Parents Home Team Advantage

[munchkin3]

Just went to a meet over the weekend and it was absolutely ridiculous! It was so noticeable that the rest of the coaches were laughing. At least .50 or more for routines to the home team girls. The only exception were 2 or 3 very very advanced girls that were clearly better than all the girls, and they didn't even come in first.......I can't imagine we will go back next year. I hope not.
I guess competition season has started!

 

[aerialriver]

were are the judges from that team?

 

[2G1B]

I'm not saying that there wasn't some biased scoring; but I do think that it is important for us parents to remember that we aren't judges and just go with the assumption that maybe some teams maybe have focused on something that the judges that day liked.

My kids old team came to a competition at our new gym. I was very excited for both of my girls for how they did in this meet, they has great routines and great scores. Honestly, watching them I *could* see a difference between what they were doing and what their old team mates were doing. Older dd went first and it was close; but old team did win. I kind of expected that as they had a lot of repeat girls; but my dd did very well and I was happy for her. Then younger dd competed. She also did really well, as did her team mates. She was on a team with some very talented girls. Her team won. One of the moms from the old team made a point to tell me that it was a sham, that the judges were being ridiculously easy on the home team, that their girls were so much better, etc. At first I was a bit shocked that a mom I was friends with would be so rude. I pointed out that the judges had no affiliation with our gym and there was just no reason that they would skew the scores our way and I pointed out that the session before their team had won with the same judges. This mom was adamant that it was not fair.

And that got me remembering one of the things that I didn't like about old gym. Anytime our girls weren't doing as well as other teams the moms would start talking about judges being biased against our girls for whatever reason. I remembered sitting with them and sometimes pointing out that the other teams really were that much better than our girls; but these moms were never willing to see it.

I have decided that I will not be one of the parents in the stands saying that it isn't fair or judges are biased. I'm sure it happens sometimes; but more often I bet that some of the girls just didn't have what the judges were looking for that day and that I just don't understand judging.

 

[wnl256]

If the meet was held in the "home team" gym then they really do have an advantage. They are familiar with the equipment and the environment, since they practice there every day. Judge bias is unlikely, especially if there were 8 judges.

 

[Seeker]

We went to a meet last year where the host gym won top 6 places in every event. Yes, they are a good gym, but the scoring seemed "very favorable" to them. It was disappointing for the rest of the competitors....felt like they really didn't have a chance.

 

[munchkin3]

Yes some of the judges are coaches there.
2G1B I know what you mean. I would never mention this sort of thing to my DD and I am certainly NO judge, but this time DD asked me and I sort of changed the subject. Besides, I look at it as a great opportunity for the girls to continue their hard work. Trust me my DD has plenty of work to do!

One meet it may be power and height, another meet may be more presentation and prettiness. Its just that this time was REALLY, REALLY obvious. The worst part is we really like the host gym and always have. It made the situation a bit uncomfortable for my DD because she always loved going to that meet and would get second or third, (never 1st...that was for the home team). Well, lets just say that i dont think her whole team would mind NOT going there again. And really there was a team, not ours, that was clearly the best at ALL events and several coaches agreed! it was the kind of routines everyone would stop to look at. They came in well below home team......Whatever, im over it, life isn't fair......DD will get over it too.

I always try to make a positive......she will work harder for the next meet to get where ever she wants. I am proud of her no matter what.

 

[profmom]

I have to say that in all the years I've been going to meets, I've only seen this once and then only on one event. It wasn't a home meet for Perfect Gym, but it looked pretty obvious that they had the beam team on their side for the (old) L6 session. They had girls with multiple falls and dismounts that didn't meet the requirements scoring in the high 8s and 9s, while at least a few of our girls' stuck routines that were pretty good were in the low-mid 8s. And yes, I do get the nickel and dime thing, and some of their routines were technically better than our girls who didn't fall, but I am still annoyed about the girl who fell on her full turn, wobbled badly on a few other skills, and completely botched her dismount to the point that it shouldn't even have counted as a dismount and was gifted with a high 8. I guess she got bonus points for doing a REALLY good split leap? We haven't been back to that meet since, I've noticed . . .

But really, aside from that episode, it's just been the occasional head-scratcher here and there. (Yeah, Mr. Hi Bar judge at states, looking at you, dude -- really, only big guys can score well, no matter how high they are swinging??) I can't say I've seen much overt bias.

 

[Midwestmommy]

I think I have only been at one meet where the judging was crazy favorable to the home team, it was so obvious on one event that I don't know how that judge/coach (they were a coach from the hosting gym) walked out of there with a straight face. It was a few years ago.

Around here there are a couple of top gyms (and one hugely dominant one) that compete "down" a level etc., that always do very well. They also do seem get the "benefit of the doubt" aka a "blind eye" on mistakes from a few of the judges that other athletes don't get, nothing that can be done about it. It is blatently obvious once in a while when you see things at meets such as one of their compulsory athletes on beam who falls, has 3 little wobbles and 2 huge wobbles including a windmill, and still score a 9.2. What are you going to do.... That's one of the many reasons not to focus on scores when you talk to your kids.

 

[still hanging]

Seen it...it's how it is....

 

[Tbrov]

The longer I've been going to meets, the more I keep my mouth shut. I used to think judges were biased, but now I sit with L4/5 parents and they get all upset about being scored below another competitor, and I'm thinking "But her leap wasn't near as high, and her ankles weren't together during her tumbling pass, and she took an extra step, etc" In other words, I now see less obvious stuff that causes deductions. In the beginning I could only notice the really big stuff. I still see some bias sometimes (like towards power, or grace), but it's a subjective sport so what are you going to do?

Oh but I'll add - coaches shouldn't judge their own gymnasts! It always looks biased even when it's not - sometimes they are harder on their own kids...

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I would never judge my own kids,,, they would never win!

 

[teksquad]

This thread reminds me of a meet we once attended. In this meet, on two events that I was watching, each of the the home team gymnasts had their scores blinking when initially posted. I have known blinking scores to mean that the score was changed. At first, I thought perhaps the score sign was malfunctioning, with every (home team) gymnast having a blinking score. Then, when a non-home team gymnast competed, the score sign didn't blink. Then I payed closer attention for a little while, and did see several initial (home team) blinking scores, which were reposted several minutes later, (blinking again), with a score of about .4-.5 higher. This seemed bizarre to me. Does anyone know if this is a regular practice of some sort, or perhaps there was just some kind of malfunction going on?

 

[wnl256]

This thread reminds me of a meet we once attended. In this meet, on two events that I was watching, each of the the home team gymnasts had their scores blinking when initially posted. I have known blinking scores to mean that the score was changed. At first, I thought perhaps the score sign was malfunctioning, with every (home team) gymnast having a blinking score. Then, when a non-home team gymnast competed, the score sign didn't blink. Then I payed closer attention for a little while, and did see several initial (home team) blinking scores, which were reposted several minutes later, (blinking again), with a score of about .4-.5 higher. This seemed bizarre to me. Does anyone know if this is a regular practice of some sort, or perhaps there was just some kind of malfunction going on?

Sometimes when we are setting up ProScore for a meet, we will enter some fake scores to test the system out. If someone did this as a test then forgot to clear the scores out afterwards, when the real score shows up ProScore will flash it thinking it is a correction. But usually we only have a need to test with one gymnast in this manner, not a whole team.