Women youngish Level 7

[DP gymnast mom]

Hi, my youngest dd will compete her first level 7 meet this month. Any words of wisdom? What level 7 skill is a crucial one to do well? Tips on what the training areas of focus should be?

 

[Dahlialover]

She should keep working hard, listen to her coach, get enough rest and food, and have fun. Good Luck!

 

[ORgymmom]

My daughter is very normal and has always been average age for her level. But her friends who are fast tracked or went HOPES/elite had their own challenges always being stuck in Child A. It’s always hard being young for level because she’ll likely encounter the most talented girls and some potential future elites who won’t peel off for HOPES for a while.

 

[DP gymnast mom]

My daughter is very normal and has always been average age for her level. But her friends who are fast tracked or went HOPES/elite had their own challenges always being stuck in Child A. It’s always hard being young for level because she’ll likely encounter the most talented girls and some potential future elites who won’t peel off for HOPES for a while.

Interesting. She is 9. So younger girls get grouped differently during meets? I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

-Clean form
- Good shapes on bars
- Consistently hitting handstands/required angles on bars
- Dynamic vaulting and tumbling
- Amplitude and extension on dance skills
- Confident presentation

 

[ORgymmom]

Interesting. She is 9. So younger girls get grouped differently during meets? I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing

They’ll take all of the level 7 girls in that session and divide the session into groups of a predetermined size. At some meets that might be 8-10 girls per age group and at some meets it might be closer to 20. Then they’ll take all girls in order of birthdates and divide going down the list. So you could have a pretty tight age range of girls and they’re all within 2-4 months of each other, or if you’re competing against gyms with different average start ages, you could have a group with girls 2 years or more apart. It varies, especially with a level like 7 that a lot of younger girls skip into and a lot of older girls repeat.

A 9 year old in level 7 in my area would be in the youngest age group and where I am that’s often called Junior A or Child A. It’s all made up and just an arbitrary way to name groups. For example, it could go Child A, B, C, D, Youth A, B, C, D, Junior A, B, C, D and Senior A, B, C, D. Another meet might just call them Youth, Junior and Senior.

For DO nationals, age groups are set in advance by birthdate and there are only so many qualification slots per age group. But I don’t think that’s the case for any other DP meets.