MAG Response to Nationals 2022 Feedback

We would like to see a level between Developmental and Level 9 and/or a level below Developmental. 

• We don’t have enough people to split into 4 levels. 
  • When numbers are low, awards become not-competitive.
  • Adding levels extends awards by 15 minutes per level. 
  • We currently only have space in finals for 2 levels because we don’t have enough registration to fund 2 sets of equipment.
• We’ve updated our description of levels to make it clearer when to move to the next level!
  • It is not necessary to meet all the requirements to be successful in a level. We expect people to move up well before requirements are met. Many people even win awards when they are missing special requirements or element groups.
  • If you have just ONE SKILL on an event, you can compete Developmental! You would start at a 5.0 (or 5.5 if the skill has an element group). As you learn new skills, add them onto your routine and get an extra 1.0 in start value for each skill.
  • If you can do a 6 skill routine with no extra swings on the majority of your events, you should strongly consider moving up from Developmental to Level 9.
  • If you can do a 7 skill routine counting only FIG skills, you should strongly consider moving up from Level 9 to Modified NCAA.

I’d like to compete against other people my age.

• We currently have so many levels and categories (with collegiate and community) that we are unable to process finals qualification and results as fast as we would like.
• Adding more categories to awards makes awards take longer and we are reaching the limit of awards length.
• We will work with tech to add age categories to the results on the website so that you can filter by age group and see your place. We don’t have date of birth information for all members, so this may not be complete.

I’m a collegiate woman in MAG, and I’d like to compete with/against my male teammates.

• The current policy is written to maximize perceived fairness for all participants. We have received many complaints when collegiate men win awards competing WAG, which is why we created the policy to have those participants be categorized as community. We feel that it is unfair to have a policy that only applies to men.
• There are some advantages that women in developmental have over the men in the level. On average, the female athletes in MAG Developmental have a lot more gymnastics experience than the men, and tend to perform very well. This was noted in 2022 by the judges and by some of the male athletes who were new to the sport and felt this unfair.
• A team of all collegiate students with mixed genders competes as a team in the community awards category, even though the male collegiate students compete in collegiate awards category as individuals.
• We reevaluate this policy every year, so it’s possible these policies will change as participation increases, and we can gather more data

Any tips for WAG gymnasts transitioning to MAG?

• Great question! We’ve just created a guide for making this transition. We will also post this on @naigc_rulesinfo Instagram, and post it on our website.