Men's Junior Olympic Program Overview
The Men’s Junior Olympic Age Group Competition Program provides training and competitive opportunities for beginner to elite gymnasts from ages 5 to 18. The Junior Olympic Program is organized into 10 different levels of training or competition. Each level has multiple age groups and opportunities for participation and competition. Competition is carried out at the local, state, regional and national levels through USA Gymnastics sanctioned invitational meets and championship level meets. For Levels IX and X, the season culminates at the Men’s Junior Olympic National Championships held in May of each year. For elite level athletes, the culminating event is the USA Gymnastics National Championships. The Junior Olympic Age Group Program is organized into the following three areas:
A. Basic Skills Achievement Program (BSAP)
The Basic Skills Achievement Program (BSAP) covers Levels I, II and III and is designed to help advance a gymnast from the day he enters the gym until he is prepared to participate in the Age Group Competition Program and the National Team Program. It was conceived as the entry-level of an overall skill and competitive development system. The program includes many of the skills from the entry-level competitive routines, preparing the gymnast for the Age Group Competition Program.
B. Age Group Competition Program
The Junior Olympic Age Group Competition Program consists of seven levels. The first three levels, IV through VI, continue the BSAP's progressions from simple to more complex movements. The intermediate level, VII, encourages the transition from compulsory to optional routines at an appropriate age. These routines require a specified level of difficulty but instead of imposing the FIG combination requirements they require event specific skills. These skills provide logical bridges between the lower and higher level routines. The advanced levels, VIII, IX and X require the gymnast to fulfill most FIG requirements.
C. Junior National Team Program
The Junior National Team Program provides for the identification and selection of our elite junior athletes. The program includes the Junior Development Team selected through the Future Stars Program, the Junior National Team and the Junior Elite Team. The program objectives are to:
- Simplify the competitive path for our junior athletes and elevate the importance of successful competition;
- Create an educational evaluation system that emphasizes international competitiveness;
- Involve the personal coaches in overall program planning and organization as well as individualized athlete planning and;
- Educate the coaching community in the basic principals of coaching and the development of the elite athlete.
