Xcel Levels

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Level 7 & 8

Levels 7 and 8 are beginning optional, and gymnasts start from 10.00 provided they meet the requirements. The Value Part requirements are five As and four Bs at Level 7; C/D/E skills are illegal; if performed, the routine recieves a score of 0, with the exception of C-level circling elements to handstand – cast, clear hip circle, underswing, stalder – with or without half pirouette. In all JO levels, there is a deduction of 0.10 for each missing A-skill, 0.30 for each missing B-skill, and 0.50 for each missing C-skill (while C’s aren’t required at Level 7 or 8, they are required at levels 9 and 10).

The special requirements at Level 7 are:

Vault – gymnasts have a list of vaults which they can choose from, all of which start from a 10.0 and are in the “Group 1” category of vaulting (handsprings without saltos), and the vast majority perform handsprings.
Bars – one bar change; two B-level circling elements (clear hips, underswings, and stalder); and a dismount of at least A value
Beam – series of two tumbling elements with or without flight; an acrobatic flight element; a leap or jump that requires 180º split; a full turn; and a dismount of at least A value
Floor – a tumbling pass (3 or more flight elements) which includes a back layout; a connection of two forward acro elements, one being a salto; a dance series of two elements, one being a leap or jump requiring 180º split; and a full turn.

The special requirements at Level 8 are:

At Level 8, four As and four Bs are required; Cs are permitted and would receive B credit, and D/E skills are illegal. The special
requirements are:
Vault – gymnasts have a list of vaults to
choose from; most of them are handsprings with turns, but tucked and piked Tsukaharas are allowed. Common vaults and their start values:
handspring, 9.0; handspring full, 9.4; half-on, half-off, 9.1; tucked Tsukahara, 9.8; and piked Tsukahara, 10.0.
Bars – one bar change; two elements of B value, at least one of which must have flight or turn, and at least one of which
must be a circling element; and a dismount of at least A value
Beam – series of two tumbling elements, at least one with flight; dance series
of two elements, one of which is a leap or jump requiring 180º split; a full turn; and a dismount of at least A value
Floor – a tumbling pass
with two saltos; three different saltos within the exercise; a leap or jump that requires 180º split; and the last tumbling pass must include
a salto. In all J.O. levels, there is a deduction of 0.50 for each missing special requirement.

Level 9 & 10

Levels 9 and 10 incorporate bonus points; Level 9s start from 9.70 and earn bonus from connection only, while Level 10s start from 9.50 and can earn bonus from both connection and extra D/E’s (however, the gymnast can not earn all of her bonus from either connections or elements; a maximum of 0.4 can be earned in either area). The Value Part requirements at Level 9 are three A’s, four B’s, and one C, whereas the Level 10 gymnast is required three A’s, three B’s, and two C’s. Below are the connection values for Levels 9 and 10 – remember, Level 9’s can only get bonus from C skills, and even if a skill is a D or E, its value is still lowered to “C” when calculating bonus points. For example, a B+D dance connection on beam would earn a total of 0.30 in bonus at Level 10 (0.10 for the D and 0.20 for the connection), but the same connection at Level 9 would be considered a B+C and therefore only earn a total of 0.10. All connection values are those IN ADDITION TO the bonus earned from D/E skills (0.10 for D’s, 0.20 for E’s).

Bars:
Level 9
C+C (both with flight or turn) = 0.20
C+C (one or neither with flight or turn; must be different elements if neither have flight or turn) = 0.10
Level 10
C+C (both with flight or turn) = 0.10
C+D (C does not require flight or turn) = 0.10
D+D (or more difficult) = 0.20

Beam:
Connections of dance elements or an acro element plus a dance element:
A+D/E = 0.10
B+C = 0.10
B+D = 0.20
C+C = 0.20 (if both elements are different)
C+C = 0.10 (if both elements are the same)

Connections of acrobatic elements:
B+D/E = 0.20
C+C or harder = 0.20
B+E = 0.20
B+B+C = 0.10

Floor:
Connections of dance elements or an acro element plus a dance element:
C+C – 0.10
B+D – 0.10
C+D or harder – 0.20

Connections of acrobatic elements:
A+C or B+C – 0.10
A+D or harder – 0.20
C+C – 0.20

Another difference from the elite program is that gymnasts can repeat one skill for credit – so if a gymnast does a 1-1/2 to punch front as well as a double full to punch front in the same routine, she’d get the bonus for each connection.

The special requirements for Level 9 and 10 are similar: Bars- two bar changes; a C-level element (must have flight at Level 10; must have either flight or turn at Level 9); a B-level flight element; and a dismount (minimum of B at Level 9 and C at Level 10); BB- an acro series of two flight elements (at Level 10, one must be a C); a series of two dance elements, one being a leap/jump requiring full split; a full turn, a dismount (minimum of B at Level 9 and C at Level 10); the requirements on Floor are identical to those at Level 8, though Level 9s must end with a B and Level 10s must end with a C.

Start values for Level 9 and 10 vaults are also quite different from elite. Popular Level 9/10 vaults and their start values (they are the same at 9 and 10): handspring, 8.8; handspring full, 9.2; handspring 1 1/2, 9.4, handspring double full, 9.8; handspring front tuck, 9.7; handspring front tuck 1/2, 9.9, handspring front pike, 9.8; handspring front pike 1/2, 10; handspring front layout, 10; tucked Tsukahara, 9.4; piked Tsukahara, 9.5; laidout Tsukahara, 9.7; full-twisting laidout Tsukahara, 10.0; half-on half-off front tuck (“tucked Phelps”), 9.7; ucked Yurchenko, 9.4; piked Yurchenko, 9.5; laidout Yurchenko, 9.7; Yurchenko layout 1/2, 10; Yurchenko layout 1/1, 10.0.

Popular elements within the JO program, and their values:

Bars:
Kip – A
Cast to Handstand – B
Cast to Handstand with 1/2 turn – C
Cast to squat on – A
Uprise to front support – B
Uprise to handstand – C
Uprisde to handstand 1/2 – D
Straddle back – C
Straddle back to handstand – C
Shaposhnikova – D
Underswing to clear support – B
Clear hipcircle to clear support – B
Clear hipcircle to handstand, also with 1/2 turn – C
Clear hipcircle to handstand with 1/1 turn – D
Giant – B
Giant 1/2 – C
Giant 1/1 – D
Shootover, not from handstand, not to handstand – B
Shootover, from handstand, not to handstand – C
Shootover to handstand – D
Tkatchev – D
Pak salto – D
Gienger/Deltchev – D
Front giant, also with 1/2 turn – C
Front giant 1/1 – D
Straddled Jaeger – D
Piked Jaeger – E
Front giant in L-grip, also with 1/2 – D
Front giant in L-grip with 1/1 – E
Stalder to handstand, also with 1/2 turn – C
Stalder to handstand with 1/1 turn – D
Front stalder – D
Underswing to handstand, also with 1/2 turn – C
Underswing to handstand with 1/1 turn – D
Underswing shoot to high bar – C
Flyaway – A
Flyaway 1/1 – B
Flyaway 2/1 – C
Underswing to front tuck or pike, also with 1/2 twist – C
Double tuck or pike – C
Full twisting double back – E
Double layout/pike or pike/layout – D
Double layout – E
Double Arabian – E
Double front – E

Beam:
All simple mounts – A
Press to handstand mount – B
Front tuck mount – D
Front pike mount – E
Back handspring mount – B
Back tuck, pike, or layout stepout mount – D
Two-foot layout mount – E
Split leap – A
Split leap/jump 1/4 – B
Split leap/jump 1/2 – C
Split jump 3/4 – D
Split jump 1/1 – D
Yang Bo – E
Split jump – B
Straddle jump – C
Straddle jump 1/2 or 3/4 – D
Straddle jump 1/1 – E
Tour jete, also with 1/4 turn – D
Tour jete 1/2 – E
Switch wolf jump – B
Switch leap – C
Switch side leap – D
Switch ring leap – E
Pike jump – B
Pike jump 1/2 or 3/4 – C
Pike jump 1/1 – E
Sissone – A
Ring or double stag jump – C
Sheep jump – D
Straight jump, also with 1/2 – A
Straight jump 3/4 – B
Straight jump 1/1 and 1 1/4 – C
Straight jump 3/2 – D
Hitch kick – A
Cat leap 1/2 – B
Cat leap 1/1 – C
Cat leap 3/2 – D
Tuck jump – A
Tuck jump 1/2 – B
Tuck jump 3/4 – C
Tuck jump 1/1 and 1 1/4 – D
Tuck jump 3/2 – E
Wolf hop/jump – A
Wolf hop/jump 1/2 – B
Wolf hop/jump 3/4 – C
Wolf hop/jump 1/1 – D
Wolf hop/jump 3/2 – E
Full turn – A
Full turn with leg up – C
Front walkover – B
Front handspring – B
1-arm front handspring – C
Front aerial – D
Onodi – E
Cartwheel – A
Dive cartwheel – B
Roundoff – B
Aerial roundoff – C
Aerial cartwheel – C
Aerial cartwheel landing sideways – D
Back walkover – A
Tic toc – A
Back handspring – B
Back handspring 1/2 – C
Back handspring 1/1 – D
Oak tree – C
Omelianchik – D
1-arm back handspring – C
Korbut – C
Chen/Rueda – C
Rulfova – D
Front tuck – D
Front pike – E
Side somi – D
Arabian – E
Back tuck, pike, and layout stepout – C
Two-foot back layout – D
Back 1/1 – E
Front tuck/pike dismount – A
Front tuck/pike dismount 1/2 – B
Front layout dismount – B
Front 1/1 dismount – C
Front 2/1 dismount – D
Double front dismount – E
Arabian dismount – B
Arabian double front dismount – E
Back tuck/pike/layout dismount, also with 1/2 turn – A
Back 1/1 dismount – B
Back 1 1/2 and double twist dismount – C
2 1/2 dismount – D
Triple twist dismount – E
Double tuck and pike dismount – D
Full twisting double back dismount – E
Gainer layout 1/1 to side – C
Gainer layout 2/1 to side – D
Gainer tuck to end – B
Gainer pike to end – C
Gainer tuck 1/1 to end – C
Gainer layout to end – D
Gainder layout 1/1 to end – E

Floor:
Split leap – A
Side leap – B
Split jump 1/1 – C
Switch leap – B
Switch side – C
Pike jump – B
Straddle jump – B
Straddle jump 1/1 – C
Shushunova – B
Shushunova 1/1 – C
Tour jete – B
Tour jete 1/2 – C
Tour jete 1/1 – D
Sissone – A
Ringleap/double stag jump – B
Tour jete to ring leap – C
Sheep jump – B
Switch ring – C
Straight jump, also with 1/2 or 1/1 – A
Straight jump 3/2 – B
Straight jump 2/1 – C
Straight jump 3/1 – D
Cat leap, also with 1/2 – A
Cat leap 1/1 – B
Cat leap 3/2 – C
Cat leap 2/1 – D
Tuck jump, also with 1/2 – A
Tuck jump 1/1 – B
Tuck jump 3/2 – C
Tuck jump 2/1 – D
Wolf jump – A
Wolf jump 1/2 – B
Wolf jump 1/1 – C
Wolf jump 3/2 – D
Wolf jump 2/1 – E
Full turn – A
3/2 turn – B
2/1 turn – C
3/1 turn – D
4/1 turn – E
Full turn with leg up – B
3/2 turn with leg up – C
2/1 turn with leg up – D
Dive roll – A
Back extention roll – A
Front/back walkover – A
Front handspring – A
Flyspring stepout – A
Flyspring – B
Onodi – B
Front aerial – A
Cartwheel or side aerial – A
Aerial roundoff – A
Back handspring – A
Front tuck, also with 1/2 twist – A
Front pike/layout, also with 1/2 twist – B
Front 1/1 – C
Front 3/2 – D
Front 2/1 – E
Double front – E
Side somi – A
Arabian tuck/pike/layout – A
Double Arabian – E
Back tuck/pike/layout – A
Back 1/2 or 1/1 – B
Back 1 1/2 or double twist – C
Back 2 1/2 – D
Back triple twist – E
Whip back – A
Whip 1/2 – B
Double tuck or pike – D
Full twisting double back – E
Double layout – E