Parents so...how does this meet stuff work?

[OwlGalLiz]

Boys' ages for competitive season are determined by their age on Sept 1. I think level 4 might be different..

For boys level 4, if they turn six during the season (even if it is after Sept 1) they can compete AFTER their birthday. So our five 5.5 year olds (two late Oct., one Nov. and two Dec.) will all compete in the Spring as six year olds. Then next year they will compete as six year olds again.

 

[mouey77]

So they are scored by level and age for USAG? Thank goodness because one of the other moms and I were noticing that the 8 year olds have much better body control than our just turned 6 yr olds (all same level), so it seems crazy to compare their scores.

 

[Bajanswife]

Another thing to keep in mind about the age ranges is that they may be grouped not only by age year, but by birthday range. For example, 9 year old Jan-March, April-June, etc. Also, she might be in Child B at one meet, but Junior A at another. They could also change the grouping around, so, they may not always compete against the same group.

Last season my dd competed against one girl on her team at several meets and then they weren't in the same age group at the next meet. My dd wasn't aware and freaked out when she didn't get called up to get an AA medal when she knew her score was higher than the other girl. She was in Junior A and the other girl was in Child C and they called the Child C awards before the Junior A awards.

That happened to DD and her best friend! They got exactly the same bars score and DD was called up to place and her friend wasn't. I thought something was wrong and I went to find the coach to sort it out, only to find out that DD's friend was in the next age group because she was a few months older! All the meets we had been to up until that point the age cut-offs had been based on actual age not birth date. But this was a huge meet and there were too many kids the same age, so they did a cut-off based on birth date.

 

[IreneKa]

So they are scored by level and age for USAG? Thank goodness because one of the other moms and I were noticing that the 8 year olds have much better body control than our just turned 6 yr olds (all same level), so it seems crazy to compare their scores.

That's true, the age makes a big different. We went to a smaller meet once, where DD had to compete with the girls 1-2 years older than her, that was her worst meet. She did much better competing in her own age group.

 

[MeetDirector]

Gymnasts are not "scored" by age; they are "scored" by level. In other words, the judges judge all kids in a given level the same regardless of age. When it comes to awards, the kids are grouped by age so that they are competing against kids of the same age. During the meet though, they are competing with thier own teammates and only at the end when it comes to award time is the grouping by age done by the scoring software.

I have mentioned the scoring software often in this thread, so let me explain a little. Every athlete is entered into the database along with thier club and thier birthdate for a given level. As the meet progresses, the individual scores for each gymnast are entered into the system. At the end of the meet, the system generates a report for each age grouping for a given level and the awards are presented based on this report. It is very common for there to be a time lag between the end of the last competitor and the beginning of awards due to this final verification and generation of reports. At my meets, that time gap is no more than 5-10 minutes because I prepare everything in advance.

 

[IreneKa]

But doesn't the age grouping also depends on how many kids in the session? Let's say you have 40 kids, ages 7 - 10. The system will divide them into 4 categories 10 people each - roughly 7 yo, 8 yo, 9 yo, 10 yo. But what if you only have 20 kids. Then it would divide them into 2 categories - 7-8 yo, 9-10 yo. Or am I wrong, and the age categories are always the same?

 

[Quadqueen]

Yes, at most meets, they will try to keep the sizes of the groups generally the same, so one grouping could be just 7 year olds, and another could be 8-10 year olds. That's not always the way w/boys meets, however. They often stick with set age groups. At one meet we were at, there were about 30 7-8 year old boys in one awards group, and they gave awards to top 3. There were 2 10 year old boys. They medaled in every event, obviously!

 

[mouey77]

I see. So age doesn't make a difference as far as the score received but does make a difference in how they place?

 

[Quadqueen]

Yes, exactly.

 

[gymboymom]

I think awards are something you need to learn about in the area you live and compete in. We moved states mid season last year. For the boys: in our previous state, awards were by age as of sept 1. Some meets combined ages but always by age. So 6,7-8, etc or sometimes 6-7,8, 9, etc. new state does not tell you. Most meets boys are evenly divided by birthdates into groups about 10 with 5 medals. Others, the size groups were all over the place.

 

[MeetDirector]

Keeping the number of gymnasts in an age group about equal is my number one priority (after making sure I don't exceed the maximum number of gymnasts in a session) when building the sessions for my meets. My magic number is around 12 per group. Sometimes if there are a lot of the same age kids this results in the splitting of an age group into 2 (or more) sub-groups for that age. This is where the athlete's birthday comes in again and I end up with say 8 year old younger and 8 year old older (or child and junior or some other naming convention).

And by the way, while the most recent version of the best scoring software will build the groups for me, I still do it manually just to make sure. And remember, the building of a meet by the meet director which results in the highly anticipated session schedule for a meet, can't happen until all of the entries are received and verified. This usually doesn't happen until about 3-4 weeks before the meet. So, if you want the session schedule for the meet before the season starts or even a month before the meet, you most likely won't get it as it probably hasn't been built at that point. There is a ton of work going on behind the scenes in the weeks leading up to the meet and building the sessions is critical. Imagine what the folks doing the Chicago Style meet with 6000 gymnasts go through building that meet. Crazy!

 

[flgymmom]

All the other replies said all I wanted to say.... but I wanted to add how that last year was our first year and I have to tell you how much we enjoyed it.

I remember sitting thinking the stadium was like a sea of colored leo's lolol .... the cheers were exciting and those moments waiting for your DDs score to appear on the board seems like eternity, but wow I just love it ! I can't wait to get started again this season.

 

[momofthreegirls]

Last year both of my DDs competed L4. The younger was barely 6 years old, and the older one turned 9 midway through the season. In our state age is determined by age on the final day of the state meet, which is in the Spring. (We have only one state meet per year.)

However, the meet directors had freedom in grouping ages for awards. It seemed they tried to keep the groups around the same size, usually 12-16 girls in each age group.

At a few meets my younger one competed in a 6 year old age group, but usually she was in a 7 and under group - just depended on if they had enough 6 year olds to make a separate category.

There were usually a ton of 9 year olds, so they split them by birthday into 9JR and 9SR.

At smaller meets the age groups tended to be:
7 and under
8
9
10 and older

At larger meets:
6
7
8JR
8SR
9JR
9SR
10
11+

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Thats interesting how your age groups are split, over here we compete you age at 31st December, so P&F is competing 10 even though she wont be 10 till the end of November. No matter how many girls/boys are in the age group we (normally) award 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

You tend to find lots of girls competing 8/9/10 and very few in the open (over 15) category, sometimes only 1 or 2 so they are guaranteed a medal.

 

[sleeplessinnewyork]

Meets, oh goody. Welcome to the wacky (6:00 A.A. run to the convenience store muttering under your breath "hair sparkles"), wierd (Why is that team facing the wall and meditating?), confusing (Why did she fall? She was doing it perfectly yesterday!), but still really fun world of compe9titive gymnastics.

They will have age groups at meets, however, they can sometimes be VERY different in size, so one group may have 6 kids while another may have 37. Your daughter may get stuck in the most competitve age group, which may be harder, but it is also the more "realistic placement" age group. (I've been at meets where, in the smallest age groups. gymnasts placed third or fourth with 5.5's and such.)

Other than that, be prepared to wake up early, sit in seats that are not overly comfortable, and listen to the same music over, and over, and over, and over, and yet, see your daughter compete for less than 3 minutes and see why it's all worth it.

Oh, and yes, expect to get stuck behind that ONE team of parents that stands up for the whole meat and screams throughout the entire meet as if they were on some sort of endless rollercoaster. Just kidding.Sort of.

 

[SignHere]

Ohhhh, Competition season..... I can't wait for it to begin, and then, I can't wait until for it to end!

Meets! Always bring your favorite headache remedy - you will usually get one.

I always have (in my bag, or DD's)
Nail polish remover
Extra hair bands
Sewing kit to mend torn Leo
Athletic tape
Band aids
Pepto bismol

Hair spray is nice, but not a necessity.
As they get older, feminine supplies.

You will be the goddess of all the team gymmies and moms.

 

[cbifoja]

Ohhhh, Competition season..... I can't wait for it to begin, and then, I can't wait until for it to end!

I'm the same way! I don't usually start fighting meet fatigue until mid-February but yeah, by the time State rolls around in March, I am SO done with competitions. The first four or five are lots of fun though.

My advice is to enjoy it all because soon it will all be over. If your child likes these kinds of things, I recommend doing the "good luck o gram" or the "shout out". It not only helps support the local club but also makes the kids feel important. At least it does my kid.....

 

[2G1B]

I'm kind of dreading meet season this year. My girls start in August (just 2 weeks!!!) and then they finish in December, which is when my son starts. Then he should finish in April. So August - April.

 

[cbifoja]

Yeah, that is a long season! We don't start until December and only go through March so it's doable.

 

[3rd_time_around]

One more thing about ages for parents new to this crazy sport.

The age of your dd for competition purposes (her competition age) is the age she will be on the final day of the culminating meet for her level in the season. The culminating meet can be the State meet or Regional meet or National meet (even if she doesn't qualify). So if your dd is 8 when the season starts but turns 9 before her level 5 state meet, she competes as a 9 year old all season. This is USAG's way of leveling things out for age divisions thu the season. All scoring software, if configured correctly, will place athletes in the correct age level with just the athlete's birth date.

this has never happened at any meets my daughter's competed in for 8 years, except 1. All our girls compete their age even in AAU, and if their birthday falls the day before state, then they have to move to the next age group for state even though they were in The younger group all season. You can tell me it's not possible, but I have entered the girls ages many times on meet entries, and I know what I'm talking about.