Anon Xcel level

[Anonymous (54bc)]

If she was only 6, she wasn't old enough to compete Level 4.

Her summer birthday was before the season started. So she would have been 7.

 

[Anonymous (b69d)]

Sounds like the only thing holding her back is her kip. Don’t let them hold her back only based on age it’s unfair to her. Maybe you could try a new gym for a second opinion on what level is appropriate. The only other thing I can think of is she might be able to throw all of the skills you listed but how clean and competition ready are they? Is a lot of work still needed to clean up form? My daughter never did xcel,, but did end up repeating level 3 due to not having her kip perfectly done for level 4. At the time, they fed me a bunch of garbage about her being so young and she should be on a team with kids closer to her age anyway since she was 6 and her teammates were 3-5yrs older. She literally had all the skills to move up but was held back due to age and her kip not being straight armed consistently. The new teammates that season were still older so none of it made sense logically. We left that gym after level 4 and a new gym had my daughter skip level 5 and now she is back on her original track. The old gym wanted her to compete level 5 even though she had the scores and skills to skip it. I couldn’t stand behind their ideology any longer.

I am mildly frustrated as the kip is happening multiple times per practice and seems to be trending towards more consistent whereas the girls who moved up don’t have one at all yet but are working it much harder than my daughter’s group since it will be required for them. It appears there won’t be gold this year after all- that group will be competing level 4 and/or 5 to be scored out for level 6 the following season.
My DD is now vaulting over the table quite nicely and in reality has all level 4 skills (just needing to keep working the kip) and many level 5. Because she is not in that group she will be training pretty much the same skills as they are but won’t be afforded the opportunity to get her score outs and will likely either have to spend all the following season working to score out or have to cram in in-house score out meets next summer/fall. I don’t completely understand why she can’t just spend the season competing level 4 even if they don’t think she’s ready for level 5. That would at least give her the chance to make two 36s and potentially be ready to go to 6 the next season.

I think I am mostly just venting. We love her primary coach and there’s no other gym we could realistically switch to anyway so it is what it is. Our gym skews older and I honestly think they just haven’t encountered many 7-8 year olds with gold/level 4 skills so they just sort of assume they aren’t ready/old enough etc. It really feels like these group/level decisions were made months ago and no amount of skill acquisition will change minds. Her group is a healthy one for her and her coach will always challenge her and not let her get bored and she will be allowed to compete upgraded skills so hopefully it’ll be a good season for her and the levels and score outs will sort themselves out later.

 

[Anonymous (246d)]

Everyone here is assuming that clubs act with integrity and without bias. Very often there are more factors that go into advancing kids, especially younger ones. One of those factors could be that the gym has management with little to no personal experience in the sport. Another could be they favour other kids and sending you the message to find another club by making her repeat.

Although in this case, low 9's wouldn't finish top 5 in comps from what I've seen. Low 9's in these lower levels is a sign that the fundamentals are getting deductions. My kid just got assessed to go up one level, and not two and she had 9.6+ all year. She still had a few things to conquer before being pushed to level 4. The same skills you're speaking that your kid doesn't have, many of them my kid does have. Maybe USA passes kids along easier than Canada, but if your kid is a 2018, scoring low 9's, it doesn't make sense to advance her because she will score even lower the next season unless there's some massive leap in fundamentals and strength.

 

[Anonymous (b69d)]

Interesting. She makes 9.3-9.5s on bars and beam (unless she falls which she did at a meet or two this season while upgrading her acro) and low 9s on floor and vault. She came top 1-3 on floor and vault at pretty much every competition this season and usually medaled on bars and beam and won her state meet all around. In my experience at least at her level in the meets we have been to the winning vault score is often between a 9.1-9.3 and sometimes as low as 8.9. Never saw a vault score above a 9.4 this season. Winning floor scores are often a 9.2-9.4. In our area 37s are a challenge and 38s are rare and typically only achieved by kids repeating the level. High 36s can and do win meets here. Not sure if that’s a big difference from Canada.

What skills did I say she doesn’t have? Kip? She is kipping. Just still building consistency. I said she has everything her peers moving up do just some aren’t competition ready. She isn’t attempting to move up two levels, just one. Silver is treated like level 3 at our gym. She is young so still coming into her full body awareness and has had a pretty large leap in ability over the last 3-4 months I’d say. She loses tenths on things like toe point, slight leg bends and separation, etc but places well.

I am certain she is not being subtly asked to leave. The gym is keeping more than half the kids back for another year so she isn’t necessarily being singled out except that she really is the only one not moving on who could make a case that she has all the skills. She is exceptionally strong but could do with focusing on her dance elements and flexibility and beam confidence.

I can’t imagine not letting kids move on without 9.6s if they have the skills. Those are very hard to come by at least in our area. Typically the viewpoint around here is that the gyms requiring 38s to move up are sandbagging. Not a single girl on our team made a 38 this season unless she was repeating and even then I think it was only one girl.

Anyway. Hard to know if a 9.0 routine here is a 9.0 routine where you are I suppose without comparing them.

 

[Anonymous (246d)]

Interesting. She makes 9.3-9.5s on bars and beam (unless she falls which she did at a meet or two this season while upgrading her acro) and low 9s on floor and vault. She came top 1-3 on floor and vault at pretty much every competition this season and usually medaled on bars and beam and won her state meet all around. In my experience at least at her level in the meets we have been to the winning vault score is often between a 9.1-9.3 and sometimes as low as 8.9. Never saw a vault score above a 9.4 this season. Winning floor scores are often a 9.2-9.4. In our area 37s are a challenge and 38s are rare and typically only achieved by kids repeating the level. High 36s can and do win meets here. Not sure if that’s a big difference from Canada.

What skills did I say she doesn’t have? Kip? She is kipping. Just still building consistency. I said she has everything her peers moving up do just some aren’t competition ready. She isn’t attempting to move up two levels, just one. Silver is treated like level 3 at our gym. She is young so still coming into her full body awareness and has had a pretty large leap in ability over the last 3-4 months I’d say. She loses tenths on things like toe point, slight leg bends and separation, etc but places well.

I am certain she is not being subtly asked to leave. The gym is keeping more than half the kids back for another year so she isn’t necessarily being singled out except that she really is the only one not moving on who could make a case that she has all the skills. She is exceptionally strong but could do with focusing on her dance elements and flexibility and beam confidence.

I can’t imagine not letting kids move on without 9.6s if they have the skills. Those are very hard to come by at least in our area. Typically the viewpoint around here is that the gyms requiring 38s to move up are sandbagging. Not a single girl on our team made a 38 this season unless she was repeating and even then I think it was only one girl.

Anyway. Hard to know if a 9.0 routine here is a 9.0 routine where you are I suppose without comparing them.

Yeah, maybe those foundational things like pointing and stuff.. but if 2018 and doing all that, not a big deal to be held back if still advancing skills, just competing lower.

 

[Anonymous (b69d)]

Thanks. I agree it’s not a big deal for her long term. Just frustrated at the inconsistent criteria being applied across the gymnasts.

 

[Anonymous (56cf)]

At our gym, she would definitely go to Gold. If she got the kip consistently, had the ROBHSBT on the floor, and could work toward a clear hip circle, then she would have the chance to score out and compete the rest of the season at Platinum (we allow mid-season move-ups).

Just out of curiosity, would a gymnast with the following right now likely move up to gold for the season starting January 2026 at your gym?

-consistently scored 36.7s-36.9s at silver

-Has ROBHSBHS, front tuck, standing back tuck, nice ROBHSBT on tumble track (hasn’t taken it to floor yet but will shortly), front handspring, walkovers, may have side aerial, good leaps, etc

-glide kip isn’t consistent yet but making a few every practice with straight arms (no long hang yet), squat on, jump to high bar, “baby giant”, double back hip, ugly new flyaway, cast to horizontal not a problem

-vertical handstand 75 ish % of the time on beam, cartwheel, back walkover (inconsistent still), split jumps good, not sure about full turn

-apparently getting over vault table w/ FHS. Often won silver vault (FHS)- consistent low 9s all season.

-does well with peers and focuses well for age but still very young.

No drama or hurt feelings or anything-just wondering about the variety of requirements etc across gyms for golds! Thanks!

Just out of curiosity, would a gymnast with the following right now likely move up to gold for the season starting January 2026 at your gym?

-consistently scored 36.7s-36.9s at silver

-Has ROBHSBHS, front tuck, standing back tuck, nice ROBHSBT on tumble track (hasn’t taken it to floor yet but will shortly), front handspring, walkovers, may have side aerial, good leaps, etc

-glide kip isn’t consistent yet but making a few every practice with straight arms (no long hang yet), squat on, jump to high bar, “baby giant”, double back hip, ugly new flyaway, cast to horizontal not a problem

-vertical handstand 75 ish % of the time on beam, cartwheel, back walkover (inconsistent still), split jumps good, not sure about full turn

-apparently getting over vault table w/ FHS. Often won silver vault (FHS)- consistent low 9s all season.

-does well with peers and focuses well for age but still very young.

No drama or hurt feelings or anything-just wondering about the variety of requirements etc across gyms for golds! Thanks!

At our gym no. They are very strict on beam. Making sure they constantly have all skills with good technique. We also require a solid ROBHSBT.