Adult gymnastics competitions are something I’ve only seen and took part in in the UK. It’s actually quite an awesome thing. These competitions have categories for all levels (Newbie, Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced). There’s a real official one, held by British Gymnastics, British Vets, which is also open for participants from abroad (I’ll tell a bit more about it later) and several annual local competitions held in several gymnastics clubs around the UK, which are way less serious and official. These events are great for several reasons: first, if you work a lot on something, like gymnastics, it’s nice to work towards some goal even as an adult; second, for those who are pretty competitive, like me, it’s quite exciting as a competition; thirdly, it’s just cool, I mean you can compete in a ‘real’ gymnastics competition, whether you’re a retired ex-gymnast or a complete newbie. And the main reason for these competitions being so great is that they are absolutely fun and friendly. It feels a bit awkward (maybe more than a bit:) ) at first, but then you realise that you’re in a group of people with a similar level of skills who are also having fun with it, you can see the more advanced people performing close to you.
Below I will tell you what to expect and how all these competition work, will give some useful links for those who want to try it out.
First, let’s see how it works. There is a bit of a difference between the ‘big’ British Vets and the smaller competitions. I’ll give more details about British Vets here:
I will start with the smaller local competitions. A disclaimer: the rules I recall concern mostly women beginners group (even though I once competed men rings, got some laughs out of it and came third 🙂 ) I participated in Colchester Adult Gymnastics Competition 2 or 3 times (this one used to be held twice annually), once in Sutton Gymnastics Academy Adult Gymnastics Competition, and once in 1066 Adult Gymnastics Competition. There used to be more which I didn’t attend, here is the list of Adult Competitions from 2017 with contact details of the gyms, someone might find it useful:
Now, about the rules (as far as I remember from the Colchester competitions, still most should be similar. I’ll list the rules for the Vets a bit further).
First, here’s the file with the full rules of Colchester Adult Gymnastics competition (from 2017 when I participated in it):
I have to say that I loved this competition, it’s just so fun and nice and friendly. You usually need to sign up in advance, choosing your level (beginner, intermediate, etc) and apparatuses you want to do. You can take just one, or two, or all four (for the ladies: beam, floor, bars, and vault), six for men (floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, high bar). On top of that, you can also participate in the all-around, meaning that the highest 3 of your scores (4 for men) will add up to the all-around score. Also, I competed men’s rings once for fun 😀
Let me give you an example of rules for a single apparatus, say the beam. The total score is calculated as Execution (E) +Difficulty (D) +Age Bonus. The difficulty comes from the elements you include. The ‘price’ of each element really depends on your level. For a beginner, you get 0.3 for an uncoded element (that’s almost everything, like a jump on a beam), 0.5 for an A-value element from this (and this one for the men) handbook. 7 highest in the level of your elements + the dismount will count towards the D-score. For E score you get 10.0 and then you get deductions from it for the things like falling, wobbling, not pointing your toes, etc. In Age Bonus you get I think 0.05 for each year above the base of your age group (yes, competitors compete in age groups, like under 30, 30-40, etc).
There are compulsory elements you must have in your routine. For a beginner, they are spin (half works), large leap, two connected leaps/jumps (even two straight jumps up work), acrobatic element (fwd roll, or cartwheel, kick (not holding) into a handstand, or something of the kind). It’s actually simpler than it sounds 😀
P.S. Colchester usually holds a Trampoline competition on the same day, just before the artistic. You can do both (I did 🙂 )
Participants usually gather at the gym in the morning, friends/family can buy tickets and attend too. There’s a warm up, than a bit of warm up on each apparatus, the competition itself (you’ll know the order of appartuses in advance), and then the results are announced and medals handed out 🙂 All quite easy and infomal.
As for the British Vets, rules are more strict. There’s only an all-around competition (so ladies have to do at least 3 of the 4 routines, I’m not sure about men 🙂 ) and judges are quite strict with the ‘required elements’.
But that is actually a ‘real’ competition, held at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Telford. It feels awfully serious when you are there, your friends can watch it live, it’s just quite cool!
For more detail look here:
To bottom line it all, I recommend everyone who does Adult Gymnastics and enjoys it, independent of the level, to try out a competition. It’s fun, it’s a rare and awesome experience. It feels scary and strange and frankly a bit embarrassing to try, but every other participant (well, many of them, including me 😀 ) feels the same. And it’s so much fun to put together a routine for yourself (one for each apparatus), work hard on it, then present it in front of the like-minded people. Maybe wear a leotard (not compulsory, but fun, that was the first time I wore one, at an Adult Gymnastics Competition 😛 ). It’s worth all the effort!
Colchester Gymnastics Comp