WAG Level 4 through 7 various combinations, benefits/disadvantages of each

[CuriousCate]

I frequently read on here that level 5 and 6 are very similar but one is compulsory and one optional and that many gyms do level 4 then 6 (score out of 5) while others do level 4, then go 5 to 7, skipping 6.

Our gym has traditionally done level 5 in the fall and then 7 the following spring (ie states for l5 are in December and then level 7 meets start in January). However, I recently heard that there is concern that some of the current level 5s may not be quite ready to move straight to level 7 and that they may now create a level 6 for these girls rather than having them repeat level 5.

My DD is a level 4 right now and will compete this fall. The traditional plan at our gym would then be to train levels 5/7 combined for next year but now apparently a coach mentioned to the girls that they were also considering training some of the girls from current level 4 for level 6, allowing them to try and score out of 5 in order to make the level 6 group next year a bit bigger. My hope was that my DD would do 4 this fall, 5 next fall, and then both 6 and 7 in separate seasons and not skip anything, as I think she'd benefit from the extra time (she's 7 1/2 exactly right now) but not necessarily from repeating a level (unless she is missing a skill). I don't know if that will be a potential option.

What do you all think is the benefit or disadvantage of 4-5-7 vs. 4-6-7, vs 4-5-6-7? Does anyone's gym do every level for a full season or are they more likely to repeat one of the levels between 4-6?

 

[Committed]

DDs gym does full season of 4
Partial season of 5 in fall, then 7 in spring.

If they don't have all their 7 skills, they will do 5/6 instead of 5/7.

*its not skipping 6. 6 is not required. It was just added in a couple years ago.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd is competing level 5 this year (fall season starts in September). There was talk of going right to 7 after 5, but they decided not to. So they will go 4-5-7 but wait an entire year between 5 and 7. Some parents are happy, others not so much. Last year they did 5/7 and it was a very long season for the gymnasts, their parents and the coaches. Also very expensive and there was some feelings that they rushed through some of the level 7 skills too much and are now having to go back and work on them. Dd's gym doesn't do level 6 except under special circumstances.

My DD is a level 4 right now and will compete this fall. The traditional plan at our gym would then be to train levels 5/7 combined for next year but now apparently a coach mentioned to the girls that they were also considering training some of the girls from current level 4 for level 6, allowing them to try and score out of 5 in order to make the level 6 group next year a bit bigger. My hope was that my DD would do 4 this fall, 5 next fall, and then both 6 and 7 in separate seasons and not skip anything, as I think she'd benefit from the extra time (she's 7 1/2 exactly right now) but not necessarily from repeating a level (unless she is missing a skill). I don't know if that will be a potential option.

What do you all think is the benefit or disadvantage of 4-5-7 vs. 4-6-7, vs 4-5-6-7? Does anyone's gym do every level for a full season or are they more likely to repeat one of the levels between 4-6?

I might be a little confused, but I think if she were to do 5 next fall, she would do 6 right after in the Spring and then 7 the next year right? And if she were to score out of 5 and do 6 for the whole season, wouldn't it be exactly the same schedule? Or are you saying do 5 next fall, wait an entire year for 6 and then 7 the next year? I don't know many gyms that do that here, although there might be some. I think in general, most of the stronger gyms here (and I think we are in the same state) do 4-5-7 with 7 coming right after 5. The gyms that do 4-6-7 seem to not be quite as strong. I know that one big gym does 4-5-6-7 with 6 right after 5 and they pretty much dominate at 6.

 

[fuzi]

Our current plan with an example:

In fall 2014, Julia did a full fall season of 4. She did pretty well and showed that she had mastered the fundamentals of level 4: a straight arm kip connected to a horizontal cast, strong tap swings, a decent front handspring vault, a strong front handspring, RO + BHS + BHS with acceleration, cartwheel and handstand hold on beam.
In fall 2015, she did a full fall season of 5. She did pretty well and showed that she had mastered the fundamentals of level 5: a clearhip and flyaway, a back and front tuck, a BWO or BHS on beam.
In winter/spring 2016, she did a short season of level 6 with three invitationals and states. She competed whatever difficulty she could do well.
In winter/spring 2017, she was a strong level 7 with giants, BWO/BHS on beam, front lay on floor, ext.
In winter/spring 2018, she will be a strong level 8 with a double back on bars, a flipping vault, BHS/BHS and back tuck on beam, ext.

This works for us. The transition from 5 to 6 is rather easy, and it gives them time to train the skills to be good level 7s, and then good level 8s. It also lets them "taste" optionals and decide if they want to put in the time and money commitment. There are always a few who do that short level 6 season and then decide to leave gymnastics or switch to Xcel. That's okay too.

 

[CuriousCate]

I might be a little confused, but I think if she were to do 5 next fall, she would do 6 right after in the Spring and then 7 the next year right? And if she were to score out of 5 and do 6 for the whole season, wouldn't it be exactly the same schedule? Or are you saying do 5 next fall, wait an entire year for 6 and then 7 the next year? I don't know many gyms that do that here, although there might be some. I think in general, most of the stronger gyms here (and I think we are in the same state) do 4-5-7 with 7 coming right after 5. The gyms that do 4-6-7 seem to not be quite as strong. I know that one big gym does 4-5-6-7 with 6 right after 5 and they pretty much dominate at 6.

I think the plan for some girls might be 4 in the fall, 6 in the spring, and I assume 7 next spring. Yes, that puts them at the same timeline as the original 4-5-7 but I guess that it will make a level 6 training group big enough to justify (I'm totally guessing - I heard this from a few other parents/kids). It seems that the new level 6 group is really being created for the kiddos who are ready for 5 now, but will likely not be ready for 7 by January and that they are just adding in a few more kids to make the group sustainable? For my kid, I keep hoping that the possible addition of level 6 will allow her the possibility to slow it down and keep her from having to repeat a level if she just can't make the jump.

I'm just wondering about the advantages/disadvantages of the various tracks one could follow.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our current plan with an example:

In fall 2014, Julia did a full fall season of 4. She did pretty well and showed that she had mastered the fundamentals of level 4: a straight arm kip connected to a horizontal cast, strong tap swings, a decent front handspring vault, a strong front handspring, RO + BHS + BHS with acceleration, cartwheel and handstand hold on beam.
In fall 2015, she did a full fall season of 5. She did pretty well and showed that she had mastered the fundamentals of level 5: a clearhip and flyaway, a back and front tuck, a BWO or BHS on beam.
In winter/spring 2016, she did a short season of level 6 with three invitationals and states. She competed whatever difficulty she could do well.
In winter/spring 2017, she was a strong level 7 with giants, BWO/BHS on beam, front lay on floor, ext.
In winter/spring 2018, she will be a strong level 8 with a double back on bars, a flipping vault, BHS/BHS and back tuck on beam, ext.

This works for us. The transition from 5 to 6 is rather easy, and it gives them time to train the skills to be good level 7s, and then good level 8s. It also lets them "taste" optionals and decide if they want to put in the time and money commitment. There are always a few who do that short level 6 season and then decide to leave gymnastics or switch to Xcel. That's okay too.

Seems that having a level 6 group just gives more options for kids to vary their pace. I like this plan a lot. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I think the plan for some girls might be 4 in the fall, 6 in the spring, and I assume 7 next spring. Yes, that puts them at the same timeline as the original 4-5-7 but I guess that it will make a level 6 training group big enough to justify (I'm totally guessing - I heard this from a few other parents/kids). It seems that the new level 6 group is really being created for the kiddos who are ready for 5 now, but will likely not be ready for 7 by January and that they are just adding in a few more kids to make the group sustainable? For my kid, I keep hoping that the possible addition of level 6 will allow her the possibility to slow it down and keep her from having to repeat a level if she just can't make the jump.

I'm just wondering about the advantages/disadvantages of the various tracks one could follow.

I think I was confused then. So some of the level 4's would score out of 5 this fall (during their level 4 season) and compete 6 starting this coming January? Then 7 the next year?

Do your level 4's already have most of their level 5 skills? I would think the main disadvantage is just the pressure of competing 4, scoring out of 5 and getting all their level 6 skills in the next few months. But I've heard 5 is hard to score well at and is very competitive, so avoiding a level 5 season might be considered a bonus. I am sure that if any level 4's at dd's gym that were allowed to do this, they would be happy to do so.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

I would think the main disadvantage is just the pressure of competing 4, scoring out of 5 and getting all their level 6 skills.

I believe level 5 can be harder than 6 in skills, but angle deductions get harsher, so i don't think there is too much pressure then?

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I believe level 5 can be harder than 6 in skills, but angle deductions get harsher, so i don't think there is too much pressure then?

But I think the OP is talking about girls that are currently training to compete level 4 this season (starting in <2 months) and they will have to learn all the skills and be competition ready for level 5/6 in the next 4-5 months or so?

 

[Committed]

I think that benefits & disadvantages really have to do with the individual gymnast.
Mine did fantastic doing 4 then 5/7 the following year. She has been more successful in optionals than compulsories; however, I'm sure age and body awareness is a huge factor.

Sure, we had girls repeat L7 or will repeat L8, but repeating in optionals isn't a big deal.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

For my daughter the extra time in 5 was helpful to her bars.

 

[GYM0M]

I personally like the path my DD took through these Levels. She competed a full season of L4 (fall of whatever year it was, she was 7), competed L5 in the spring at invitational (optional season) meets, then went on to L7 the following spring. She did not compete L5 in the fall compulsory season, but instead used that time to prepare for optionals.

 

[dancingimmie]

My daughters path was different and so far it's been successful. She competed a full season at level 3, one meet at 4, then an almost full season at 5. She's been uptraining for 7 since March, her first meet isn't until January. She was just hoping for a successful season at 7 but things have been going pretty well for her. Even with the coaching issues some of you have herd about. Now she's hoping to finish the season as an 8. I guess we'll see what happens in the next few months.

Her time working on 5 bar skills has been such a building block. At our gym some girls go 5 to 6, some stay 5, some go to 7. It depends on the kid.

 

[raenndrops]

We don't skip level 5 or 6.

 

[Jazzjerz]

My daughter and her team competed 4 in the fall, will spend a year training, score out of 5 late the following fall, them compete 7 in January, 13 months after their 4 state meet. They uptrain consistently throughout the entire year.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our gyms preferred path is a year of 4, a year of 5 and then straight to 7 the next season (we only compete spring season and skip 6). Every now and then a talented girl will score out of 4 but usually everyone spends a year in the two "mandatory" compulsory levels. If someone doesn't have our gyms expected skills for L7 in time, they do a second season of L5. Most of our girls seem to spend 2 (sometimes more) seasons in each of the Optional levels, only the best girls move up every year once they get to that point. Our gym does have pretty high standards for each level.

 

[CuriousCate]

But I think the OP is talking about girls that are currently training to compete level 4 this season (starting in <2 months) and they will have to learn all the skills and be competition ready for level 5/6 in the next 4-5 months or so?

This is what I think they are trying to do. This is only for SOME of the level 4 girls (not mine!). I was just happy that they may be adding in a level 6!

 

[LJL07]

I think some time on 5 or 6 is beneficial. I'm just relaying our experience bc I think a different path would have been more helpful. She did a full year on 4, one score out meet at 5, and level 7. She is strong on bars so that's why 7 worked for her. It would have been much more helpful in my opinion if she had spent fall competing level 4 and spring doing 5 or 6 and then went to 7. She started her level 4 season with 37s, so why on earth she sat there the whole year with minimal uptraining is beyond me. But that would require me getting into the ridiculous way our gym operated, so I digress. But more time spent on level 5/6 bars would have been especially helpful.

 

[LindyHopper]

If they don't have all their 7 skills, they will do 5/6 instead of 5/7.

See, I really like your gym's philosophy. Do the required levels: 4, 5, 7. L6 is not required, because it (as I understand it) is intended for girls who have shown a sufficient level of competency in the compulsory levels--so no need to keep them out of optionals--but aren't quite ready for L7. I like to think of L6 as a waiting room for L7--get those few skills that are holding you back competition ready, then move to L7.

 

[MuggleMom]

Our gym skips level 5 BUT I did notice a lot our level 6 girls had issues last year. I hope they either address the up training in level 4 to get them better prepared for 6 or they start doing level 5. I would hate for DD to get all the way to optionals then struggle and lose confidence.