Anon Top young gymnasts in US currently?

[Anonymous (a579)]

I'm curious about how the two top gymnasts on Royal's team in Nor Cal do this season. Two of them are 11 and doing their first year of level 10. I haven't seen anybody in the US look as good as them. Watched their routines at a meet last season with my DD and was amazed. They both took high scores at westerns last season... Curious how dominant they will be their first season of 10 at such a young age.

 

[Anonymous (dcf1)]

Maybe you should come out east to see, there are several in that category. There is one that has her 1.5 already, pretty much college ready at that same age.

 

[Anonymous (a579)]

Maybe you should come out east to see, there are several in that category. There is one that has her 1.5 already, pretty much college ready at that same age.

Instagram and such makes it a little easier to judge routines without flying cross country to witness in person. Scoring is inflated in different regions so even though Royal's girls sit atop the top 100 scores in the nation.. that's not the best way to rank gymnasts. Nationals this year will answer more questions.

 

[Anonymous (dcf1)]

Youre the one who posed the question? I gave you a response. But then you answered your own question? You wanted to know if anybody in the US has seen talent "that good". The answer is yes, IDK. Of course getting to nationals is a proving milestone.

 

[Anonymous (7025)]

Royal’s pushed those girls hard and they have a ton of talent. Will they go all the way? Will they fall apart? At that age, it’s so hard to tell. The gym doesn’t have enough of a track record beyond some NCAA recruits to know if their pacing is something they have the experience to sustain. Will they get them most of the way there, like Pacific Reign in recent years, but struggle with timing senior elite training and seasons? Can they pull a GAGE and get them to peak fast and keep them going in spite of injuries? Will there be some injuries and they just turn into brilliant level 10s and D1 recruits? Who knows.

Like others, my rule is never invest my fan energy in juniors. I also unfollow gyms that prominently feature young gymnasts. It feels yucky but I can’t articulate why.

 

[Anonymous (a579)]

Those Royal girls just killed it with high 38s at their first level 10 Nastia Liukin qualifier. Beat the entire field as 11 year olds, first level 10 meet.

 

[Dahlialover]

This thread feels creepy. Why are you anonymously seeking to start a public conversation on the internet about someone else’s 11-year-old children? That’s weird.

 

[Anonymous (cb66)]

This thread feels creepy. Why are you anonymously seeking to start a public conversation on the internet about someone else’s 11-year-old children? That’s weird.

Because scoring 38 as an eleven year old level 10 at the beginning of the season is impressive and worth mentioning on a gymnastics site. Especially impressive coming from a gym that isn't one of the usual suspects.

This isn't the first time a thread has been started about Royal. It seems people are starting to take notice of this gym, and is there a better place to ask questions about an up and coming gym? It's fun to see a gym start to achieve and to muse about it on a site like this.

 

[Anonymous (7025)]

Because scoring 38 as an eleven year old level 10 at the beginning of the season is impressive and worth mentioning on a gymnastics site. Especially impressive coming from a gym that isn't one of the usual suspects.

This isn't the first time a thread has been started about Royal. It seems people are starting to take notice of this gym, and is there a better place to ask questions about an up and coming gym? It's fun to see a gym start to achieve and to muse about it on a site like this.

Are you the person who also started a thread about Royal out of the blue last year? Feels like an annual PR checklist.

Look, Royal is a one of a handful of gyms that are trying to be this generation’s WCC and an alternative of the old school, established elite/10 factories. There are similar ones that really popped up post pandemic amid gym shifts and differentiated themselves by being on new young coaches, functional websites, clean buildings and new equipment, and transparent communications. Poach some existing HOPES/Junior elites, grab disgruntled parents from other gyms to pay the bills, tell parents all the right things (balance! School comes first!) start an intense pre-team program to vacuum up raw talent, and then revert to the same script of high hours, homeschool, etc and here we are 5 years later. Same old fashioned gym culture with an updated website and clean mats.

Royal and Pacific Reign both followed the same script and it “works” depending on your perspective.

I want to read a thread about a gym taking solid but unremarkable middle school-aged optionals and pacing them to get to NCAA without burnout or injury. That would be more unusual than what Royal and the like are doing.

 

[Anonymous (dcf1)]

Raises a few flags. It does seem weird. Either a parent, low-key wanting to hype their child so post anonymously, or someone affiliated with the gym wanting to bring attention or worst creepy. Most posts talking about L10 performance is non-specific, like "the Texas L10s are really difficult to compete against, why is that?" or if it is specifc, its something like "my daugher is doing X, does anyone have any advice?" As I mentioned earlier, there are other girls that are just as talented out there. Are there a lot? No, but why even bring this up?

 

[NutterButter]

Moderator here and I agree with the concerns others have raised about this thread. It’s uncomfortable to read about two 11 year olds and when the gym is singled out, anyone can look up who they are. Of course there is a public aspect to the sport with meet results being published by the meet itself and data aggregators but it feels weird to be anonymously drawing attention to them here.

 

[Anonymous (cb66)]

Are you the person who also started a thread about Royal out of the blue last year? Feels like an annual PR checklist.

Look, Royal is a one of a handful of gyms that are trying to be this generation’s WCC and an alternative of the old school, established elite/10 factories. There are similar ones that really popped up post pandemic amid gym shifts and differentiated themselves by being on new young coaches, functional websites, clean buildings and new equipment, and transparent communications. Poach some existing HOPES/Junior elites, grab disgruntled parents from other gyms to pay the bills, tell parents all the right things (balance! School comes first!) start an intense pre-team program to vacuum up raw talent, and then revert to the same script of high hours, homeschool, etc and here we are 5 years later. Same old fashioned gym culture with an updated website and clean mats.

Royal and Pacific Reign both followed the same script and it “works” depending on your perspective.

I want to read a thread about a gym taking solid but unremarkable middle school-aged optionals and pacing them to get to NCAA without burnout or injury. That would be more unusual than what Royal and the like are doing.

No, I was not on that thread but I remember reading it.

I don't have a lot of experience in this sport. I am a parent of a young and talented gymnast who is trying to understand the sport better.

Not sure it seems possible to get middle of the road kids on the path to college gymnastics. I have family who coach in college sports at the highest level and I guarantee the number of spots that go to middle of the road talent kids are near zero. They are all fighting for the same kids with the other SEC schools and scoping out international talent. Even ranked schools are looking for the talented kids or at least a diamond in the rough.

Not sure why any gym would stand out for taking the top talent for preteam. That seems like it would be par for the course in any densely populated area.

 

[Anonymous (cb66)]

Moderator here and I agree with the concerns others have raised about this thread. It’s uncomfortable to read about two 11 year olds and when the gym is singled out, anyone can look up who they are. Of course there is a public aspect to the sport with meet results being published by the meet itself and data aggregators but it feels weird to be anonymously drawing attention to them here.

I think that's a very valid concern. Of course part of the fun of this sport is watching exceptional talent publicly develop - even moreso in the age of instagram - and wondering or even predicting who

Raises a few flags. It does seem weird. Either a parent, low-key wanting to hype their child so post anonymously, or someone affiliated with the gym wanting to bring attention or worst creepy. Most posts talking about L10 performance is non-specific, like "the Texas L10s are really difficult to compete against, why is that?" or if it is specifc, its something like "my daugher is doing X, does anyone have any advice?" As I mentioned earlier, there are other girls that are just as talented out there. Are there a lot? No, but why even bring this up?

Yeah they probably should have been more general with something about newer gyms with very young and talented level tens.

Not sure how many kids there are out there winning level 10 competitions at age 11. Isn't that about as talented as it gets?

I do think that part of the fun in this sport is watching the prodigies compete as very young tens and then predicting who might have what it takes to make it to the olympics one day. Instagram has made this extremely public.

 

[RTT2]

Put me down for finding it creepy to anonymously post about how 11 year old girls might develop.

 

[Anonymous (dcf1)]

Heres the thing. If you have a "super talented" child then you are well aware of the path and how these things work. There is really no such thing as child prodigies in this sport. Again, its not extremely rare for an 11 yo to compete L10 and even score well (They are not all over the place, but they are there). At least not in the sense of calling someone a child prodigy. Maybe if they were 9 or even 10. Its well documented that the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport struggled as a child gymnast and failed to qualify to national camps. Jade Carey didnt really make the scene until she was 16.
Seeing an 11 yo score well doesnt really mean anything other than an 11yo L10 who scored well in a competition. Maybe in the next year they go Junior elite and win nationals and people start taking notice or maybe next year they are injured and dont compete at all. Just like a 12 yo or a 13 yo. And if you are intimately involved in this sport at this level because you have a super talented kid, then you would know

 

[Anonymous (cb66)]

Heres the thing. If you have a "super talented" child then you are well aware of the path and how these things work. There is really no such thing as child prodigies in this sport. Again, its not extremely rare for an 11 yo to compete L10 and even score well (They are not all over the place, but they are there). At least not in the sense of calling someone a child prodigy. Maybe if they were 9 or even 10. Its well documented that the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport struggled as a child gymnast and failed to qualify to national camps. Jade Carey didnt really make the scene until she was 16.
Seeing an 11 yo score well doesnt really mean anything other than an 11yo L10 who scored well in a competition. Maybe in the next year they go Junior elite and win nationals and people start taking notice or maybe next year they are injured and dont compete at all. Just like a 12 yo or a 13 yo. And if you are intimately involved in this sport at this level because you have a super talented kid, then you would know

Sorry but my kid is a very young talented gymnast. Definitely lots to learn here.

 

[Anonymous (cb66)]

Heres the thing. If you have a "super talented" child then you are well aware of the path and how these things work. There is really no such thing as child prodigies in this sport. Again, its not extremely rare for an 11 yo to compete L10 and even score well (They are not all over the place, but they are there). At least not in the sense of calling someone a child prodigy. Maybe if they were 9 or even 10. Its well documented that the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport struggled as a child gymnast and failed to qualify to national camps. Jade Carey didnt really make the scene until she was 16.
Seeing an 11 yo score well doesnt really mean anything other than an 11yo L10 who scored well in a competition. Maybe in the next year they go Junior elite and win nationals and people start taking notice or maybe next year they are injured and dont compete at all. Just like a 12 yo or a 13 yo. And if you are intimately involved in this sport at this level because you have a super talented kid, then you would know

I'm having a hard time believing that there aren't child prodigies in the sport. Isn't an 11 year old performing at an elite level by definition a prodigy?

My understanding is that Simone Biles showed exceptional talent; so much so that during a daycare field trip she was identified as something special with no prior gymnastics training. I have also read that Jade Carey was intentionally paced conservatively and likely could have been competing with more difficulty at an earlier age.