throwing as hard of stuff as most of the girls expect up to .2 for that. My dd had to water down her floor routine at regionals and westerns because of a mid season injury and we are pretty sure she took a full two tenths. She did a 1.5 punch front tuck, front layout front pike, and a full. 9.9 start value.

Based just on my experiences this season, they are looking for difficult connections and adding in that one restricted D skill whenever you can. By the time you get to regionals/westerns they may even be taking a small deduction if you don't have them.

Just for a reference point, the winners at westerns probably had routines that were close to baseline level 10 routines.

This isn't to worry you. This level and beyond is a whole different ball game. All good coaches have a plan. You gotta trust they will get her where she needs to be.

I just always feel that it is good to have a realistic view point. Level 9 is tough. And like others have said, many kids start out with simpler routines in their first year and bring it all together the next in their second year of nine. It is very common to repeat here. Even several times. I think that is one of the reasons placing well and scoring well take on new meaning. Your kid can do great and then the three kids above them are on their second or even third year and totally killing it.

Good luck to you daughter. Sounds like she is set up pretty well.

 

[CanAmGymMum]

Looks like she's well on her way. The biggest thing I see missing is a bar transition.

 

[MinnieGymMom]

She tells me she's working shootover drills

 

[Cydvicious1012]

Je

 

[CanAmGymMum]

She would also need a "b" dismount on beam. Since she has her roundoff tuck, the most likely one would be a roundoff full twist.