| oklahoma_aau_rules_policies_22-23.pdf |
AAU Gymnastics - Oklahoma
2022-2023
District Director
Ben Fox
Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy
3206 Bart Conner Dr.
Norman, OK 73072
405-447-7500
405-447-5810- Fax
Cell 405-641-1812
bhf1161@aol.com
District Judging Director
Debbie Simonson
risingstaroklahoma@yahoo.com
405-273-1068
All judging and rules should be submitted to Debbie.
Girls gymnastics levels 1-Open Optionals and Xcel levels
Boys gymnastics level Up to-6
Mission
To promote recreational, competitive gymnastics in the state of Oklahoma. The organization would fulfill a number of different goals.
1) Standardized judging- one certified judge per event
2) Lower meet fees
3) Low insurance rates
4) Liability coverage for all involved.
Athletes and coaches must register at www.aausports.org
Information
All athletes and coaches must register with AAU. They must have a valid membership card to participate in sanctioned events. AAU’s membership fee includes a background check. You will not be able to get approved to go on the floor the day of a meet, or the day before.
In addition, all coaches are required to take the Positive Coaching One hour online course. This is free and is a great course. If this is your 2nd year, there is a 2nd course that you need to take and pass. It is also on the web site. You have 30 days to pass the PCA course, once you register.
One person is designated a club contact. They must be an AAU member.
Clubs do need to be registered, in order to host a meet. There are three levels of membership and Level 2 and 3 allow you to sanction meets. The AAU Membership page for individuals and clubs can be found here:
Types of AAU Memberships
All meets must be sanctioned and the information must be sent to the state director for approval. When you sanction a meet, the director must approve the sanction. DO NOT wait until the last minute to get your sanction. In addition, you cannot have TAG or USAG gymnasts in the same session as AAU.
Rules for hosting a meet
Our goal in Oklahoma AAU is to provide a quality, low cost competitive structure. Meet and door fees will be restricted at AAU meets. They are as follows:
Entry fee
In your facility- $40.00 maximum, Outside Facility- $45.00 maximum
For levels 6,7,8 & Open Optional Diamond and Platinum XCEL- $45.00 inside and $50.00 outside. This is only if you are having a two judge panel for these levels. It is highly encouraged to have a two judge panel for these levels. If you are only having a one judge panel, then your entry fee must be the same as the compulsory levels.
Door Fee-Regular Season - All Meets
$5.00 adult, $2.00 children- 12 and under. 4 and under free.
Scholarship Fund Contribution
$1.00 per gymnast to be sent District Director (address above). Checks should be made out to AGSEP-AAUOK. Example- 125 AAU gymnasts- send a check for $125.00 to Oklahoma AAU. This must be done within 7 days of your competition. Failure to do so will result in no other sanctions being granted and gymnasts not be able to entered into the district championships.
Because of the levels of the AAU Meets, it is HIGHLY recommended that AAU meets begin after 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and younger age groups (ages 5-7) begin before 6 p.m. AAU meets cannot sandwich other sanctioned events between their sessions. This will invalidate your AAU sanction and insurance.
Age as of date during the season
Meets should state in their information as to the age determination date. The general rule in Oklahoma is that the age as May 31 of the year the state meet is in. However, if there are out of state gyms, then it can be as of the meet date. It must be stated on the meet information. Otherwise, all Oklahoma meets, the age is as of May 31. For the 2022-23 season, it is May 31. 2023.
District Championships
All gymnasts must compete in a minimum of three Oklahoma Qualifier meets in order to qualify to the District Championships. The meets must be in Oklahoma, in order to count. Two of the meets must be at the level the athlete intends to compete in the state meet. Athletes do not need to compete in the all-around. These scores will be tabulated. If there is an injury, the athlete can petition to the state meet. No adult age divisions at the state championships. Adults are eligible to go to nationals if they would like to enter.
They will be divided as follows:
Novice State Championships- XCEL Bronze, Level 1, 2, 3
Advanced State Championships- XCEL Silver and up, and Levels 4 and up.
No adult age divisions at state championships. Senior in high school is the highest age.
Gymnasts may compete in only one AAU state championship.
Novice State Championships- April 22-23, 2023
Entry deadline- March 8th. There can be meets after this date, but they cannot count towards qualifying for state.
Entry forms should be mailed to and checks made out to:
Host:Gymnastics City
1011 Reavis Rd.
Claremore, OK 74017
Advanced State Championships - April 29- 30, 2023
Entry deadline- March 15, 2023. There can be meets after this date, but they cannot count towards qualifying for state.
Entry forms should be mailed to and checks made out to:
Host: Fliptastic Gymnastics
2315 NE 35th St.
Lawton, OK 73507
Entry forms received after the deadline have a penalty of $50.00 per gym. If the form is received less than 2 weeks before the meet, the meet director, in consultation with the District Director, have the ability to not allow the entry.
Gyms must submit a bid form in order to host the District Championships. The requirements for hosting the event are:
State Meet Entry Fees:
$50.00 for inside facility, $55.00 for outside facility
Door Fee - $5.00 adult, $2.00 children-12 and under, 4 and under free.
$15.00 per gymnast goes to Oklahoma AAU Scholarship fund.
Host is responsible for the following:
Cost of awards The gym that hosts the state meet will purchase their awards from the state board. They will be able to return any unused awards to the board. The AAU national medals and ribbons must be used. This is a national rule. In addition, ages, number of awards, etc. must be approved by the district director.
Awards Guidelines:
Age groups between 10-12 per group
Try to make sure no more than 24 months within an age group
Level 1 participation All-around award only
All other levels- Individual events 50% +1, All-around- all the way out.
Payments to judges – 2 judge panel for state. At novice state, there is only one judge for level 1.
All other expenses
The host gym collects all payments, door fees and any other sales of merchandise.
Fill out the bid form by clicking here:- Oklahoma District Championships Bid Form
This must be e-mailed to the District Director
Qualification to AAU Gymnastics Nationals
Gymnasts must compete in the District Championships in order to qualify to the national meet. If a team enters 5 or more gymnasts to the AAU Gymnastics Nationals, the state fund will pay $250.00 towards the coaches’ expenses for the meet. This payment will come as a reimbursement of travel expenses after the National Championships. Depending on the year to year budget, the state will donate funds towards the cost of special Oklahoma apparel for the competitors at the Nationals.
AAU All-State Banquet
Qualifications to go to the banquet
Level 3- top 3 in any event or all-around, or 37.0 and higher in the all-around. Ties for 3rd also qualify.
Level 4 & up top 3 in any event or all-around, or 37.0 and higher in all-around, regardless of placement. Ties for 3rd also qualify.
XCEL Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond- top 3 in each event or all-around or 37.0 and higher in all-around, regardless of placement.
XCEL Bronze and levels 1, 2 do not attend the banquet.
Dress Code
AAU meets will follow the same dress code as Oklahoma USAG
Coaches:
Athletic shoes with rubberized soles.
No jeans or cargo pants/shorts/pants.
Pants:- Athletic warm ups or docker style pants- no jeans.
Shorts:- Athletic or tailored shorts with a reasonable seam- 7” or longer. No holes tears or short shorts.
Shirts- Collared shirts or t-shirts with gym logo. NO spagehetti strap, low cut, or midriff revealing shirts.
No hats or visors
Athletes:
No racerback leotards
No deduction for leggings or shorts
Competition format
Alternate spring board allowed for all levels and all vaults, except Yurchenko entry vaults. Meet host must provide an alternate board or make it clear in the meet information that an alternate board is not available.
Warm-ups- Warm-up times will be followed per USAG warm-up rules. If you are hosting a meet- please know these rules!
Level 1- Achievement ribbons on each event, participation medal at the end. Recognize the gymnasts by age group.
Level 2, 3- 1-3 on each event. All-around placement by age group- standardized medal for each gymnast- no gold, silvers.
All gymnasts receive an all-around award.
Level 4 and up and all XCEL levels- Placement ribbons on each event. All-around placement by age group. Gold, silver, bronze medals- all gymnasts receive an award. Individual events ribbons for top group. Number would depend on amount in the age group.
The USAG gymnastics rules will be followed in all events. In addition, USAG Oklahoma rules for coaches’ behavior and dress will be followed in all AAU competitions.
No team awards allowed at any meet. No trophies to be given out at any meet for individual awards.
Meet Sanctions
All AAU meets must be sanctioned. You must go online and register your meet. There is a late fee if you meet if you do not sanction at least 30 days before the meet. All AAU sanctions must be approved by the district director, so do not wait to sanction. ONLY AAU athletes may compete in an AAU session. One person is designated a club contact. They must be an AAU member. Clubs do need to be registered, in order to host a meet.
Oklahoma State Championships
All awards for the Oklahoma State Gymnastics Championships will be the same as award categories outlined in the handbook. There will be NO team awards at any level. You must compete in the Oklahoma State Championships to qualify to the AAU Junior Olympics or the Age Group Nationals. The gym that hosts the state meet must purchase all their awards from the Oklahoma State Board. In addition, ages, number of awards, etc. must be approved by the district director.
Judging
JUDGING
Only one judge is required on each event for an AAU meet. In addition, judges and coaches will follow all USAG rules and policies for deductions and scoring.
NOTE: With the 2021 USAG levels 1-10 and all Xcel, AAU Oklahoma has proposed some modifications. Everything will be straight USAG rules for all levels, except for the following:
1. No timing of any floor or beam routines.
2. Alternate spring boards are allowed at all levels.
3. There is no score mandate for movement in or within levels
4. Only one judge is required at all levels.
5. Additional mats are allowed on any event.
6. For glide return on low bar, the springboard or alternate mounting device may remain at the bar fro the glide return. However, it must be removed immediately after.
The complete National AAU office differences are only used at out of state, regional, or national meets which are listed on our site.
The State/District Championships will use 2 judge panels per event except for Level 1. Level 1 will use one judge panels.
No team awards at any meets for AAU
Tank leotards are encouraged. Inexpensive uniforms are encouraged.
Gymnasts must compete in the Oklahoma State/District Championship in order to qualify for the AAU Gymnastics National competition or the AAU Junior Olympics
Oklahoma AAU Scholarship Program
Oklahoma AAU Gymnastics is proud to announce the Oklahoma AAU Scholarship Program.
There are 3 types of scholarships available. Two are available to be awarded at the 2022 AAU All-State Banquet. The third, a performance scholarship, will be awarded by the results of the 2023 state meets. Please read through this carefully, as it has important information about these scholarships. Some deadlines are in the next 2 weeks!
Senior Award- $1,000
Awarded at the All-State Banquet, August 20, 2022
Must have competed in AAU for at least 4 years.
Needs to fill out application
Needs to be at the banquet to accept the scholarship
Deadline: August 6, 2022
Mail Scholarship application and materials to:
Oklahoma AAU Scholarships
3214 Bart Conner Dr.
Norman, OK 73072
Red, White and Blue Scholarships - $500 each
Awarded at the All-State Banquet, August 20, 2022
Red- Level 6 and up, and XCEL Diamond & Platinum
White- Levels 3-5
Blue- XCEL Silver and Gold
Must have competed in the 2022 State Meets. The level you competed in determines which scholarship to apply for.
Needs to fill out application
Needs to be at the banquet to accept the scholarship
Deadline: August 6, 2022
Mail Scholarship application and materials to:
Oklahoma AAU Scholarships
3214 Bart Conner Dr.
Norman, OK 73072
Performance Scholarships-
To awarded at 2023 State Meets
Funds awarded for anyone that is 12 by 5/31/2023 (6th grade and up)
Amounts are for 1st-3rd in the All-around.
Goal is to award $600-$700 per age group (not that amount per place).
Gym they attend must be a member of the Oklahoma AAU Scholarship Program
Other Details:
All scholarships need to be claimed within 2 years after they graduate.
The money goes to a school, not an athlete. If they receive a full athletic scholarship, they will not be eligible for the AAU scholarship for undergraduate. However, it would be available for a post graduate work, but must be claimed within 2 years.
Funds can be used for universities, community colleges, trade schools and other post-secondary courses that further their education.
There is an annual $250 fee per gym to be a member of the program. The fee is due by October 15.
FAQ’s
Q- Where does the money come from to fund the scholarship program?
A-There are four sources for the upcoming year.
1. There is an annual $250 fee per gym to be a member of the program. The fee is due by October 15.
2.The meet tax is now $1.00 per gymnast, per meet. This is now called a scholarship fund contribution.
3.The state meet fees went up by $5.00 each and this goes to the fund.
4.$5.00 from each All-State Banquet ticket goes into the scholarship fund.
Last- Donations can also be made to the scholarship fund, which is a 501-C-3 organization.
Q-My daughter was awarded the Red scholarship this year. How do we get the money?
A- Once she graduates, she contacts the scholarship committee and tells them where she is going to school. The committee will send the money to the institution on behalf of the student.
Q- At the 2023 state meet, my daughter placed 2nd in the gold XCEL division and was awarded money. How do we get that?
A- First, your gym must be a member of the scholarship program. If they paid the $250, by October 15 of 2022, then you are eligible to put the money in your AAU Scholarship account. If they did not join the scholarship program, then you are not allocated the money.
Q- My daughter just graduated. How do I know how much money she has allocated to her over the past 6 years?
A- You can contact the scholarship committee and they can tell you. We also plan to establish an online portal that you can look up your fund balance.
Q- Do the funds earn any interest?
A- No, you will just receive the amounts you earn
Q- My gymnast quit her sophomore year in high school. She has money in her scholarship account. Can we still get that even if she quit?
A- Yes. You contact the scholarship committee, when she graduates and request the funds be sent to the post-secondary institution she is attending.