Anon Silver or bronze skills

[Anonymous (d9dd)]

My daughter's coach said she could probably move up to the Xcel team in May. Depending on whether she got her round off back handspring by then or not, she would either go to bronze or silver.
I looked up the requirements for silver and am wondering why they would base it on that one skill? Is that normal? For example for vault, she's never done anything but handstand flat back. So, are they just not worried about vaulting over the mat? Is that easy to learn?

 

[Anonymous (a86a)]

I don't think they are basing it off just the rbh, she might have silver level routines on the other events, but not for floor yet, which is why they only brought up the rbh.

 

[Anonymous (9ead)]

It sounds like a gym requirement, which they're allowed to have. There are multiple ways to meet requirements for each level.

 

[AlexandraU16]

Round off back handspring is often the deciding skill for silver at a lot of gyms. While it isn’t technically required in silver (round off rebound, backward roll can take its place) it is an absolute gateway skill for building the tumbling required for gold, optionals, etc. Our gym pretty much requires silvers to have it with rare exceptions. It is probably the biggest jump from bronze besides maybe the front handspring vault but that usually isn’t too tricky to learn (unless sometimes when they’re very small/young). Round off back handspring can take a while to perfect and is such a critical skill for advancing tumbling.

 

[gymperson]

Since she would be joining in May, that means she would have a whole season to learn her skills before she competes. The first competitions are usually not until January. The standard is that when gymnastics finish their competition seasons (around May) then they train the next level up until the next competition season. For example, an Xcel Bronze girl would start learning her silver vault in May. So don't worry about your daughter picking up the silver skills. Its standard.

 

[Anonymous (8b53)]

A back handspring is not required for Bronze or Silver, even thought its recommended. Bronze and Silver is different, not just for floor, so yeah it is weird they would base it just on a Roundoff BHS. Many silvers at my gym compete Roundoff Backward Roll instead. I do believe a FHS over a mat stack is harder than a Handstand Flatback. The floor requirements for Silver are:
Minimum of two directly connected acro skills, one must have flight (ex. roundoff back-roll)
Either a 2nd pass of 2 directly connected acro skills (ex. Backwalkover-Backwalkover) or 1 acro with flight (ex. FHS)
A dance passage with two skills, one being a leap or jump hitting 90 degrees.
360 degree turn off one foot
While a BHS is not required by USAG, it may be for the gym. It would be weird to hold her back because of one skill. If she is missing multiple requirements on each event, that would be a reason to put her on Bronze.

 

[Anonymous (cfc4)]

Gyms can set their own requirements for each Xcel level, and these can often be above the formal USAG requirements. For example, round off back handspring is not required for silver, but many gyms (including my daughter's) require it.
None of the gymnasts on my daughter's team seemed to have too much trouble moving from the bronze vault to the silver vault. The round off back handspring seems much harder for them to learn properly.

 

[Anonymous (d9dd)]

Those explanations make sense. I think she already has all the silver requirements, except the vault and maybe her leap isn't quite 90 degrees. And her form in general definitely needs some work, so I was surprised that the coach even mentioned skipping bronze was a possibility.

There's probably also a little more to it that they coach didn't mention.