WAG Level 9 - moving up and start values

[SignHere]

I was talking with a friend of mine, I'll call her A. Her daughter is 11 years old, I'll call her B. B competed level 8 last season ( 1st season competing level 8) . B did NOT medal at States, or qualify to Regionals (we are in a pretty competitive region for B's age group in level 8) To my knowledge, B had a solid 34/35 AA season.

So, A tells me that B and her coach have made the decision to move her up to level 9. She has 10.0 start values on every event EXCEPT bars. A seems extremely happy that B is moving up to Level 9 and expects her to spend a few years there.

Am I too conservative? I would be fighting tooth and nail against putting my kid in this situation. What's the benefit to moving this child up to level 9 and putting her in competition where she's not even able to start at a 10 ?

What am I not seeing?

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

I can only answer for my own child. Solid 11 yr old L8, even with being out 10 weeks due to a fracture, she just missed qualifying for Regionals in a very competitive Region/age group. Moved to L9 with all 10.0 SV EXCEPT on bars. Scored well on everything except bars. Bars was so bad that once or twice coach threatened to scratch her! However, she had a very successful season including medaling at States, Regionals and Nationals. Moved to L10, STILL without 10.0 SV on bars. Another very successful season on all other events and AA. She continues to improve on bars, even though it remains her weakest event. But, she is happy doing what she's doing, she feels great about herself.

 

[bookworm]

It's tougher to get a 10.0 SV in L9 than 8..and you have to add bonus for it in 10 so if she's strong in the other 3 events....my own daughter didn't have a 10.0 SV on bars the first year she made JOs but her other 3 events were really strong , so it's not always a disaster to do as A and B are planning...

 

[Natasha]

To each their own. We had same situation at our gym last year with dd and teammate. My dd chose to repeat L8 and had a fantastic season while up training lots. DD loved her season last year.
Teammate and her mom pushed to do L9, did not have start values of 10 (as in not just not having bonus but missing SR on at least one event.) Teammate barely qualified to state and did not qualify to regionals but she and mom were happy that she was doing L9…
Now, I will saw that dd will probably not have a 10 start on all events at her first meet next month (kind of a preseason meet). Her vault right now is still a pike rather than a layout and I am not sure if she has all bonus on the other events, she may be at a 9.9 for one or two events. Those connection bonuses are not easy to get, and really when you are only talking a .1, you can still be competitive if you have clean routines. It isn't like the other levels where not starting from a 10 means missing a .5 SR.

 

[SignHere]

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

9.9. Level 9 start value on bars pretty common. Same with level 10

 

[LemonLime]

If a child is still perfecting their basics, repeating 8 is a great idea. If you giant well and have a nice yurchenko entry, then it may be more helpful to the short and long-term success of the gymnast to spend a year trying to conquer shootovers and double tucks instead of giants and bhs/bhs.

As coachp said, it is more common than not to have a 9.9/9.8 SV on bars your first year of L9 or L10. Often those routines, especially at L9 where composition is much more lenient, outscore 10.0 routines. The big issue often is what to take OUT of a L9 or L10 routine at regionals to assure a hit routine with the highest overall score possible.

It's great to have 10.00 SV, but it's not the chief indicator of success. Required elements, composition and quality is much more important.

 

[DefiniteMaybe]

Our coach just told us that some of our 9's may not start the season with a 10.0 start value on bars because she would rather they compete a nice, clean routine. However, she fully expects them to be starting at a 10.0 before season is over.

 

[vagymmomma]

I have seen some girls get so distracted by getting the skills for 10 SV that they lose focus of the SRs. Front giants are great to connect, but don't do you much good if you don't have a bar change or the right dismount to compete. Our coaches focus on clean, basic routines the first year of L9 and then build skills for 10.0 SV and L10.

 

[LizzieLac]

We had a level 10 last year that was having a lot of trouble scoring well with her routine that had a 10 SV. She was making mistakes and having falls, scoring in the mid 7s. She went to coach about changing the routine - one that had only a 9.5 SV. Guess what? She started scoring mid 8s immediately. I thought it was a great way for the gymnast to work within requirements for greater personal success.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Front giants in level 9 usually lose a couple of tents because is angles and elbows. So I usually don't use them until 10 and even then they blind to jaeger.

 

[momof5]

My DD is planning on competing her front giant this season. I don't believe she bends her elbows but Coachp what do you mean by angle deductions?

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

DD's coach says she has a beautiful front giant. She has the front 1/2 to reg giant. It's the blind change that is killing her......