Women Skills test question for level 4

[CuriousCate]

Other than the actual skills required for level 4 competition, what else does your gym include in their decision as to whether a kid will move from lvl 3 to lvl 4? Like what sort of strength/conditioning or score minimum, etc. Do they require the child to do a certain number of leg lifts, rope climb steps, pull ups, press handstands, hold a handstand for ** seconds, etc? Do you all specifically ask the coaches about it or do you just get the scoop from your kids?

 

[Texasmomof3]

Our gym requires them to successfully compete the previous level and have the skills to compete the next level. There is no magic beyond that.

 

[gymbeam]

ours test strength and skills. we weren't ever really informed and i don't remember my daughter sharing much detail.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

There is no tests or minimum beyond the required age. If they can do the level 4 skills they do L4.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our gym requires them to successfully compete the previous level and have the skills to compete the next level. There is no magic beyond that.

Just curious what successfully complete the previous level means

 

[LindyHopper]

It's not always just about skills. With my daughter, her move to L4 had more to do with her work ethic, trust in coaches, focus, and ability & willingness to take answer apply correction. After a fairly successful L2 season, she trained L3 for two months, and Head coach came to me and said he wanted her to move to L4. At that point, she didn't even have her ROBHS, let alone her ROBHSBHS.

 

[suebee]

AFAIK, dd's gym does not do a formal evaluation for deciding to move them up from one level to the next. I think the decision to move up is made by the coaches based on the skills they have at the time, and then perhaps other intangibles (work ethic, etc. especially if there is a big jump in hours for the next level). AFAIK, her gym does not have a score minimum in the prior level to move up (other than the very minimal USAG score requirement).

Her gym decides levels before the summer, so kids may not have all the skills they need yet for the next level, but they have to be at a point that it seems likely that they are to get those skills by the time they need them.

 

[Splat]

My gym is like LindyHopper and suebee you have to have done pretty well in the previous level and have all skills from that level along with atleast a good start on skills for the next level. My coaches also look at work ethic, focus, ability and willingness like LindyHopper said. An example of this is last year I did really well on beam, vault and floor in level 4. I struggled with bars and my back extention, however my coaches knew my willingness and work ethic that they knew that after the summer I would have the skills for the next level.

 

[LindyHopper]

ability & willingness to take answer apply correction.

Argh! Too late to edit. Take AND apply corrections.

 

[CuriousCate]

Thanks everyone. My kid is pretty young - almost 7 (ie not the most reliable informant) but she told me that she needs her lvl 4 skills before "testing" which I think is in June but that she also needs to do 20 leg lifts with straight legs, 15 piked straight legs rope climb steps, 10 press handstands up and down from straddle (not standing - is there a name for that?), hold a handstand for 10 seconds, all 3 splits all the way down and an AA of 36 in at least one meet.

She was obviously pretty detailed but some of this (the strength parts!) seems a little rough especially if she has all the skills (she has all but the infamous kip which she lost over our holiday vacation). I would like to ask her coach if it's accurate but I guess in the end if she meets their specific requirements she meets them and if not, then she doesn't!

 

[LindyHopper]

There wouldn't be a single girl on our L5 team who would be on your daughter's L4 team if that were the requirements.

 

[Texasmomof3]

In terms of successfully completed, I was thinking any level move, not just from 3 to 4. There is of course the USAG minimum score to move, but our gym expects them to do better than minimum. The expectation is to be capable of a 36 AA at the previous level, but they aren't so draconian that a girl who only scored a 35.975 would be required to repeat, just because she didn't meet that magical 36.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

There wouldn't be a single girl on our L5 team who would be on your daughter's L4 team if that were the requirements.

I was going to say the same thing! DD just competed level 4 and no one on her team can do all of those things (the 10 press handstand especially). Dd's gym does not have any specific strength requirements for moving up. It's based on skills, attitude, how they did the previous season, etc. Almost everyone moves up in levels unless they are really struggling. Repeating is very rare at her gym.

 

[suebee]

A lot of those strength requirements sound like TOPs skills. The 20 leg lifts, the press handstands, rope climb in pike. I assume they are working on those in practice? At dd's gym, I think only the TOPs kids work those particular strength things. Most non-TOPs kids at dd's gym cannot do any press handstands, much less 10!

 

[CuriousCate]

Yes, they do work these in practice every time. I do recall that DD needed 10 rope steps and two sets of 10 legs lifts to get to lvl 3 but I think that was it for strength. What she's telling me now sounds a little intense!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our kids train like that, it's just part of their conditioning. We don't officially do Tops.

There is no actual conditioning requirement to move, nor a mandatory score beyond the USAG one. You have the skills you move.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our kids train like that, it's just part of their conditioning. We don't officially do Tops.

There is no actual conditioning requirement to move, nor a mandatory score beyond the USAG one. You have the skills you move.

This is what makes sense to me! We are not doing TOPS either (I think they may have a few girls training TOPS, but not at my kid's level). Obviously the conditioning is super important to progress and to prevent injury but I thought it was extreme to have it included in the move-up decision, unless the child is really not making head-way with strength.

 

[GymDad23]

I feel like in our gym it was safe to assume a girl would be getting moved up from 3 to 4 if they at least qualified for the state meet at 3 and was able to kip on the bar or close to it the summer before the new season. And obviously showing progression on skills needed anyways. Through the grapevine I've heard the gym's plan is to move the level 4 girls to level 6 next year, unless they have to repeat 4. That seems to be nothing out of the ordinary though from reading other posts here.

 

[mommyof1]

Move-up requirements are never mentioned to parents and seem to shift as they are communicated to the girls. Last year, my kid told me that all that was required to move to L4 was a kip or a squat-on. Only one first-year L3 was moved up, and she was the only one who had been allowed to do any uptraining at all during the L3 season. I believe she had all the L4 skills except the vault and maybe the long hang kip. The rest repeated L3, including some who had scored 36s.

This year, my daughter is telling me that they have to have all of the L4 skills by the end of the season to move up. The second-year L3s and a couple of first-years have been doing significant uptraining all season. A few of them already "have" all of the skills except vaulting over the table, for which they are still only doing drills. "Have" at this point ranges from sort of reliable and ugly to very reliable and decent-looking.

She's never mentioned any conditioning requirements to move up, although all of the L3s have their splits down and most of them climb the rope with scissor legs. None of them can do a press handstand, and I don't think they work on them much. They do a fair amount of conditioning, but it doesn't seem to be based on the TOPS program. TOPS is not offered.

In reality, I think move-ups are entirely at the coaches' discretion.

 

[Jeannie6]

I take my level fours based on what I see in them and their willingness to work. I have a few girls I just moved up that are very good twos or soft threes. Our season is over, so I have until the fall to get them ready to compete 4. I'm confident they will be ready.