May is coming up quite quickly. Can you learn, memorize, and perfect new routines for Gold? Routines take at least a month to get competition ready for most girls. Unless a girl has a natural aptitude for learning and memorizing choreography, floor is the hardest. Are all the skills you need to compete in Gold competition ready (pointed toes straight legs straight arms head in etc)? There's a huge difference between being able to throw a skill and being able to compete one. You'd rather compete a skill slightly below your ability level that is safer and has better form than one that risks injury and is quite sloppy. Are your coaches comfortable with this jump, and have you talked to them? Ultimately, your coaches will make this decision as they are the ones registering you for the meet, and the ones that work with you at practice. Are your parents comfortable with this jump? There's usually a big jump in hours between Silver and Gold. Being a coach, I'd have a couple of concerns. First of all, given that this is your first competition season, I wouldn't push too hard as you risk burnout. Secondly, while you want to be training in a way that slightly challenges you in practice, your skills should look effortless in competition. Third of all, I'd be concerned about the time crunch for getting skills and routines competition ready. Lastly, I'd also be looking at your strength, both physical and mental. On the physical side, I'd be looking at if you can keep up with conditioning at the Gold level. On the mental side, I'd be looking at your maturity compared to those competing Gold this season. If either of these aspects is significantly below the gymnasts at this level already, this would be cause enough for me to hold you back. Ultimately, I would talk to your coaches and parents. See what they think is best rather than trying to make the decision yourself. Despite the fact that I am both a coach and a gymnast, I always make sure to ask my coaches what level they think I should be in, rather than guessing myself. I would also be wary of competing a new level at the very end of the season. Should you lose skills over the summer, you won't be able to drop back down.
