Parents Age Grouping?

[beachgirl]

I figure it all evens out somewhere and the most important part is personal improvement, but my daughter sure likes those medals .

 

[gracyomalley]

the only important part is that the girls (and boys) understand that it will change year to year and meet to meet. When DD (and DSs for that matter) were younger (I'd say 9 and down) they had no trouble getting excited about participation awards and personal improvement. 2 of my three are always in the youngest or next to youngest age groups where there is always (in our state/region) a combo of super talented kids (but few) and lots of cuties working on form but with good skills....this even lasted until level 7 last year for DD....where for the first time she placed frequently in at least one event, sometimes many. Compare this to this year when she will move into an older and much larger/more competitive age group....and fully expects to NOT PLACE often even though repeating level 7 (fear and growth time this year!!)

Lastly, DS 13 started gym late and it is his secondary activity (he's a very advanced violinist playing in adult symphony, etc)....and his age group is small, he has repeated levels all along, and although he often places in several events, struggles enough on others to know that he is a mediocre gymnast at best - but loves the friendships/coaches/learning new skills/exercise...etc. And at this age he himself realizes that his AA place of 5th was "easier" to win than that of a kid in a lower age group.....they figure it out themselves....

I will admit to always checking age groupings in the programs, and secretly being happy when the kids fall into a group that "looks" like they have a chance to medal....We are in a small state and by optionals you kind of know "all" the other gymnasts general scoring....kind of fun, really, at all those 5 hour meets to see ALL the kids grow and develop!

 

[3LittleGymmies]

I just wanted to update about this now that it's meet weekend! The age groups are indeed broken down and there are 19 girls in my daughter's age group. She competes tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! It's always rumored to be a really tough meet and the scores today for the 7's-10's were kind of all over the place, between the 4's-low 8's (mostly 6's and 7's though) and very few above that... there were even some below a 4 . It was hard to be out on the floor for those. Hopefully they will be more lenient tomorrow... one can dream, right?!

 

[htimcj]

I am glad to hear that the groups were split further. Ouch on the 4s though! I hope that the scored are better!

 

[Natasha]

Good luck to your dd! And, FYI, it is not uncommon for optionals to score low this early in the season. Most optionals don't consider their actual season to start until January, so they usually use fall meets as a warm-up meet to just get in front of the judges and try out some skills. Often they won't have skills ready yet and will not be starting from a 10. Enjoy the meet tomorrow!