Any other gyms deciding to skip TOPS this year after normally doing it?

[wallflower]

DD's gym has decided to skip TOPS testing this year due to the changes in state testing. The coach said they wanted to wait a year and see how it all works out with the addition of the skills at state testing. They felt the final draft of the requirements came out too late and they want to wait and see what changes are made for next year. DD is new to the gym and new to TOPs so I'm totally relieved. They don't spend a lot of time outside of practice on special TOPs training. It's mainly just part of their regular training, though they occasionally have an extra 30 minutes a week.

Any other gyms planning on sitting this year out? Coaches said they will start working for next year now and do plan to continue participating once the dust settles.

 

[chalkbowl]

The state skills testing is simpler than the national testing. I would think any gym that take TOPS seriously and has had kids qualify to national testing in the past would already have their kids prepared for an easier version at the state level? Please someone chime in if I'm wrong...this year is going to be my first venture into the TOPs testing world.

 

[wallflower]

The state skills testing is simpler than the national testing. I would think any gym that take TOPS seriously and has had kids qualify to national testing in the past would already have their kids prepared for an easier version at the state level? Please someone chime in if I'm wrong...this year is going to be my first venture into the TOPs testing world.

I can only speak for our gym and say that they have had kids qualify to the TOPS team in past years, so I would assume that they take it seriously. They host the testing in our area and the coach is the state manager for Tops. They have 2-3 kids make the team every year. I don't know how many qualify to National testing since I haven't been able to find that info published. There's a wall in the gym listing the National Tops team members by the year.

We were told that this is the first year that Gary Warren isn't in charge. They didn't feel like the information in it's final version was put out in a timely manner.

They pointed out that unlike a lot of gyms, Tops is not a seperate training for our girls. So the skills portion is what they normally spent a large portion of the summer training. So the timing is different and didn't fit with their schedule. The spring has been tons of conditioning, basics, drills etc. They hit the skills harder in the summer. They will time things differently for next year and start skills earlier.

We were told that the 7 year olds (those testing as 7 year olds) will still test. They also left it open to maybe have a few test at the latest test date IF they feel they will be ready, but basically not to count on it.

 

[chalkbowl]

They pointed out that unlike a lot of gyms, Tops is not a seperate training for our girls. So the skills portion is what they normally spent a large portion of the summer training. So the timing is different and didn't fit with their schedule. The spring has been tons of conditioning, basics, drills etc. They hit the skills harder in the summer. They will time things differently for next year and start skills earlier.

This makes sense. We didn't even finish our season until this past weekend. So in order for our compulsory girls to gain the necessary skills to test at the state level they do need to come in additional hours. I feel like gyms in other regions have an advantage with TOPs over us with their "shorter" seasons in many cases and are out of routine training earlier than us...