Although elite gymnastics is governed internationally by the FIG, each country has its own system and structure for developing young gymnasts at lower levels. Growing up as a gymnast in the USA, I’ve always wondered how things work in other countries: what are the levels of competition, and what are they called? Are there age restrictions? Do the levels coincide with American equivalents, or are there big differences? In order to satisfy my curiosity, I spent some time learning about other national women’s gymnastics programs. What I found was really interesting, and I’m excited to share it with you here!

 

United States

First of all, if you’re not familiar with the USA’s system, you can check it out here. For the sake of time, I will skip describing it in detail.

 

Canada

I started my quest by researching Canada, our friendly neighbors to the north. It turns out that their system is quite intricate! Gymnasts compete on either a provincial (regional) or national track, with age restrictions limiting their progression along either track. There are five competitive levels within the provincial system, with 1 being the most basic and 5 being the most advanced. Within each level, there are four age categories.
 

• Argo: 8-10 years (or possibly younger depending on the province)

• Tyro: 10-12 years

• Novice: 12-14 years

• Open:  14+ years
 

On the national competitive track, there are two different levels—national and high performance—both of which are structured around the FIG code of points. There are three age categories within the national level:
 

• Pre-novice (also called Aspire or Elite): 8-10 years

• Novice: 10-12 years

• Open: 12+ years
 

And four within the high performance level:

• Pre-novice: 8-10 years

• Novice: 10-12 years

• Junior: 11-14 years

• Senior: 13+ years
 

So that’s the basic rundown of the Canadian competitive gymnastics system! This website goes into detail describing each classification; and if you want to see the info in a chart format, check it out here.
 

Next time, I’ll walk you through the Romanian and Australian systems!