Women Benefits to competitions at lower levels?

[Dream]

I am wondering what the benefits are for girls to compete at the lower levels such as level 1 or Xcel bronze? Some gyms in our area do not take their athletes to competitions until Xcel Silver or JO 4. Others seem to want them to start competing frequently ASAP.

 

[Tmacs]

Honestly.... to suck the parents into the sport . because what's cuter than an L2/bronze gymnast?
I think for less populated areas of the country, level 2 gets more kids on team at an earlier age. I don't think many kids would stick around at our gym if they had to progress through pre-team and rec levels all the way to level 4. We just don't have that many gymnasts to choose from. At age 7, my daughter was done with rec. She hated it. But as soon as she got on team, she absolutely loved it… the discipline, the camaraderie, the seriousness of the sport. She would not have continued if she had to wait to compete until L4. I believe the shaping and conditioning they did in the lower levels made her a very good L4-9 gymnast.