Our gym is saying they would prefer athletes to have advanced of the level. Meaning you have beginner of a level.... you are not making that level unless you have some other need that is filled by you (need another flyer or backspot) and you have proven yourself someway. Intermediate you will be looked at and you will most likely be on this level but you better be working hard to be the elite level or you could be bumped back down.
I have no problem with this in general but I think it puts too much emphasis on tumbling. We had some great tumblers this year with not as much experience basing or flying to match the level they were at tumbling and it reduced what the team could do and we had a good number of injuries and it hampered what stunting they could do. Now the moms whose kids were fantastic tumblers love it. That is the weakest thing for my kids... they love stunting and they love being pushed to try new and creative things and that did not get to happen. I think it is also just one more thing for Suzy's mom to obsess over...