Question for anyone in the UK: Levels??

[dannolynn]

Hi everyone... after watching some videos of Team Sparkle on youtube, I am really confused about British gymnastics levels. What is Espoir? What is the difference between grades and levels? What do the levels and grades mean? How do they compare to usag levels? What is the thing they do on a bench?? Thanks in advance if anyone has the time and wants to explain all this to me!

 

[marie83]

Here goes!

Grades happen in Spring each yr.

14 - min age 8 in year - Pretty much ALL British competitive gymnasts will do this then some will move on to grade 13 others will do compulsory grade 4.

13 - min age 9 in year - After this grade, some gymnasts will choose to go down the regional route, and others down the national route. Regional route is slightly easier and doesn't have a national final. National route is slightly harder and has national finals.

Regional Route all min age 10 in year.
12,11,10,9

National Route
8 - min age 10
7 - min age 11
6 - min age 12
5 - min age 13

Compulsory (Elite) route

4 - 9 yrs old
3 - 10 yrs old
2 - 11 yrs old

Espoir (Hopes) 12 and 13 yrs old
Juniors 14 and 15 yrs old
Seniors 16+

Levels happen in The Autumn.

Level 5 (age 8) is a regional thing, there are no national finals and each region chooses their own rules.
Level 4 (age 9)
Level 3 (age 10)
Level 2 (age 11)

Espoir, Junior, Senior

A gymnast that takes the Regional or National route can swap over onto the elite route but must qualify at a competiton called Espoir Challenge.

The compulsory 2, Espoir/Junior and Senior comps are all National comps only as not many gymnasts do these as the other levels/grades.
E/J/S comps all follow Full FIG code.

That is just a brief summary so if you have any other questions I can try and answer them!
Hope that helps!

 

[dannolynn]

thanks. wow! that clarifies a little, but i'm still a little confused. what do you mean by levels happening in the autumn and grades in the spring... does that mean the competitions are at that time? can a person compete in both grades and levels? or is it either or?

so a gymnast starts out at grade 14. if she isn't going elite, she goes on the national or regional track... this is where i kind of get lost... the way i understand it is if you go regional you go grade 14-9, 9 being the highest grade.

if you go national, do you skip 12-9 and go 14,13, then 8-5?

if you go elite, are the levels according to your age, or skill level (level 4s have to be only 9, and so on)? after level 2 are you just.. not a level, you're just put into an age division?

then i'm totally confused as to what the autumn levels are... how do they fit in with the other stuff??

sorry i feel like i asked you a question about everything you said!! haha

 

[marie83]

thanks. wow! that clarifies a little, but i'm still a little confused.

what do you mean by levels happening in the autumn and grades in the spring... does that mean the competitions are at that time? Yeah, our gymnasts have very few competitions each year. My gymnasts compete Grades in March or April, and levels in October/November

can a person compete in both grades and levels? or is it either or? both run alongside eachother. Levels tend to be harder than grades - Grades are set skills, levels are voluntary. At level 4 the gymnasts are required to do a tumble pass with 2 saltos on floor, kips and fly aways on bars, up to a tucked tsuk on vault and an acro series with flight on beam. Grade 13 which would go alongside this requires the gymnast to do a pull over on bars, roundoff on floor, flat-back vault (like L4 vault) and forward roll on beam! VERY Different! A lot of gymnasts do Level 4 Out of age, meaning that they are older than 9 when they do it.


so a gymnast starts out at grade 14. if she isn't going elite, she goes on the national or regional track... this is where i kind of get lost... the way i understand it is if you go regional you go grade 14-9, 9 being the highest grade. That is correct.

if you go national, do you skip 12-9 and go 14,13, then 8-5? You skip 12-9 but can revert back if you struggle with 8-5. Likewise if you complete up to 9 you can continue on with 8-5 as long as you meet the age requirements.

if you go elite, are the levels according to your age, or skill level (level 4s have to be only 9, and so on)? after level 2 are you just.. not a level, you're just put into an age division? Yeah Levels go by age. You have to pass each one to move on. If you get to level 2 and are aged 12/13 you can do espoir challenge. If you are older I think there is another qualifying competition to the British Champs.

then i'm totally confused as to what the autumn levels are... how do they fit in with the other stuff?? Hopefully I answered this at the beginning of this post - they run alongside the grades and gymnasts compete both in the year.

sorry i feel like i asked you a question about everything you said!! haha

Put my responses in pink! Don't worry it is such a confusing system!!!

BTW I didn't answer about the bench - It is called Range and conditioning and basically tests the gymnast's strength and flexibility. I personally really like it. The gymnasts have to score 10 on this event (out of 13.5) in order to pass the grade and move to the next. The regional grades are the only ones without Range and conditioning. It sorts out the tricksters from those with good core strength and flexibility. If a gymnasts fails to score 10 she can re-take r&c.

In order to pass each grade they need to score an average of 10 on each apparatus. All apparatus is marked out of 13.5 provided all the criteria is met!

 

[dannolynn]

thanks! it's starting to make sense to me now. although it is a confusing system, you're right!

the bench thing is really cool! the routines are pretty (from what i saw on team sparkle). it's almost like what the compulsory routines were at the olympics a long time ago. it's nice to see the gymnasts do the simple basic moves, and the really good ones can make it look amazing.

do compulsory levels have compulsory routines with all the same skills and choreography like usag levels 1-6, or do the girls get to have their own routines?

 

[marie83]

in compulsory grades, the skills are set but there are no set routines, as far as I am aware - They used to be set routines like USAG 1-6, but it was made quite complicated and didn't really take off!

 

[gymnut1]

Bars and vault are set for some of the lower grades but beam and floor have set skills to include.

 

[MissBear]

I find it easier to explain to parents that competitions in the spring are compulsory skills - either level 432 or grade 14 - 5. These are to PASS and hopefully get good marks.

Competitions in the autumn are with voluntary skills, and set by both age and ability. These are to SCORE WELL, but you can not pass or fail (or get distinction).

Another big difference is that elite stream gymnasts will compete with only other elite stream gymnasts - they have seperate voluntary competitions to other gymnasts.

I think it works better than the US system as it means elite-potential gymnasts are competeing against their peers much earlier. They are less likely to slack off just because they are the best in their area, for example. It also gives coaches a good guideline for skill development with gymnasts that a ready to move at a faster pace than others.

 

[dannolynn]

so in the spring, you would find out if you can move to the next level. what is the point of the autumn competitions? are medals not given out for the winners?

do elite stream gymnasts also have both spring and autumn competitions as well?

 

[marie83]

I find it easier to explain to parents that competitions in the spring are compulsory skills - either level 432 or grade 14 - 5. These are to PASS and hopefully get good marks.

Competitions in the autumn are with voluntary skills, and set by both age and ability. These are to SCORE WELL, but you can not pass or fail (or get distinction).

Really? In our region they have to pass levels as well! The pass mark is determined after the competition, I think it is based on averages!

 

[MissBear]

I'm really confused! You have to pass the autumn competitions? As in out of age level competitions with no set skills (just requirements) etc?
What does that mean if you don't pass? You have to compete the same level next year?

In our region you/your coach looks at the skills you are likely to compete and sees which level would be most appropriate. e.g if you have done grade 8 in spring and have got your giants you would probably compete level 4 in your age group (assuming other pieces were similar) but if you didn't have the more difficult skills you might compete novice. There are no prior requirements - if you have never competed before you can still compete in any of the levels.

I also believe the novice system is different in our region. We have pre novice, novice, level 4, 3 etc. Other regions I think have level 5 before level 4 in the voluntary competitions?

 

[marie83]

Just been looking at the thread again!

Miss Bear, I hadn't seen your post above.

Yes, in our region you have to pass the Autumn levels too:
Level 5 = 42
Level 4 = 44
Level 3 = 46

If a gymnast doesn't make the pass mark, she either repeats the same level again next year, and 'up trains' for the next, OR the coach can move them up to the next level if they think they are ready! I don't personally see the point of having a pass mark if you can just move them up anyway, but it does mean that the gymnasts who are clearly good enough to move up have to move up! However it also means that gymnasts who only just pass because of generous scoring have to move up and then have to miss a year of competition because they haven't got the skills for the next one!

Our Novice system is completely different to yours from the sounds of it. It is for gymnasts who train less than 6 hours a week and they can't have competed in a 4 piece competition to enter!