Women Repeating Level 5

[#BGymnast]

Hi,
Yesterday my coach told me that I will be repeating level 5 again in 2026.
I am a little bit upset because even though I know all of my skills aren't 100% perfect yet, I feel like by the time competitions come around, I would be able to pull together some fairly good routines.
My coach is really nice, and she always wants the best for us, but she really cares about what we think about ourselves. She told me that she thinks I am one of the people who really cares about how they perform in competitions, which is true. She said she doesn't want to move me up because she knows that if my routines aren't ready, I will get stressed and start feeling bad about myself. I understand what she means, but I just think that I'm going to be a little stressed out before comps whether I am competing level 5 or level 6. I don't feel like it's worth staying back a whole year just because of how I will feel after the competitions.
There is a chance that I could still be moved up after term 1 next year. We compete around August to October, and if by the end of term 1 (around April), a gymnast is looking like they could do the level up, or they need to be moved down a level, that can still happen. However, I don't know if I should focus on perfecting my level 5 routines throughout term 1 or try to move up to level 6. If I just work on level 5, then I know that my routines could be pretty great by the time we get to competing, but I really do want to go to level 6.
I am also worried that I might be put with the group who are in their first year of level 5, and competed level 4 this year. They will just be still learning the skills that they need for level 5, while I have already got all of those skills. I will want to be working on level 6 skills, but we will be doing stuff that I can already do.
Level 5 seems way too easy now, yet level 6 is just out of reach.
Sorry, I don't really have a question to ask, I just wanted to share and tell someone how I am feeling.
Thankyou so much for reading this.

Merry Christmas!​

 

[ORgymmom]

I think what you are feeling is common and something I’ve seen my daughter and her teammates experience. Sometimes you end up a half-level “behind” but the next workout group that’s moving up is a full level behind. I’ve seen this play out in different ways. Sometimes girls repeat and struggle at the next level because (as you fear), they are essentially downtraining with a group of first-years struggling to get skills. 5 to 6 gets funky. I’ve also seen girls who were going to repeat 5 until just weeks before the season and the coaches decided they should go up to 6 after all. Or girls go from 5 to 7 at the last minute and then do two 7 years.

Vent here and to your parents. Don’t whine to your teammates or to your coaches. Work your tail off but also know that sometimes coaches hold girls because they can’t make the workout group numbers or mix of skill levels work, and it might have nothing to do with you. You can only work as hard as you can and hold your head up high. You have time.

 

[#BGymnast]

I think what you are feeling is common and something I’ve seen my daughter and her teammates experience. Sometimes you end up a half-level “behind” but the next workout group that’s moving up is a full level behind. I’ve seen this play out in different ways. Sometimes girls repeat and struggle at the next level because (as you fear), they are essentially downtraining with a group of first-years struggling to get skills. 5 to 6 gets funky. I’ve also seen girls who were going to repeat 5 until just weeks before the season and the coaches decided they should go up to 6 after all. Or girls go from 5 to 7 at the last minute and then do two 7 years.

Vent here and to your parents. Don’t whine to your teammates or to your coaches. Work your tail off but also know that sometimes coaches hold girls because they can’t make the workout group numbers or mix of skill levels work, and it might have nothing to do with you. You can only work as hard as you can and hold your head up high. You have time.

Thankyou so much, that is really encouraging feedback

 

[coach_M]

Repeating a level is almost always a good thing in the long run. From my experience and what I’ve seen, kids who are on the border of two levels and just scrape into the next will probably not do super great at that level and will always be a little behind the curve and frustrated at not succeeding. The ones who repeat a level tend to excel and do it a lot better the second time as well as having a whole year to get their almost ready level 6 (in your case) skills to be really strong level 6 skills and by the time you compete level 6 for the first time, you could do it as successfully as you did your second year of 5.

I’ve seen gymnasts at my own club who repeated a mid level a few years ago and are now at the top of their level and consistently winning competitions and getting selected to go to State and Border Challenge and other high achieving comps. Don’t be scared of taking a brief step back!! Your coaches have your best interests in mind always

 

[#BGymnast]

Repeating a level is almost always a good thing in the long run. From my experience and what I’ve seen, kids who are on the border of two levels and just scrape into the next will probably not do super great at that level and will always be a little behind the curve and frustrated at not succeeding. The ones who repeat a level tend to excel and do it a lot better the second time as well as having a whole year to get their almost ready level 6 (in your case) skills to be really strong level 6 skills and by the time you compete level 6 for the first time, you could do it as successfully as you did your second year of 5.

I’ve seen gymnasts at my own club who repeated a mid level a few years ago and are now at the top of their level and consistently winning competitions and getting selected to go to State and Border Challenge and other high achieving comps. Don’t be scared of taking a brief step back!! Your coaches have your best interests in mind always

Thankyou so much, you have made me feel a lot better about repeating a level. This way, I can have a good level 5 year and then a good level 6 year as well.