- Overview

British Gymnastics has a grading system to distinguish between trampolines of different levels.

Grades go from 7 to 1 with 7 being the lowest, and 1 being the highest level. Grade 7 is actually intended for special needs and is not normally part of the main competition schedule.

To qualify for a grade, you must compete at an British Gymnastics competition and obtain a certain score from competing your routines. The score is made up of your set form score, voluntary form score and your voluntary tariff (any finals are not included for grading). The score has to be above a certain threshold to move up to the next grade.

Each grade is split into age groups, and each age group at each grade has a set routine that you must compete. From grades 3 and upwards, you can choose your set routine, but it must contain certain skills.

Grades 7 - 4 do not require qualification, you can decide to enter these without having graded before, but grades 3-1 have a 'move up' threshold and also a minimum score you are required get to avoid being forced to move down!

View the Grade set routines, required scores and tariff limits for each grade...

To enter a grade competition, you must be a member of British Gymnastics as they run these competitions. You can either enter through a club, or enter directly individually.

2006 judging review...

In 2006 there was a big shake-up in the way judges scored routines at competitions.

The problem was that our top level competitors representing the Great Britain were not doing very well at International competitions because the standards in British competitions was far lower that that required at International Competitions. This problem has filtered through from the bottom where judges had lower standards than the rest of the world.

The Solution has been a review of judging. Since 2006 the requirements to be awarded a mark of say 0.2 on a move have been raised.

The short term effect of this is that competitors are getting lower scores for the same standard routine as they may have performed the year before. This is obviously hard for younger children who don't understand.

The long term effect of this is hopefully that British competitors will change their expectations and the standard of trampolining in Britain will rise to a much higher level. This will hopefully show by the fact that we will do better at International level.

More about judging...