WAG Skipping level 5 and 6

[catova]

Based on your user name I was wondering of you are in CA. In SoCal, it seems that the competitive gyms do not move gymnasts up to L7 just because they can 'do' the skills; the gymnasts have to do those L7 skills quite well before they actually compete. I know a number of girls who scored 37+ as L5's in the compulsory season here (L5 state meet is November) that had their L7 skills before optional season started in January; but if the form on those L7's skills was not good enough to make them truly competitive (solid 9's), well...those gymnasts are not yet 'competing' L7. They are training L7 (and additional uptraining) and will compete next year's optional season as L7 if they are still in the sport. Some gyms here will do L6 as in-between, but some don't.

Having had both daughters compete in another region before a move here, I can say the move up standards at their former gym were much easier- and it was a top notch, highly competitive gym for its region. The meet scoring in general was easier too. It makes me think that some of the 'not ready to compete L7' kids here would be scoring and placing quite well as L7's or even higher in our old region. SoCal with its population of 22 million+ makes for some fierce standards, it seems...

 

[gymnastca25]

You are right-there are two schools of thought. Out gym does the former (skills then fix form), but from what I've learned here that does not seem to be the preferred method. My DD certainly lacks in form the more I learn, and without a strong kip I wouldn't doubt many schools would have her repeating 3 instead of all the uptraining she's doing. But she's happy, and excited she'll probably be doing 6 in the fall. I just have to trust in the coaches. They keep saying she'll be fine.

Yes, you would never move to 4 even without a kip at our gym. A kip is the right of passage lol! I am not sure how you even get on the bars for 4 and up without a kip.

 

[GymMom4]

At a lot of the gyms in my area, the gymnasts compete level 4 already having their level 5 & 7 skills competition ready. So really they're not skipping much. They compete below their level, rake in the state titles, then compete their actual level (hehe not that I'm bitter ). This isn't the case at all gyms though. Just an observation of what happens quite often.

We see that a lot in our region, too.

For some gyms it's seemingly more important to have the team titles than to have the kids compete where they are capable.

Our gym doesn't skip levels but we had one who competed 5 in the fall, then 6, aced level 6 States and competed a meet at 7 this past weekend. Now she is getting ready to train 8.

That is for sure not the norm but I think this girl is an amazing talent.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

Yes, you would never move to 4 even without a kip at our gym. A kip is the right of passage lol! I am not sure how you even get on the bars for 4 and up without a kip.

In Xcel Gold you actually can compete the pullover. Which is kind of nice because she can get experience competing higher level skills, while working on the nasty kip (lol!)in practice. I feel lucky this is an option for her.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

How are so many kids skipping from 4 to 7? 5 seems like such a hard level for my 9 year old. She has done fine but it was not easy. I just keep reading post about kids skipping from 4 to 7. That would never happen in dd's gym.

Well 7 really is hard but only a hop skip and a jump harder than 5.

 

[ascarter1]

My daughter went from level 3 to level 6 last season. They are required to score out of 4 and 5. It's tough but can be done, she placed 4th aa at state. Started training 7 today.

 

[munchkin3]

In our state, (it's very competitive too)......some of the young L7s were getting 35s and 36s and still placing in the 10th and 11th spot. The routines were very clean, although 'little girl' wobbly. Top spots were going to 37 and 38s!
Right now, all my DD wants is to get to optionals.....I think her form is decent, as she spent most of her compulsory years training under a Russian coach. We will see what ends up happening, though the only thing I told my DD is that there is NO WAY she can expect doing one level per year in optionals......its a whole different ball game.

 

[mobeans]

Not to hijack this thread...but when you say 'scoring out' does that mean you need to learn all the routines for, say, L4 and then compete it to attain the score. Then do the same for 5...all in a season? How do they learn the routines so quickly?

 

[Quadqueen]

The routines are similar.

 

[gymbeam]

yes, the routines are very much alike which helps a lot.
plus, the minimum score is low and honestly doesn't take perfecting the routine to get it.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

If you are good enough to score out of multiple levels , you are good enough to learn the routines quickly.

 

[ascarter1]

Not to hijack this thread...but when you say 'scoring out' does that mean you need to learn all the routines for, say, L4 and then compete it to attain the score. Then do the same for 5...all in a season? How do they learn the routines so quickly?

They are judged more on whether they can successfully complete the required skills. Dd scored out of both 4 and 5 in the same day at private in-house meet.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

They are judged more on whether they can successfully complete the required skills. Dd scored out of both 4 and 5 in the same day at private in-house meet.

That is also our plan for sometime this summer/early fall. The season starts in October so she's got a few months to brush some things up!

 

[Along4theRide]

Not to hijack this thread...but when you say 'scoring out' does that mean you need to learn all the routines for, say, L4 and then compete it to attain the score. Then do the same for 5...all in a season? How do they learn the routines so quickly?

Yup. My dd learned jo 4 routines last fall...competed and scored out. Then learned jo 5 routines in 4-5 weeks...competed and scored out. Then learned all new gold routines within a month. Quite the nerve racking season for a parent, I must say!! :-\ She seems to take it all in stride! ;-)

 

[gymjunkie]

Often the plan to test out starts when the child is still on pre-team. You can tell which kids will advance unusually quickly, so you start laying down the foundation for optional skills before they have even done level 2 or 3. There is no skipping over, as a matter of fact, it's very important that the foundation is laid properly so that they can advance without any setbacks.

 

[ascarter1]

That is also our plan for sometime this summer/early fall. The season starts in October so she's got a few months to brush some things up!

We learned the routine and competed it the same day. Probably 2 hours total at the gym, including testing out.

I'm not going to say this was the easiest season but I still considered it very successful, ending her level 6 at almost 37 aa and 4th in state. It was tough at times but I am so thankful we did it!

Good luck to you and your dd.

 

[stxrdusty]

I competed old 4, scored out of old 5, competed old 6 the following year, and then almost scored out of 7 a year after that as I had most of the skills for level 8 at the time (I was missing a true flight series on beam and a half pirouette on bars). So within 2 years I gained the skills for the next 4 levels. My coach was okay with this because she knew I'd be a better optional gymnast than compulsory gymnast (she was right). She still dislikes compulsories and tries to compete them as little as possible. At the moment she's trying to score out all of our compulsories and have them compete new level 6 until they have the skills for level 7 and level 8. As a team we constantly up-train and girls have been known to change levels within a competition season or change skills within routines during a season. Once in optionals repeating levels happens frequently with us. That being said, we repeat when we don't have the skills for the next level, AA score doesn't matter as long as it is over the score required to score out (this is why I only a 36 once in my gymnastics career, in level 8 no less, and didn't even qualify for regionals that year, but still competed level 9 the following year).

I should mention that it did take me 4 years to learn a kip cast handstand...and I'm from Southern California.

 

[gymnastca25]

Yes, it seems from the posts here that every gym has their own approach to things. DD's gym would never even think about scoring out of all these levels. You are much more likely to repeat a level then score out of a level. I wonder how her new gym will do things. She is switching gyms due to a move from one state to another and her old gym completely changed ownership.

 

[mobeans]

They are judged more on whether they can successfully complete the required skills. Dd scored out of both 4 and 5 in the same day at private in-house meet.

Man I wish our gym would offer this

 

[mobeans]

Yes, it seems from the posts here that every gym has their own approach to things. DD's gym would never even think about scoring out of all these levels. You are much more likely to repeat a level then score out of a level. I wonder how her new gym will do things. She is switching gyms due to a move from one state to another and her old gym completely changed ownership.

Our gyms sound similar! When I read/hear about scoring out I sure wish our gym would offer it. They are very set in that one level a year is your best scenario. They don't hold kids back and are selective as to who moves up.. Which has its good and it's bad :/