Women Phasing out compulsories?

[BusyMomof2]

Each state is supposed to have a Score Chair that all scores are sent to--scores from sanctioned meets. We have one, I have run for that office in the past. Our state looks carefully at scores to make sure its done right (not saying they don't miss some, but they actively ask gyms for scores and have questioned our owner about transfers from out-of-state). If each state committee was doing the job properly, there would be a lot less gym owners circumventing getting the proper score-out scores.

There is a new rule this year that is going into effect in August that addresses moving back and forth between USAG DP and Xcel, AAU, NGA, etc. It is a step in the right direction, but I think there will be a lot of headaches trying to implement it this first year.

What is the new rule?

 

[Chocolate_Chip]

This thread is an interesting discussion. My daughter switched to Gold this past season, and did two years of level 4 prior to that. She had a really successful year and placed top 3 at States, and top 50 out of 700ish gymnasts. She regularly scored 37ish this season, and she is being asked to repeat Gold. She can easily do Platinum level routines and has all of the skills needed for Platinum. When I tell other parents she's doing Gold again, the general reaction has been "Why the heck isn't she doing level 6 or Platinum?!?!" - I realize parents don't have nearly the insight/knowledge that coaches do, but I'm worried that my daughter will get wind of people thinking she's "sandbagging".

When I looked at the scores for many of the gymnasts in her age group, I could see that many of them were on their 2nd, 3rd, and even some 4 years at Gold. I'm fine with her doing Gold again - she has expressed herself that she wants to repeat Gold, mostly because all of her friends are repeating gold as well.

Reading a lot of the comments has me thinking if I should be concerned in regards to how her gym is using XCEL? It's a small gym, and while they don't typically use XCEL to circumvent lower level compulsories, both DP and XCEL teams are small, and all train together.

Is it more common to repeat levels at XCEL since there are fewer levels than DP? If there are gyms that are "sandbagging" so to speak, I wonder if other gyms are falling in line and doing the same thing, simply because they feel the need to do so, in order to be competitive.

 

[Ncgymnastmom]

I was talking to a head coach recently about why her gym dropped developmental levels 1-5. She said the national trend is to focus on Xcel because there is less attrition in that program. Among many reasons, he said it's more like optionals because of the focus on individual strengths. She claimed that the national governing body is encouraging this shift because they see it as the inevitable future of gymnastics training. Do any other coaches out there know if this is accurate? Have you heard anything like this coming from USAG? Thanks

My daughter used to attend a gym that did levels 3-5 and then went to optionals. She was struggling massively in level 4 because she is not strong at bar and had to compete 2 years at level 4 even though she was great at the other 3 events. They then wanted to hold her back another year due to only getting 8.5s on bar in level 4 her second year but she is amazing at floor,beam and vault and can easily do level 7/8 skills. Her gym also didn’t work on upgrades at all besides during 2 months in the summer and only focused on routines all comp season so she was so bored and discouraged. Anyways we switched her to a gym that does xcel and then moves to optionals. She is absolutely thriving because she’s not stressed about hitting bar routines to move up and can work on upgraded skills all around. her bars have even improved massively since I think she had it in her head she would never move up at the old gym. I personally prefer xcel so kids like my daughter don’t get discouraged and quit due to not hitting all the requirements in one event. Also scoring is a bit more easy on them in excel so it really helps build confidence. I don’t see any downsides.

 

[Ncgymnastmom]

Is it no longer required to score out of levels 4 and 5? huh.

My daughters gym does xcel only instead of level 3-5 and you do have to test out of level 4/5 to get into level 6. They usually work on the 4/5 routines through the year and then do a in gym meet during summer to test out of both and move to 6. My daughter is in gold and is trying to test out of 5 next week so she can do level 6 this season.