Competitions come along in 2 season’s which can be very confusing, you have grades which is competed at the beginning of the year. You then also have your voluntary levels which will be competed from June-Nov over various competitions.
Grades
There are 3 different routes for grades, depending on the ability of the gymnasts the coach will decide on what level is appropriate for the gymnast. The grades consist of 5 areas bars, beam, floor, vault and range and conditioning.
Compulsory
There are 5 different levels to the compulsory grades, 5,4,3,2 and 1. Compulsory level 5 requirements will vary as it is purely a regional competition. The girls that do compete this grade have to be 8 in the year and cannot do the grade at any other age. For compulsory 4 and 3 the requirements (moves/skills the gymnasts are required to compete) are the same over the nation. When competing these grades in age (compulsory 4 the gymnast will be 9 in the year and compulsory 3 the gymnast will be 10 in the year) the top 4 scoring girls will then progress on down to national finals representing the East Midlands a few weeks later. Compulsory 2 and 1 are purely national competitions and will be competed outside of the region the requirements for the levels are the same throughout so all clubs will be following the same rules. For Compulsory 3,2 and 1 gymnasts can compete this out of age (Compulsory 3, 10+, compulsory 2, 11+ and compulsory 1, 12+.) There is a pass mark for all grades except compulsory 5, gymnasts do NOT have to pass compulsory 4 or even compete compulsory 5 or 4 in order to do compulsory 3, however gymnasts DO need to pass compulsory 3 in order to compete compulsory 2 and again they have to pass compulsory 2 in order to compete in compulsory 1.
National
National grades consist of 4 levels, 4,3,2 and 1 also. In order to start this route the gymnast must be 10 in the year of competition which will allow them to compete in national 4. There is no age limit on the grades for example National 4 within that competition there can be 10 year old’s competing against 15 year old’s. There is a pass mark at each level however the gymnast does NOT have to achieve this in order to move onto the next grade. Throughout the nation all rules are the same for these grades as they do follow on to national finals for every level. The top 4 from the region of each level will proceed on to representing the East Midlands a few weeks later.