Repeat level 4?

[Panda-girl's Mom]

I think every child has to be looked at individually. If they are unable to get most of thier skills by competition season I think they should be held back but that is not to say they can't uptrain skills for the next level. My daughter repeated level 4 this year and had a great year I was lucky that her coaches were able to make the right decision for her. She still uptrained with the level 5 and I think she will do well next year. In the case of her gym I know the decision was not made for financial reasons it would have been easier to have the coaches go have all the girls in the same level they are a small group instead they had to have the coaches go 2 different meet sessions with just 3 to 4 girls. I agree Gymjourney's mom parents should really stay out of moveups they should let the coaches decide and instead be supportive of your child. How does a parents complaints of their child not moving up affect that childs feelings I am sure on one level or another these children feel like failures and that they are dissappointments.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Level 4-5 is a big step. The kids need their front handspring vault, glide kip, long hang kip, jump to high bar, cartwheel on beam, handspring on floor. In particuloar many girls will struggle to get the bar elements.

It may be that the gym has decided they will need more time to get the level 5 skills down. So they are getting them to repeat level 4, because they know thhe level 4 routines back the front and do them well and can compete with success with less routine repitition time so the rest of their training time can be dedicated to the level 5 skills.

They could practise their routines once or twice on each apparatus and then just focus on skills.

 

[gym mom]

I personally do not see the need to repeat L4 or lower,there are only a few skills that are carried over to L5 and L4 and lower are not considered comptetive levels.Many gyms do not even comptete L4.I do see the reasoning for repeating L5 and up.My dd is a new L5 if she is not ready when the season starts she will not compete,but if she is ready by the 3rd meet she can.I would rather her spend 2years at L5 and focusing 100% on skills that will be benenfial down the road.

 

[cher062]

I don't think it's possible for USAG to mandate certs, but I don't know for sure.

That's easy to do. Just like the safety certifications. You can't get the "membership" completed until your certified. But then USAG would have to come up with a national standard and provide more courses with trainers etc. That is a big undertaking that I don't think USAG wants to deal with.

 

[mariposa]

I always find these threads interesting. My daughter competed level 4 last year as a 6 year old and will be repeating this year as a 7 year old. She topped out at a 33AA, was at a gym that didn't really fit her and she didn't do as well as she could have. We switched gyms and she is repeating because they have higher standards there and uptrain quite a bit. I was worried about boredom, but they really do uptrain and when the girls are moved to the next level, they usually have all the next level skills.

There is no right or wrong with repeating levels. I am sure that my daughter could have all her level 5 skills and compete level 5 this year, but she wouldn't do very well. I also know she would be miserable if she wasn't getting to compete, so repeating level 4 while uptraining seems the best idea. She LOVES to be out there competing, would be happy with doing just so-so at level 5, but I think it will be good for her have a good year at level 4 and then be really ready for level 5 when she gets there, instead of just barely doing the skills at level 5. She would have been fine either way.

As others have said, if the gym does a good job of uptraining, the girls can actually have a pretty stress free meet season, just perfecting little things, get some confidence from doing well and still work on the next level skills. Not all gyms do this well (her old gym didn't and while I wasn't sure about level 5, I definitely didn't want to do another year of level 4 at her old gym).

Here are some old threads about the benefits/reasons for repeating level 4, how many gyms do have girls repeat level 4, etc. We have many girls on here that have repeated level 4 for various reasons and I don't think any of them have thought that it was a negative thing. I started a thread about the positives of repeating level 4 because I wanted to get my daughter thinking positive about it. Her old gym had a culture of moving up girls fast and we were very used to that. Rare to do more than 2 seasons (we have 2 a year, spring and fall) at a level, but no perfecting of the levels either.

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If your gym doesn't uptrain and keep them challenged, then I would probably worry more about the situation. If they do, then it could end up being a good thing. Good luck to you and welcome to the CB!

 

[eeyoretumbles]

I can definitely relate. When I was in first year level 4, we had this really dumb rule where you had to go to state or else you couldn't move up. No exceptions. Well all 23 people of the level 4 team made it, except for me. I was the next one supposed to be called. I repeated level 4 and definetly didn't want too. I was just as good as everyone going up to level 5, had most of the skills, etc. I am extremely happy now looking back that I was able to do level 4. First of all the 23 girls who moved up had already done level 4 for 2 or 3 years before. They were good, our coaches decided not to move up. Looking at these girls now, these are the girls who are level 10's national champions, etc. Level 4 teaches you great work ethic, prepares you mentally, and allows you to perfect a lot of skills. Level 4 is a pretty easy level, which allows you to focus on basics, conditioning, and prep you for the levels to come. I was glad I didn't have to stress about getting new skills as a returning level 4. I just got to focus on pointing my toes, etc. Meets were even more fun, trying to beat all my teammates and striving for the perfect ten. That year I placed at basically every meet, and got in all 9's. Basically, repeating level 4 helped me a lot.

My next level 5 season I switched gyms because they wanted me to stay level 4 again. That's a whole nother story though :] But anyways, that second year of level 4 definetly prepped me for level 5 and I did a lot better.

 

[GymVamp]

Well one thing you could do is go to a gym close by and just see what level she should be in. Or you can ask the gym owner why she is going to be held back?

 

[tumblebug921]

well, im a level 8 gymnast, and ive been in gym for about 5 years, so if you dont like my opinion, its okay. level 4 is the level that a lot of gyms begin their competing team. the coaches may feel that at their age they might need a little more experience competing. level 5 is different from level 4. the judging, as i remember it, was harder in level 5. i thought i was ready, but at my first meet in 5 i got like a 6 on bars and beam, and an 8 on vault and floor, which aren't my normal scores. but since they're doing level 4 again, see if she can work her level 5 skills and have them perfected by the time she moves up. repeating a level can actually be good. i repeated level 7 because i did okay the first year, but the second year i did even better, but worked my level 8 skills.

 

[Jasmynn]

I've had this same problem with my daughter. She is on level three now and they told me she needed to get her windmill on bars to move to next level. Well when she heard that she got that windmill down the very next day. They still didn't promote her. So we waited until evaluations, which is done only twice a year. Anyway, she still wasn't promoted to level four. So, whe I asked what she needed to work on now, the coach could not give me a specific answer which totally frustrates me. This is her first year in gymnastics, and I know she may have advance really fast, but she has all of the level three skills, so I'm not understanding why she didn't advance and why they can tell me what shee needs to work on? All they told me is that she is a level three working on level four skills and that she is between level three and four. this makes no sense to me.
Also she can do her backhandsprint/back tuck combo. They will not allow her to practice that technique b/c they say it's a level 6 technique. OK, I understand that, but do why can't she practice her backhandspring on the floor? They spot them like beginners on the tramp. I am so confused!

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

I competed level 4 as an 8 year old, and I did not score above a 30. I was actually one of the better girls on my level 4 team that year, as I had all the skills just horrible form. I moved up to level 5 the next year, and struggled on floor and beam. I was scoring alright on vault, but by the end of the season I scored pretty high on bars and placed on it almost every meet. I had a second year of level 5 and that helped me a lot. I placed on every event at every meet and was usually in top 3 in all around. I wasn't really bored with my second year because we were allowed to work new tricks if you got a 9.0 or higher on that event at a meet. This year I'm a second year 8 and as I wanted to be a level 9 this year, I didn't have all the tricks for it and such. I'm kind of glad that I repeated level 8 because I am doing harder skills this year, and I am placing really high like at states I won vault bars beam and aa. I would have not had the chance to do that if I was a level 9 this year. I'm really hoping to be a level 9 next year. I don't know what I will do if they make me be a level 8 again, especially because there are a lot of restrictions on what you cannot do in level 8.

 

[Jasmynn]

I competed level 4 as an 8 year old,

tumblebug921, how old are you now at level9?

 

[gymadison]

my dd8 will be repeating level 4 next year for a few reasons - first off though she made it to states her average score was a 33.5AA and i think a second year at level 4 will be a huge confidence builder - she will be in 3rd grade next year and that is a huge year for SOL testing in VA so im betting we may have a bit more to study for and a bit more homework than she is used to next year and finally our gym does 2nd year level 4 as a "compete as a 4 but train as a 5" year - all i know is im looking forward to states this sunday and then a break from meet season until next october

 

[bigtiny]

Gymmadison - which gym are you at?

 

[cathiann]

Our gym does not have a policy like that--they move up girls if they have the skills needed. Frankly I think it's stupid not to move up girls if they have the skills! They just get bored otherwise. I would say fewer than half of the girls stay a second year in level 4.

 

[fishchimes]

Hmm. It may be one of those gyms where if you can't hit every compulsory routine, bam bam bam, they won't let you move up. Basically they want to make sure you will be scoring 9's and over at the next level. A symptom of this is very few high level girls.

I could understand repeating level 5, but level 4? No. I think girls (at least serious ones) should be moved to level 5 ASAP. As long as they have 75% of the skills, it should be okay. And even then routines only really start getting good is level 6 because even in level 5 there are some mostly pointless skills like front hip circles and double bhs. It's a good progression, really, but it's pretty rare for a high level gymnast to do more then one back handspring before their salto. Just saying.

 

[sportyspice]

Our head coach doesn't look at comp scores when deciding to move her girls up junior levels- she would rather see very strong technique and conditioning skills. Her standards are very high (she is a former Russian national gymnast) in conditioning testing - 30 secs in handstand, climb rope no legs in sub 10secs, straddle press to handstand on beam 10 times without stopping etc. She would rather see a child attempt a skill and achieve it quickly because the building blocks (strength and technique building to the skill) are already there than have a child struggle for a long time. It is one thing for a child to "have a skill" it is another to do it technically correct and with enough body strength to not injure herself when it is required to be done many times over.