Parents meet agegroups

[Pigeon]

Age groups will always suck for someone...

Whether it's by date (ie. Sept. 1st, May 31st, Jan 1st...whatever) or groupings of equal kids; there will always be the youngest and the oldest in each group. But to change it when they've already made and posted decisions on age groups doesn't seem cool .

@Iwannabemargo - I don't understand how your year system works any better - January 2nd birthday always has an advantage over December 29th. Am I missing something?

But again, to change something last minute, when expectations have already been set isn't ideal.

 

[duyetanh]

That is not cool. I'm shocked that they did that honestly...age groups are generally set prior to the meet. If they had scratches, they should have just medaled out 50% +1 and left them as is. I'm sorry.

We have never seen them move kids up or down...they just leave it...kids scratch all the time...heck we had to once because of illness...it happens.

 

[kris]

My DD is repeating a level this year and was so excited since she thought she would be out of the youngest age group. She hasn't made it out yet, though I'm holding out hopes for her to be out of it for states at least, and regionals if she qualifies. She did get the benefit of being in the youngest age groups when she was in compulsories and the six year olds weren't scoring as high at the older girls, but it was hard for her her first year in level 7 to not medal with higher scores than teammates who did medal. She's used to it now, and knows someday she'll benefit from the age groupings again.

 

[sleeping judy]

My DD is repeating a level this year and was so excited since she thought she would be out of the youngest age group. She hasn't made it out yet, though I'm holding out hopes for her to be out of it for states at least, and regionals if she qualifies. She did get the benefit of being in the youngest age groups when she was in compulsories and the six year olds weren't scoring as high at the older girls, but it was hard for her her first year in level 7 to not medal with higher scores than teammates who did medal. She's used to it now, and knows someday she'll benefit from the age groupings again.

Oh, I hear ya! same with mine! I remember when she was level 7. She'd get a 9.5 and we'd be crossing our fingers that she would medal She's really used to not medaling at all. She has gotten three this entire season This meet I think she just thought for once, she had a chance to medal and had done well in her age group. It was a huge blow for her that I didn't feel was fair.

 

[beachgirl]

I totally understand the age groups. My daughter turns 11 a couple of days before state and has had to compete against 11 year olds the whole season. The thing I'm not understanding is was there a program printed and it listed the ages next to each girl and your daughter was still just moved down? Did they announce 11 year olds and your daughter who is 12 was in that group? Or was it something like Jr A or Senior or Middle Age where no exact age is given? If it's done by age you can't just move someone into a different group because the group sizes have changed? I have been to a lot of meets where there is either somebody young or old and they are the only one in their group and win everything with a 32 while there are girls in other groups that don't medal with a 37. If that's the case I've determined that in the year 2016 there aren't a lot of 21 year olds, so I'm 21 again ( seems just as random to me).

 

[AmandaLynn]

If you have large teams spread across multiple sessions, all it takes is one team moving kids from one session to another to mess your age groups up, unfortunately. Then you need to decide whether you want to listen to people complain about them being different than what is in your program or complain about "group a" having 5 kids to "group c's" 15.

However... If you actually list/set ages as opposed to grouping by birth date, the groups weren't likely split completely evenly to begin with. We always label them child/junior/senior and split evenly by birth date.

 

[raenndrops]

I agree sometimes it works in her favor and sometimes not. I mentally prep her because she does go back and forth so much. She usually accepts it nicely because she was aware of which age group she was in. It's hard to not let her know which age group she is in because she's 12 and can read the program. She also knows she's 12 so would naturally expect to be in the 12 year old age group. She also has added up all her scores so she knows where she falls. It was a hard blow because she thought she was in one age group and they changed her last minute to another without any mention.

I don't think it's crap that she didn't win any medals. I think it's crap that they flipped her to a different age group without any notification and one for which she isn't even the right age. The look on her face when she realized was just defeated.

Once the age groups are set and programs are printed, they should not change them. We have had meets where, because of scratches, age groups could have been combined, but they didn't do it. At our meet yesterday, there were age groups with like 4 and the other age group had 8. They could have done one age group with 12, but didn't.

 

[sleeping judy]

The thing I'm not understanding is was there a program printed and it listed the ages next to each girl and your daughter was still just moved down? Did they announce 11 year olds and your daughter who is 12 was in that group? Or was it something like Jr A or Senior or Middle Age where no exact age is given? If it's done by age you can't just move someone into a different group because the group sizes have changed? ( seems just as random to me).

Yes, the groups were 11 and under, 12-13, 14-15 and 16+

My dd was listed in the program as a 12-13. She didn't realize until the skipped her name/score on bars that they had put her in the younger group. I think it would have been crappy to list her as a Junior B and then put her in Junior A too though. I think once it's in the program it should be set. We have had a couple of meets where they have added a sheet to the program correcting age groups and that's fine too.

Yes, she usually competes her age, or a year up because she has a birthday before state. She has never competed back an age just to even things out. I'm not annoyed with the age groups, just the fact that she was surprised and totally taken off guard.

 

[Texasmomof3]

So when I see the 'older' girls in her category, I figure they've got loads more experience than my 3rd grader.

My daughter is always in the oldest age group, and it isn't because she has more experience. It is because she started her first gymnastics class at age 9 and didn't join a team to start compulsories until she was 10-11. She is the oldest level 6 on her current team (at just turned 13), but she actually has the least gymnastics experience of any of the girls.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Age groups will always suck for someone...

Whether it's by date (ie. Sept. 1st, May 31st, Jan 1st...whatever) or groupings of equal kids; there will always be the youngest and the oldest in each group. But to change it when they've already made and posted decisions on age groups doesn't seem cool .

@Iwannabemargo - I don't understand how your year system works any better - January 2nd birthday always has an advantage over December 29th. Am I missing something?

But again, to change something last minute, when expectations have already been set isn't ideal.

No advantage per se, just a constant, if you are a 2006 you will always be a 2006. And yes it does always disadvantage someone, Pink is late November so is always competing "up", but hey ho, at least everyone knows the system and it is what it is.

 

[MILgymFAM]

My daughter is always in the oldest age group, and it isn't because she has more experience. It is because she started her first gymnastics class at age 9 and didn't join a team to start compulsories until she was 10-11. She is the oldest level 6 on her current team (at just turned 13), but she actually has the least gymnastics experience of any of the girls.

Same. My DD is always in the oldest group for L6, at 14, but has less gymnastics history than anyone on her team- and that's actually down to the L3s.

Side note, in T&T the kids all compete the age they will be on January 1st of the next year. So even though my DD will be 12 this entire season, she still competes as a 13-14. This annoyed me at first, but at least it's standardized and predictable.

 

[gymdog]

Well, this sounds weird. If they call the ages 11 and under I don't think they can (well, should) put a 12 year old in there regardless of how uneven it is. If they call it Jr A and Jr B then it's fine to adjust for scratches.

So I agree on that point.

That said...I think maybe at 12 years old and level 8+ it is a little concerning if this is causing tears and ruining her meet. 12 is middle school and not a little kid, and I think at this point the coach probably expects her to understand how meets work and was possibly a little blindsided by this. It's not necessarily her fault but I do think that you need to focus on coping skills that translate to a variety of situations and should not need to involve you preparing her beforehand, because you will not always be able to prepare her for stressful situations now that she is going into middle/high school years.

Can you talk to her about some strategies that may prevent her from being upset at the end, such as not looking at her scores and focusing on her own goals and records instead? I'm not sure calculating it out is a great idea for her since it seems to cause her more stress. Then if she does get a medal it can be a happy surprise.

 

[GymDad9.9]

This whole thing reminds me of Woody Allen's "Bananas" where the tin pot dictator announced everyone under the age of 16 is now 16.

Esposito: From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!

Fielding Mellish: What's the Spanish word for straitjacket?

All kidding aside, it sounds like your daughter was on the short end of a gymnastics injustice. In the one year of my daughter's competing, it seems like the groups have been evenly divided by age of the participants and those divisions occur wherever those even breaks occur. As to be expected it changes based on who the participants are and their respective ages. Sometimes it works to your benefit as far as how talented the grouping is, sometimes not. But always by age so I find the system fair in that way.

 

[sleeping judy]

That said...I think maybe at 12 years old and level 8+ it is a little concerning if this is causing tears and ruining her meet. 12 is middle school and not a little kid, and I think at this point the coach probably expects her to understand how meets work and was possibly a little blindsided by this.

What makes you think this happened? I referenced a look on her face of being defeated and devastated but she didn't make a scene. It was the look on her face that got to me. She sat there and clapped for everyone like she always does. She didn't cry. Yes, she held back tears when she came back to see us, but she was surprised and upset and I don't blame her. We talked about it in the car and she was mostly just confused.

She is in 6th grade which is not middle school yet. She is mentally very strong and mature. She's a good teammate. She has sat through many meets and has walked away with nothing while watching other girls (some older, some younger) have a tantrum because they didn't medal on everything or get first.

It's not necessarily her fault but I do think that you need to focus on coping skills that translate to a variety of situations and should not need to involve you preparing her beforehand, because you will not always be able to prepare her for stressful situations now that she is going into middle/high school years.

Can you talk to her about some strategies that may prevent her from being upset at the end, such as not looking at her scores and focusing on her own goals and records instead? I'm not sure calculating it out is a great idea for her since it seems to cause her more stress. Then if she does get a medal it can be a happy surprise.

What makes you think this didn't happen either? I did tell her that I thought it was unfair and that sometimes life is unfair. The kid has learned lots of life lessons and dealt with them very gracefully. I'm constantly telling her to compete against herself and her last performance. She was fine by the time we hit the car and we went home. I vented because I had never heard of such a thing in so many years competing and I did not want to vent to her. She's over it. I think your representation of what happened is not accurate and not fair.

 

[purpleleomom]

This happened at my dd's last meet. She's 10 and was listed as Senior A along with another 8-10 girls. I noticed as I was following the live scores online she was being grouped with Junior B. I thought maybe it was a glitch, but no, sure enough they moved all the Senior A kids to junior B. She didn't know this; she was just bummed not to medal top 3 in anything. It was a good opportunity to discuss how scores can be really consistent, but there is never a guarantee of a medal. Plus the concept of small fish in a big pond.

Did you say she was the only 12-13 yo who showed up and that was why they moved her? If so would it have been better to be the only girl and get 1st in everything? That happens now and again and the girls make it seem like it's a little awkward.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

Stinky situation for your dd. She isn't used to getting medals, thinks she is finally going to get one, then someone changes the rules without prior notice. I would be disappointed too!!! Good for her for having the maturity to hold it together in the moment. If I understand what you are saying...they called out the winners for 11 and under. Your dd new immediately she should be in the next age group, since she is 12. Then, she was confused and disappointed when someone who scored lower than her took the medal she might have won in the 12-13yo group. It wasn't until later that she found out they moved her to the "wrong" age group. Is that correct? I would have been upset as a parent too. If she is 12, there is no good reason to put her with the 11yo's. If the meet organizers want the flexibility to do that, they should have called the groups something different. Why create confusion and disappointment when there is no need? Vent away dear! There is nothing any of us can do about it, but I will join your short term pity party.

 

[AgingHippie]

^^ Stated perfectly, sometimes you just have to vent before you can move on.....at least that's how my brain works anyway.

 

[Sasha]

OP, I hear ya. My son is 8 and whether or not he medals is directly related to whether or not he is lumped in with the 9/10 year olds, which varies from meet to meet.

He does want to know before the meet what the age groups are, and who he is competing against, just to set expectations for whether or not he might be in the running for some awards. Like your daughter, he has a supportive, fair, and resilient attitude, and never complains or sulks. He just wants to be mentally prepared.

And so yes, it STINKS that they set your sweet daughter's expectations in one direction, then switcharooed it on her. It's particularly annoying that they chose to label their age groups numerically (age 11, 12...) and then put her in an inaccurate category to boot.

Sure, meet directors can do what they want, and there might sometimes be a good reason to change age groupings in the event of wild shifts in sessions or scratches. But generally, my preference would be for the age groups to remain as planned, even if that means one group has 20 kids, and the other group is down to 6 or whatever. Unless it's nationals or something, just give out the dang medals in the small group - they are already paid for. Make a kid's day

 

[JMACAZ]

I think that stinks. My DD is also an age group flopper LOL. Sometimes Child sometimes Jr. She has never been moved up or down at a meet though. Just had a smaller group due to scratches. Vent away!!

 

[blueredzone]

age groups are nice to have. I get there meaning so kids are competing with kids there same age. My DD is on the short end because her BDay is 3 weeks before state. So she is usually competing with girls older than her the whole season.

Unless of course if its a huge meet and they have it broken down into month spans.

Which really only happens here at the State Championship