Women When do you recommend Xcel over JO?

[Really]

A question mostly for coaches: when would you recommend that an athlete switch to the Xcel track when she very much wants to stay in JO? What qualities would make a gymnast more suitable for Xcel over JO?

 

[raenndrops]

If a gymnast is "stuck" in compulsories (3 years at one level, looking at a 4th), we would suggest a switch.
If there is a medical reason that optional routines would be better for the gymnast, we would suggest a switch.
If there is a block that is going to take time to get past (and the gymnast is still in compulsories), we would suggest a switch.
With all of these switches, a switch back later would be allowed when the gymnast was ready... Even if they go back just to score out of compulsories and into L6.

 

[gymbeam]

I am not a coach so I hope you don't mind my reply, but I think a lot depends on what age and level you're wondering about and how long they have been on the JO track prior to the reccommendation.

There are a lot of general reasons (like starting gymnastics at age 11 or wanting to do multiple sports or activities) and a lot of gym-specific reasons depending on what they want out of their JO program (such as technique and strength and skill acquisition, etc.).

 

[Gymmommy71]

IMO many programs are structured so that a max age is set across all their levels/skill ranges. Usually when a JO athlete cannot keep up w/ progressing at a pace to stay under the max age, Xcel may be recommended.

In gyms that don't do the above, I think the move to XCel is usually initiated by the parent/gymnast cause of their preferences - less intense, lower hours, less expense, etc.

 

[ayyyrial]

-Gymnast can't commit to the hours of training J.O., especially when they're at the point of missing a lot of practices due to other interests (even when they state that they want to stay in J.O., but the actions demonstrate that they don't want to be in the gym every evening).

-The family can't commit to the hours or can't afford J.O.

-Gymnast excels at certain events/skills but lags behind in others and can't progress in J.O., since Xcel can provide more flexibility across events. Usually the event that is preventing them from progressing in J.O. is bars, but sometimes other events too, especially if they've had injuries or significant mental blocks.

-Gymnast is not dealing well with the competitive pressure of J.O. - e.g. getting super stressed about meets, mental blocks on skills/routines, making strange (even dangerous) mistakes in meets that aren't made in practice. Xcel has competitions too, but they're generally lower key, and the gym's program may let them not compete every meet.

-A gymnast who starts when they're a bit older is often directed to Xcel for a couple reasons: older kids often want fewer practice hours to accommodate middle/high school life, older kids may want to be able to do optional routines but won't have the opportunity to progress to the upper levels of J.O., it's more enjoyable to be able to train with a group of kids who isn't 5 years younger than you, and sometimes the gym just restricts the J.O. track and resources to gymnasts who they predict will have the potential to top out at L9/10 or do NCAA. What "older" means can vary - some gyms it's 7/8, some gyms it's 12/13.

-Related to the above one, the coaches don't predict that the gymnast has the potential to achieve the goals of their J.O. track. I.e. the gym wants their J.O. team to score highly and this gymnast isn't meeting those scores or isn't showing the potential to meet those scores over time. The gym wants their J.O. gymnasts to be on a trajectory towards L9/L10 (perhaps by a certain age) or towards NCAA or elite. I see this happen more with programs that have more interest than they can accommodate, since they only have so many coaches and so much gym time/space to offer. The gym I used to work at recruited girls for the J.O. track at age 5/6 and had a huge Xcel program for everyone else, and they had so much interest that getting into a rec class could take months due to the waiting list.

 

[Really]

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-Related to the above one, the coaches don't predict that the gymnast has the potential to achieve the goals of their J.O. track. I.e. the gym wants their J.O. team to score highly and this gymnast isn't meeting those scores or isn't showing the potential to meet those scores over time. The gym wants their J.O. gymnasts to be on a trajectory towards L9/L10 (perhaps by a certain age) or towards NCAA or elite. I see this happen more with programs that have more interest than they can accommodate, since they only have so many coaches and so much gym time/space to offer. The gym I used to work at recruited girls for the J.O. track at age 5/6 and had a huge Xcel program for everyone else, and they had so much interest that getting into a rec class could take months due to the waiting list.

Thank you for your thorough responses. I think ayyyrial hit it right on the nose for the situation I am observing at my gym. Our gym had 15 girls compete at State. Only 10 were invited to the next (compulsory) level of JO; the other 5 were only offered spots on the Xcel team. I thought that was strange. But now that I read this post I realize it's probably a case of supply exceeding demand. They also have huge waiting lists for their rec classes.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Very, very true. We have a limit to the time and space that we have available in our gyms. Waiting lists are a common issue.

Each gym will set their own goals and their own focus (ie developing elites, college athletes, a really big team etc) and the desicions they make will reflect this.