Age Divisions for Ladies Division

[kyliesmith1]

We've been talking about something at our gym and our coach agrees that we think AAU should start for ladies division and that is age groups. I don't think its bad that it starts at 16 but really 16 is still a kid pretty much. A 30 year old should not be put in the same age group as someone thats 16 and could easily be competing in their 16-19 age group. All other masters programs in other sports have age groups. Of course I don't think they'll be as many 30/40 year olds competing in gymnastics as swimming but still if they could just break up a bit, like 16-24, 25-35 etc. I don't know who we could get up with that would have some influence about that but I think it would be great if we could. What do you all think?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Actually there are people as old as 60-80 competing in gymnastics competitions in the masters games.

 

[katy]

i think i read for the meets where there are 15 or more competitors, they break it down into smaller age groups.
there were only three of us that showed up for the aau state meet, ladies L8. and it was the other two i practice with! there were only 2 for the intermediate/modified optionals. one we practice with and one from another gym. there was one lady (22yrs) that i recognized from a meet in feb. she also competes usga and said that 8 meets was enough and that is why she didn't compete in the aau state meet.
so michigan is very far away from its 15 ladies!

 

[kyliesmith1]

Well in our state meet, South Carolina, there were 6 intermediate/optional in ladies division and 4 in level 8 ladies division but only the 3 of us and one other girl was actually even over the age of 20. So out of the 6 half were 16-18 and out of the 4 only one, Kendall, who is 28, was over 18. I guess in other countries they actually have a masters division and that is pretty cool but I don't think we have that in the U.S.

Katy, how does it work for USAG if you're older? Could we compete next year in USAG even though we're 28, 30 & 32?

 

[GikiGirl]

Well in our state meet, South Carolina, there were 6 intermediate/optional in ladies division and 4 in level 8 ladies division but only the 3 of us and one other girl was actually even over the age of 20. So out of the 6 half were 16-18 and out of the 4 only one, Kendall, who is 28, was over 18. I guess in other countries they actually have a masters division and that is pretty cool but I don't think we have that in the U.S.

Katy, how does it work for USAG if you're older? Could we compete next year in USAG even though we're 28, 30 & 32?

Couple things...I have done USAG as a 20+ year old (26 was the last age I did it) and I was just in the level 8 USAG 15+ age group. It is totally allowed, but many gyms won't allow adults to train with the teams, usually I am told for insurance reasons. I never say another adult in the USAG meets I went to, but you hear of them from time to time. I know a girl in NY who did it, but she ended up winning 15+ states and she coached at the gym she competed for, and parents got upset so she had to stop in order to keep her job.

I choose to leave the USAG program because I wanted a little more of a laid back training situation. I go to a very competitive gym and if my gym was more like an average USAG gym, I might have stayed competing USAG. But now I have some practices in open gym, some with a private coach I have for specific problems, and some practices with the team. I also can attend adult classes, so for me I prefer competing against other adults in AAU and USAIGC for a more laid back meet situation. My surgeries too lead me more in that direction since I can compete even when I am not at my full skill level. It can be hard to petition down in the USAG system if you've been to states in that level, for example.

Some independent meets are masters and have age group 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 etc. but I haven't seen too many in the US and only have done one myself.

 

[katy]

i just did a little searching on usag prep op south carolina. you are region 8
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i tried to insert a link, but don't know if it worked.
i'm pretty sure that your gym has to get your usag #. level 8 would be platinum. i'm region 5 and on that website there are the requirements. if you can't find it on yours. region 5 had 13 ladies compete, in the 19 and over group. i'm going to speak with our meet director so that we can do this in addition to aau next season.

 

[Gym-Nice-tics]

Katy, how does it work for USAG if you're older? Could we compete next year in USAG even though we're 28, 30 & 32?

I still do USAG as a level 8 and I'll be 27 next year. I work out when I can and go just for fun. Most meets that I go to are still 15+, but there is one meet that does 18+.

 

[katy]

i have been told that we can do aau and uasg. we will be looking into the usag for next year. i'll let you know when i find out more.

 

[Gym-Nice-tics]

That'd be so cool if adults actually start doing USAG more... There's only a few up here in New York that I know of, but it's nice to see and good to show the kids that gymnastics doesn't HAVE to stop when you turn eighteen! One of the gymnasts on the team that I coach was all sad because we are getting new team leos and this will be her "last one." I wanted to point out that if she loves it, there's no reason she has to stop when she graduates.

 

[Kiwi]

In New Zealand at the Masters Games you have to be at least 20 to compete in gymnastics. The age groups are 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49 and so on. There is one lady who is still competing in her 60s! (She was an Olympic gymnast and also a top judge and coach). They have a competitive competition and a novice competition.

The novice competition requirements are very easy. I was a recreational gymnast as a kid and last year went back to the gym after about 30 years (I'm almost 44 now). I can only do basic stuff like handstands and cartwheels, but I love gymnastics and can't seem to get it out of my system. I competed at NZ Masters this year, there were five of us in the 40 to 49 novice group and about eight in the 30 to 39 novice group. I loved it as I got to feel like a real gymnast for a day competing in a real competition.

I think it is sad that gymnastics is seen only as a sport for kids, I wish more adults would take it up. At adults classes it is mainly young dudes doing stunt stuff, there is a coach but they don't really coach you unless you ask for specific help with something. So I'm mainly trying to train by myself, which is hard.

 

[Gym-Nice-tics]

I hear you about the coach thing. I've been training myself pretty much for ten years. I am still at the gym I competed for in high school, and occasionally I can get him to help me out, but for the most part I'm on my own. It's very difficult.

 

[kyliesmith1]

Hey Nicki, I just read your post. That is so awesome that there is a masters division in New Zealand. I wish they had that in the United States and I most of all I just wish I didn't get such strange looks from people when I tell them I do gymnastics, not my kids (I don't have any yet but they just can't believe I would be doing gymnastics). I almost think people think you are immature if you do gymnastics or something. It doesn't make any sense to me. No one would think that if you told them you swim or play softball or something but when you say you do gymnastics they act like you are reverting to your childhood when really the main reason adults don't do it is because its so difficult to continue to do and harder to recover from injury. Thank goodness the three of us in Myrtle Beach have a couple coaches that really believe in us. I've made huge progress, competing in the aau nationals getting silver on bars and am now working on mastering new skills but we still struggle all the time to keep our team together and keep the gym behind us supporting us. Hey if you want to check out our floor routines from nationals check out Link Removed (we're not the best but getting better). If anyone has any ideas how to get more support for adult competitive gymnastics keep us all in the loop.

 

[Kiwi]

I know what you mean, people are always very surprised when I say I do gymnastics! I think it is quite sad that gymnastics is seen as a sport only for kids, because it is such a great sport and so much fun. I guess it is because it is very difficult, and for most sports you can kind of get away with just general aerobic fitness, whereas for gymnastics you need quite specific kinds of strength and a lot of flexibility, and most adults are not very flexible (myself included!).

The masters games are the only competition in New Zealand that has a gymnastics competition for those aged 20 and over, it is only held once a year in February (they have dozens of sports in it, for most of them you have to be over 30 or 35, gymnastics has the youngest minimum age of all the sports). There were 30 of us at the games last Feb, 12 in the advanced section and 18 in the novice section, including 5 in my age group (40 to 49) so it was great to have people to compete with, as I'm very much an exception at my gym. I did read here at CB the other day that adult gymnastics is quite big in Australia, which is cool, I wish it was more like that here!

You are lucky to have such a great coach! I'm currently trying to convince our gym to put on another coach in their adults class for the ladies who want more formal coaching rather than just free time in the gym, which is all they have at the moment.

I watched your videos, you guys are awesome! You're a lot more advanced than me, I'm only at the handstands, cartwheels and round-off level, but the great thing about gymnastics is the huge variety of different skills you can learn, so it is never boring.

 

[Gym-Nice-tics]

It's hard to do it without support and a coach. I am also jealous that people have coaches. I'm still coaching at the gym I trained with when I was in high school and pretty much every time I work out or talk about competing (just did a meet yesterday) my boss/old coach makes comments about how I'm nuts and I'm going to regret it and how he just doesn't understand why I won't stop doing it. There's a few other people at my gym that look at me funny as well and will make little comments. It's annoying to constantly have to explain that I enjoy the sport and I'm going to keep doing it as long as I love it and my body holds up. It's my release from a stressful day and just makes me feel better when I'm doing it!

 

[kyliesmith1]

Keep it up Gym-Nice-tics we all have your back and know what you're going through. Until about a year and a half ago I experienced the same exact thing. I actually did some prep op when I was about 22/23 but I don't think anyone took me too seriously and then I got injuried and when I tried to come back they put me with this little girls group where the coaches ignored me and I knew progress would be impossible. I ended up quitting after that and mostly stayed out of the gym except for going to open practice once in a while until they built a gym about 10 minutes from my house, but wasn't until recently that they've had coaches that actually believe in us adults. You should show your coach that's giving you trouble our website that I posted in my last post and tell him that a former olympic coach from Bulgaria is training us and we are making progress and we are going to compete again next year too. On our website we have a video of the little news report they did on us as adult gymnasts too. Maybe that will make him see that others are getting into it and so he should get on board. I'm actually starting to do things I never even learned as a child. I'm learning tsuks now and backhandsprings on beam, giants on bars and layouts and fulls on floor. I think it shows that if you work hard enough and have the right training progress doesn't have to stop at about 16-20. Actually I think mentally us adults have better focus and understanding of what our coaches want from us.

 

[indiglow]

I actually competed in a recreational competitive gymnastics program back it 2004-2006 at ages 27-30. I competed usag level 5 with all the little kids in the 12+ division! It was a blast and we only practiced 4 hours a week because it was a rec program meant to be for kids who were participating in other activities - I figured work and grad school counted right?