Parents Level 4 and 5 being pushed to make level 6

[Prouddad18]

Our gym is relatively new and has not had many girls progress thew the jo program. Most of the girls last year competed silver last year and a few moved on to level 4. At there first level 4 meet most of them scored I. The 32-33 range and were quickly moved to level 5 where most of them struggled with some scoring low 31 and moved on. My question is this good practice or should the girls master level 4 and 5 before moving on. I feel they are being pushed to the next level before they are ready and making a lot of them frustrated.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I would be wary of a program like this. It's common for gyms to try to score out of level 5 and go to 6 since 5 and 6 are very similar but it sounds like they are rushing them before they are truly ready. Those basics are important when it comes to their progression in gymnastics later on down the road. Are there any more gyms in your area that are more established? If something doesn't change I think I would be looking to go somewhere else. Pushing gymnasts too hard too fast can not only make them frustrated and burn them out, but it can also be unsafe if they are doing new skills before they are ready for them.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Level 4 is a really important level - lots of skills in that level that are progressions well into optionals. Moving on from it before skills are mastered is not a good idea - it's like moving on to Algebra before mastering basic arithmetic.

Like a kid w/o a good kip shouldn't be working free hips and kid w/o a good robhsbhs shouldn't be working tucks.

5 and 6 are quite similar, so not as big of deal to skip 5, but not being competent at L4 skills before moving on to me is a big red flag.

 

[GymDad9.9]

That would never fly at our gym.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

What cady and gymmommy said.

 

[Prouddad18]

Thank you for your comments. I really like this gym and to be honest it's the only option in the area. Myself and the kids were really happy in the excel program and thought it would be the same in the j.o. program and think it would but some of the kids went from level 4 to level 5 in the mater of a month or two and had to learn the level 5 routines and skills. It sure showed at the last meet. I will have to talk to the coaches as to why they are pushing the kids so hard to move to the next level just because they barely scored out with a 31.

 

[2G1B]

It is insane to have to have girls who are scoring not even 34s at level 4 push up to level 6 in the same season IMO unless it was that they only took a week or two to learn the routines and their low scores were due to text errors; but all of the skills were spot on.

 

[Prouddad18]

They only had a short amount of time to learn the level 5 routines. I just don't think they were ready at all.

 

[vbdb]

That wouldn't fly at our gym either but we also only compete one level a season and there is no skipping. IMO those scores don't show mastery of skills and even with a bunch of text errors wouldn't score a 31 in level 5.
How old are the girls?

 

[Prouddad18]

What do you mean by text errors? Girls are 10-14.

 

[vbdb]

Extra steps, hands in the wrong spot, not skill deductions but just getting the routine wrong

 

[ascarter1]

My dd went from lv 3 to lv 6 a few years ago. Dd was a mid 38 aa in lv 3, and optionals rocked her world! Don't get me wrong...I'm thankful we did it, but when you are used to scoring 38+ then you go to scoring 36-37, it's definitely shell shock! I would say, without a doubt, if your child isn't a strong lv 3-5 competitor, then the likelihood of struggling in optionals is higher. Best of luck!

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd did the old 3 to new six jump a few years back as well and it worked for her, but this wasn't normal for our gym and I can't imagine it should be the norm in any program. She scored a 34.1 in her score out meet and worse than that at an additional level 5 meet she had to do due to registration timing. She didn't have to score out of four because it was the transition year, but I imagine those scores would have been low as well. She barely knew the routines and the point wasn't to do well but to move on. Her skills were fine and progressing at the rate her coaches expected and desired. It was a transition year at level 6 and not meant to be a year she competed well, but a year that progressed her skills a lot. Worked great!

She had a very successful level 7 and level 8 season and now is set up nicely for level 9 with many skills, connections and upgrades well beyond that.

This was done for her due to specific goals and her specific needs.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Sorry, accidentally double posted. Arghhhhh!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

What the OP describes is definitely not how it works at my dd's gym.

That wouldn't fly at our gym either but we also only compete one level a season and there is no skipping. IMO those scores don't show mastery of skills and even with a bunch of text errors wouldn't score a 31 in level 5.

This is like our gym. They don't repeat levels often, but they also rarely skip compulsory levels. And, if a gymnast was to skip, she would have to be really capable. We did just have 2 girls score out of level 5 so they could go from 4-7 (we don't compete 6 often) and they were easily 36+ in their score out meet. I would question why they were rushing the girls. It doesn't seem to make sense in your case.

 

[gymdog]

My dd did the old 3 to new six jump a few years back as well and it worked for her, but this wasn't normal for our gym and I can't imagine it should be the norm in any program. She scored a 34.1 in her score out meet and worse than that at an additional level 5 meet she had to do due to registration timing. She didn't have to score out of four because it was the transition year, but I imagine those scores would have been low as well. She barely knew the routines and the point wasn't to do well but to move on. Her skills were fine and progressing at the rate her coaches expected and desired. It was a transition year at level 6 and not meant to be a year she competed well, but a year that progressed her skills a lot. Worked great!

She had a very successful level 7 and level 8 season and now is set up nicely for level 9 with many skills, connections and upgrades well beyond that.

This was done for her due to specific goals and her specific needs.

Old 3 like roundoff and back bend kickover on floor? Technically, she should have scored out of 4 because a 2012 level 3 had the option of entering 2013 level 3 or level 4 (always have the option to enter at 4) but I guess it's too late now The only people who had the option to enter at 5 were gymnasts who competed 2012 level 5 (move up w/ a 31) or 6 (essentially repeat). Interesting that the gym thought they could enter without scoring out because of the transition.

Anyway, I think that there are gyms that do this (push kids rough compulsories, not necessarily with 31s) and some kids can eventually be good optionals (provided they are talented and get a good optional coach). It's not the path I would choose and if they're regularly moving up kids who get 31s they probably don't have good optional coaches.

 

[gymmomtotwo]

Can the kids do the skills well? Are the routines just rough around the edges, but the skills themselves are there. Kids competing level 4 or 5 for a whole season spend way more than a week or two learning and perfecting routines. It wouldn't take too many rough edges in dance elements and errors in exactly how the routine is supposed to be to drive the scores down quite a bit. So I would look more at that then the score. I would take a hard look at the bar routines. They should be able to do solid bars, with all the required skills. If they aren't making those, then they almost certainly aren't ready for optionals. Is the tumbling solid? Can they do decent back walkovers or backhandsprings on beam? Strong vertical held handstands? Solid leaps? The pretty things like perfect hand movements and things done exactly is very important in compulsories to score well., but the coaches may be planning of making things pretty in their optional routines.

 

[stoshy40]

My gymnast competed last season level 3 and did an in-home mobility meet in August to score out of 4 and last weekend went to a different gyms mobility meet to score out of level 5 with very minimal time working on it. She is 7 and will be competing level 6 this season. Our gym does not move girls like this but there was mine and 2 others (age 8) that scored out of both. We do score out of 1 level if the coaches think they are ready. I would still say it is not the norm. We do have lots of higher level girls...8/9/10's so our coaches have a lot of experience...nonetheless this season will be interesting All 3 girls are tops girls...mine made diamond team this year and the 8 year olds are headed to Texas for national testing.

 

[raenndrops]

My gymnast competed last season level 3 and did an in-home mobility meet in August to score out of 4 and last weekend went to a different gyms mobility meet to score out of level 5 with very minimal time working on it. She is 7 and will be competing level 6 this season. Our gym does not move girls like this but there was mine and 2 others (age 8) that scored out of both. We do score out of 1 level if the coaches think they are ready. I would still say it is not the norm. We do have lots of higher level girls...8/9/10's so our coaches have a lot of experience...nonetheless this season will be interesting All 3 girls are tops girls...mine made diamond team this year and the 8 year olds are headed to Texas for national testing.

Your situation is definitely different than that of OP. It sounds like your gym has a plan and these 3 girls are ready.
As for OP, as others have said, as long as their skills are solid, the low scores on routines that they learned quickly isn't as concerning. If the skills aren't solid, that is a different story.
I could see wanting to get teens to Optionals. They don't have as much time left in the gym as a younger girl would potentially have.
And, Level 6 is in some ways easier than L5. Even USAG says that they can go back and forth between L5 and L6 once they have a 31.0 in L5.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Old 3 like roundoff and back bend kickover on floor? Technically, she should have scored out of 4 because a 2012 level 3 had the option of entering 2013 level 3 or level 4 (always have the option to enter at 4) but I guess it's too late now The only people who had the option to enter at 5 were gymnasts who competed 2012 level 5 (move up w/ a 31) or 6 (essentially repeat). Interesting that the gym thought they could enter without scoring out because of the transition.

Anyway, I think that there are gyms that do this (push kids rough compulsories, not necessarily with 31s) and some kids can eventually be good optionals (provided they are talented and get a good optional coach). It's not the path I would choose and if they're regularly moving up kids who get 31s they probably don't have good optional coaches.

So sorry, I meant old four. My bad. So equivalent of new three to six. Just an innocent error. She did not need to score out of new four with the temporary rules that applied that year only. Or at least the head judge of our state said it was ok. That's entirely beside the point though.

I think we agree that this should not be the norm for the vast majority of kids and that there are lots of different philosophies and opinions on the value of compulsories.

It did work well for my child but I will say she has some talent and a very excellent optional coach