WAG Age for Level

[hearts_and_stars]

I'm just curious...

I've seen snippets of this in other discussions so I thought I'd try to condense it down into one post (if possible). What is the average age for each level? In other words, at what age do coaches consider a girl 'old' for her level?

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

There have been lots of threads on this. I think it simply varies a lot from region to region. What is considered "too old" in one place/gym is barely average in another. I would say perhaps if you are just starting out as a 15yo L3, you can probably be safely seen as on the older side, but that's not to say there aren't gyms who give those gymnasts a chance! I've seen it and so admire that!
Do a search and see what you come up with, I bet you will find quite a few discussions and see what I'm talking about.

 

[ascarter1]

I can give you the average ages at the optional level at our gym for this season, but obviously it changes year to year depending on the girls!

Level 6-10 years old
Level 7-10 years old
Level 8-14 years old
Level 9-13 years old
Lele 10-17 years old

 

[Texasmomof3]

The search isn't working for me, but I will say that I am in north Texas. My child is a level 6, and she is the oldest on her team, as a 7th grader. There are three 7th graders on her level 6 team, but most of the girls on her team are grades 4-5, with a few 6th and three 7th. (Her level 6 team has 16 girls. We are at a big gym.)

 

[DefiniteMaybe]

It might depend on what your ultimate goal is with the sport. I've heard to get a D1 scholarship, you probably need to be level 10 by 8th or 9th grade. But D2 and D3 schools might give you a little more slack.
On the flip side, if you are shooting for elite, I think it's more common to be level 10 or equivalent by 6th or 7th grade.
But, I'm sure there are exceptions to all of the above. I'm just going by what I've seen and heard all these years.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Yup it's going to vary SO much that it's all meaningless info. My DDs level 6 team ranges from (as of today- birthdays! Ha )12-16. The L7-10s range from 11-17. There are local teams that would skew MUCH younger and some others that are all mixed up like ours.

 

[Sasha]

Here's a snapshot from our gym, which I would consider to be in the middle of gym ages around here. Our gym doesn't have a strong path to elite or NCAA, though the girls are strong and competitive in the JO track and become competent optionals.

Age during comp season:
L3 - mostly age 8 (range 7-12)
L4 - mostly age 9-10 (range 8-13)
L5/6 - mostly age 11 (range 10 - 14)
L7/8 - mostly age 12-13 (range 12-16)
L9 - mostly age 14 (range 13-18)
L10 (I don't think we have any right now)

 

[MomIdidit!]

In DD gym girls entered level 4 in the summer at 6-7 years old. HC likes them young and hardly ever takes on another girl from another gym unless a recommendation and a good reason for the switch. Our level 6 girls range from 8-10.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Do a search and see what you come up with, I bet you will find quite a few discussions and see what I'm talking about.

I wish the search was working. It seems to only be finding threads from the last week or two. There have been many threads about this in the past, but I don't see anything when I search.

My dd's gym seems to be in the middle. Her group ranges from 7 (almost 8) to 10 and they just finished competing level 3 in December and are training level 4. Level 6's range from 9-12. Level 10's range from 12-17. Most of the level 10's do 3-4 years as level 10's and do get college scholarships.

I think her gym may be trying to start younger though based on the current training group ages. We'll see. We compete with gyms that start very young with all of their girls in the youngest age groups. We also compete with gyms with much older gymnasts. One of them won most meets at the compulsory level this past season and they didn't have any gymnasts in the youngest age groups at all. It was kind of funny actually because my dd and some of the other younger gymnasts on her team considered this one gym their main competition and the older girls on the team didn't compete from any gymnasts from that team, but were always competing against the gym with the older gymnasts that won everything. Dd's gym seemed to be pretty represented across the age groups with the exception of the oldest couple.

 

[mkwh]

My DD level 6 team ranges from 8-13 but most of them are 10-11.

 

[balancedmom]

our gym is not that big and pretty new...
L6--mostly 4th, 5th graders
L7--2 5th graders, 3 6th graders, a few 7th and 8th graders
not sure of the L4 and 5, but think they range from 3rd to 6th grade

 

[Deleted member 17723]

It definitley varies from gym to gym, region to region, etc.

For my gym (keep in mind it is YMCA)
Preteam/Level 2: around 5/6 (range: 5-9 I think)
Level 3: 9 (range: 7-12)
Level 4: 11 (range: 7-14)
Level 5: 13 (range 11-16)
Level 7: 15 (range 14-17)
Level 8: 16/17

 

[Ali'sMom]

I can give you the average ages at the optional level at our gym for this season, but obviously it changes year to year depending on the girls!

Level 6-10 years old
Level 7-10 years old
Level 8-14 years old
Level 9-13 years old
Lele 10-17 years old

Our gym is almost opposite

Level 6 - 10-13
Level 7 - 12
Level 8 - 11
Level 9 - 10
Level 10 - 12

But our three highest levels are basically 3 girls who ran through compulsories very quickly. The 10 year old Level 9 was a 9 year old level 9.

 

[Committed]

What levels are you looking at? In compulsory, I'd say middle school age is "older".

L3s: no idea.
L4s: majority age was probably 10-13
L5s: 8-12

It gets a bit trickier in optionals. DDs gym has a large optional team, so the numbers can vary widely. This is what I think the majority of the girls are (take it for what it is).
L6: 9-12
L7: 8-11
L8: 10-12
L9/10: 13+

 

[cbifoja]

L2: 7-11
L3: 8-11
L4: 9-12
Xcel: 9-14
L6: 11-14
L7: 13-16
L8: 11-15

 

[fuzi]

For the past few years, I have calculated the median age of state qualifiers (in Northern California) based on the age groupings for State Championships. Now, state qualifiers might not be the same as all competitors, but over the last three years, the median age of state qualifiers has been pretty consistently (within 1 month either way):
Level 3: 9 1/2
Level 4: 10 1/2
Level 5: 11 1/2
Level 6: 11 1/2
Level 7: 12 1/2

 

[gymjunkie]

http://www.gymmomentum.com/?s=skip+level
This article discusses age/level and states that in USAG the average age for L3 is 8. Other levels?

 

[tomtnt]

http://www.gymmomentum.com/?s=skip+level
This article discusses age/level and states that in USAG the average age for L3 is 8. Other levels?

Cool article. Interesting thoughts on need in all your skills by 13 1/2...

Here is another article showing the age/levels of various elite gymnasts.

http://thegymreport.weebly.com/news/timelinenatteam

 

[pamred4]

This is regarding my Australian gym so it may not be relevant but regardless also these apply to team girls not rec
L1: 5-6
L2: 6-7
L3: 7-9
L4: 7-11
L5: 11-13
L6: 11-16
L7-10: 13-15

 

[wandrewsjr]

For the past few years, I have calculated the median age of state qualifiers (in Northern California) based on the age groupings for State Championships. Now, state qualifiers might not be the same as all competitors, but over the last three years, the median age of state qualifiers has been pretty consistently (within 1 month either way):
Level 3: 9 1/2
Level 4: 10 1/2
Level 5: 11 1/2
Level 6: 11 1/2
Level 7: 12 1/2

This is about what I would have expected. Some states may skew a little younger(Texas would be one of those), but would still expect them to be within a year of those numbers. You can look at age groups of the higher levels at Regionals, Westerns/Eastern and JO's to find median age of qualifiers at those levels:
level 8 - 13yrs(may vary a little by Region)
level 9 - 14 1/2 yrs
level 10 - 16yrs