Insight Needed!

[Lexismomma]

Just wondering what everyone's thought were on skipping level 6. My daughter is level 5 now.

 

[gymjoy]

My opinion. Level 6 is important. It hones the basic skills and helps prepare t=gymnast for the tougher judging in upper levels. I know many gyma like to skip this level because the judging can sometimes be very harsh, but the flip side is that many (not all) of the girls that skip this level never move much past level 7. I've watched it many times through our years in gymnastics. The gyms that regularly skip L6 do not have optional programs as strong as those that that do emphasize the importance of competing L6.
If there is a level to skip, then skip 7. (though in our experience, I would caution skipping any level.)

 

[Lexismomma]

Thanks so much for your advice! That's the same way I feel about it. Just wanted some other opinions. I appreciate your response

 

[Crystalflipz]

I agree. Level 6 really seems to be one of those "make it or break it" levels. There are so many new skills that the girls must master for Level 6 - going backwards on beam, back tuck on floor, letting go of the high bar - this seems to be a really big issue for some of the girls, full turn on beam. These are areas that can create huge mental blocks as well as skill blocks for the girls if they don't have time to get comfortable with them, and a year at Level 6 helps give them that time. I've never seen it cause a problem for a girl to move through all the levels, but I've seen plenty of problems when girls skip levels.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

they should not skip unless it is obvious that there is no hope and they should do prep op.

 

[ejgymmom]

I've been curious about this for awhile. My daughter is nowhere near that level but I'm fairly certain in her gym that they do the whole thing with having the girls compete one meet at Level 6 and then move them up if they get a high enough score. It's a very good gym with a huge optional program...tons of level 7's, a big level 9/10 group and a couple of pre-elites (and I'm sure there are level 8's but I'm not sure how big that group is). I keep hearing about how level 6 is so important, but maybe the head coaches must know what they're doing to skip 6 and still have a really big optional team that performs well at meets?? This has always fascinated me. I think I'm kind of in the camp that level 6 is beneficial, but I'm not going to worry about it too much until I have to (when and if that ever happens).

 

[cher062]

If she has the skills for L7 then I can see skipping or if she wants to do Prep Op otherwise what's the rush. What does coach say?

 

[MdGymMom01]

Another important thing to consider is that competition and performance experience is ESSENTIAL to become a good gymnast. Going from Level 5 to 7 is a BIG jump. Yes--your dd (or any dd for that matter) may have the big skills needed for Level 7, but can she perform the routine with the polish, charisma and fluidity of other experienced gymnasts?? Form and presentation takes time and practice (not just practice in the gym but practice actually competing in front of judges at meets). I have seen too many gymnasts who are rushed through the levels or "score out" who can't perform a routine to save their life. They lack the artistry (that naturally comes with time), the form and some of the basic skills start falling apart.

If she isn't scoring high 38's in level 5 and has great dance ability currently, then I would not even consider "skipping" level 6. JMHO

 

[Lexismomma]

She already has back handspring,back walkover,on beam & back tuck on floor. Bars on the other hand diff. story. Thanks for the advice. It really helps out.

 

[Lexismomma]

What exactly is prep op? Coach wanted her to skip 5 & 6 this season and my husband and I said absolutely not. She wanted to as well but understood why we didn't want her to. She was ok w it. The coach wants her to do level 7 next season. I've been watching another girl @ our gym struggle w 7. She did skip 6. This is why I wanted some opinions.

 

[gymdog]

I'm generally not in favor of skipping L6, especially when I see it done and the gymnast does not have consistent cast handstands, free hip handstands, and giants. It is better to train the "easier" routines and have time for training the other skills, than to push the kid up missing these skills and then spend all the time trying to cobble together routines that meet the requirements and sacrifice the time in the developmental stages that would have otherwise been slowed down and refined. Sometimes it works out and the gymnast is able to refine "along the way." But probably more often, it seems to lead to frustration.

My litmus test for moving a kid up is not so much "can they barely do it this year?" but "what comes after that?" So if I see a kid who has all the L6 skills, great. Then I look at how much further they are than L6 skills - if they are not sufficiently far that they would have to do two years of L7 pretty much no matter what, I think there's the answer. But in general unless the gymnast is older and would benefit from the extra optional experience, I don't see much of a reason to skip it. When the gymnast is doing routines at her comfortable skill level, rather than barely scraping by, thats when you can make significant progress.

 

[nevertooold]

^^^agreed.
Unless they would be really ready to move to 8 the following season then there is no reason to skip 6, bc what the CHILD in them "hears" is that they are soooo good they can skip a level, then the very next year they have to repeat which could be interpreted as failure.
I think that us why we see so many talented kids quit after skipping and then repeating 7 or plateauing for a while.

 

[cher062]

What exactly is prep op? Coach wanted her to skip 5 & 6 this season and my husband and I said absolutely not. She wanted to as well but understood why we didn't want her to. She was ok w it. The coach wants her to do level 7 next season. I've been watching another girl @ our gym struggle w 7. She did skip 6. This is why I wanted some opinions.

Prep Op is another competitive program. It is a little different from state to state.

here is what is on the USAG page on this

The P.R.E.P. Optional Program is designed to offer a broad-based, affordable competitive experience outside the traditional Jr. Olympic Program to attract and retain a diverse group of athletes. The program gives an opportunity for:

1. Class students to participate in organized gymnastics events.
2. Those athletes who have competed in the USA Gymnastics Jr. Olympic Program and have qualified to Level 7 or above but need a more basic introduction to optional competition.
3. Those athletes who have competed in the USA Gymnastics Jr. Olympic Program at the Compulsory level and would like to experience a basic optional program during their "off" season.
4. Those athletes who have either "retired" from the Jr. Olympic Program or do not wish to train or compete at Level 7 or 8.
5. Athletes not previously involved with USA Gymnastics to enter the program

Here is the link to get more info on it.
:: USA Gymnastics :: Prep Optional Programs ::

 

[Megley]

Coming at it from the perspective of a child who skipped L6, I would recommend doing L6 unless her bars skills are really good already - as gymdog says, already has a good free hip, cast hs and giants. My dd had her Level 7 beam skills as a Level 5, but not bars. Bars are where a year of Level 6 really helps. You get to train Level 7 bars for a year while competing Level 6 instead of struggling during competition season to get a good consistent bars set. Makes for a much more pleasant and stress free Level 7 year. Can you tell our year has not been stress free?!

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I think it really depends on the gymnast. One of the girls from daughters group did this she is just amazingly talented and she is doing very well. Bars was the one thing she has struggled with but she is now competing them and getting 35's. I do think she is an exception most kids would not do as well.

 

[Ingwe]

Here is our experience with skipping L6. My DD skipped L6 last year. She had a very good L7 year season scoring in the mid 36's and making regionals. This year is is REPEATING L7 because she had some (a lot) of trouble getting the L8 vault. She spent the summer stressed out over it and then the fears started creeping in to the point where she stopped working the vault completely. I am not going to lie and say she was fine with repeating, because she wasn't, she was devasted, she felt like she "failed" etc. If I had a choice(and with 20/20 hindsight) I would've never let her skip L6, I think she could've used that extra year to prepare for optionals. Our Gym doesn't compete L6, you either go from L5 to L7 OR you spend a couple of years in PREP OP Gold. Prep Gold in our state is competed as inbetween L5/L6
Anyhow, my advise is compete L6, get the consistent bars,and the all round training for optionals and move on to L7 the following year.

 

[Northstar2400]

I believe it depends on where you DD is right now. I skipped level 6 and and they said the reason was because i had all of my 7 skills and many ofmy 8 skills. Im 14 so at first I was like OK! butnowbeing away from gymnastics awhile from injury. i look back and I feel level 6 could have been important but I felt so ready, and i pushed myself a little to hard one practice and I left with a dislocated elbow. All because of a level 8 drill while i was tired. I cathc onto skills pretty quick and i got hurt 2 weeksbefore my first level 7 competition and I had all of my routines very clean. Im really competitive though also, so being nervous at comeptition wasnt really a problem except on vault. So i guess it depends on how your daughter is. I mean im very competitive and that really gave me the edge to get my skills. I have always loved to perform. I also skipped level 4 because the told me i was to advanced to be in level 4. Which level 4 really set me back and put me in 2 years of level 5. So its really something I think you need to sit down and talk to your daughter about. See if she really wants to do it. and see if she is ready to do it! I hope this helped!I tried to give some of my ideas since I went through this decision also! Good Luck!