MAG Levels progression

[CreateMagic]

I have an 8 year old, and watching him progress the past few years has been so much fun. I've been coaching women's gymnastics in some form, from parent-tot to early team levels, for 25 years now. Mens gymnastics is such a different world though!

I know our gym's typical progression through the levels (4d2, 4d1, 5d2, 5d1, 7, 9, 10) and the reasoning and philosophy behind why they have chosen that as the path.

But I'm curious... what does your gym do? What is the typical progression through the levels and why?

 

[DTAG]

Our gym doesn’t do D2 at all. Xcel Bronze is used for preteam pretty much. My son went from level 4, level 5, level 5 again(due to levels changing) 6, and now 8 for this season. He will be old enough to go to level 9 next year but we are trying not to think too much ahead. And then he would most likely do 2 years of 9, and then to 10 the rest of his time. My son has been in gymnastics in total for 4 years, he was only in rec for 2 months before moved to team and started competing shortly after.

 

[JBS]

My son's gym does not do the D2 levels either. They do L8... but only at certain ages.

 

[Dahlialover]

Our gym has a wide variety of paths based on starting age and ability. Kids typically start at level 3 between the ages of 6 and 12 at our gym.
Realistically, most boys quit in level 4 or 5, so the typical path ends there. But the general progression in our gym is 3, 4, 5, *6 or 7*, then 8. Kids repeat levels as needed. Occasionally, kids skip level 3 or 4. The kids who do D2 typically have disabilities, challenging body types, or are really young. Level 5D2 is rarely competed in our state. The better kids typically never compete D2 and only repeat if they are not old enough to move up. For those who continue past level 5, the path is age-dependent with boys who are 10 or 11 going to level 6 and boys 12+ going to level 7. I have not heard of anyone skipping level 8.

I’m including the USAG age requirements just for general info. It’s also worth noting that the content of the levels changed a few years ago so now “new level 3” is roughly equivalent “old level 4”, which sometimes creates confusion in this type of thread. It’ll be interesting to see if the proposed changes to Future Stars will impact the typical progression for boys who want to participate in that program.

 

[CreateMagic]

Interesting that none of your gyms really use d2. From what I've seen with our boys, it seems to be a good way to develop solid form and basics, but also have more time for uptraining, as its 2 years with essentially the same routine.A "go slow to go fast" type of mentality. We skip 6 and 8 to avoid the pounding on the wrists from the pommel-less house. Our boys tend to be on the younger side for level 4, so doing two years at each 4 and 5 puts most of our boys at level 7 by 12 to 13, then they have multiple level 9 and 10 years.

Thanks for sharing what you do! I feel like men's side has such a greater variety of paths!

 

[GymAir]

Great thread!

 

[Happygymmom]

My son started last year at age 7 (turned 8 in Jan) in 3D1 (the coaches considered going straight to 4D1 but wanted to keep a group of them together). I'm glad he did level 3 for his first year, as even though the skills aren't that difficult, being new to the whole competitive world was a big learning curve both for the kids and parents. He will compete 4D1 this year at age 8/9. Not sure what will happen next year.

 

[CeeJay]

Our youngest boys start in Club Bronze. After Bronze, they either progress to Silver or move over to Level 3 (depending on their skill level). Older boys that were not identified at a young age for Bronze, can go right to Level 3 after a skills evaluation.

Then our ideal progression is this: 3D1 --> 4D1 --> 5D1 --> 8 --> 9 -->10

• Occasionally a boy might do a meet or two as D2, but not typically.
• Also occasionally a boy will need to do Level 6 because they are not old enough to go to Level 8.
• We also have a pretty large Level 7 team; but we use Level 7 for boys old enough to go to Level 8, but are missing skills to be successful. These boys will work toward transitioning to Level 9 eventually.