Women Competition Newbie--XCEL level confusion :/

[DeniseG NC]

Hi... This is my daughter's 1st competition year as a bronze level gymnast. We are a small, modest gym, and not crazy competitive, but very capable. Prior to this year our gym was UUA, but switched to USAG XCEL this year in the hopes of giving our girls a better chance at placement (i.e. competing against gyms who practice similar hours as us and have the same general philosophy that it isn't ALL about winning medals. What we are seeing though, is what appears to be gyms holding back their gymnasts and competing them at a lower level to gain competitive advantage. I've seen talk on here of "scoring out" of a level... but understand from our coach there is nothing in the USAG framework to limit how long a girl can compete in any particular level. There are girls doing round off back handsprings at a BRONZE level.... when we're doing walkovers... how can this be fair? This is very frustrating for our girls. Granted, we could use a little polishing, but if it weren't for these other more skilled girls competing at this lower level, our girls could place much better. I understand there have been some leveling changes this year, so do you think this is a this year only till gyms have a chance to adapt their gymnasts to the new level standards? Perhaps these girls WOULD have gone on to compete in the SILVER level but due to level changes would be at a significant disadvantage?

 

[raenndrops]

The "beauty" of Xcel is the skill overlap ability between divisions.
In Bronze, they are limited to 2 flight elements - max. So they can do a Roundoff Back handspring... but girls in Silver and Gold can also do a roundoff back handspring. When they get up to Silver, they can do up to one Salto (front tuck, back tuck), but a salto is not required until Platinum.

Some gyms will not move a gymnast up until they have maximum routines for the division (or until they are ready to make the switch to JO levels). By maxing out the current division, they will be more than ready for the next level up. Other gyms will compete girls with the minimum skills (or maybe the minimum on 1 event and more on the others).

If it makes you feel any better, a clean routine without the RO-BHS at that level can score better than a less clean routine with one.

 

[DeniseG NC]

The "beauty" of Xcel is the skill overlap ability between divisions.
In Bronze, they are limited to 2 flight elements - max. So they can do a Roundoff Back handspring... but girls in Silver and Gold can also do a roundoff back handspring. When they get up to Silver, they can do up to one Salto (front tuck, back tuck), but a salto is not required until Platinum.

Some gyms will not move a gymnast up until they have maximum routines for the division (or until they are ready to make the switch to JO levels). By maxing out the current division, they will be more than ready for the next level up. Other gyms will compete girls with the minimum skills (or maybe the minimum on 1 event and more on the others).

If it makes you feel any better, a clean routine without the RO-BHS at that level can score better than a less clean routine with one.

Ahh... IC... we are definitely a gym that lets them go on and compete with a reasonable level of skill, but this year, noone leveled up and just stayed where they were at due to the change. I think our silver level girls have faired better. I think our coach was very surprised by the range of skill level. Good to know about the RO-BHS clean vs. not.
Being her first year, I think my daughter has done fairly well. This last meet was a bit of a disaster but the prior 2 she had an AA score of 33 and 34. still that doesn't stand a chance in the wind compared to some of these girls who have 36-38 every single meet... I know they've worked hard to get where they are at, but just seems like the playing field would be a little more level if there was a cap on how long you could stay at a particular level-- Hypothetically speaking, like when you get a AA of 36 so many times in a row, the next season you're required to compete the next level up.

For now though, dd is enjoying herself, and is pleased just to get a participation/AA placement medal, and we are proud of her efforts! Will be interesting to see what kind of changes the gym makes for next season. Thanks 4 the response.

 

[IreneKa]

Yes, my DD competed Xcel bronze last year, and usually placed very well on the floor with just double BWO, even competing against the girls who did ROBHS. Clean BWO could easily get a better score than sloppy ROBHS. Sure there were some who clearly practices more hours, or were repeating the level, but that often happens in JO too, not just Xcel, and not necessarily related to the levels changes. It's just more common in Xcel to repeat the levels (I think), because there are only 5 of them in Xcel, and not 10 as in JO.

 

[raenndrops]

In our gym, we do have something like that... AS LONG AS YOU CAN MOVE UP SAFELY. My OG will be Platinum next year because she made a gym "Mandate" 4x this season/ 6 meets.
We went to YMCA Nationals last year, and the girl that won bars in one of the Xcel Gold age groups competed glide, pullover, cast, back hip circle, squat on, underswing dismount from high bar. The same girl competed Front handspring-Roundoff and Roundoff- Dive roll (allowable last year) on floor and a back shoulder roll and a handstand on beam.
She had a 36+ AA (and apparently scored well often), but did not have the skills to move up.

 

[MILgymFAM]

My dd is competing this year in xcel bronze also. Her own team ranges on floor from girls who compete robhs to girls who can barely do walk overs. On bars there is a girl who cannot even get her kick over and girls who can do kips. It's all over the place (except vault, obviously). There are also girls competing silver who do the exact same things in their routines as bronze. I was confused at first also and decided to just flow with it, but I wanted to say I completely get where you are coming from! As for the difficulty giving an edge in competitions, I don't worry too much. DD competes a cartwheel cartwheel pass because it looks cleaner than her cartwheel round off or robhs, but has scored much higher than the more difficult routines. Go figure.

 

[Pickle]

My DD is in her first year of competing bronze, and I too have noticed that there is a large range of skills performed. My DD does a ROBHS, but there are girls on her team that do two cartwheels. She does a cartwheel on beam, with a handstand half turn dismount, while others do a handstand and round off or front handspring dismount. I know our silvers compete a ROBHSBT, since DD is training that right now. Most of them also compete back walkovers on the beam, and kips/squat ons/jump to high bar f0r bars.

She practices 6 hours a week, and has done well at her 3 meets so far this season - first, first, and third. Her highest score was a 37.5, but I don't know if she will move up or not. Most of our kids do two years at each level, and while she has her ROBHSBT on tramp, she is not close to having it on floor.

At our gym, xcell and JO are two separate tracks with very little movement between them.

 

[sportsmommy]

You would think the harder skills would get higher scores but they dont. I was confused about that at first. My dd competes a harder routine on floor than a lot of her teammates and her scores are lower than theirs. She also has extra skills that arent needed which sets her up for more deductions. Its what she likes. Which is why she loves xcel!! She gets to do her harder tumbling passes.

If you havent yet, come join our xcel sociAl group!!

 

[fuzi]

Speaking for a judges perspective, clean routines with the minimal requirements score the highest. I've seen Xcel bronze and silver routines jammed pack with all sorts of stuff. And every bent knee or flexed foot or body position error on each of those 19 skills incurs a deduction. Often, the child with the cartwheel-cartwheel and the other minimum requirements will score much higher, so don't worry about your child competing simpler skills. There are no "bonus" points for difficulty nor are there compositional deductions for only doing the minimum required.

Of course, part of the beauty of Xcel is the flexibility of the levels. If a child is great on floor, for example, she can do her RO-BHS, but if she struggles on bars, she can do the bare minimum. This allows a child to advance at their own pace some and show off what they are capable of.