A parent-friendly guide to one of the most confusing (and exciting!) steps in gymnastics - team tryouts!

Compulsory gymnastics scoring can feel like a mystery. Your gymnast salutes, performs a routine they’ve practiced a hundred times, and then a number flashes on the scoreboard that somehow reflects every pointed toe, straight leg, wobble, hop, and handstand angle.

Your gymnast’s first meet is exciting, emotional, and full of tiny details you don’t realize matter until you’re living them.

High level gymnastics scoring overview. Compulsory, Optional and Xcel program breakdowns of what the judges are looking for at meets.

Different organizations use different systems. Some gyms compete Level 1, some don’t. Some use numbers, some use colors. Some combine levels, some separate them. And then there’s Xcel — the program no one warns you about until suddenly your child is in it.

I had no idea that kids gymnastics had layers — recreational, developmental, competitive — each with its own purpose and pace within a gymnastics facility.

Somewhere during this process, I fell in love with the sport of gymnastics and the bond it built with my daughter. Now I want to share everything I’ve learned with you — so you don’t have to piece it together the hard way. Who knows, maybe you'll even fall in love with gymnastics yourself.