Question about age

[Kaylaermey93]

So my daughter is 7. She had her first competition today she competed on bronze team. She turns 8 in February of 2025. They had her in group with 8&9 years olds. Is this right? Or should she still be in the group with the 7 year olds?

 

[NYGymfamily]

Age Groups are subjective and change every meet. She might me in a 6/7 age group next time, she could be in a 7/8 an 8/9, it really depends. If the 7 year old age group at this meet was very large, they may have put some girls that were closer to turning 8 in the 8/9 group to balance out the numbers. My DD was in a JR A group one meet and a SR B the next, I wouldn't stress about it.

 

[Kaylaermey93]

Age Groups are subjective and change every meet. She might me in a 6/7 age group next time, she could be in a 7/8 an 8/9, it really depends. If the 7 year old age group at this meet was very large, they may have put some girls that were closer to turning 8 in the 8/9 group to balance out the numbers. My DD was in a JR A group one meet and a SR B the next, I wouldn't stress about it.

Her coach told me it’s because of her age she turns 8 in February. She was the only 7 year old in the 8&9 group. But if she would have been in her age group she would have placed at the top. They put my kid at youth A. When she should have been in child C with all the other 7 year olds. When at the beginning on the meet she did floor and it was after vault they actually started scoring her. I had to get the coaches attention that hey why is my kid not being scored. She wasn’t even on the scoreking site until the end of the meet. I’m very upset. They put my kid in an age group she didn’t even belong in she didn’t even place at all. Let me also tell you it was her own gym that hosted this event. I’m pretty upset over all of this.

 

[Coach Kate]

Assuming this is for the 2024-2025 season, it's her age as of 12/31/25, so yes, she would be 8 years old.

However, at most meets by us, they take the total number of competitors and divide them into even age groups. For ease, let's say there are 30 athletes. The 10 youngest would be a group, the next 10 oldest, and then the oldest 10 would be the last age group. In this situation, if your daughter was that 11th youngest athlete, it would bump her into the next group. And yes, an athlete who might win in one age group might not place in another, and I know it sucks sometimes, but that's just how it is. It's why, as a coach, I discourage goals that center around placing or even scores and focus on things a gymnast has control over - did you stay on the beam? Did you connect your bar routine? Were your feet pointed through your leap series?

As for not being scored initially or being on the website, mistakes happen and you'll find the scoring websites are not the end all be all. They will have missing data a lot, they will crash, they won't update immediately. Please just try to be your kiddo's number one fan and help her learn to try her best, be a good teammate, and have fun in sport.

 

[Kaylaermey93]

Assuming this is for the 2024-2025 season, it's her age as of 12/31/25, so yes, she would be 8 years old.

However, at most meets by us, they take the total number of competitors and divide them into even age groups. For ease, let's say there are 30 athletes. The 10 youngest would be a group, the next 10 oldest, and then the oldest 10 would be the last age group. In this situation, if your daughter was that 11th youngest athlete, it would bump her into the next group. And yes, an athlete who might win in one age group might not place in another, and I know it sucks sometimes, but that's just how it is. It's why, as a coach, I discourage goals that center around placing or even scores and focus on things a gymnast has control over - did you stay on the beam? Did you connect your bar routine? Were your feet pointed through your leap series?

As for not being scored initially or being on the website, mistakes happen and you'll find the scoring websites are not the end all be all. They will have missing data a lot, they will crash, they won't update immediately. Please just try to be your kiddo's number one fan and help her learn to try her best, be a good teammate, and have fun in sport

 

[Kaylaermey93]

Okay I got it. So even though she is 7 and turns 8 in February. And her other team mate that’s 7 and turns 8 in April. They both are gonna be in different age groups? Even though they were both born in the same year?
I’m not upset with my child scores by any means. Of course I'm her number 1 fan. I just am trying to understand. Because she does have another meet coming up that’s has a 8 and up event and a 7 and under. In December. I asked what age group she would compete on. And I was told she would be in the 8 and up even though she still only 7. .

And oh okay so if my daughter doesn’t pop up on the score bored at the actual meet, after she does a routine. And then. Her whole team goes and they get scored. I should just leave it alone? Because it’s a technical issue? Even though they went through 2 events without her score popping up. My daughter thought she was forgotten about. I’m new to this gymnastics mom stuff. But I definitely don’t want to make anyone mad.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Her coach told me it’s because of her age she turns 8 in February. She was the only 7 year old in the 8&9 group. But if she would have been in her age group she would have placed at the top. They put my kid at youth A. When she should have been in child C with all the other 7 year olds. When at the beginning on the meet she did floor and it was after vault they actually started scoring her. I had to get the coaches attention that hey why is my kid not being scored. She wasn’t even on the scoreking site until the end of the meet. I’m very upset. They put my kid in an age group she didn’t even belong in she didn’t even place at all. Let me also tell you it was her own gym that hosted this event. I’m pretty upset over all of this.

How do you know that all the other girls in Child C were 7 years old? They don't publish the birthdays any more, and you'd have to know them all personally. As Coach Kate said, most meets divide the number of participants by the number of age groups to get even groupings. It has been a very long time since I have seen a meet divide girls solely on their age. AAU used to do this, but then you'd have 1 5-year-old in her own age group and winning everything; 4 or 5 in the six year old category; 14 or 15 in the seven year old category; and so on. Her coach would not know the exact ages of the girls either, unless she asked each one how old they were.
Going forward, sometimes you child will be the youngest in her age group and sometimes she will be the oldest. She could have a teammate whose birthday is 1 day before her's, and they could be in different age groups. It all depends on the number of entries in a meet and the number of age groups they are divided into.

 

[ORgymmom]

The scoreboard thing might not be anything. At pretty much every meet some kid’s score gets stuck up there for an entire rotation (and I always feel terrible when it’s a low one) and then they flash really quickly through the rest or never show them.

Another person explained age groups well. The vast majority of meets are dividing an entire meet session into equal age groups. So at one meet, a 10
Year old with a November 2015 birthday will be with an 8 year old born in 2017. And at the next meet, they might only be in an age group with kids born October 2015-December 2015. It depends on the size of the meet, which gyms are competing (some skew older or younger) and what level you’re at. A kid who started competing early or is on a faster path and “young” for their level will often be in the youngest age group that spans 2, 3 or even 4 years.

Also, don’t get caught up in Child A vs. Junior B or whatever. I think my kid had a season where she was everything from child to junior to youth, and every letter. It’s just done in order by birth date at each meet. My kid often isn’t in an age group with teammates who were born a month before or after her. But other times the entire level from her gym is in just 2-3 age groups.

 

[LCsMom]

Okay I got it. So even though she is 7 and turns 8 in February. And her other team mate that’s 7 and turns 8 in April. They both are gonna be in different age groups? Even though they were both born in the same year?
I’m not upset with my child scores by any means. Of course I'm her number 1 fan. I just am trying to understand. Because she does have another meet coming up that’s has a 8 and up event and a 7 and under. In December. I asked what age group she would compete on. And I was told she would be in the 8 and up even though she still only 7. .

And oh okay so if my daughter doesn’t pop up on the score bored at the actual meet, after she does a routine. And then. Her whole team goes and they get scored. I should just leave it alone? Because it’s a technical issue? Even though they went through 2 events without her score popping up. My daughter thought she was forgotten about. I’m new to this gymnastics mom stuff. But I definitely don’t want to make anyone mad.

I hate those automatic scoring things! They are so unreliable, plus in order to catch a score you have to stare at it forever instead of watching the meet. But rest assured, they've marked down your daughter's score. The judges are focused more on being accurate than pleasing us parents.

As to age groups....sometimes the way they group kids just doesn't work out. My kid has been on the losing end of the age group stick, and also on the winning end....and also, a couple times, a State Champion merely because she was the only one in her age group. But most of the time, it does work out fairly. Like others said, don't get hung up about the age groups so much, and focus on her progression through the year.

 

[Flipsrus]

So my daughter is 7. She had her first competition today she competed on bronze team. She turns 8 in February of 2025. They had her in group with 8&9 years olds. Is this right? Or should she still be in the group with the 7 year olds?

We go to a meet that has a Championship in February and all age groups are done by that date, even if meet is before then. I have 2 gymnasts that will have their birthdays in December but they competed the age they will be in February. Sometimes it works for the better and sometimes not. Meet directors can make their own rules for age groups. My daughter competes with girls that are 3-4 years younger in some meets (she competes AAU). It all works out in the end. The most important thing for me as a coach and mom is that my gymnasts are having fun and progressing each meet.

 

[Splat]

Our area has the girls compete the age they will be as of nationals so most compete as a year older than they are for majority of the season. As for how the groups are decided truly is pretty random and most of the time computer generated.

 

[raenndrops]

Okay I got it. So even though she is 7 and turns 8 in February. And her other team mate that’s 7 and turns 8 in April. They both are gonna be in different age groups? Even though they were both born in the same year?
I’m not upset with my child scores by any means. Of course I'm her number 1 fan. I just am trying to understand. Because she does have another meet coming up that’s has a 8 and up event and a 7 and under. In December. I asked what age group she would compete on. And I was told she would be in the 8 and up even though she still only 7. .

And oh okay so if my daughter doesn’t pop up on the score bored at the actual meet, after she does a routine. And then. Her whole team goes and they get scored. I should just leave it alone? Because it’s a technical issue? Even though they went through 2 events without her score popping up. My daughter thought she was forgotten about. I’m new to this gymnastics mom stuff. But I definitely don’t want to make anyone mad.

In some states, the age is set based on the first (or last) day of the state meet (or culminating meet, if no state meet is offered). If your state meet is in March or after your daughter's b-day and before teammate's, then, yes, the girls would be separated into different age groups.
We have had twins who were in different age groups because the older one was born close to midnight and her sister was born after midnight. One season, the cut-off was the date the younger one was born, so her sister was an age group higher. They actually preferred it that way because they didn't have to directly compete against each other, giving both of them the opportunity to shine.