Parents Xcel Sapphire

[XcelMom08]

My DD is deciding to stay in the xcel program for many reasons but believes she will get further in the program than JO.
She is 15 and will be training platinum next year. Age is another reason even though she could petition but she likes her coach, her teammates and where she is.
If she continues to move up each season she would be a Sapphire by Senior year.
As the program was first introduced in our area and now expanded it seems to have steadily grow. It’s still new but has been a session at every meet we have been to this year.
Reading about SA - among many things - SA is listed to be a way for a gymnasts to be a walk on or IES.
My question - will this be a rare bird chance or will some colleges give it SA gymnasts a chance to be on team if they are have the SV for 9/10 and skills.

 

[Kico]

I think it's bound to happen at some point. Especially at schools looking for event specialists.

 

[Gymnasticsismylife]

I’m 13 rn and training Xcel Gold. There is a good chance I will be doing Platinum when I’m 14/15. So, I’m in the same boat. I personally might try and petition into level 6 next year, but that depends on where I’m at. I think that she might have a higher chance if she does a year of 10 or 9. If she is at the level by senior year to be a candidate for college then she probably would do fine on level 10. That is just my view of it though. Sapphire might continue to get more competitive and well known as time goes on. For me, I’m just taking it day by day and hoping I could do college some day. I hope she can too!

 

[GymDadWA]

As long as their isn't a requirement that a gymnast has to have competed at a certain level to do NCAA then there is always a chance that they could be on a team, the deck is just stacked against them as their is more gymnasts in the level 10 and international pool than their are spots available.

There are coaches out there that are looking for that diamond in the rough, you see it in other sports where a rugby player gets recruited for football, or a track athlete gets recruited for basketball, etc. But remember that the coaches are paid to put together a winning team so they most often are going to go for the "sure thing" as their first choice.