Women Competing club/JO past high school

[OzZee]

so we don't have any college gymnastics etc in Australia so fascinated by the whole idea.
Recent threads about d3 schools had me thinking - can girls who have moved onto college not just keep competing for a normal club at whatever level they are at?

I can understand the scholarship thing but I'm sure I've read lots are walk ons/ no scholarship so could they not just stay at their club or one near college?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Yes, they can, but don't seem to. I don't think it's against any rules.

I've seen a number of colleges girls competing in Xcel and in T&T, but not so much in JO.

Maybe it's just gym culture- make room for younger girls to give it their go.

Maybe it's just cost- how many college students can afford JO training/competing without their parents paying for it and without a job (that they wouldn't have time for).

Maybe it's the hours- full time college on top of 20-30 hours of training is a lot, and doesn't leave a lot of time for the college social life.

Maybe it's the change- if they go away to college they would have to try out for a new team in a new place. That's daunting.

I know one college student locally who is 22 and still competing artistic JO. She's a first year L8 this year. My DD really looks up to her. She's there because she loves to be there. She also coaches the same team she's on. It's not a high hour or hour high pressure gym- or a high performing one- but it's great that it's an option.

 

[ayyyrial]

Although there's no rules against it, I know some clubs don't let you keep competing with them past age 18/after high school. That was the deal at my gym. Once you were out of high school, you could come in during team practice for free but you'd be on your own. Some kids who went on to compete in college used that offer to stay in shape during school breaks.

At the gym I coached at in college, there was one girl who was in college, coached there, and also practiced with the JO team. She was probably around L8/9, more like L9 by the end of college. She didn't compete with them, though - she competed NAIGC with the college club team. I don't think the team would have been amenable to having her compete with them since they were pretty selective in who they took. That team did let another college kid compete with them, who was L10 and had been an NCAA walk-on but had been injured and was no longer eligible for NCAA. She only competed like two meets, I think, before getting injured again.

For me, the idea of competing JO while in college would have been crazy. I went to a pretty rigorous college, and while in college I felt like it was time to really put energy and time into my schoolwork. My parents paid for college, but I wanted to work as much as I could to help them out with it. I felt like it would have been irresponsible to commit 20 hrs/week to an extracurricular activity in that situation. So I was involved with the NAIGC club at my school for a while, which was open gym format.

 

[fuzi]

I've heard from many gyms that they won't let adults train because of their insurance regulations. Plenty of gyms have insurance that cover adult classes, however.

In the Women's program in the USA, there is no maximum age in the rules. Most just stop when they stop college. My current gym had Xcel team members up through their late 20s this year (myself included). I know a gym around here who has a level 6 who is in college and another who has a 21/22 year old level 9. Some years back, I know a gym that a compulsory in her mid 20s. She started in level 5 and got up to level 7 before she retired.