MAG Age divisions vs. levels

[samsmama]

I have a Level 4 boy who is competing in his first meet this weekend. He just turned 8 but will compete as a 7-year-old. The schedule says there are 67 boys in the 7-8 age group. Will that be broken down further in your experience? I am just trying to prepare DS for what to expect and while his coach has very high hopes for his performance, I just want to be realistic about his chances vs. 66 other boys! We are in Virginia if that's helpful to know.

Aside from one small inter-gym meet when we lived in Australia (DS won that one, so naturally expects that's how it will always go! ), we are new to all of this. Our gym is new, the boys team is new and very small (one Level 6 and four Level 4s), and our coach is also new to the state this year, so no one really knows what to expect from this meet.

Thanks for any insight! I have already learned a lot from reading this forum! Any other advice you have on surviving the first meet would be great too... DS is very chill about it, I am the one who's nervous.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

I would hope it was split down further-but it might not.
As a level 4 girls there were many 8 year olds, so they did an 8 senior and an 8 junior.
Maybe they will do that. Just let him know he might not win-but as long he does his best hes YOUR champion!
Best of luck at the meet!

 

[curlymop]

In our area, L4s are broken into separate groups for 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s. 11+ is usually grouped together. I would guess that in your case the 7 and 8 year olds are competing in the same session, but that awards will be done separately.

 

[profmom]

Pretty likely they will at least break out the 7 and 8 year olds separately and, with that many of them, go out a lot of places. They might do something like a Junior A/Junior B/Senior A/Senior B thing and break it up even more. Expect the awards to take longer than the meet.

Is it traditional format (warm up everything, then compete everything)? If so, expect the beginning warm up to drag on endlessly, but the meet itself to go really quickly. With that many athletes, it could take a long time, so make sure your son has a water bottle and some snacks in his bag.

Good luck to him!

 

[skschlag]

You will get all kinds of answers! HEre, it would be very rare, for them to break it out further in most meets, because they don't do many awards for level 4. They mostly do ribbons. At other meets, it really varies. I have seen it done by age, but I have seen the entire age group.

Can't wait to hear how he does. Welcome to CB!

 

[samsmama]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like it really varies. I will report back on how it ends up.

His coach is fantastic and feels DS has strong optionals potential, so we just want to keep him focused on the long-term and not fixate on how this one meet goes. It's just that it's the first one, so he is very excited and hopeful. He's also a perfectionist, and can be hard on himself, so I feel like keeping expectations realistic is key.

The coach has talked to him about several goals and benchmarks for success this season (qualifying for states, how close his actual scores are to his start values, improving scores each meet, etc.) and he has already said DS will almost definitely move up to Level 5 after the season ends, so I think that will all give DS something positive to focus on if he doesn't get the awards he's hoping for.

 

[samsmama]

I am not sure about the format... I think I have a lot to learn!

 

[sce]

Each state approaches level 4 a bit differently for MAG. From there each meet also varies some.

In y area: typically they all get an AA medal (Some meets break AA down into age groups, others don't) and then ribbons based on their score for each event. The ribbon color reflects a score range.

 

[sce]

Sometimes the meet will have specific info about awards on their website. Could be worth a look.

 

[gracyomalley]

Level 4 in our region was ribbons only - and often the kids were kept in large groups. Sometimes the top 3rd of the group got "gold" the next third "silver" and the lowest third "bronze". Stuff like that. Even at Level 5 DS youngest was often in age groups with upwards of 30-60(regionals) kids - NOT broken out further. Very different from the girls - they don't seem to do the 1/3 to 1/2 of kids get awards with the boys. Actually, I like it better - there is not the expectation of winning something, and if you don't you don't feel like one of the "few losers"....

Level 4 is for fun - especially with the "newer" level 4, and to practice competing (remembering routines, not forgetting to use the restroom, etc...) for boys - should be no stress! Enjoy...

 

[Deleted member 10727]

In my state, they don't do awards at all for level 4s anymore. They aren't even posting scores online for L4s. It's all participation ribbons of varying colors, and maybe a participation medal that every L4 receives. There is no focus on scores. And all L4s qualify to states, where they might get placement medals, though I am not sure since it's changed every year.

 

[Quadqueen]

When my son competed L4, ages 7 and 8 were one age group. They did not break it down. So yes, there were sometimes 75+ kids in his age group.... Meanwhile, there would be something like 5 kids in an 11 year old group.

That would be unheard of in a girls meet.

 

[samsmama]

Wow, it's amazing how different it is by state and even by meet from what it sounds like here. Seems like there would be more consistency across the sport. Does it drive you crazy that you never know what to expect or do you just get used to it? I did check the website for the meet and it doesn't have any further info on divisions or awards.

I'm not so much concerned about how he places as I am about preparing him for what to expect. If it's 67 kids, bring it! I do think it's good for him to learn he won't always (or even often) get an award. It will mean more when he does.

The coach and I were talking about state qualifying and at least last year, Level 4s had to have a 45 AA to qualify in Virginia. They haven't specified a score yet for 2015. Going to States and moving to Level 5 are the goals that seem most important to my DS, so I feel like he has a great chance of hitting both goals.

 

[gymdog]

It looks like last year at this meet they separated it into 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B. 12-21 boys in each so not sure how they broke that down bc it wasn't an even split.

They typically set the state qualifying score so pretty much everyone can qualify...

 

[OwlGalLiz]

Good luck to him! It really does vary from state to state- heck meet to meet sometimes it seems like. In our area 67 in an age group for level 4 is not unheard of. My little guy is a 6 year old level 4 and had 55+ in his age group at several meets. And the 7/8s were usually combined for awards purposes and usually had similar numbers. Enjoy it!

 

[profmom]

It does seem that state qualifying scores across the board are lower for boys than girls. Our state has no qualifying score for L4 -- compete in two meets and you're good to go.

Virginia's a great state for boys' gymnastics.

 

[momto2js]

WOW, I really need to get out more. We live in the armpit of us gymnastics. We have about 80 level 4 boys in the state!! And I thought awards went on forever.

 

[profmom]

Now I am remembering DS's first state meet -- I think there were about 80 in his age group (7 year olds). They went out something like 15 places on every event for that group. I think I had actually repressed the memory of that awards ceremony, which started with the six year olds and plodded all the way through to the 12 and ups.

 

[Quadqueen]

^^Us too, profmom....about the same # in my son's age group for the state meet, but I think they only went out 10 places.

 

[curlymop]

I really wish they wouldn't even do awards for the Level 4 boys. In our state, they give medals to the top half plus one, so a kid who doesn't get one is in the minority. It unnecessarily stressed my son out last year. He didn't even understand the concept of scoring, so he didn't have a good way to rationalize why others got a medal and he didn't. He did eventually earn medals later in the season, which he appreciated even more than if he'd always been getting them, but by then he'd developed some major anxieties about competing. It just stinks that he was never able to compete just for the fun of it.