Special Olympics New Jersey offers artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics involving short routines on different apparatus. Rhythmic gymnastics combines elements of ballet, gymnastics, dance, and apparatus manipulation.
Gymnastics is a summer sport where athletes train and compete from January through June. Read below for futher information on the upcoming 2022 season.
Artistic Gymnastics
- Floor Exercise (men and women)
- Vaulting (men and women)
- All-around (men and women)
- Pommel horse (men)
- Parallel bars (men)
- High bar (men)
- Rings (men)
- Uneven bars (women)
- Balance beam (women)
- Level A (Women only) - Floor exercise, vaulting, wide beam, single bar
- Levels I, II, III: Compulsory
- Level IV: Compulsory and optional
Coaches will determine in which level of competition to place their athletes. Special Olympics gymnastics athletes must be able to safely perform all skills in their chosen level of competition. Athletes must compete at the same level in all events in order to be eligible for all around competition. Optional routines may be performed only by level IV gymnasts in all events after they perform their compulsory routines.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
- Floor exercise (women)
- Hoop (women)
- Ball (women)
- Ribbon (women)
- Rope (women)
- All-around (women)
- Levels I, II: Compulsory
- Level III: Compulsory and optional
Upcoming Events
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June 10, 2022 – June 12, 2022
2022 Summer Games
The College of New Jersey
2000 Pennington Rd
Ewing Township, New Jersey 08618
Additional Gymnastics Information
Regular physical activity is vital for good physical, social and emotional health. While there is a risk of injury with any type of physical activity, the benefits of staying active far outweigh the risks.
You can reduce your risk of exercise injury by:
- wearing the right shoes
- using the correct equipment
- drinking water and staying hydrated
- warming up and stretching properly
- being aware of your surroundings – always exercise and compete in a safe and level area clear of any obstacles or items
- maintaining social distancing rules when necessary (stay at least six feet away from others)
Stop exercising and seek medical help if you experience symptoms such as:
- discomfort or pain
- chest pain or other pain that could indicate a heart attack, including pain in the neck and jaw, pain traveling down the arm, or pain between the shoulder blades
- shortness of breath
- a rapid or irregular heartbeat
Artistic
Coaches will determine in which level of competition to place their athletes. Athletes must be able to safely perform all skills in their chosen level of competition. Athletes must compete at the same level in all events in order to be eligible for all-around competition. Optional routines may be performed only by level IV gymnasts in all events after they perform their compulsory routines.
Rhythmic
Athletes must compete on the same level in all chosen individual events. Athletes may specialize by competing in one or more events at the chosen level. Gymnasts who do all four events at a level are considered all-around athletes. A level III gymnast may do one optional routine in any event as well as her compulsory in a chosen event.
• Athletes must compete in sectional competition in order to be eligible to compete in Summer Games.
• Athletes must participate at the same level in sectional competition and Summer Games.
• Coaches are responsible for submitting the activation list at the sectional event for those athletes who qualify to advance.
• Coaches may use additional criteria (i.e. behavior, overnight stay, medical) to evaluate the athlete for higher-level competition.
• Athletes must provide their own gymnastics attire. Men should wear shorts and a t-shirt, a men’s tank step-in, or gymnastics stretch pants and white socks. Women should wear a leotard with bare legs and bare feet. Beam shoes are optional.
• Lunch will not be served at sectional competition. Lunch will be served on a 4:1 athlete to coach ratio at Summer Games.
Sports Registration Checklist
Read through and complete this checklist of to-dos before signing up for a local program.