MAG Season is over for us

[Deleted member 10727]

My level 4 guys finished states last weekend, and they did pretty well. My older guy did better than ever, and he totally exceeded expectations from everyone, including his coach I think. Everyone goes on and on about his younger brother, but he scored better than him, and I was (secretly) thrilled for him. He has worked so hard. He consistently did better and better over the season, and his scores look like steps leading up the bar graph.

My younger guy is all over the board as far as scoring goes, so we weren't sure what to expect. One meet he will get a 10+ on something and the next meet he will score an 8 on the same event. The only event he has consistently scored well on is rings. This meet was no different, except he cleaned up his floor routine and scored 2nd place in all age divisions out of 175 level 4s in the state (same with rings). One thing I love about my little guy is that he pushes all of the bonuses even though he could get a higher score if he just attempted solid basics. He thrives off the challenge. He is competing as a 6 year old this year.

Now on to level 5. I am concerned that my youngest one is so young and small. How does that affect Pbars? I know they hold themselves up by he elbows in the swings and I can't imagine him being wide enough for that. What about other events? His worst event was vault, and I think it was because he is 40 lbs and couldn't get that springboard to bounce at all, but I'm not sure. He will want all of the bonuses again on every event that has them, and I've talked to his coach about allowing him to do that (his coach is all for it, and very safety conscious), even if it means giving up some points.

My older guy will struggle through like he did for level 4, and I'm curious how he will do as a level 5. I was told that level 5 is much more serious as far as gymnastics goes...

 

[profmom]

Congratulations to both your guys!

Honestly, I remember feeling the same way last year about L5, but they will figure it out. At L5, what we have seen this year is that a two-bonus routine that's done very cleanly will beat a 3-bonus routine with form breaks almost every time, so your guys shouldn't worry about not having all the bonuses! DS even placed on Hbar once this season with no bonuses.

 

[2G1B]

some of the level 5 bonuses are pretty darn hard, so you might want to set your younger guy up that is is totally OK if he doesn't have all of them.

It sounds like both of your guys had a great year this year, hopefully they will next year too. And even if it is a tough year, hopefully it will be fun!

 

[skschlag]

Way to go boys! Level 5, I think, is a fun level. They have so much to learn just with the routines, that those will be challenging enough for a while! I don't know much about "new" level 5 routines, but I know some of the bonuses are tough, especially for the little guys. My guy did level 5 right after turning 7 and was small. They figure it out Enjoy the off season of learning new skills!!!

 

[J&A's mom]

I have a level 5 seven year old. He is pretty strong, though, and weighs like sixty pounds(which is how much I weighed in fifth grade, lol!) Anyway, he had no problem with the springboard. With more time, he will learn how to get more power from it. Also, it will be easier because it won't be a big jump from Level 4 to 5 on vault.

Sitting next to a judge at the host meet this year doing palm pilot, I learned that a clean routine will far outscore a messy one with bonuses.

Congrats on a great states!!

 

[sjm2b3]

I will agree with everyone else about the bonuses this year. It's very different. Honestly in our state it seems they do want you to throw the bonuses, but at both out of state meets it seemed opposite.

I have a very small guy, he is repeating level 5 and is not 48 inches yet--I'm thinking when he started level 5 he was probably 44. The parallel bars were tough last year but this year he is doing much better. Last year he weighed 40, I'm guessing this year he's about 45 lbs with the muscle, but looks very small. It helps them on some things, hurts on others. Vault is tricky but I am told that the little ones can figure it out by running super fast and using the board!

 

[MyBoysFlip]

I have a little L5 also. Last year he was under 4' and about 44/45 pounds, this year he's just at 4' and 48 lb. He still struggles with vault sometimes- hates non bouncy springboards. He also has lots of landing mats for his high bar and ring dismounts! I laugh everytime I see the kid on the step below him on the podium equal to his height. Bonuses are great if they are done cleanly in clean routines. J is repeating 5 so he has pretty good form and his score goes up about half point when he adds a bonus. Other kids see little to no difference when they add in bonus but they lack thevgood form throughout the routine. Any score of 10.5 or higher I've seen has great form and clean bonuses.

 

[trapar]

Congrats on a great level 4 season, and have fun with level 5!