Parents what organizations allow kids to compete events outside their gender assignments?

[iflip4joy]

I have specifically one 10 yr old boy on my team who wants to ( and is very good at ) beam. USAG ( our organization ) will not allow him to compete unless he is reviewed ( to me a horrible prospect, and besides the point) to determine if he is feminine enough ( or views himself feminine enough) - I was told he must "present himself to the world as a girl" in order to allow him to compete as a girl. He is a boy- and does not want to be a girl. He wants to do the girls events: I asked how would appropriate attire be permitted - since a leotard could not adaquately cover male parts- could he wear shorts over his leotard? I was told they would get back to me- and never did. Ive called multiple times. As a coach I feel so bad he can't compete with his team. He works hard and is being denied the same opportunity that other kids on the team get. I am wondering what organizations allow opposite gender meet partisipation. Do YMCA's

 

[raenndrops]

I have specifically one 10 yr old boy on my team who wants to ( and is very good at ) beam. USAG ( our organization ) will not allow him to compete unless he is reviewed ( to me a horrible prospect, and besides the point) to determine if he is feminine enough ( or views himself feminine enough) - I was told he must "present himself to the world as a girl" in order to allow him to compete as a girl. He is a boy- and does not want to be a girl. He wants to do the girls events: I asked how would appropriate attire be permitted - since a leotard could not adequately cover male parts- could he wear shorts over his leotard? I was told they would get back to me- and never did. Ive called multiple times. As a coach I feel so bad he can't compete with his team. He works hard and is being denied the same opportunity that other kids on the team get. I am wondering what organizations allow opposite gender meet participation. Do YMCA's

We have competed against 2 different teams that each had a boy on the girls' team.
The first time we encountered this, it was at Regionals 2 years ago in Xcel Gold.
This season, one of the teams in our district has a boy on their level 3 team. He competes in a singlet and shorts. He is listed as being in his own age group, but actually gets awarded with the girls in his age group (A boy cannot displace a girl, but will be given a duplicate award).
At this last meet, he actually tied on one event. On the other events, he was placed with girls that scored 0.10 to 0.35 lower, which put him where he should have been, but didn't affect their placements ... so they "tied" but with different scores.

 

[Faith]

So what they are saying is he must identify as a girl to compete in the wag section?

Whereas he very much identifies as a boy, he just wants to compete bars/beam etc?

It’s so complicated these days i think i’d be inclined to just approach meet directors and ask if he can compete “hors concours”, as a guest.

I do know a biological boy that competes wag officially but she has identified as female from a very young age. She started competing age 7 and noone realised. She does wear shorts over her leotard though. This is allowed undee british gymnastics rules- no medical review or questions until they hit puberty.

 

[profmom]

I suspect that in the long run, the wall between men and women is going to come down and that, while WAG and MAG will continue to exist, people will be able to pick which side they do with the result that mostly girls do WAG and mostly boys do MAG. I wonder what your state's laws are? In my state, I think there was a girl a few years ago who competed compulsory boys' gym. If you are in a state with a robust high school gymnastics program, some states have rules that require teams with no gendered alternative to allow boys to compete in girls' sports and vice versa. Does anyone know where USAIGC stands on this issue?

One of my son's teammates is likely to spend a year training and competing club in college before moving to NCAA. He's home for Thanksgiving break and mentioned to me that one fun thing about club is the possibility of trying new events. Turns out he's picking up uneven bars pretty rapidly and may fool around with that event a little this year. I asked him about his beam acro series and he just laughed. I'm kind of hoping that my daughter picks up pbars in college. She was pretty close to getting her moy after about 45 minutes of messing around with it.

 

[KipWinger]

A teenage boy competed in an upper level at one of our home USAIGC meets. I believe he may have needed permission from the meet director, which he readily received. He participated in all of the events and I think he wore a singlet and shorts. It was great to have him there!

 

[Racpp]

Our YMCA league has several boys.

My oldest daughter has competed against at least one boy nearly every year, often two or more through the season. Our team had a boy who competed through HS graduation several years ago and one who did level 3 about 4 years ago. Both of them were killer on the beam, I don’t think they ever fell in competition.

As raenndrops said above, a boy cannot take the place of a girl on the podium, it’s put as a tie. eg - if he scores a 9.4 and the highest girl score is 8.9, they are placed as a tie for first.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Saying "gender assignment" is an immediate turn off. Just ask, "can boys compete in WAG?" I have judged a boy in the YMCA WAG.

 

[Flippin'A]

Saying "gender assignment" is an immediate turn off. Just ask, "can boys compete in WAG?" I have judged a boy in the YMCA WAG.

Turn off to whom? It seemed like a perfectly reasonable way of phrasing the question to me.

 

[twinmomma]

Turn off to whom? It seemed like a perfectly reasonable way of phrasing the question to me.

I agree. I believe the original poster was trying to be sensitive to the difference between assigning a gender at birth and identifying with a gender. So can a cisgender boy, or for that matter, a transgender boy (either way, being assigned or self identifying) compete WAG? Conversely, can a cisgender female, or a transgender female, compete MAG? Most people identify with the gender they are assigned at birth. But should that, or even being transgender, preclude a child from competing the events of their choice?

 

[NutterButter]

Saying "gender assignment" is an immediate turn off. Just ask, "can boys compete in WAG?" I have judged a boy in the YMCA WAG.

If you read the OP's post, it's a more nuanced question than simply "can boys compete in WAG". The answer to that question brought up gender identity (how he presents himself to the world) which does not apply in this situation. OP is just trying to get the question answered and like it or not respectful and correct terminology was used to describe the problem the athlete faces.

 

[stillhoping]

I’m not sure what the answer to your question is, but I’ve found myself wondering how much better bars would be for dd if she could compete MAG bars and didn’t have to worry about hitting her feet on the low bar .