Evaluations

[Optionals United]

Ok I was wondering when everyone does evaluations for their optinals and compulsaries? When do you think is the correct time to do it? We had ours yesterday which we found kind of early as in like it should be in a week or two. What are your opions on having them earlier than later? I know they want us to be prepared for season, but 4 months before is kinda early. What do you guys think.

 

[B Gymnast]

we did evaluations last year, when i moved up to level 6, but that was the only year we have done them.. we did them a little earlier than this time, so that they know who needed to learn what routines for the upcoming season..

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

We don't have compulsary/optional system, but we don't have evaluations at all if we were in competitive the year before, if you are new then we have try outs to make sure that they can do enough to compete.

 

[gymnastgets10]

We don't really have evaluations... if you have all your skills by August/September than you'll definatly move up, if you don't you keep working on them until October/November and if you still don't have them then you repeat and might move up mid-season.

 

[fishchimes]

I think we usually have evaluations sometime in september, a couple months before the first meet (which is in late october) but this year we might not. They're really only for the parents, so they can actually see why their child is/is not moving up. Less arguing that way. If you have all your skills, the coaches will know.

I think they should be held as late as is practical. You never know when someone might suddenly peak.

I almost had to have 3 evaluations just to get on the team, but I think they realized how dumb it was that I was having to do a 3rd when I'd been taking private lessons with the coach and was just going to keep coming back if they said no again.

 

[gymcoach26]

We do tryouts for all the new team kids at the beginning of June. They are just told whether they made team or not. Then throughout the summer we do a lot of uptraining. Come September, new gymnasts are told whether they will be level 4 or 5 and previous team members are told whether they will move up a level or stay at the same level. We usually start competing in December.

 

[nevertooold]

I don't think 4 months ahead is too early for evaluations.

After states we promote kids who have all of their skills for the next level. And then we promote again in August those who got their skills over the summer.

By the end of the first week of August the coaches can probably see if you are really close on all your skills or not. In this area kids who are just getting their skills a few weeks before meet season starts will NOT be competitive with girls who had all their skills last January and have been uptraining 2 levels ahead all summer.

We sort of announce as we go along. For instance a few weeks ago it became apparent that a few girls were NOT getting the skills they needed and were not realizing it on their own, so we had to tell them they were not moving up.

At this point in the summer we have only a few girls on the fence and they know they are on the fence, probably final determinations will be made 1st or 2nd week in September, but that is giving the benefit of the doubt due to age for their level, things coming together quickly, etc.

 

[vagymmomma]

We have a fairly informal process at our gym. After states, it's all up training and they move girls who are ready at the end of June. They do additional (informal) evaluations over the summer and move up any remaining girls who've attained the requisite skills.

There are plusses and minuses to any evaluation process - formal or informal. I kind of like the flexibility afforded by an informal process, and if you trust your coaches they really should know what's best. However, I feel a little bad for some of the gymnasts and parents, who just really want to know what does it take to move up. For level 5 - you've got to have the kip by the end of the summer. For level 6 - backwalkover on beam and flyaway. Those tests are pretty straightforward.

Problem is there are so many subjective factors that prohibit a quick checklist - is there room for gymnasts to move up? Is a gymnast mature enough for longer practice hours? What if a gymnast has the basic skills, but tended to fold in meet situations? Some of our parents are secretly crossing their fingers that kids won't move up because they can't afford the additional cost.

Sorry for rambling. My daughter was one of the early movers this year, but there are a number of others anxiously hoping to follow in a couple weeks. That brings a little stress to the gym.

 

[bogwoppit]

We always had evaluations right at the beginning of September. But this year they were in May, the groups were informally set. However some girls stopped training after the evaluation and will not begin again until September whilst others trained all summer. It will be interesting to see where they are all at when they return and the groups get together!

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

It is my daughters 4 th year and I am still not sure about how they decide their groups are combined with different levels some parents kids were told what they are doing but I am assuming that daughter is doing 6 since that is the routines she is learning. They usually do not hold them back unless they are missing a lot of skills. Anyway I have given up worrying about it because they seem to know what they are doing and it always works out once the meets start. I wonder if they do it this way to avoid parents being over
Ly involved and dictating what they should be doing. I am glad at least I know the practice schedule

 

[Aussie_coach]

We don't have evaluations at a set time but are evaluating all the time. The kids are always working on both their competitive skills and the higher level skills we know where each gymnast is at.

 

[ProudMomofGymnast]

My dd's gym does not do "evaluations," but they moved all of the girls up a level after states. They are bringing in 2 judges for an inhouse meet to score the girls. They have to score a 32 or above in order to compete.