Placement of a USAG Competition on the USAG Florida Competition Calendar
Competition Season:  August 1—July 31st
All requests for competitions must include the following :

            Judges request form (available on Florida USAG web site)This form must be filled in completely and mailed to Florida USAG State chairman with ALL fees.  A copy must be emailed to Florida NAWGJ. Competitions are placed on the calendar on a first come basis.  All paperwork and fees must be complete before a competition will be placed on the Florida USAG qualifying calendar. 

            Request for Judges:  Meet directors may request judges by name or request that a judge not be assigned to their competition.  This must be done on the form when the request is filed. 

FEES THAT ARE DUE WITH JUDGES REQUEST FORM

$3.00 per judge requesting to Florida NAWGJ

            $100 per competition to Florida USAG – this fee will be applied to the $1.25 that is due for each sanctioned competition that is hosted in Florida – Fee is non refundable if competition is cancelled.

            Cancelling a Florida USAG qualifying competition:  any competition that is cancelled within 30 days of the date of the competition will pay $500 cancellation fee to Florida USAG. 

2013 OPTIONAL COMPETITIONS: will be accepted as of January 1, 2012
2012 COMPULSORY COMPETITIONS: will be accepted as of April 1, 2012
ALL REQUESTS FOR A FLORIDA USAG QUALIFYING COMPETITION MUST BE RECEIVED BY JULY 1ST
Competition requests received after July 1st for the upcoming season will NOT be considered State Qualifiers & may only be used for mobility purposes. MD/or Organizations that have not paid USAG fees/and or fines will not be able to place any competitions on the Qualifying calendar until all fees are paid in full

· All National sanction guidelines must be followed.  Rules and policy are available at www.usa-gymnastics.org

· All sanctioned QUALIFYING competitions must be open to all Florida clubs

All qualifying competitions must use 2 judge panels per event for all levels (2 – 10)

All qualifying competitions may be used to qualify to the Florida USAG State meets

Non USAG sessions (AAU or non sanctioned) must be completed before or after ALL USAG sessions

MOBILITY COMPETITIONS:  These are competitions that are used just for mobility from level to level. Mobility meets may not be used to qualify to a Florida USAG state meet.  Mobility meets must follow all rules and policy of USA Gymnastics.  Mobility only meets will not be placed on the Florida calendar.

· Every USAG sanctioned competition in Florida is required to pay an Athlete Fee to Florida USAG with required meet forms (this includes all qualifiers and mobility meets including small in house meet)

 Send forms and fee  payable to Florida USAG to
· Toni Rand Florida USAG 7957 Steeplechase Ct Port St Lucie, FL 34986 
$1.25 per athlete with a score program efile of results (ProScore/Excel/CSV)
 email all results to Kevin at Lightning City at lccoachkev@aol.com

Qualifying competitions that have paid the $100 deposit to Florida USAG should deduct this fee from amount owed.

STATE USAG COMPETITIONS

Florida USAG will host state meets for level 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6 in the Fall season and in the spring season for levels 7, 8, 9, 10 and XCEL/Prep Optional.

Athletes at level 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Prep OPT may only use Florida USAG qualifying competitions to qualify to the Florida State meets.  Clubs may enter as many qualifiers as they want.

Athletes at level 7, 8, 9 & 10 in addition to Florida qualifiers may also use scores from out of state competitions

 Level Declaration Date:  Levels 2-3-4-5-6:  October 1         Levels 7-8-9-10:  February 1^st   Athletes wishing to drop back after declaration date must petition to the SACC. Region 8 JO & Tech Chairs will need to approve petitions. 

 Qualifying Scores 2011 -12 season for State Competitions

32.00AA is required for level 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 AND XCEL/PO OPEN DIVISION
Level 10 specialist          9.3 on event (must declare that athlete is a specialist on entry form to the State meet and may only compete on the event qualified with a 9.3)

NO SCORE REQUIRED FOR LEVEL 2, 3 AND EXCEL/PO NOVICE DIVISION – athletes MUST compete in one Florida USAG qualifier to qualify to the Florida state meet.

Entry Fees for State Competitions: 

Level 2/3—$50.00         Level 4, 5/6—$60.00             PO,7,8,9,10—$75.00     Team Fee all Levels—$50.00   Entry deadlines are @ 3 weeks prior to event date.   Entry deadlines are strictly enforced. All entries must be in the hands of the meet director by deadline date with ALL fees paid.

$25.00 late fee per athlete will be assessed for late entries plus a $100 club fine.  Entries may be refused 10 or less days prior to the competition.   See Florida calendar at Florida website for dates, information and deadline dates for all State Meets    www.usagfl.org

Format for competition at State Competitions   At all compulsory and XCEL/PO State meets.  Athletes will be divided by birth date into equal sessions –either youngest to oldest or oldest to youngest as determined by SC and Florida state committee.    At Level 7 & 8 State meet, athletes will be divided into age groups by birth date and will compete according to the draw that will be done by the Florida committee. The draw will be announced prior to the competition entry date.  At level 9 & 10, athletes will be divided into age groups by birth date and will generally compete youngest to oldest however actual schedule will be determined by SC and Meet host.

TEAM COMPETITION RULES

Teams enter the Team competition by paying the team entry fee with their entry – Teams may not enter the Team competition after the divisions for the State meet have been announced.

Divisions:  Teams will be divided into divisions based on the number of athletes each team has.  After all entries are received, the teams will be ranked by number of athletes in order from largest to smallest. The following format will be used for level 2 – 7 and XCEL/Prep Optional

 If there are 10 or less teams entered, there will be one division of team (Division 1)  If there are 11-20 teams entered  the teams will be divided as equally as possible into 2 divisions (Division 1 & 2) If there are 21 – 30 teams entered  the teams will be divided into 3 divisions(Division 1, 2 & 3)  If there are 31 or more teams  the teams will be divided into 4 divisions (Division 1, 2, 3, & 4)

Levels 8, 9 and 10 will use the format above but will not have more than 3 divisions. Teams will be divided into equal groups of 1, 2 or 3 divisions depending on numbers.

Teams divisions will be announced AFTER the scratch deadline date.  Once team divisions have been announced a team may not move to a smaller division due to scratches.  Teams that ADD athletes may be moved to a larger division. 

Athletes that enter state meet with one team and then move to compete with another team may NOT count toward the team score at the State meet.

Number of counting scores for Team competition:  3 scores will count except for Division 1 which will determine number of counting scores based on number of athletes of the cut off team.  If the cut off team(or team with the smallest number of athletes that is in Division 1) has 7 or less athletes 3 scores will count – 8 or 9 athletes will count 4 scores  – 10 or more athletes,5 scores will count.   50% of teams in each division will receive Team State Banner

State Meet Award policy for athletes:  Events:  50% plus 1 State medals for all levels

All Around:  Level 2, 3, 4, & xcel/PO will receive 100% All Around Trophies  All other levels will receive 50% plus 1 State medals for All Around

Judges Selection Rules for Florida qualifying and State competitions

All qualifiers will be assigned judges by NAWGJ Florida as per the Florida state committee.  Requests for specific judges will be honored if written on the judges request form and if judge is available.  A judge  will not be assigned to the meet if indicated on the judges request form. Assigners will work together to assign competitions using meet directors requests, location, availability, rating, car pools as guidelines.

STATE MEET Assignments:  the Florida USAG State committee is responsible to select all judges for the Florida state meets.  The Florida committee has selected a sub-committee to assign judges based on availability, rating, and location.  All paperwork required (availability form, CPE form and in gym card) must have been filed on time and be current.  Final list of judges must be approved by the full Florida USAG State committee before contracts may be sent to judges.

Number of Judges at State meets:  2 judges per event for level 2, 3, 4, 7, & XCEL/Prep Opt

4 judge panels for Level 5/6, 8, 9 & 10

In Gym Card:  the Florida committee requires all judges that are interested in being considered for a Florida state meet to file an in gym card.  If a judge has filed an in gym card with the Region this will take care of the requirement. 

Availability Form:  must be filed for both compulsory and optional state meets by deadline date

STATE MEET BIDS:  BID FORM IS ON THE FLORIDA WEB SITE

                All bids for State meets will be due on March 1^st for the upcoming season

                Bids must include all required information

                State meets are governed by the Florida USAG committee – please review the regulations for bidding and hosting a state meet that are available on the Florida web site.

XCEL/Prep Opt Program:  Each state may determine rules for the xcel/PO program.  XCEL/Prep OPT scores may not be used for mobility within the JO program.  Florida XCELPO rules are posted on the Florida web site.  Starting with the 2013-14 Season, National rules for XCEL will be used in all states.

Qualifying to Regional Competitions:

Level 7 & 8 will qualify to regional meet by a percentage from the state meet. Exact number will be determined just before the state meet

Level 9 & 10 will qualify to the Regional meet by achieving a 34.00AA at the State meet

Level 10 Specialist will qualify to the Regional meet by achieving a 9.3 at the State meet on event

XCEL/PO Athletes:  There is no qualifying score to attend the XCEL/PO regional meet. Athletes must compete in the State meet to be eligible to enter.

Florida USAG Committee:  the Florida committee is made up of 12 elected representatives and members appointed to the committee by the Florida State Chairman.  Elections are held every 2 years for committee positions. The Florida committee is responsible for the organization and rules of State competitions, selection of judges, educational opportunities, enforcement of all USAG rules and policies.

All regional rules for Region 8 are available at the Region 8 web site at www.region8gymnastics.org

All National rules for USAG competitions are available at the National USAG web site:  www.usa-gymnastics.org

Florida web site www.usagfl.org              Toni Rand, SACC               AmTwist@aol.com