Parents L10 gymnast (The Reality Of College Gymnastics)

[ODDBALL]

This is going to sound less than encouraging but if a Level 10 competes for an NCAA program, the announcers, media and crowds will go crazy over the known "former elites" and "regular" level 10's swim upstream trying to get traction. It doesn't change, and really is magnified. Media talks 90 percent about the elites and the rest are almost afterthoughts.

That is exactly what we are experiencing. Our gym has 6 Elites LV 10's and next season it will be 10 Elites.
Our DD is a great gymnast but is overshadowed by the excellent ones, some which are in the same age group and sessions at meets with her. It gets very discouraging. She never wanted to do Elite or home school, which most all of them are. She still want to have the high school experiences that so many of them miss out on.
Just looking for ideas on how to get her noticed or at least on the radar somewhere.
Thanks everyone!! Keep them coming.

 

[JPC13]

Just looking for ideas on how to get her noticed or at least on the radar somewhere.
Thanks everyone!! Keep them coming.

Very good (but not "used to be a 12 year old elite") gymnastics combined with excellent grades and lots of AP classes will get the attention of Ivy League coaches.

 

[gym_dad32608]

That is exactly what we are experiencing. Our gym has 6 Elites LV 10's and next season it will be 10 Elites.
Our DD is a great gymnast but is overshadowed by the excellent ones, some which are in the same age group and sessions at meets with her. It gets very discouraging. She never wanted to do Elite or home school, which most all of them are. She still want to have the high school experiences that so many of them miss out on.
Just looking for ideas on how to get her noticed or at least on the radar somewhere.
Thanks everyone!! Keep them coming.

Do you trust her coach? If so, depending upon her age (I assume she is in high school), you might consider having a meeting with her coach and discussing her desire to do college gymnastics. The coach should be able to give you a realistic assessment of her opportunities (assuming that trust is there) and potential programs she might fit in. Just be prepared for hearing something that you might not want to hear. I assume with a gym of 6 elites, the coach has plenty of contacts and experience with colleges so they should be coming from an informed position. This might motivate your daughter, to hear from someone with credibility, about her future prospects regardless of the other girls. It might help her to focus on HER path.
If you don't trust coach, the other avenue you might pursue is hooking up with a recruiting service, like Jill Hicks. Of course that is $$, but they can play a positive role in getting her engaged and excited about her gymnastics and less worried and deflated about the elites around her.

 

[gymgal]

It looks like D3 has gotten pretty competitive too and requires making it to nationals etc. Is that incorrect?

Yes, only the top 3 teams in each division(east/west) make it. So 6 of 14 teams. All teams make it to regionals and that's what determines the national teams. Individual gymnasts can also make it to nationals through high average scores in the regular season. My dd qualified that way. The team scores are still much lower than D1. Most average 187-190, with only a couple of teams hitting the 190s but you will get some really great routines at nationals. A lot more 2 pass routines, which I actually prefer b/c there is more dance/jumps. And it saves their bodies. D3 is also much more a specialist league. It is rare to see AAers.

 

[gymgal]

Slightly off topic but... Regarding the elites in gyms overshadowing the L10s, this has to be very frustrating for the families. I wonder, whether in hindsight, would these families have chosen that type of gym or looked for a gym that only focused on college level aspirations? There are some trade-offs either way and of course even at a college bound gym, you may be overshadowed by others but chances are you will be all working on similar skills fit for college.

 

[LJL07]

Very good (but not "used to be a 12 year old elite") gymnastics combined with excellent grades and lots of AP classes will get the attention of Ivy League coaches.

But how does anyone have time for that?! Yes, we heard that as well. This is laughable trying to do 20-30 hours/week of gym for level 10, attend full time school, get a 4.0+ and become an AP scholar. Oh, and by the way, plan on getting a 32+ on the ACT and being a national merit finalist. This is a unicorn, not a person!

 

[LJL07]

Our DD is a great gymnast but is overshadowed by the excellent ones, some which are in the same age group and sessions at meets with her. It gets very discouraging. She never wanted to do Elite or home school, which most all of them are. She still want to have the high school experiences that so many of them miss out on.

Yep. I think it is awful that has to be so all or nothing. And I can't really argue that it is "unfair" for these girls to drop down to level 10 for college.

 

[gymgal]

But how does anyone have time for that?! Yes, we heard that as well. This is laughable trying to do 20-30 hours/week of gym for level 10, attend full time school, get a 4.0+ and become an AP scholar. Oh, and by the way, plan on getting a 32+ on the ACT and being a national merit finalist. This is a unicorn, not a person!

Not really. Lots of gymnasts attain this. Besides, it's not just Ivies that will look ad a really good L10 gymnast. There are over 60 teams with anywhere from 15-20+ spots each. Trust me, a lot of the teams below 30-40 ranking are looking at regional qualifiers, not just national winners. And even some of the teams above 30 look for specialists to fill a need. Hang in there. Have her cast a wide net

 

[LJL07]

Not really. Lots of gymnasts attain this. Besides, it's not just Ivies that will look ad a really good L10 gymnast. There are over 60 teams with anywhere from 15-20+ spots each. Trust me, a lot of the teams below 30-40 ranking are looking at regional qualifiers, not just national winners. And even some of the teams above 30 look for specialists to fill a need. Hang in there. Have her cast a wide net

I'm really glad to hear this. My daughter has great grades, but we intentionally avoided AP classes (so far) just to reduce the level of stress. It was one of the Jill Hicks consultants who told us they need a 32 or higher on the ACT and AP scholar status for the Ivies.

 

[ORgymmom]

Chiming in on the Ivy question, sorry to sidetrack things: the Jill Hicks answer is not inaccurate but is a short version of a complicated situation. For the right athlete, the “minimum” test scores and GPAs might go up or down. Here are some Ivy athlete admit scenarios:

1) athletic recruit, coach puts them on a very restricted (usually 2ish per year per team, depends on school and team) preferred admit list and works with admissions to admit candidates that are qualified academically but will contribute in a huge way athletically. These are the Ivy athletes you’ll see announce that they are “committing to the admissions process at X school” this spring and fall. They apply during early admissions. They won’t be on the team until they have been accepted by the admissions office. They might have scores or grades a tiny bit below average, but they may just as well have stellar scores that could stand on their own.
2) athletic recruit, not preferred candidate, strong gymnastics and strong grades. The coach wants these athletes, the admissions office knows who they are, but they go through a mostly normal admissions process. They often need to have slightly stronger grades and scores to compensate for any deficiencies in the preferred admit pool and keep the team academic composite score close to that of the general student population. In the olden days these athletes would receive “likely letters” which was a winking way of letting students know they would get in before the notification deadline, but I don’t know if that is still a thing.
3) normal applicant, signals interest and intent to compete to the admissions office and is in contact with coach. Would get into the school if they weren’t going to compete. They probably have a talent or special interest that makes them stand out besides gymnastics. May not compete often or on all events depending on the rest of the team. This is the Ivy League version of a walk-on.

Ivy League recruiting needs to be really high-touch because the coach has to be careful about who they put up for admissions- if they have too many recruits bail on the process over the years or if recruits leave the sport after their first year, they’re stuck and can’t expand their roster via transfers. They also risk losing the quantity of their preferred recruits in the future.

You can look up bios of athletes at Brown, Yale, Cornell and Penn to see what mix of Level 10s they recruit and then check their mymeetscores history to understand their paths better. Some programs attract a bunch of homeschool/former elite path athletes, but like other conferences, many were “just” solid Level 10s.

 

[B&M's mom]

Just remember there are usually spots on a team that do not involved scholarships. So, if your child is interested in being on team, have them talk to the coach about a "walk on" spot. They are typically treated the same as scholarship kids but just don't get the money off tuition/room and board. My DD "walked on" to her college diving team when she left gymnastics. By her senior year, she was awarded a partial scholarship. We had no expectations that she would ever get any money and based her college choice on a school we could afford. She loved being on team and of her freshman diving class, was the only one to compete all 4 years.

 

[LJL07]

Just remember there are usually spots on a team that do not involved scholarships. So, if your child is interested in being on team, have them talk to the coach about a "walk on" spot. They are typically treated the same as scholarship kids but just don't get the money off tuition/room and board. My DD "walked on" to her college diving team when she left gymnastics. By her senior year, she was awarded a partial scholarship. We had no expectations that she would ever get any money and based her college choice on a school we could afford. She loved being on team and of her freshman diving class, was the only one to compete all 4 years.

I think it feels discouraging right now because we just went through the college process with my oldest (not a gymnast). She was an AP scholar, excellent grades and test scores, etc. While she got plenty of scholarship offers, out of state tuition is just exorbitant. So the thought of paying out of state tuition to walk on to a team is daunting!

 

[ODDBALL]

Very good (but not "used to be a 12 year old elite") gymnastics combined with excellent grades and lots of AP classes will get the attention of Ivy League coaches.

She has been an honor roll student since the 4th grade... taking AP classes since middle school. She will graduate in 2024 with more than over a year of college courses. She has recieved a letter from Harvard, to study during the summer online and take part in a week on campus with some of the top medical professors.

 

[Em09]

She has been an honor roll student since the 4th grade... taking AP classes since middle school. She will graduate in 2024 with more than over a year of college courses. She has recieved a letter from Harvard, to study during the summer online and take part in a week on campus with some of the top medical professors.

Everyone on here's kids are incredible!!! I feel like every parent has a kid with some amazing story!!!

 

[LJL07]

She has been an honor roll student since the 4th grade... taking AP classes since middle school. She will graduate in 2024 with more than over a year of college courses. She has recieved a letter from Harvard, to study during the summer online and take part in a week on campus with some of the top medical professors.

I’m really not trying to be Debbie downer. We got that letter too after freshman year and daughter took about 8-9 AP classes. Like I said, plenty of academic scholarship offers, but the out of state costs are still sooo high. There are just so many excellent students now. Everything has gotten very competitive. But all of that combined WITH the gymnastics really might get her a spot on an ivy league team from what it sounds like.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Slightly off topic but... Regarding the elites in gyms overshadowing the L10s, this has to be very frustrating for the families. I wonder, whether in hindsight, would these families have chosen that type of gym or looked for a gym that only focused on college level aspirations? There are some trade-offs either way and of course even at a college bound gym, you may be overshadowed by others but chances are you will be all working on similar skills fit for college.

We didn't really have a choice as there are no elite training gyms in our area, but I wonder about that too. My daughter is at a college focused gym and I feel like they do a pretty good job of supporting all the level 10s although some are clearly higher performing than others (my daughter is not in the higher performing group btw. At least not yet. ). But just making it to level 10 means you are talented! Knowing my daughter, I'm not sure she would have even made it to level 10 if her coaches weren't invested in her and supportive of her. So I personally am glad that we aren't at a gym where all the focus is on elite and the "average" level 10 girls end up feeling like they aren't good enough. That would be really hard.

 

[Gigi]

I think it has been particularly hard due to the returning COVID super seniors and the Elites/Olympians from the last Olympics in addition to the normal number of elite drop backs filling the spots. There are also many foreign elites. Colleges seem to prefer semi-successful foreign elites/olympians over excellent US level 10.

It always seems a little bit unfair to me that first year level 10s are competing with elite drop backs and multi-year level 10s. Feels like first year level 10s should have their own session.

For the elite drop backs - it is my impression that many gymnasts qualify for elite one year just to check the box on their resume for college recruiting and never had the intention to go further in the elite path.

@lovofu, they certain get all the media attention as well as special treatment from judges.

 

[LJL07]

I think it has been particularly hard due to the returning COVID super seniors and the Elites/Olympians from the last Olympics in addition to the normal number of elite drop backs filling the spots. There are also many foreign elites. Colleges seem to prefer semi-successful foreign elites/olympians over excellent US level 10.

It always seems a little bit unfair to me that first year level 10s are competing with elite drop backs and multi-year level 10s. Feels like first year level 10s should have their own session.

For the elite drop backs - it is my impression that many gymnasts qualify for elite one year just to check the box on their resume for college recruiting and never had the intention to go further in the elite path.

@lovofu, they certain get all the media attention as well as special treatment from judges.

This is such a good conversation because there really are a lot of girls and families who don't understand the realities of getting on a college team and that it is now even harder. And yes, I agree that the fifth year super seniors did not help, although most people were thrilled to see them do a fifth year. I really do not think elite dropbacks should be competing against first year or "regular" level 10s. Same with girls training hopes who compete against "regular" level 8s and 9s. It is not a level playing field. Other sports have different leagues. I'm not sure it would solve the college recruitment issue though. The former elites will always be more competitive for college teams.

 

[JBS]

Not really. Lots of gymnasts attain this.

I would agree with this statement.

If a former Elite is competing Level 10... they are basically no longer an Elite. Those are the athletes that you want to contend with if you want to go to a high end D1 school.

 

[JBS]

This is such a good conversation because there really are a lot of girls and families who don't understand the realities of getting on a college team and that it is now even harder.

This too... this really is a great conversation.