Gymnastics Music Length Requirements

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What are the USA Gymnastics, AAU, and High School gymnastics music requirements?

We often get this question and we understand why. To understand the requirements, you have to know how the organization programs are structured and where your gymnasts fits into these programs. I will take some time here to explain how gymnastics music length ties into the different levels and programs the different organizations provide. It is likely your gymnast is part of a program that places them into different levels. The most prominent organizations in the United States are USA Gymnastics, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The main difference between USAG and the AAU organizations is in their mission. USA gymnastics mission is to train and a select U.S. teams to compete in the Olympics and World Championships. The AAU provides programs dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness.

Generally speaking, if your gymnast is part of an AAU program, you are operating on rules derived from the USA Gymnastics rules and regulations.

The AAU has stated the following:

AAU will follow USAG rules and updates unless specifically stated otherwise in the handbook.

There are two sets of programs outlined by the USA Gymnastics organization. They are Junior Olympic (JO), and Xcel. The JO programs are identified as levels 1-10 and the Xcel programs are identified  as Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The music length requirements are identified below for each of the program levels described.

Junior Olympic (JO) Levels

  • Level 1-3
  • These levels are non-competitive and have no music requirements.
  • Level 4-5
  • These levels are compulsory. Gymnasts at this level are not able to select their own music.
  • Level 6
  • Between 1:05 (one minute five sec.) and 1:15 (one minute fifteen seconds)
  • Level 7-10
  • Max 1:30 (one minute thirty sec.)

Xcel Level Music Requirements

  • Bronze Division
  • Max :45 (fourty five sec.)
  • Silver Division
  • Max 1:00 (one minute)
  • Gold Division
  • Max 1:00 (one minute)
  • Platinum Division
  • Max 1:30 (one minute thirty seconds)
  • Diamond Division
  • Max 1:30 (one minute thirty seconds)

High School Level Requirements

The NFHS states that gymnastics floor music shall not exceed 1:30 (one minute thirty seconds). You want your music to be a minimum of :30 (thirty seconds) otherwise you will receive a (2.0) deduction from your score.

For more information on high school gymnastics rules, download the NFHS manual below.

We suggest in any circumstance that when it comes to ordering the correct length of your gymnastics music for your gymnast, it is always best practice to get verification from your coach and/or choreographer. They will be aware of any special rules or requirements that may affect the selection of your gymnastics floor music.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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The Importance of Training in the Off Season for High School Athletes

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The high school gymnastics season is super short in comparison to club gymnastics which goes all year round. You worked really hard to learn new skills and improve your routines and now the season is winding down. It is so important to stay in shape during the off season so that you don’t have to start over when you come back next school year. There are a few options for you as an athlete to keep in shape during your off season.

It is so important to stay in shape during the off season so that you don’t have to start over when you come back next school year.

If at all possible, it is best if you can sign up for a high school program at a club or park district facility where you can practice 2-3 times per week. By doing this you will be able to continue improving your skills and can upgrade your routines for the next season. As a coach, I can absolutely tell the difference between an athlete who practiced after season ended and someone who did not.

Another option that is going to be more affordable is attending open gym at a gymnastics facility.

Another option that is going to be more affordable is attending open gym at a gymnastics facility. This is great because you do not have to sign up for a session of classes. You can drop in when your schedule allows. The downfall with open gym is that you do not have a coach working with you and it is usually held only once a week. If you do not work so well independently, this may not be the best option for you.

Your high school may hold a summer camp for your sport for several weeks over the summer. If you have that opportunity, it is a great idea to sign up for that along with your other training that you are doing.

A lot of my girls do Diving in the fall, Gymnastics in the winter and Track & Field in the spring.

The last option that I suggest is being a two or three sport athlete for your school. A lot of my girls do Diving in the fall, Gymnastics in the winter and Track & Field in the spring. I am truly a fan of this option. I think cross training in different sports is a fantastic way to keep your body in competition shape. I feel that sometimes it can be hard sticking to one sport. Being a multiple sport athlete eliminates the feeling of getting burnt out from doing the same thing over and over.

Trying a new sport is exciting and you may surprise yourself at how gymnastics has conditioned your body so well that you are capable of being a great athlete with a sport that you have never tried before. I highly recommend going out for Track & Field. You may be thinking… “I don’t like to run” but the great thing about this sport is that there are so many different events. A gymnast would make a great pole vaulter, high jumper, triple jumper, shot put or discus thrower. Gymnasts also make great divers too.

If you choose to do nothing during the 8 months off of high school gymnastics, you will really regret it. You will come back and realize how out of shape you are and you will not be able to do your skills or routines that were a no-brainer for you before. You will also notice that your teammates that did workout will be able to pretty much pick up where they left off.

We hope everyone had a great 2015-2016 high school gymnastics season and we hope this advice is helpful to ensure that you have a successful future with the sport that you love.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Level 6 USAG Rule Changes

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We would like to welcome all of the new optional Level 6 gymnasts to our site.

Starting August 1st, 2013, all Level 6 gymnasts will be considered an optional level.  This means that you will be able to customize your own routines within the requirements and guidelines on all apparatus to showcase your strengths on each event.

Level 6 used to be a compulsory level where all of the routines and floor music were the same for every gymnast.  The new rules allow you to choose your very own gymnastics floor music to help create your unique floor exercise that is unlike any other gymnast out there.

Our goal at Gymnastics Tracks Floor Music is to provide fresh, new gymnastics floor music that is sure to impress the crowd and most importantly, the Judges. We release new music every month!

Order your brand new gymnastics floor music from us today to kick-start the brand new season as an optional gymnast! The Level 6 time limit is 1:15.  All of our music has a short version available for purchase to meet this requirement. See our F.A.Q. page for more information.

To see all of the new optional requirements check out the official USAG website or download this PDF file of the related rules.

Good luck this season!

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Gymnastics From All Angles

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I was an active gymnast from age 4 until I graduated High School at age 17.  From that point on I have been coaching and judging gymnastics. I feel like I have experience with many aspects of the sport of gymnastics.  Anyone who is looking into the sport of gymnastics needs to decide what their looking to accomplish with this great sport. There are a few directions you can go and it is important to know the differences so you can make a decision as to which route you would like to take.

Recreational Program

A great starting point is a recreational program.  Here you will be able to learn the basics of the sport and to see whether or not you enjoy gymnastics and want to continue on with it.  I teach recreational gymnastics and my favorite part about it is that it allows kids to participate in multiple sports simultaneously. Doing a sport just for fun without having to fully commit allows students to stay involved in the other activities they enjoy without having to choose which one or the other.  It is also very affordable. Many recreational programs also have beginner, intermediate & advanced classes so you can continue to improve your skills.

Competitive Club Program

The next step after a recreational gymnastics program is a competitive club program.  Just like many other club sports, competitive gymnastics is very demanding and time consuming. It can also become very expensive to belong to a club team. I did club gymnastics from age 7-15.  One thing that I loved about club gymnastics is that I made some amazing friends that were like my family. Club gymnastics teaches you discipline and how to work hard while overcoming your fears.  Although the time you put in is a lot, it can really pay off. Having more practice time will allow you to perfect your skills and form as well as continue to improve and upgrade your routines. Through club gymnastics you will get the opportunity to place or even win competitions. If you are looking for more than just doing gymnastics for fun, you will want to look into a club gym near you.

A Fork in the Road

As gymnasts are entering High School, they will now have to make another tough decision.  They can continue competing for their club team, compete for their High School team, or in some cases if a club allows it you can compete for both.  Not all High Schools have a gymnastics team. If they don’t then that makes your decision easy. If your school does have a gymnastics team, you are presented with the opportunity to represent your school as a team and an individual.  The High School season is much shorter and practices are usually shorter too. I did club gymnastics my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school. Because of this, I missed out on a lot of fun school activities. During my Junior and Senior year I competed for my school and I loved it!  Without club, I would not have had the skills that I had but it was great to finish my competitive gymnastics years representing my school and making it to state as a team. I was able to enjoy life as a high school student with a little bit less pressure.

Some gymnasts will even get the opportunity to compete in college which is a great accomplishment.  A small percentage of gymnasts will become Elite and have a chance to try out for the Olympic team.

Here at GymnasticsTracks.com, we wish you the best of luck with your gymnastics career whichever route you decide to take.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Choosing the Perfect Gymnastics Floor Music

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When it comes time to get a new floor routine, it can be difficult to choose the perfect gymnastics floor music. Choosing the right gymnastics floor music is very critical because it sets the tone for your entire routine.  Gymnasts tend to listen to many demos of gymnastics floor music and it can get very frustrating if you can’t find exactly what you are looking for.

The first thing you need to do is to decide what your strengths are as a gymnast and dancer. Don’t try to be something that you are not. The goal is to inspire and entertain the audience by enhancing your abilities as an athlete. If you are graceful and have excellent jumps and leaps, you may want to choose a slower, more orchestral piece. If you have more of a peppy quality to your dance, you may want to consider hip hop or techno floor music. The judges like to see the gymnast’s personality come out in their performance. If you accomplish that, your score will reflect it.  You also need to remember that this floor routine will be something that you have for at least one season or more. You want to make sure that you love it because you will be practicing and performing it over and over. You should definitely take the time to choose wisely.

Here at GymnasticsTracks.com, we combine our knowledge and experience with the sport of gymnastics with our background in music to create a variety of fresh, new and exciting gymnastics floor music to vamp up your next floor routine. We will continue to expand our library to provide a wide selection of unique tracks. If you continue to listen to floor music and still feel like you can’t find that perfect sound, you may want to consider designing your own custom floor music track. We can work with your ideas and creativity to produce a track created just for you! All you have to do is place the custom floor music product in your shopping bag and complete your purchase. A GymnasticsTracks.com producer will contact you shortly to discuss your ideas. After 7-10 business days, we will send you the first demo of your piece. After you listen to it, you can give us your feedback and we will continue to work on the song until we have created the sound you have been looking for to help inspire you to choreograph a stellar routine.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Don’t Bore the Judges

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Through my experience in competing and coaching I have found that a lot of girl’s gymnastics judges have been judging for a loooooong time.

One could think that these judges would prefer routine tracks to be more “old school”. However, I found this is not the case.  I often see judges visibly reacting more positively when a gymnast brings them something fresh and new unlike they have seen before.

They have seen many routines throughout the years and are looking for something fresh and exciting. After all  they are human. Bringing something new and fresh all starts with the music. If you want to impress the judges, don’t bore them with the same old music.  An energetic routine starts with high energy modern sounds much like the gymnastics tracks you might find here at GymnasticsTracks.com.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Dancing Does Matter

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Dancing does matter! In my experience I have found that dance is just as important in a floor routine as the tumbling passes.

I put all of my efforts towards emphasizing my dance moves in hopes that it would help my score at least a little bit. It paid off.

Over the years of competing and coaching, I have been complimented many times on my routines. However, there is one particular moment that has stayed with me.  At the beginning of my senior year of high school, I had an incident that unfortunately left me with a badly sprained ankle. I struggled a lot with this because Floor was always my favorite event and I could not compete in the next few meets.  I worked very hard to eventually come back partially and decided to compete my floor routine without being 100%. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the best idea because my tumbling was very sketchy due to my injury and I was risking additional injury by doing so.  But, I did anyway. I went for my first pass and quickly realized that it was not going to be my finest performance. In mid-air I had to rework my tumbling run so that I would land on my feet instead of my head. After a rough landing, I decided that if my ankle was going to force me to water down my skills, I would have to make up for it in my choreography.  So that is exactly what I did. I put all of my efforts towards emphasizing my dance moves in hopes that it would help my score at least a little bit. It paid off.

When my routine was over I walked off the floor laughing at myself because I knew that it was nothing close to what I was capable of even though I gave it my all.

In the end, my score was flashed as a 9.3.  This was way higher than I deserved but I give my high energy dance all the credit.  The judge really appreciated my dance and clearly gave me the benefit of the doubt.

I try to stress the importance of the creativity and composition of a floor routine to all of my gymnasts because I have seen first hand the benefits when this is properly applied to the routine.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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Recipe for a Successful Gymnastics Floor Routine

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Over the years I have choreographed many floor routines to many different types of music styles for students with a wide range of dance abilities. The first ingredient to a great gymnastics floor routine is the music.  The music is going to determine what style you are looking to portray in your performance. A gymnast should always choose a music track that is going to fit their personality and style.

“Proper music plays a major part in a successful floor routine and high scores from the judges”

The goal in Floor Exercise is to combine tumbling and dance elements blended together with artistry. That is the job of the choreographer and without the proper music it would be impossible to accomplish.  Once I have the music for a floor routine, I listen to it repeatedly to help gather my ideas. Once I have a solid start I begin showing the gymnast the choreography.

We generally practice it several times during which I  offer them constructive positive tips on how to execute the moves properly.  Once the routine is complete I explain to the student that they don’t have to do the routine exactly how I show them and encourage them to make their routine their own and give it their own twist. This is important to give the student some ownership of the floor routine so that they will perform it with as much passion as possible. When you put it all together in the end you will find you have one great floor routine that you, the audience, and most importantly the judges will enjoy.

 

Christina Tardy Gymnastics Coach

Christina Tardy
Founder/Principal
GymnasticsTracks.com

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