Parents Is there a future in going prep-op?

[TeamGram]

We just got word that my DGD will have to go to prep-op if she is to stay at her current gym. She is a 10 yr old, level 4. Her mother spoke to the HC about repeating Level 4 and was told that was not an option. This gym does not go beyond level 4. They want to concentrate on the early stages. My question is will DGD be able to compete on a high school level and even college by going prep-op or should we move on to a different gym? Her scores have been good all season but she has faltered on beam. She took a bad fall doing her cartwheel and can't seem to get the confidence back. She has scored high in bars, floor and vault and is usually on the podium. The gym wants an answer by the end of the weekend so not a whole lot of time to think about it.

 

[Clover]

I cannot comment on the HS route, but if you are at a gym whose highest JO level is 4 and then they go to Xcel/Prep Op the chances of competing for a College Gym Team are pretty low. She would have a much better chance if she switches to another gym that has higher JO levels (preferably through L10) and some experience getting girls into college. We are at a gym that has multiple college scholarship kids every year and offers all levels of JO and Xcel. Not one of the college scholarship kids has come from the Xcel/Prep Op program.

 

[my4buffaloes]

If you are at a gym where the highest JO level is level 4 then you need to switch gyms. There is just nowhere for her to go there.

 

[Quadqueen]

Agree with the other posters. She needs to switch gyms to one that has higher JO levels.

 

[TeamGram]

Thank you so much for your comments. This is pretty much what we thought but it helps to get different ideas.

 

[wgagym]

If her goal is a college scholarship (and at 10 already will be harder as well) then you should switch. If she wants to do high school gymnastics then Prep Op would be just fine. It depends on what your daughter is looking for. Not everyone's end goal is a D1 college scholarship or elite. If that is case then JO is not the only great program out there for them. Xcel and Prep Op are both great ways of enjoying and excelling in gymnastics without making a huge time and financial commitment. And there is still options for college gymnastics at that level. Just more D2 and D3 schools.

Just remember JO is not the end all be all.

 

[vagymmomma]

Most of the girls in our area doing well in HS gymnastics are at least a L8 (the top individuals are usually 9/10 or former 9/10s). Xcel and Prep Op can be good options, but I would concerned about those paths at a gym that peaks at L4. If you have options, you should look around.

 

[gymgal]

If her goal is a college scholarship (and at 10 already will be harder as well) then you should switch. If she wants to do high school gymnastics then Prep Op would be just fine.

I just want to assure the OP that at 10, level 4, your gdg is not too old to be looking towards a college scholarship, if that is what she really wants. But as the others have said, you need to switch to a gym that knows how to get girls to the upper levels. even if her goal isn't college, I would switch because in another year, she will have already topped out at that gym, even going through the prep system. platinum is equivalent of level 5. And while diamond goes higher, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with my child training those skills with coaches who presumably don't have much experience teaching them.

 

[my4buffaloes]

In our area high school gymnastics is typically judged on a level 9 skill base (that is what a mom of a high school gymnast told me anyway). Based on watching the X-cels at our gym and at the gyms I have seen in competition I don't think most programs can get level 8 or 9 skills. And if they could, why are they not running a JO program? I really think to give your child the best options for the future that it is likely time to switch gyms.

 

[wgagym]

Xcel can get up to level 9 skills. I grew up in MN where many of the clubs in the state offer no JO program. They have MAGA which is Midwest Amateur Gymnastics Association. MN has on of the biggest high school gymnastics programs in the country. Gymnasts are not allowed to compete High School gymnastics and club. Their coaches are not allowed to touch them in the off-season, which is nine months out of the year. Girls on as well as myself all competed level 8 and 9 skills and 3 off the girls on my team got college scholarships to D2- D3 schools in MN and WI. These girls were state champions in multiple school sports like Diving and Track. One was the state vault champion (did a cuervo that almost scored a perfect 10 one year) in a row and got a college scholarship in softball.

Doing this I was able to be a part of not only my high school gymnastics team, but I was a diver in the fall season, ran track in the spring, was in my school musical one year, and played club soccer. Xcel is set up and very similar to MAGA and is a great program. I do not know near as much about Prep Op.

The best part is that every single one of the 8 girls on my high school team are still involved with gymnastics. One owns her own club like me, the rest are either teaching club, high school, or judging. On top of their families and day jobs. There was no burn-out but we got to still compete at a high level and enjoy the sport all the way through high school and college for some.

My point is JO is not the only was to be successful in this sport. There are other options that can create happy healthy well rounded athletes and kids. JO is a fantastic program but it is not the right fit for many kids. I hope we continue to grow new options like Xcel for kids and families who would not thrive or do not want to commit to a program as intense as JO. That way we can make this sport into something that so many kids can enjoy for a long time. Not just the ones that would thrive in JO.

BTW this is not a debate on which program is better, I just wanted the OP to understand to check out her options and understand how her state works past the club level. The state I live in now does not have a strong high school program (numbers or very high level gymnastics) although I hope that changes with the addition of Xcel to the state. So in that instance if she is driven towards high levels you would want a club that offers JO higher than level 4. But if this is the way a lot of clubs do it because of the high school program than I would think she would still get great training at her current club because that their goal is to still feed into the high school program in the state.

 

[TeamGram]

Xcel can get up to level 9 skills. I grew up in MN where many of the clubs in the state offer no JO program. They have MAGA which is Midwest Amateur Gymnastics Association. MN has on of the biggest high school gymnastics programs in the country. Gymnasts are not allowed to compete High School gymnastics and club. Their coaches are not allowed to touch them in the off-season, which is nine months out of the year. Girls on as well as myself all competed level 8 and 9 skills and 3 off the girls on my team got college scholarships to D2- D3 schools in MN and WI. These girls were state champions in multiple school sports like Diving and Track. One was the state vault champion (did a cuervo that almost scored a perfect 10 one year) in a row and got a college scholarship in softball.

Doing this I was able to be a part of not only my high school gymnastics team, but I was a diver in the fall season, ran track in the spring, was in my school musical one year, and played club soccer. Xcel is set up and very similar to MAGA and is a great program. I do not know near as much about Prep Op.

The best part is that every single one of the 8 girls on my high school team are still involved with gymnastics. One owns her own club like me, the rest are either teaching club, high school, or judging. On top of their families and day jobs. There was no burn-out but we got to still compete at a high level and enjoy the sport all the way through high school and college for some.

My point is JO is not the only was to be successful in this sport. There are other options that can create happy healthy well rounded athletes and kids. JO is a fantastic program but it is not the right fit for many kids. I hope we continue to grow new options like Xcel for kids and families who would not thrive or do not want to commit to a program as intense as JO. That way we can make this sport into something that so many kids can enjoy for a long time. Not just the ones that would thrive in JO.

BTW this is not a debate on which program is better, I just wanted the OP to understand to check out her options and understand how her state works past the club level. The state I live in now does not have a strong high school program (numbers or very high level gymnastics) although I hope that changes with the addition of Xcel to the state. So in that instance if she is driven towards high levels you would want a club that offers JO higher than level 4. But if this is the way a lot of clubs do it because of the high school program than I would think she would still get great training at her current club because that their goal is to still feed into the high school program in the state.

 

[TeamGram]

Xcel can get up to level 9 skills. I grew up in MN where many of the clubs in the state offer no JO program. They have MAGA which is Midwest Amateur Gymnastics Association. MN has on of the biggest high school gymnastics programs in the country. Gymnasts are not allowed to compete High School gymnastics and club. Their coaches are not allowed to touch them in the off-season, which is nine months out of the year. Girls on as well as myself all competed level 8 and 9 skills and 3 off the girls on my team got college scholarships to D2- D3 schools in MN and WI. These girls were state champions in multiple school sports like Diving and Track. One was the state vault champion (did a cuervo that almost scored a perfect 10 one year) in a row and got a college scholarship in softball.

Doing this I was able to be a part of not only my high school gymnastics team, but I was a diver in the fall season, ran track in the spring, was in my school musical one year, and played club soccer. Xcel is set up and very similar to MAGA and is a great program. I do not know near as much about Prep Op.

The best part is that every single one of the 8 girls on my high school team are still involved with gymnastics. One owns her own club like me, the rest are either teaching club, high school, or judging. On top of their families and day jobs. There was no burn-out but we got to still compete at a high level and enjoy the sport all the way through high school and college for some.

My point is JO is not the only was to be successful in this sport. There are other options that can create happy healthy well rounded athletes and kids. JO is a fantastic program but it is not the right fit for many kids. I hope we continue to grow new options like Xcel for kids and families who would not thrive or do not want to commit to a program as intense as JO. That way we can make this sport into something that so many kids can enjoy for a long time. Not just the ones that would thrive in JO.

BTW this is not a debate on which program is better, I just wanted the OP to understand to check out her options and understand how her state works past the club level. The state I live in now does not have a strong high school program (numbers or very high level gymnastics) although I hope that changes with the addition of Xcel to the state. So in that instance if she is driven towards high levels you would want a club that offers JO higher than level 4. But if this is the way a lot of clubs do it because of the high school program than I would think she would still get great training at her current club because that their goal is to still feed into the high school program in the state.

I understand what you are saying but this gym just doesn't seem to push the girls. I have watched the Excel team compete and after two years in this program they are not even doing skills that the new level 4 girls are doing. Many of them can not do a kip or a squat=on, so I feel that we need to go to a gym that pushes them to do better year after year.

 

[wgagym]

If that is the case then yes I would move sooner than later.

 

[raenndrops]

I just want to assure the OP that at 10, level 4, your gdg is not too old to be looking towards a college scholarship, if that is what she really wants. But as the others have said, you need to switch to a gym that knows how to get girls to the upper levels. even if her goal isn't college, I would switch because in another year, she will have already topped out at that gym, even going through the prep system. platinum is equivalent of level 5. And while diamond goes higher, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with my child training those skills with coaches who presumably don't have much experience teaching them.

Platinum is NOT the equivalent of Level 5... it is more like between L6 and L7. Diamond is like L7-L8 ... but if a gym doesn't go past L4, then they may stop Xcel with Gold... Platinum if you are lucky.

We had a girl on our team this year that was competing Platinum for us and also competed for the HS (L8 equivalent). She only needed a few tweaks to her routines for HS competition because she was basically competing L7 routines in Platinum.

 

[gymgal]

Platinum is NOT the equivalent of Level 5... it is more like between L6 and L7. Diamond is like L7-L8 ....

level 5 and 6 are essentially the same since the new levels went into effect. but yes, it is more like between 5 and 7. I put 5 because while you can perform more complicated skills, you could get away with using level 5 skills to fulfill the requirements. The only difference would be the need for a series on beam if the gymnast doesn't have a flight (usually bhs or ro)

 

[raenndrops]

level 5 and 6 are essentially the same since the new levels went into effect. but yes, it is more like between 5 and 7. I put 5 because while you can perform more complicated skills, you could get away with using level 5 skills to fulfill the requirements. The only difference would be the need for a series on beam if the gymnast doesn't have a flight (usually bhs or ro)

But you could use Level 5 skills in Gold too. JUST saying L5 does not give ppl who have no experience with Xcel the full picture. The HS gymnast I was talking about in my previous post was upgrading her Platinum routines and, if she hadn't sprained her ankle in her last HS meet, she would have had very basic L8 routines (no C's but 4 A's and 4 B's on each event with all the L8 SR... and a 1/2 On-1/2 Off vault ... not worth a 10 at L8, but worth it in Platinum) at our Championship meet as a Platinum. If she could have competed, the coach would have used the video of her meet to petition her into L8 for next year (or L7 if they wouldn't go for L8... then she would have competed a meet at L7 with the same routines and moved up to L8 for the 2nd meet... before leaving us for HS). She only competed to Old L5 (2 years) before moving to Platinum. She could have done Old L6 instead of repeating, but she wanted to perfect her skills first. Coach thought it would be fine because the ORIGINAL talk coming out about the level changes was that coaches would be able to place gymnasts into whatever level was appropriate (didn't know about the "limited" choices based on where they competed previously).

 

[mforonda7]

At my daughter's gym, her coach (HC) only competes xcel bronze-platinum, then optionals. So she scores the girls out of Level 4 and 5 and transitions into level 6 or 7 and has had success doing so. In my opinion, yes there is a future in xcel/prep op, but it depends on the program.

Since the gym you're currently at doesn't go beyond compulsory level 4, I'd say switch gyms for sure, sooner than later. You can always visit other gyms and talk to coaches to learn about how they run their programs before switching.