The age of the gymnasts is not an arbitrary rule that should be eliminated. My daughter was in gymnastics for a while. Training at Olympic level is very hard on growing bones and muscles, and it is easy for a youngster still growing to do permanent damage to his or her body. My other daughter was in age-group track and field and they were very careful about that, including having well-defined age levels and rules and standards for each.
This has been a problem in the past in other school sports where the kids may have the power for the sport but have not yet reached their full growth. http://idiotgrrl.livejournal.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
