Any other rhythmic families?

[MILgymFAM]

I was just wondering if there are any other parents of rhythmic gymnasts (or any gymnasts themselves) on here? As we get closer to the season, I am just wondering what to expect at comps, age groupings, levels, do girls have to compete all events for their level, etc. We really know very, very little at this point. The coaches speak almost no English, so I don't expect much in the way of explanations to be forthcoming from them. DD is learning routines and having fun, but despite googling a bit I still don't get the compulsory routines (I understand they aren't exactly compulsory?) or scoring at all. If you want to message rather than chat here, I am open to that too! Thanks!

 

[duyetanh]

I think it is wild that they speak almost no english, yet your dd is learning so much! I am guessing they speak enough English to get by in the gymnastic world, but don't speak much outside of it. I think it is so exciting for her, and can't wait to hear how her season goes!

 

[MILgymFAM]

Not really enough for training either, actually. ODD is fairly intuitive and she figures out what they mean even when they use the wrong English- most of the time. They also use the other students (who are all bilingual) as translators, and once they used the t&t coach (again, bilingual) for an hour to help them communicate to DD the specifics of her floor routine. Depending on how long we are here maybe she'll pick up some Russian!

Apparently it was a funny fifteen minutes with both my girls trying to explain homeschooling to both rhythmic coaches. They still don't get it, either. Ha ha!

 

[IreneKa]

My niece used to do rhythmic, and I have a few friends whose kids still do it (yes, I'm from Russian origins, seems like rhythmic is mostly popular among Russians ). I don't know much myself, but I did go to a couple of niece's competitions. I know that they knew the age groups ahead of time. They had an age group next to each name, so they knew whose scores to watch. Unlike most of the artistic meets, where you don't know the age groups until the awards.
The levels go similar to artistic, 4 to 10 I believe. I don't think you have to compete all events, but there is also an AA score, so you won't get a high AA if you don't compete all events. And I think more events are added at the higher levels. The beginner levels are only rope, hoop, ball, and floor. Then later they add clubs and ribbon.
No idea how they score. I know one friend posted that her daughter got 9.9 and it was very high, so I guess it goes up to 10?
Another difference from artistic is that regional\national championships start at the low levels. Even level 4/5 can go to nationals, and it's not even that hard to qualify.

This is all I know. If you have specific questions, I can try to find out.

 

[Blindside]

My niece used to do rhythmic, and I have a few friends whose kids still do it (yes, I'm from Russian origins, seems like rhythmic is mostly popular among Russians ). I don't know much myself, but I did go to a couple of niece's competitions. I know that they knew the age groups ahead of time. They had an age group next to each name, so they knew whose scores to watch. Unlike most of the artistic meets, where you don't know the age groups until the awards.
The levels go similar to artistic, 4 to 10 I believe. I don't think you have to compete all events, but there is also an AA score, so you won't get a high AA if you don't compete all events. And I think more events are added at the higher levels. The beginner levels are only rope, hoop, ball, and floor. Then later they add clubs and ribbon.
No idea how they score. I know one friend posted that her daughter got 9.9 and it was very high, so I guess it goes up to 10?
Another difference from artistic is that regional\national championships start at the low levels. Even level 4/5 can go to nationals, and it's not even that hard to qualify.

This is all I know. If you have specific questions, I can try to find out.

Thank you for this information. I have a 5 year old going into lv3 this summer. Do you know if there is any website with scores for rhythmic as there are for artistic?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Thank you for this information. I have a 5 year old going into lv3 this summer. Do you know if there is any website with scores for rhythmic as there are for artistic?

Not here there isn't. The only way to get scores is the sheets given to the coaches at the end of the meet.

 

[Faith]

My 8 year old has picked up a reasonable amount of chinese from her coach. They speak good english (although suddenly lose that ability when approached by a parent!), but likes to use her first language when coaching.

Yet another positive to gymnastics

 

[Blindside]

Not here there isn't. The only way to get scores is the sheets given to the coaches at the end of the meet.

Thank you. That makes it hard to compare athletes from different gyms...
How do your daughters like it? I have two in artistic and this little one starting rhythmic. She also does artistic so I will probably keep her in both until she can decide which one she likes best

 

[Blindside]

My 8 year old has picked up a reasonable amount of chinese from her coach. They speak good english (although suddenly lose that ability when approached by a parent!), but likes to use her first language when coaching.

Yet another positive to gymnastics

That's great At our gym the coaches speak Russian but their English is pretty good so no issues there.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Thank you. That makes it hard to compare athletes from different gyms...
How do your daughters like it? I have two in artistic and this little one starting rhythmic. She also does artistic so I will probably keep her in both until she can decide which one she likes best

My girls absolutely adore it. They both still do T&T and one still does artistic too. Unfortunately we've come to the point where they will each have to choose one, so we will see where we end up this fall.

There is a little girl on the rhythmic team who is 5 and also does all three- she's L4 in rhythmic, L5 in t&t, and non-competing L4 for artistic (she wasn't old enough this year to compete I guess? Artistic computes age differently or something).

 

[Blindside]

My girls absolutely adore it. They both still do T&T and one still does artistic too. Unfortunately we've come to the point where they will each have to choose one, so we will see where we end up this fall.

There is a little girl on the rhythmic team who is 5 and also does all three- she's L4 in rhythmic, L5 in t&t, and non-competing L4 for artistic (she wasn't old enough this year to compete I guess? Artistic computes age differently or something).

Glad they love it and can still do both. The problem is when practices overlap. But it seems like our rhythmic gym is more flexible so maybe they would accommodate...Somehow I like the idea for her to do something different than her sisters, kind of her own thing. Though it is harder because of different gym location, competition schedule, etc.

 

[duyetanh]

My girls absolutely adore it. They both still do T&T and one still does artistic too. Unfortunately we've come to the point where they will each have to choose one, so we will see where we end up this fall.

Ok, that sucks. Sorry.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Ok, that sucks. Sorry.

In some ways it absolutely does suck and I've shed my tears over it. In other ways it's ok. They've had a broader experience than lots of kids, and than they've any right to, really, and they still get to choose one and keep going. The facts of life had to come into play at some point. I think having all of these options once we move will be the best thing- they get to try all out three and choose the place and people that fit best rather than the type of gymnastics. I hope it is freeing.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Glad they love it and can still do both. The problem is when practices overlap. But it seems like our rhythmic gym is more flexible so maybe they would accommodate...Somehow I like the idea for her to do something different than her sisters, kind of her own thing. Though it is harder because of different gym location, competition schedule, etc.

Yes, having kids in different gyms is really hard! Been there, so I understand. We were very lucky that their current gym is the rhythmic and the t&t team. It certainly streamlined my life, anyway.

 

[raenndrops]

There is a little girl on the rhythmic team who is 5 and also does all three- she's L4 in rhythmic, L5 in t&t, and non-competing L4 for artistic (she wasn't old enough this year to compete I guess? Artistic computes age differently or something).

To compete L4 artistic, they have to be 7… of course, that is also the minimum age for L5, L6, and L7 too.
At 6, they can compete L3.

 

[MILgymFAM]

To compete L4 artistic, they have to be 7… of course, that is also the minimum age for L5, L6, and L7 too.
At 6, they can compete L3.

Makes sense- she couldn't compete L3 either because she's still only 5.. but for t&t and rhythmic she's 6. They count age for competition different. It's not your current age or even the age at states.. it's weird.

 

[OzZee]

Makes sense- she couldn't compete L3 either because she's still only 5.. but for t&t and rhythmic she's 6. They count age for competition different. It's not your current age or even the age at states.. it's weird.

Maybe done as per international fig ages - so the age you are turning in the calendar year?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Maybe done as per international fig ages - so the age you are turning in the calendar year?

Yes, sort of. We start competing in October, so it's their age by the end of the next calendar year. I find it weird, but probably only because we started with artistic and it was the age on the day of competition, which makes sense to me.