Parents Gym decided to abolish Level 6 training. Good or bad?

[Tim_Dad]

Hello all.

Our gym has been going through some odd times in recent months. At the end of the spring season, more then 2/3's of the upper level coaches quit. No reasons were provided as this is gym business, not parents. One thing IS clear however. Our L5, L6, and L7 teams did not perform as well as a whole in state competitions compared to previous years. We've been enjoying a 1st or 2nd team ranking for 8+ years. This has dropped to 4th, 6th and 3rd respectively. And - as far as im concerned, if a few athletes arent performing as well as expected - that's one thing. But when the team as a whole isn't performing well... I have to look to the coaching staff for answers.

The gym has bought in new "coaches", which are mostly young (19-24 yr old) Ex-gymnasts, and moved a coach who did tumble classes only for the last 8 years to a full L5-Prep-Op coach to fill the void. Obviously anxieties amongst parents is high, especially with this is combined with a significant gym enrollment rate hike.

I do still trust and respect the judgement of the gym owner, and I don't really want to know what the cause of the mass-exodus. But recently it's been decided that Level 6 (in our gym) no longer exists. The athletes either move from L5 to Prep-op (X-cel), or remain L5 for a second year. I can see some advantages to this decision...as L6 is notorious for reducing Gymnastic enrollment and athletic enthusiasm. But i'm wondering what you think. Good move? Progressive? Or catastrophic? Is this decision unique??

Disclaimer: My DD is already training L7 at the moment and is not (directly) impacted by this decision. I would very much appreciate any coach perspective in addition to parents.

 

[MeetDirector]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but even with X-cel following lvl 5 doesn't an athlete still have to score out of Lvl 6 to move to Lvl 7? In my simple brain this would mean competing a year (?) of X-cel and then training the Lvl 6 routines for the score-out meet and then training Lvl 7.

As for your coaching issue, the big thing I (as a parent) would be concerned with is the ability of these new "coaches" to adequately spot the harder skills required for Lvl 7 and beyond. It is the safety thing; these upper skills take more knowledge and experience on the part of the coach.

Good Luck!

 

[Tim_Dad]

X-cel following lvl 5 doesn't an athlete still have to score out of Lvl 6 to move to Lvl 7?

That's my understanding, yes. ONE L6 competition is required before going to L7. But... can someone from L5 train AND compete in X-cel competitions without doing the L6 requirement, or would a X-cel competition satify the L6 requirement before moving on? Thanks for bringing that up. It was one of my many questions.

As far as saftey, ALL the level coaches (but not assistants) are required to be USAG saftey certified in our gym. Of course...certified doesnt mean "qualified" or even capable. So yea... like I say, lot's of anxieties at many levels.

 

[MaryA]

X-cell competitions wouldn't satisfy the level 6 "move-up" requirement, but certainly a gymnst could do all the level 6 skills in x-cell and it would be relatively easy to plug them into the level 6 routines in order to score out at one meet. The level 6 routines aren't drastically different than the level 5 routines. The skills are just harder.

I assume that the coaches believe that doing x-cell rather than 6 will be more fun and may also allow for more uptraining of skills. In x-cell, you could theoretically start the year with mostly level 5/6 skills in your routines and end the year with 6/7 skills in your routines, which might make for easier progression to optionals. Just trying to get into the coaches heads here... I really have no clue. DD competed an entire season of 6 last year and was very happy and did very well, but I know that other gyms have success doing it other ways.

I can't really speak to the mass-exodus. I guess it just depends on how much you trust the owner and coaches. And I guess, if it was me, it would mainly depend on if I thought MY daughter was getting what she needed out of the gym.

 

[gym law mom]

Tim_Dad--its great to see you back!!! Also wonderful that the dd is training L7.
I have to wonder with all the coach transition if the gym felt it would be easier to have a new coach train Xcel than L6. You're right in that the judging at L6 can be very tough and maybe a less experienced coach would have a hard time having a successful team vs. Xcel.
As for safety certification---its only a basic first aide course. My gymmie has done it so she can begin doing rec coaching. What is hard to replace is the years of experience--hopefully there are coaches left who can step in and teach the newer ones.

 

[MeetDirector]

Of concern to me is not the USAG safety certification; I am safety certified as a meet director but I don't know the first thing about safely spotting giants, flips on beam, etc. Those safe spotting skills come with time and the gymnasts need to trust the spotters. I hope it works out for you.

 

[gymgal]

Depending on which level xcel they put the girls in, they should be working on mostly 6/7 skills anyway so it won't be much different in terms of skills. As for the competition, they really only need to spend a few weeks on learning the routines. And if they competed 5, then they know most of the routines anyway for beam and floor. dd learned L5 and 6 together in about a month and tested out in one day. not difficult at all as long as you have the skills ready.

I would definitely be concerned about the mass exodus and I think as a paying customer, you have the right to ask for basic reasons.

 

[BlairBob]

Not a huge deal, really.

Which is probably one of the reasons they are changing the levels. It's better to just score out of L6 and train for L7. BWO is a pain in the butt for many girls and doing a backward roll is a dead end skill that isn't very easy to not fall out of.

As for the Safety Certification. It's necessary but pretty useless. As is the L1 PDP cert. As are most of them. There is some necessary relevant information in all of them, but they aren't worth doing really.

At the gym I was at recently, we did the same thing. This also got down to the numbers of potential L6 kids we would have. Without a big team, it's costly and a pain in the butt to go to meets for.

 

[lhmom]

DD's gym did this last season (had the girls do a x-cel platinum season instead of level 6). These girls just recently scored out of level 6 a few weeks ago and are training level 7. DD's gym got a sanction then brought in some judges for an in-house meet. Before that, it seemed that DD's gym was one of the few gyms in our state who competed level 6. I looked at last year's state meet and there were 7 gyms competing level 6. Of course with the upcoming changes, I have no idea what the plan will be.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Our gym doesn't like to do six. Most girls test out of it and jump directly from 5 to 7, but the style of training at our gym facilitates that pretty well. But, occasionally if there is someone that is well past five but just not quite ready for seven they will have her do a six season. Compete where you can be successful is the motto. But, xcell at our gym is not handled in the same way that it seems to be being used in this case. It is a separate track and there is no coming back to JO once you jump to xcel.

The difference I see at our gym is the attention to detail. Yes, six is difficult judging and no one (including our HC) likes to do it, but it does drive an attention to detail that will be crucial to success at higher levels. One of the major differences between xcell and JO at our gym is this attention to detail so that would concern me a bit.

But, I have heard here that many gyms use xcel in this transitional way with success. I have to assume that the attention to form and details and foundations is just kept up in practice but they simply do different competitions with optional routines. They must do quite well at xcel competitions if this is the case.

I can totally understand that parent stress is high in these circumstances. The decline in performance and the mass exodus of coaches would be a big concern for me and would make me question what the goals and future plans for the gym are.

Good luck with your situation and keep us posted!

 

[BlairBob]

We had girls in the JO program compete Xcel to win Xcel and we had the rec Xcel that was there to do whatever. In fact, we had a few girls come over from Xcel to the JO (because they were talented enough) that just wanted to train more hours yet preferred Xcel because of the routines and commitment.