Parents lvl 3A vs lvl 3P

[onebusymama]

I was told that the group my DD practices with will be competing lvl 3 achievement in the fall. And next year the goal for her group will be to compete lvl 3 placement. My question is what's the difference? Different skills? Requirements?

 

[bogwoppit]

The only difference will be in the girls she competes with. They are all competing exactly the same level and skills.

 

[onebusymama]

^^ so the group she practices with will compete together this fall? Correct?

 

[bogwoppit]

Well it does seem that way. But remember the A and P has nothing to do with USAG, it is a local thing .

If all her group will compete placement she may be in different ages groups than them at meets.

 

[onebusymama]

^^ still confused. But why do some areas compete placement & achievement? Is it due to the high number of gymnasts per level?

 

[wallflower]

Achievement means they don't get places like 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. They don't compete against each other, just for their own "achievement". They will receive ribbons based on their score. Blue for anything above a 9.0, red for the 8.0 range, etc. There are also no age groups because they aren't competing against anyone.

Typically gyms put their stronger girls in placement. If they plan on repeating the girls they do a year of achievement first, then placement the next year. That sounds like what your gym is doing if they said she will do placement next year. The skills will be exactly the same.

Some gyms here start girls in achievement and then if you can make a certain score they will allow you to move up to placement. One gym requires a 35 to move to placement.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Very interesting, I had never heard that before! So it sounds like doing the achievement group would be somewhat like a pre-team, building up skills and confidence to compete, doing all of it but not really "counting" USAG wise..?
It's fascinating to me how many different ways/philosophies there are!!

We have our L3 split into two groups as well, the competing and non-competing. They work on the same skills but the non-competing group are not quite ready to compete those skills yet. We don't do L1 or 2.

 

[onebusymama]

Ok. I get it now. That makes sense since my DD doesn't have all lvl 3 skills & some are sloppy. Is there a limit on how many 'placements' a gym can compete per level?

 

[onebusymama]

Ok. I get it now. That makes sense since my DD doesn't have all lvl 3 skills & some are sloppy. Is there a limit on how many 'placements' a gym can compete per level?

 

[curlygirls]

There is no limit. Some gyms like to put the lower levels in achievement until they can be more competitive.

They don't want the little ones to get discouraged at leaving a meet empty handed if they don't place on anything.

 

[onebusymama]

^^ Ok. Makes sense. Thanks.

 

[ac7179]

I think achievement is the way to go for young athletes or first year athletes. My daughter competed USAG 3P last year and got a 9.65 on an event. It earned her 9th place! One meet we went to, one girl for TWO tens. For a kid scoring high 8s (which are decent routines), it can be discouraging.

 

[raenndrops]

Very interesting, I had never heard that before! So it sounds like doing the achievement group would be somewhat like a pre-team, building up skills and confidence to compete, doing all of it but not really "counting" USAG wise..?
It's fascinating to me how many different ways/philosophies there are!!

We have our L3 split into two groups as well, the competing and non-competing. They work on the same skills but the non-competing group are not quite ready to compete those skills yet. We don't do L1 or 2.

Achievement is about the score... Placement is about how well you do compared to others in the same age group.
The Achievement group does things that "COUNT" for USAG. Some gyms will ONLY do achievement for certain levels... then switch to placement at higher levels as well as those gyms that do both achievement and placement in the same levels. These gyms only want to put girls in placement if they think they will ACTUALLY place in a meet. If they aren't sure, they will put the girls in achievement... but they go to meets and compete (but they get their ribbons for each event when the score is done being calculated). Achievement scores in new L4 could be used to move a girl up to L5 just like Placement scores could.