@caitlyn_the_camille this might clear up some confusion :)
Thanks, that actually was helpful in understanding the situation. And the crossing down is prob not your decision, you're just doing what the coaches told you.
And understand, I'm not hating on you. You aren't breaking any rules, so you don't have to feel wrong or attacked or whatever.
But my attitude towards crossing over such higher level athletes to make a team, is that if there are 7-8 kids with true level skills, they can make a team. (I use this number bc stunt groups) Any less than that, and you can move them around to other teams. Any more than that, eh, they're only there to increase chances of winning.
If Lucky 7 can get a bid to worlds with 7 people, anyone can win a comp with that many.
And you may think I'm just a random saying this, but I have coached at a super small gym and I truly know the struggle.
We've put kids who barely had back handsprings on level 3, and bumped minis up to level 1, or even brought in people who could stunt but maybe not tumble, or vice versa, when we couldn't make teams. But we've never sandbagged/stacked. It was just an ethics thing for my owner. She wouldn't even put her own kid (on J3) on the level 1 team of 9 kids that she was age eligible for because she said she wanted her true level 1 team to win.
And win we did. No, it wasn't Summit or NCA, but our kids loved it and we made some of the best memories of our lives.
ETA I'd like to add, I know it's never that simple. I know some parents will be parents. And we did have parents leave for "better gyms" when their level 1 kid didn't make level 2, or when we came second to last at a comp bc they dropped one stunt (and numbers made it impossible to make that up). But you'd be surprised at how many parents stuck with us because their kids were happy. And I'm so grateful they did, because I've gotten to watch those kids grow up.