Do you like the compulsary system?

[hawaii_gymnast]

Where i live (canada) there are only 5 levels- P1 through P5.
In every level everybody has their own routine, own choreography, own music, but you just have to meet the requirements. Everybody uses the high bar in all levels.
The lowest (P1) is about equivalent to your L4/L5 (depends on the event) and then they work their way up like that.
Do you like everybody having the same choreography/music/routine/etc. or would you rather have everybody gets their own just have to meet requirements.
I want to hear from a coaches, parents and gymnasts point of view.

Personally, if i lived there i would want my own routines not the same as everybody else.

 

[flipper's fan]

From a parent POV, you get sick of sitting through the meets and hearing the music played 150 times at each meet for the entire season. It is also hard for parents to learn to discern why one gymnast scores higher than another when the routines look the same until your eye is trained to look for the deductions. Some coaches try to steer parents away from learining "too much" about how the sport is judged.

Sometimes it is hard for a parent to watch a child struggle through the years of compulsories then see their child really take off in optionals, and for others to get to optionals and find that their star compulsory gymnast is not scoring as high on optionals.

It appears to be a trend around here for many gyms to get their kids out of the last level of compulsories (level 6) as fast as they can.

 

[10.0]

I agree the music gets so old at meets and some of the skills are stupid and useless and hold kids up at that level when it is something they will never use again and it teaches them nothing (mill circles) . I think it would be cool if there were required skills and dance that had a purpose but the routines could vary. Then again it is like a big deal to become an optional in the US, kids strive for that and it gives thema goal so if you take that away as lazy as a lot of them are, we would have a lot less gymnasts. It is also a good way to determine talent in some respects when you can see everyone at the same level doing the same skill you can see who stands out. So yeah in a nutshell I really don't know. I know one thing our state for the most part does a lot of AAU and most gyms don't do level 6 they do mod optional, some older kids don't even do level 5 if they can handle it they do prep optional and that works out really good.

 

[Bajanswife]

The younger kids really aren't able to choreograph their own routines, so it would fall on the coaches. It takes an expert to know what all the required skills are, and to incorporate them into a routine that shows them off in the best possible way. For small gyms without the resources, I think it would be hard to have everyone doing optionals. At least with the lower level compulsories, all the coaches know what to do, the kids learn the routines themselves quite quickly, and then the coaches only have to concentrate on how to minimize the deductions and perfect the skills.

Compulsories seem to be very skills-based, and I'm not sure that's bad at the lower levels. Then again, what do I know, I'm just a parent who's now learning all this stuff. lol

 

[bogwoppit]

I do like the Canadian system for kids like mine. They are capable of getting the compulsory skills, but they are not not really going to be optional level gymnasts training their limited hours. They get to enjoy their optional routines, showcase their best skills (as they have a range to choose from) plus they can add bonus skills as and when they get them, or remove ones they struggle with.

But I think for girls who will progress into optionals I can see the benefit of the compusory system as it certainly forces good basics.

As for the same music, it does happen here that the P1 girls from one club might all use the same piece of music. The rest all seem to have their own routines.

Though it soes seem in the US that there are many prep op type programmes that allow girls to train a bit less and compete in an optional type programme.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Other than giving kids incentive to stay in the sport to become an optional I think it becomes tedious for both the gymnasts and parents.

 

[Aussie_coach]

It's the same for us in Australia. Everyone in Level 4, 5 and 6 have their own routines and their own music. There are a set of requirements that must be built into the routine and even they are a little flexible. For example on beam in level 5 you can either do a cartwheel, front walkover, back walkover or a tic toc so coaches can choose the skills to suits the gymnasts to some degree.

It definitely keeps the competitions more interesting, and the kids love having their own routines from level 4. Gyms around here don't have the massive teams I have seen in the US so getting all the choreography done is not too difficult.

 

[fishchimes]

I think the compulsory system works well for a number of reasons.

1. It forces gymnasts to have all the basics before they move on to harder stuff.
2. There are a lot of expenses involved with having your own routine (cost of music, choreography, etc) that those who are new to the program may not be willing to pay just yet.
3. Teams at the compulsory levels are generally larger than optionals, and getting a routine for everyone becomes daunting (as Aussie_coach said).
4. It allows gymnasts to dabble in the sport without feeling as though they've put loads of money into something they may choose to eventually quit (see #2).
5. It gives incentive to keep going-- optionals becomes a goal.

... and so on

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I would rather see compulsory routines. Most coaches of lower level gymnasts really seem to do their gymnasts a disservice in terms of routine construction and choreography. I would rather listen to the same piece of music over and over than watch an eight year old 'performing' to poker face music

It would also mean that gymnasts are less able to hide poor leaps and back rolls by doing them directly at the judges. We should be able to assess the basic skills. I am fine with hiding weaknesses in the higher levels but if you can't get to 90 degrees on a split leap you don't belong there.

I know a case where a gymnast has one turn on floor in 40 minutes at training. Everyone needed to run through routines, that is a very unproductive training environment for a level four. Many clubs seem to give all their gymnasts the same routine anyway, so their is really no chance for the individual to show off any more than a nationally set routine.

 

[bogwoppit]

BUt for kids who will never get to higher levels, the prep op style can be fun and allow participation in gym. That is never a bad thing.

My girls have so much fun with their routines and for sure they will never be anywhere near optional. But when they get their flyaway and can put it into their routine even though they have no kip, you see the benefit of a system like ours.

 

[gymdog]

I think the compulsory program is pretty successful at achieving its goals. There is a place for the prep op programs as well but in my state this are largely utilized after level 4 and 5 skill has been reached so it's hard for me to evaluate out of that context. In terms of the goal of preparing girls with a base of primary gymnastics skills for optional competition, I think it is a pretty good system, and that is why it is the pre-eminent system in the US. Not perfect, but it has merit. In terms of our country's gymnastics system as a whole it promotes even skill development on all four competitive apparatus, and gives us a standardized basis for comparison in age groups. It also just gives us a basis of what skills we are looking for in development towards the trends of higher levels. For example, the level 6 front tumbling pass has for a long time now been FHS step out, FHS rebound. I like the step out as it promotes acceleration through the FHS but to me we could easily shift this to level 5 and it would be more appropriate in the age of forward bounding skills to have the level 6s doing FHS bounder. I strong suspect this is going to happen (the level 6 part at least, level 5 might be left alone) in the next cycle of routines. As a national system we're making the decisions of what skills and progressions we need to focus on.