WAG State meet question

[Dad1234]

Please help me understand the importance of the state meet. Is it just a bigger pool of athletes from across the state. So, instead of say 12 kids to compete against, there are 25-30? If you win at states, then what? It seems that the focus is on states and doing well at states, but I guess I don’t understand why it is such a big deal. This will be my daughter’s first year to go to states so I am a newbie. Thanks!

 

[Gbmom]

It depends on the competitiveness of your gym and the level of your DD. Placing is harder, because it is a wider pool of gymnasts and it automatically takes out the few kids at every meet that don’t score well enough to qualify, have injury’s, etc so it only generally has kids with 32+ scores. For the compulsory levels (2-5) it acts as a meet to close the season. If you are an optional, depending on your location, you can qualify to regionals. I would not worry to much about going into states, because as a lower level it is truly just a fun way to conclude the season

 

[cogymmom2dd]

In theory, I you have a wider pool of athletes, but session awards are still broken down like they are at meets, I think 15ish max per age group. State meet sessions are also by age, so your kiddo won’t necessarily be competing with their full team unless they are all the same age. When DD1 was L3, we traveled 3+ hours for state meet and we were placed with at least 3 teams from a 20 mile radius of our gym in our session. We had been competing with these kids all season, so it definitely wasn’t more of a variety for us. I do not know how your region handles things, but all XCEL levels in our region qualify for regionals via state meet. Only L6-10 can qualify otherwise.

 

[MILgymFAM]

In theory, I you have a wider pool of athletes, but session awards are still broken down like they are at meets, I think 15ish max per age group.

That is probably depends on location. We’ve generally seen bigger awards groups at states. We would have seasons with 10-15 girls per group for regular meets and then 25-30 at states. I’m not sure there are rules about that (or even if they were broken).

 

[Carly]

It really depends on your state, gymnast's level and how the girls are grouped for the competition. For my state starting at level 5, the girls compete against everyone in the state in their age group that qualified. So, if the girls wins 1st place, they are the state champion for that event. Our gym gets banners that are hung up in the gym for the state champions and sometimes special recognition in the local newspaper.

 

[novagymmom]

It also tends to be more difficult to medal at States. From our experience, most meets place 50% for each event/age group. In States the medals go to a much lower percentage (maybe top 25 or 30% - not certain).

 

[gymjunkie]

The significance depends on the level. If you are a compulsory gymnasts, you are hoping to be the state champion on an event or in the AA. If you are an optional gymnast, while being a state champion is nice, you are really there to qualify to regionals (where you can qualify to Eastern/Westerns or Nationals). Also in most of not all regions, you can qualify to be on the "state team" at regionals. If you get that honorable position, you get to represent your state as you compete in a special session at regionals wearing your state's leotard.

 

[Aussie_coach]

For us State Championships is bigger than regionals. Regionals is open to Level 3-Elite and anyone in the region can qualify. The state is divided up into several regions. My state has 8 regions and each holds a regional championships, from regional championships you can qualify for States.

States is for Level 4 and above, to qualify you must pass your level, get the minimum qualifying score and compete in regionals. Level 7 and above can qualify for Nationals at States.

In our general competitions, levels are not usually split into age groups, they are either all in together. Example all Level 4’s in one division, or they are split into two age groups. Comps can have up to 150 kids in each division and they only give awards for 1st to 6th place. There are no participation awards or gift packs, most people just walk away from a comp with nothing.

States are similar, big divisions, only top 6 receive anything.

 

[novagymmom]

Comps can have up to 150 kids in each division and they only give awards for 1st to 6th place.

Wow! That's interesting! Only 6 places for 150 competitors! I remember 35 years ago when I was a gymnast, meets would always have 3 age groups: 9-11 (couldn't compete if less than 9), 12-14, and 15+ and they would do top 6 places. Of course, I also remember back then that at States one year they announced "and now . . . for the best crash in the state of XX" and had me come up onto the podium and put a crash helmet on my head. Can you imagine how that would fly now!? I'm not a fan of the medals for everyone that they do today, but don't think public humiliation should have been part of it at any point either.

 

[Muddlethru]

I think the reason gymnasts and coaches of any level put so much emphasis on the state meet is because it is the first qualifier. Unlike other meets where you can compete regardless of skill “mastery”, in a state meet you’ll need to have achieved some level of skill mastery to qualify.

When your daughter gets to Level 7 and 8 the next qualifier after states is regionals. In Level 9, you have states, regionals and Eastern or Western Nationals. Finally, Level 10, it is states, regionals and JO Nationals. These qualifiers get increasingly more important as you progress to higher levels. Once in Level 10, your chances at scholarships increases if you make it to JO Nationals and even better if you place.

To give you a bottom line answer to your question, competing at a state meet gives you an idea on how you compare to gymnasts in your state. To both gymnasts and coaches that is important. And some people use it as bragging rights.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Wow! That's interesting! Only 6 places for 150 competitors! I remember 35 years ago when I was a gymnast, meets would always have 3 age groups: 9-11 (couldn't compete if less than 9), 12-14, and 15+ and they would do top 6 places. Of course, I also remember back then that at States one year they announced "and now . . . for the best crash in the state of XX" and had me come up onto the podium and put a crash helmet on my head. Can you imagine how that would fly now!? I'm not a fan of the medals for everyone that they do today, but don't think public humiliation should have been part of it at any point either.

All our comps are the same, groups can be huge. They are rarely split by age. If they are ever split then its done before the entries go in, not after when they know the competitors, so the divisions are still huge.

They only ever give out 1st-6th place, on apparatus and 1st-6th place All Around no matter how many competitors there are. If the comp is small, 10 or less competitors, they would only give 1st-3rd.

Most kids never get anything from any competition, they are used to it. The majority of kids walk away from the majority of comps with no awards so no one questions it.

 

[HopeShantz]

Please help me understand the importance of the state meet. Is it just a bigger pool of athletes from across the state. So, instead of say 12 kids to compete against, there are 25-30? If you win at states, then what? It seems that the focus is on states and doing well at states, but I guess I don’t understand why it is such a big deal. This will be my daughter’s first year to go to states so I am a newbie. Thanks!

Where I'm from you have to have 6 meets with a 36.0 or higher to qualify, usually, there are about 25 girls per session. I do excel gymnastics and for me, states got more important when you got older especially diamond because it's the highest level, if you win you can go to regionals or something else even higher.

 

[skschlag]

Where I'm from you have to have 6 meets with a 36.0 or higher to qualify, usually, there are about 25 girls per session. I do excel gymnastics and for me, states got more important when you got older especially diamond because it's the highest level, if you win you can go to regionals or something else even higher.

Most places don't even have 6 meets a season. 36 at 6 meets seems really high for a state meet requirement.

 

[Deleted member 26368]

Most places don't even have 6 meets a season. 36 at 6 meets seems really high for a state meet requirement.

I see that person was banned; on other posts today they said they were an 11 year old Xcel gymnast and then an L10. You guys opened my eyes to trolls on this forum this week, LOL, and "Hope" sure seemed like one of them.

 

[amanda.christine]

I see that person was banned; on other posts today they said they were an 11 year old Xcel gymnast and then an L10. You guys opened my eyes to trolls on this forum this week, LOL, and "Hope" sure seemed like one of them.

What's going on with the trolls this week??? I replied to her other thread about grips before realizing she was banned and then felt like a fool LOL

 

[JessSyd]

What's going on with the trolls this week??? I replied to her other thread about grips before realizing she was banned and then felt like a fool LOL

Don’t feel like a fool! I am trying to decide whether to buy buckles or Velcro for my daughter’s next set of grips and I found the answers in that thread really helpful.

States is the highest meet for most WAG gymnasts my state of Australia. Girls qualify for them by competing at the State qualifier, which is a separate event to regional competitions. They take a certain number of girls through for each level, so the qualifying score is different each year. I think about 160 in each level from five to seven go through. (Which means about half the fives, and about a third of the sevens miss out.).

By levels 8-10 they only take the top 80. But....that’s pretty much everyone! Maybe a handful of eights miss out? Which must be tough.

Only levels 8-10 get a chance to go to nationals, as it isn’t run for lower levels.

Gymnsw also runs a competition for the girls who missed out on qualifying for states. I think they call it the State Challenge Competition. The girls call it the ‘loser comp’ but they actually really enjoy it because it’s friendly and encouraging and it has all the things that states have (professional photographers on the floor, printed programmes etc.)