Coaches level 4 7 year old

[brooks101]

My daughter turned 7 a month ago and is competing level 4 she has scored twice mid 34 and has 35.1 competing against girls 2 years older she is finishing about 11th at each meet and has finished 7th as a coach is that what you would expect for someone at her age and level would you consider that to be on track for her growth or ahead of the game. Its hard to judge her progress when you match her scores against older girls each meet. TY

 

[Mish]

It's very individual with many factors contributing. My dd was a 7 yo level 4, she did quite well, but again, there are so many things to consider.

 

[ZB55]

You likely need to wait for larger meets to have smaller age ranges. Obviously your daughter is not within the most common ages for that level, so meet organizers have to spread the age range of the kids attending to come up with a reasonable sized group. She may not see lots of the younger kids until they come together at states. For example, looking back at my daughter's level 4 year, at States the most common age of 10 year olds were broken into 8 groups, but there were 2 groups for 7 year olds.

I suggest focusing on personal goals and not placement. If you are looking for progress, don't match her scores against other girls, because her progress is only relative to her own scores. Keep in mind also that many girls repeat level 4, so she could be competing against girls that are not only older, but have already done this level, or who practice more hours, or are more naturally physically gifted, or have better coaches, etc, etc. I learned very early on that gymnastics meets are rarely about comparing apples to apples; there are a lot of oranges out there. They try to make it "fair" but it is what it is.

If your daughter stays on the young side as she moves up, you will find that the youngest age group is often the toughest and highest scoring because those kids wouldn't even be at that level if they were not really ready.

 

[GymDadWA]

It all depends on what your gym values. At DD's gym winning in compulsories isn't a big deal to them, they are much more worried about skill execution then technical points. They uptrain throughout the year rather than worry about perfecting compulsory routines.

On the flip side my DD's coach at level 4 said that her old gym was very concerned about compulsory scores as it was a way for the gym to recruit, so the only way to move up was to score a 38+. Which often meant multi-year level 4 gymnasts. From an early age they wanted them trying to win.

I can see the merits of both philosophies, so as far as progress goes it will depend on what your gym wants to get out of their athletes. If they want/require high scores than she will need to spend time doing all the little things needed to score high, if they just care about the qualification scores than she is probably on track (score wise) as long as the level5/6 skills are developing.

 

[MuggleMom]

Scores/placements in lower levels do not always mean the same scores/placements in higher levels. My kid was like 7 at level 3 and 8yo at level 4 and scored in the 34/35 range not really placing super high execept on her best event. Many kids at her gym were rackging up 37+ scores and placing top 3 at the state meet. Now shes level 8 scoring in the 37 range and placing more often and a lot of those high flying level 3 and 4 girls have quit. As long as she is improving througout the season and getting new skills the rest will come. Sometimes I think doing really well in the lower levels can be a detriment because they get very discouraged when they aren't "on top" anymore and things get hard.