WAG Regions and scoring

[gymgal]

I think "better" is a rather subjective term. There are definitely regions that are more competitive than others in terms of making it to nationals at L9/10, which again, I think is the only level you can really compare across regions. The fact that some age groups in some regions can have 40+ athletes competing for the national slots and girls staying home that scored in the 36's and then other regions do not have enough girls who met the minimum 34 to fill their team slots shows that the competitiveness level is not balanced between regions.

Agreed. Region 8 had girls with 37's staying home for 10 Nationals. I think Region 1 was like this as well. Not sure about 5 or 3. This just breaks down to the caliber of coaches/gyms in each region as well as the talent pool to draw from. That doesn't mean that Region 2 doesn't have qualified gyms/coaches/gymnasts. It just means that due to the logistics there are less available.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Go to mymeetscoresonline.

You can look up the results of most state meets for all levels, all states.

 

[CCGymbug]

We are in Region 6, when my daughter orginally tried out for team one of the xcel mom's and another coach actually said to me that we are a weak region and the girls don't go far here. She actually mentioned no Olympics and the to hope for was college level. My DD was 7. I never even considered anything more than her competing that year. It was bizarre convo and I really didn't care for the implication but it did have me wondering what is so different about the northeast than other parts of the country and why. Then I read the boards here and see it mentioned about this or that region.

 

[chalkbowl]

We are in Region 6, when my daughter orginally tried out for team one of the xcel mom's and another coach actually said to me that we are a weak region and the girls don't go far here. She actually mentioned no Olympics and the to hope for was college level. My DD was 7. I never even considered anything more than her competing that year. It was bizarre convo and I really didn't care for the implication but it did have me wondering what is so different about the northeast than other parts of the country and why. Then I read the boards here and see it mentioned about this or that region.

As someone who grew up competing in region 1 and then began coaching in region 1 before moving to region 6, I have to say their is a huge difference in many different aspects. Many of my current athletes are involved in multiple things... a school sport, girl scouts, a musical instrument AND gymnastics. Plus the kids here are expected to get amazing grades on top of those 4 things. There also seems to be more of a focus on moving through the levels quickly vs. winning. In region 1 if you are scoring 34s and want to move-up, it won't happen in most cases, even if you switch gyms. In region 6 there are many gyms that will take an average scoring kid and move her through the levels...perhaps even let her skip a level. Scoring also varies widely between the states in Region 6, some states are high scoring others are average and at least one is hard scoring.

That being said there are obviously several gyms in region 6 that have strong upper level optional programs, the number is just smaller than those in other regions.

 

[CCGymbug]

I had seen some kids are homeschooled to balance out gymnastics...it kind of blows my mind. We made my DD quit everything else once she started going 3 days a week (she could be in xcel and do other activities or levels and that would be the focus ( she changed to levels because she wanted to be in the gym more). We are in CT. While my daughter has really made tremendous progress this past year I doubt she will see regionals ever....she is one of those 34ish kids. To me she looks great her deductions are those little things. I just hope she continues to love it and stays with it. My friends DD was fast tracked to level 7 from 5. What is the advantage of that?

 

[Mom2-4]

We are region 8, but my dd is Xcel. I can't speak for compulsories or opttionals but Xcel (at least bronze, silver and gold) are VERY competitive in this region. Last year our girls traveled to other states for meets and scored about the same as they did in state and my dd's score was actually a little higher at regionals than it was all year long. It wasn't uncommon to see high 38's and even some 39's at regionals, as well as many 9.8-9.9's on events. So I would say we are not one of the low scoring regions, but I will say I've noticed that judges score lower at the beginning of the season than at state/regionals (that seems to be common everywhere though.) I don't think Region 8 is a powerhouse as far as producing elites (maybe a couple at the most), but there are several gyms in this region that have girls getting D1 scholarships regularly, so I do think it is a competitive region based on that and based on regional scores/competitions.

I have noticed at least in r5 that xcel scoring seems to be a completely different animal. We had a xcel plat. With a 9.8 on floor last year that would have probably been a 9.2 at L 7.

 

[gymbeam]

I had seen some kids are homeschooled to balance out gymnastics...it kind of blows my mind. We made my DD quit everything else once she started going 3 days a week (she could be in xcel and do other activities or levels and that would be the focus ( she changed to levels because she wanted to be in the gym more). We are in CT. While my daughter has really made tremendous progress this past year I doubt she will see regionals ever....she is one of those 34ish kids. To me she looks great her deductions are those little things. I just hope she continues to love it and stays with it. My friends DD was fast tracked to level 7 from 5. What is the advantage of that?

well, level 6 isn't a required level so its actually not considered fast-tracking to go from 5 to 7. the skills are very close to identical in 5 and 6 which makes going from 5 to 6 more of a lateral move. so, to move up from five, you move to 7 (although 6 can allow for some upgrades from 5). hope that made sense!

 

[CCGymbug]

What is the point of having 2 levels almost the same?

 

[gymbeam]

What is the point of having 2 levels almost the same?

one is compulsary and one is optional so it bridges the two formats and for gymnasts who aren't prepared to make the jump to optional level 7 (because level 7 presents some pretty big challenges), it gives them a place to compete without having to do more compulsaries.

thats my take on it, anyway.

 

[Tigtimes]

Difference at our gym between level 6 and 7 is Giants. No giants no 7, no exceptions. So for those that have not mastered the giant they move to 6 with upgraded skills so not to repeat 5.

 

[ZJsMom]

We are in Region 6, when my daughter orginally tried out for team one of the xcel mom's and another coach actually said to me that we are a weak region and the girls don't go far here. She actually mentioned no Olympics and the to hope for was college level. My DD was 7. I never even considered anything more than her competing that year. It was bizarre convo and I really didn't care for the implication but it did have me wondering what is so different about the northeast than other parts of the country and why. Then I read the boards here and see it mentioned about this or that region.

That seems like a weird thing to say about Region 6 when Brestyan's has had a girl on the last two Olympic teams.

 

[profmom]

I think it's because Region 6 is near the bottom of the pile at JO Nationals, ZJsMom. There are a few exceptional programs and some additional solid/good programs, but it's not like there are several cities in the region each of which has 4-5 programs producing elites and multiple college scholarship girls. But even if there's not a lot of depth, there is definitely some real strength.