Parents 4th Level 4 Meet Report....

[Megley]

I wouldn't stress too much about how Olivia does at Level 4. I assume that she will be training Level 5 all spring, right? With plans then to compete L5 next fall. I cannot conceive of why she wouldn't do Level 5 next year. If they give you a time about it, I would stand firm and say you'd rather have two years of L5 than two years of L4. At least that way she has more time to work on her kip, kip cast, and jump to high bar - all skills she will need for optionals. I really dislike the whole score to move up thing. We are being affected by that this year and my dd is being required to score a 36 at L5 so that she can move up to L6 later in the season. I honestly think it should be based on whether they have the next level skills, not what score they get at the prior level. As we have all seen, that can be affected by tough judging and it really penalizes the younger kids who have problems with consistency. When I added up all my dd's best scores from last year, she was well over a 36 AA but it has to happen all in one meet. I hope the meeting goes well for you and that a private helps Olivia out on bars. I hated that mill circle. My dd never fell on it, but it was the one L4 bar skill that consistently gave her problems. Thank goodness it's GONE at L5. Yet another reason to push hard for L5!

 

[cathiann]

Not bad scores! She can be proud of them--frustrating that some get lower with each meet though. Are others seeing lower scores as well? Congrats to her and her teammates on the 1st place finish!!

 

[Blackie6]

I wouldn't stress too much about how Olivia does at Level 4. I assume that she will be training Level 5 all spring, right? With plans then to compete L5 next fall. I cannot conceive of why she wouldn't do Level 5 next year. If they give you a time about it, I would stand firm and say you'd rather have two years of L5 than two years of L4. At least that way she has more time to work on her kip, kip cast, and jump to high bar - all skills she will need for optionals. I really dislike the whole score to move up thing. We are being affected by that this year and my dd is being required to score a 36 at L5 so that she can move up to L6 later in the season. I honestly think it should be based on whether they have the next level skills, not what score they get at the prior level. As we have all seen, that can be affected by tough judging and it really penalizes the younger kids who have problems with consistency. When I added up all my dd's best scores from last year, she was well over a 36 AA but it has to happen all in one meet. I hope the meeting goes well for you and that a private helps Olivia out on bars. I hated that mill circle. My dd never fell on it, but it was the one L4 bar skill that consistently gave her problems. Thank goodness it's GONE at L5. Yet another reason to push hard for L5!

YES! You said what I was trying to say before in my post. I'm sorry to high jack this whole thread Olivia's mom...maybe we should make a seperate post about L4 vs L5 (LOL) but my DD never had GREAT bar scores in TWO years of L4. No, she never fell off that mill circle except for her first meet as a 6 yr old, she got the hip circles no problem, yet only a few times scored over a 9. Mostly she had high 8's but she was the very FIRST to get the Kip, squat on & L5 bar routine! She had no problems! She usually the caboose of the team! In her very first meet she already scored an 8 on bars and scored even higher and the in-house meet last week.

And, I agree mobility scores are not a fair assessment of a gymnasts potential. I've seen plenty of girls at Comp levels score so-so AA wise only to excel in the optional levels. I think the main goal should be to advance the girls when the coach thinks they have the form/skill. They should know the girls and what they are capable of. Some girls would be fine repeating. A teamate of DD's wanted to repeat L4 and opted not to come to L5 with us becasue she wanted to place high as a L4. It was her goal and what she wanted, while my DD would have quit gym altogether before doing any of that again, she likes to be challenged. I am sure gyms probably have the mobility scores in place for the parents or even the kids so that they know they should have goals for each level, and maybe to avoid all the moms beating the coaches over "when is my daughter moving up?", but I still think it should be just a guideline and not be all end all.

 

[canadiangymmom]

I just watched her video and WOW! She looked beautiful out there! The score on floor especially, wasn't (to my non judging eyes) at all an accurate representation of her floor routine.

She's a wonderfully talented little girl, and I can't wait to see her lovely gymnastics in levels 5-10 as well!!!

 

[melmonette]

wow what more does she have to do on Floor... I agree with all the comments at youtube... It is perfect. Judges sound like the ones Emily and Madi had this weekend. ugh...
She did awesome Your daughter is just perfect
Mill circle is just a pain in the butt skill and I swear put in that routine to cause the girls to fall.

 

[NotAMom]

First, congrats for another very good performance. I love her poise walking off after an event.

Knowing that you had the same set of judges, I think the scoring is pretty consistent from meet to meet.
VT 8.75 then 8.55
UB 8.0 then 7.95
BB 7.95 then 8.35
FX 9.0 then 8.65

Her vault was a bit stronger the week before and beam was definitely better this time around. As for floor, she split her feet this week in her backward roll into push up and of course the extra hop during the ROBHS rebound. I think the only thing I would dispute is her bars. Even though everything mirrored the previous meet, her dismount was stronger this time around.

I don't understand why judges would do that to these little girls that have worked soooo hard for sooo long! It seems to be very cruel!

Yeah, they weren't giving away scores at these meets for sure. I have to agree that at this age and level, it's more important to reward them for effort and attitude than for perfection, which evidently is what they are looking for.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I would not worry too much about the scores because last year I noticed that some meets the judges were just tougher and there is nothing you can do about it. As for the bars my daughters bars improved last year as a second level 4 but in her last 2 meets one was states she fell back on her mill circle. This year she has not competed yet but I think she is having a much easier time on her kip than she ever had in her mill circle.

 

[gym mom]

Congrats to Liv great meet! Her fl is beautiful ,her beam is looking really good.I think they should make the bar routine with 2 middle circles ! LoL I would not dwell on the middle circles too much the rest of the routine is very solid and I just know she will nail it on her next meet! Wow 3 straight weekands of meets is alot especially for a 6 yr old! Sound like they are very focused on uptraing which is great and will only benefit her ,I wished my dd's team would uptrain more.