Changes to the International Stream? Please fill me in..

[ruby&jack]

Hi guys! I am hearing a lot talk about the proposed changes to the WAG International Stream.
Has anyone been told anything as yet????

 

[Ausi_poppet]

I know they announced a review around the time of Nationals. I would think that it's going to take a while for that to be done, and then GA will have to craft a response. I'd be surprised if anything is ready before 2018. I know they were going to change the IL program when they changed to the ALP, but do you think they'll go ahead with that if they're doing a complete overhaul now?

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

A draft program has been sent to clubs, basically they want kids doing skills earlier. Oh and there are wolf pivot drills in most levels you know, because Australia is not try and milk the code with the ugliest skill possible.

 

[txgymfan]

It used to be the side somi that was the go to ugly skill, now it's the wolf turn. I don't like either. What ugly high code skill will be next in line?

 

[auswi]

I haven't seen the draft but know it directly affected Dd - they've changed the ages so now no level 10 & top age 9's go straight to juniors - Dd was over the moon....spot the very new junior lol
Also new 9 has a 3 flip back sequence on beam instead of 2.
Think it's great as it will make it easier for Australian gymnasts to be internationally competitive- giving them multiple years as a sub senior, & making the compulsory levels harder, earlier. The only gymnasts who will find it hard are this years 8's who will find it more difficult to pop out the new beam sequence if they haven't already been doing the progressions, but after that the new program can only build better gymnasts.
Unsure if bar has changed - but would love to see transition skills built in earlier.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

The 2.5 wolf turn is being downgraded on beam so I wonder if that will change things a bit... With many of the jumps with turns being upgraded, I wonder if we'll see more of them with the new code, which will make for nicer viewing.

Honestly, I think as a country we need to focus less on turns and leaps and get the acro components higher. It looks like people need to be doing four tumble lines with a lot more than double backs and double pikes to be competitive in this world. We seem to be getting there on bars, but I just don't see how Australia can remain competitive without developing more difficult acro skills.

I agree with @auswi that building difficulty will make our gymnasts more internationally competitive. I would think there's little gap between the IL girls and some of the best NL gymnasts in the country when it comes to skills and the ability to perform them in competition.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

This just came through on Twitter...

That's a big blow for gymnasts in WA. And the coaches and families.

 

[auswi]

Oops - image not showing on phones???

 

[Aussiemum75]

Yeah it just popped up on my Facebook feed from gymnastics Australia. The gymnasts have found out via media not by WAIS pretty sad[emoji20]

 

[auswi]

The NCE parents ( Vic HPC) were told at a meeting late this afternoon.
Devastating for those athletes & families who have trained countless hours to have their pathway shut down

 

[Jenny]

What have they shut down?

 

[rocky]

Apparently it is the WAIS WAG program, which would pretty much mean no elite WAG program for WA.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

Oops - image not showing on phones???

Sorry, you've probably worked out by now. The WAIS IL program has been shut down from the end of the year.

 

[Ausi_poppet]

Apparently it is the WAIS WAG program, which would pretty much mean no elite WAG program for WA.

I gathered that @rocky and can't believe it. To not think that those kids and families are going to be devastated by the decision... The whole gymnastics community in WA is going to be affected.

 

[Faith]

I saw that this morning.

Bear in mind though British Gymnastics did this a while back and it actually built a stronger programme, gave control back to individual gyms. Meaning coaches could build a senior level team rather than have all their best kids taken off them. Hopefully all is not lost.

 

[OzZee]

I'm sure there are a lot of IL gymnasts in states / clubs other than WAIS and Vic NCE that would disagree with the wording in many of the articles. There are successful high performance programs outside those two clubs.

And the end of gymnastics in WA is a bit ott.

Pity though that the powers that be are so strongly focused on Olympic medals.
In a country this small that means specializing in only a couple of sports which would be terrible for the youth population.

 

[ruby&jack]

I'm sure there are a lot of IL gymnasts in states / clubs other than WAIS and Vic NCE that would disagree with the wording in many of the articles. There are successful high performance programs outside those two clubs.

And the end of gymnastics in WA is a bit ott.

Pity though that the powers that be are so strongly focused on Olympic medals.
In a country this small that means specializing in only a couple of sports which would be terrible for the youth population.

Absolutely! Look at Waverley in Melbourne!

 

[auswi]

Thanks Faith.

Part of the issue in Aus is that our country is very big distance wise. WA is over west so very hard for their gymnasts to access higher level coaching as until now the system was to mainly centralise each state at a HPC so until other clubs in WA step up which of course takes time, a number of their athletes will be left high & dry if they want to continue elite track without shifting.

Also, although Aus is big distance wise the elite track community is small so people in other states know/ know of/ have competed against/ been to camp with WA athletes.

Very consoling Britain went through the same thing as your gymnasts are now doing an amazing job.

 

[auswi]

Absolutely! Look at Waverley in Melbourne!

Waverly is unusual as it has senior coaches & therefore senior gymnasts. Dolphin is the only othe club in Vic who has a senior gymnast therefore the capacity to train athletes to this level apart from Waverly...& due to coaching restructuring at our old club we needed to research other options earlier this year, so know that this is accurate. The other clubs with IL programs only coach until old level 10.
My understanding is WA is similar, with some clubs doing ideal testing, but not able to take their athletes past a certain level.

NSW was in a similar position a couple of years ago with their HPC for a number of reasons, and now have some very promising athletes coming through with other clubs stepping up- hopefully this will happen in WA.

 

[auswi]

And the end of gymnastics in WA is a bit off .

Guess GA is trying to put pressure on WA state govt to reverse their decision!

But the wording is poor because it negates all the excellent athletes in the ALP program & other gym sports.