Anon When gyms change move-up requirements

[Anonymous (3e75)]

Gym just announced that move-ups will be decided based on June skills for a December season start. Usually it’s decided in September. Worse, they have changed the skills required for move-ups and for levels 5 and up they are requiring skills from at least a level up.

My daughter is crushed. She is on the cusp of getting all of her level 5 skills locked down and got her two level 4 36+ scores during the first meets of last season, but she isn’t going to have the gym’s additional level 6 requirements in time.

The girls who just finished level 5 don’t even have the skills they’re requiring her to have, but are allowed to go to 6. The established optionals at the gym had very different requirements as they moved up.

Is this a sign that the gym is bad, or good? Maybe being more strict is good for future compulsory girls but it feels like my daughter is being punished by the new standards.

 

[Anonymous (e2af)]

I would not be happy to pay for my child to repeat level 4 after receiving two 36s the previous season. However, going to level 5 instead of level 6 is totally fine. At our gym, everyone does level 5 and then they either go on to level 6 or 7 depending on their skills. Our coaches believe that level 5 provides a better foundation for optionals than level 6. That’s the traditional progression and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[Anonymous (3e75)]

I would not be happy to pay for my child to repeat level 4 after receiving two 36s the previous season. However, going to level 5 instead of level 6 is totally fine. At our gym, everyone does level 5 and then they either go on to level 6 or 7 depending on their skills. Our coaches believe that level 5 provides a better foundation for optionals than level 6. That’s the traditional progression and there is nothing wrong with it.

I would not be happy to pay for my child to repeat level 4 after receiving two 36s the previous season. However, going to level 5 instead of level 6 is totally fine. At our gym, everyone does level 5 and then they either go on to level 6 or 7 depending on their skills. Our coaches believe that level 5 provides a better foundation for optionals than level 6. That’s the traditional progression and there is nothing wrong with it.

They’ve said that the expectation would be that she would go 4,4,5,6, barring needing to repeat 5 in the future in which case they said to expect 4,4,5,5,6.

 

[Anonymous (2a3d)]

Move up season is always so frustrating. I am not sure what to tell you as we are still new to this but we are in a similar boat:
state was barely two weeks ago and all the sudden the levels for next season were decided for January 2026 season with no known criteria and almost no upgrade time. It’s so frustrating. I’m wondering if the kids do really well over the summer if levels will be reconsidered in the fall but no guarantee…wonder if it’s the same for you.

 

[Anonymous (36e2)]

Saying she will repeat Level 4 when "she is on the cusp of getting all of her level 5 skills locked down and got her two level 4 36+ scores during the first meets of last season" makes no sense unless she lost skills as the season progressed and had a major backslide.

Hopefully, they are just doing "summer groups" and will re-evaluate before the end of the summer

If these are not the case, I would explore other gyms in the area.

 

[Anonymous (4225)]

I just want to kindly share……. getting 2 36’s in Level 4 has absolutely nothing to do with being ready for Level 6. The fact that USAG made this rule is just ridiculous. You have to trust that your coaches are making decisions for the long term success of your child- and often- understandably- kids and parents think more short term. Trust me- we hate move up time & the stress that goes with it as well! I would say 99% of coaches want the athlete to be safe and successful. Repeating Level 4 is VERY common.

 

[Anonymous (3e75)]

I just want to kindly share……. getting 2 36’s in Level 4 has absolutely nothing to do with being ready for Level 6. The fact that USAG made this rule is just ridiculous. You have to trust that your coaches are making decisions for the long term success of your child- and often- understandably- kids and parents think more short term. Trust me- we hate move up time & the stress that goes with it as well! I would say 99% of coaches want the athlete to be safe and successful. Repeating Level 4 is VERY common.

It’s not a matter of being ready for 6. Her gym does level 5 but is saying they want to keep her at level 4. She had all 36s and 37s last season so I shared that fact just to make it clear that she did not have any level 4 struggles and had clean confident skills.

I just don’t understand why they want her to have level 6 skills to go to level 5!

 

[Anonymous (3e75)]

Saying she will repeat Level 4 when "she is on the cusp of getting all of her level 5 skills locked down and got her two level 4 36+ scores during the first meets of last season" makes no sense unless she lost skills as the season progressed and had a major backslide.

Hopefully, they are just doing "summer groups" and will re-evaluate before the end of the summer

If these are not the case, I would explore other gyms in the area.

No backslide- every meet was better than the last.

They don’t do summer groups and don’t re-evaluate group placement except to send athletes down/repeat if they hadn’t initially planned that.

 

[Anonymous (f628)]

No backslide- every meet was better than the last.

They don’t do summer groups and don’t re-evaluate group placement except to send athletes down/repeat if they hadn’t initially planned that.

Already deciding levels for sure is strange. My gym sends out “probably” levels this time of year, and makes final decisions in august. If she has her level 5 skills safely by the end summer, did well in level 4, and wants to move up (which all seem to be the case) then I don’t see a reason to keep her level 4.

 

[Anonymous (36e2)]

No backslide- every meet was better than the last.

They don’t do summer groups and don’t re-evaluate group placement except to send athletes down/repeat if they hadn’t initially planned that.

I think it may be time to evaluate other options.

 

[Anonymous (fda1)]

I’ve experienced similar issues and it’s very frustrating. My daughter’s gym would let girls do the compulsory season in the fall and do the next compulsory level in the spring if they were ready. If they scored well, they could then move to the next compulsory level the next fall.

My daughter did level 3 in the fall only because she was too young for level 4. She actually trained with the 4’s, but competed 3. She won every meet and usually every event with high 38’s. In the spring she was now old enough for level 4 and competed 3 meets of 4, scoring all high 38’s with 9.9’s on bars.

Prior to summer groups coming out the gym decided to revise their policy and even if you scored very well in the spring, you would need to repeat that level in the fall. My daughter was super disappointed to know she would need to do another 9 months of a level she had already been in for a year and had clearly mastered.

In the end we ended up leaving. It was not due to the new policy but looking to the future it was obvious this gym was not a place she could stay long term if she wanted to excel in optionals. They had no level 9- 10’s and struggling level 7/8s.

Looking back if the gym had been a good fit for her long term I would have sucked it up and dealt with it. The policy change just opened our eyes to the reality that she needed a different program.

This was many years ago and she now is a NCAA gymnast at a top D1 school.

Finding a good gym is very hard. I would not leave a gym that otherwise suits your daughter’s needs over competition levels. I’d be looking ahead to the levels above to see if long term this gym is a good place for her.

Good luck!