For every great coach who swears by one of these program, I can name another great coach who thinks they are a waste of valuable time.

There is actually no divide between great coaches. All the best coaches I know assess young gymnasts with their own battery of criteria: body type, strength, quickness, flexibility, agility, courage, enthusiasm, parental support, etc.

Most elite coaches can assess young children within 10 minutes as accurately as any testing scheme.

The real questions are:

? do we want testing programs to replace competitions?

? do we want inter-club testing programs? Or simply keep it in-gym?

Personally I like to make a big deal of physical ability testing only for a year or two. Perhaps the second and/or third year of serious training in the career of each gymnast. It's part of the education process of athlete and parents.