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.