Mobility Meets & Qualification Meets
Any Elite athlete is allowed to compete as an Open athlete in invitationals. However, if the intention is for them to be eligible to qualify for any Development Program events, please submit an Elite Drop Back petition to Tom Koll - National Development Program Committee Chair, at tkoll60@gmail.com. Any scores achieved from an invitational before the petition is approved will be invalid, meaning they would not be eligible to qualify to the Nastia Liukin Cup, State, Regional or National meets.
Instructions on how to properly submit a petition can be found on page 77 in the Women’s Program Rules & Policies:
A US Elite gymnast (an athlete who has competed as a Junior or Senior International Elite in a Classic Meet, Junior World Trials, or higher) who wants to enter the Development Program MUST petition to drop back to the Development Program, regardless of the year of competition, by completing the “reason for change” form (https://usagym.org/PDFs/Forms/Women/elitedropback.pdf) FROM HER COACH to the National Development Program Committee Chairman (NDPCC). For Information regarding Foreign Athlete (Elite or non-elite) participation in the Development Program, please refer to Chapter 2.
Any gymnast who competed at the Pre-Elite level (at a Regional or National qualifier and/or Challenge competition) may choose to compete as a Level 10 in the following season, since she is considered as a Pre-Elite athlete. No petition is necessary.