Competitive Gymnastics begins at any age - typically after age 6. Most clubs begin competitions at Level 4, however, I know that there are some clubs that begin competing in Level 5. Most competitive gymnasts practice anywhere from two to six days per week, averaging two to four hours each practice. As you can see, a competitive gymnast must LOVE the sport to be this dedicated.
I have found throughout my many years of experience around competitive gymnastics that gymnasts are some of the most committed, dedicated, organized and scheduled people that I know. They must realize early on that their homework, chores, etc must be scheduled in around their practice schedule. I think that this is a valuable lesson that they begin practicing early in life - this way it is already a part of their routine and skillset when they get out on their own in the "real world".
Competitive gymnastics has two separate parts. From Level 4 to Level 6, gymnastics is compulsory. Compulsory gymnasts all compete the exact same routine, as it has been laid out for them. They are judged based on their compliance to the exact specifications to the routine manual. From Level 7 to Level 10, gymnastics is optionals. Optional gymnasts have a designated level of skills that must be included in their routines. Each skill has a value and they must perform a certain number of each value of skill, but the coaches and gymnasts choose the skills that the gymnast can perform with the least amount of flaws. Based on the value of their skills, the judges calculate a Starting Value (the highest score that they can possibly achieve if all skills are done perfectly), and they are scored based on their performance of the skills. This is probably a bit confusing for those with little experience in Optional Gymnastics. The Elite Level gymnasts often compete both a compulsory and optional routine - these are the level of gymnasts that you see in the World Championships and Olympic Games.
