Parents How does L10 work?

[Gigi]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone can provide some insights on how L10 works.
I read that L10 routines requires 3 A's, 3 B's, 2 C's skills to get to 9.5, then gymnasts add more elements to get to start value of 10. Do those elements have to be A, B or C skills or it can be any combination you want? Can a routine have over 10 point value? Do they get more credit for it?
If you continue with L10 multiple years, do you keep adding to the routines and making them more and more difficult and higher point value? Do you have to change routines after a couple of years (music, choreography, tumbling, etc.) ? Do most multi-year L10 gymnasts?
Thanks for your input.

 

[raenndrops]

I know that they can earn bonus for different combinations of skills and for difficulty. They are allowed to do D and E skills in addition to the A, B, and C skills. That is where the difficulty bonus would come in.
Combination bonuses are like (on floor) if they do a B+D Dance/Acro combination, they earn 0.1 bonus. If they do a D Salto with an A Jump, it is 0.1 bonus. If they do a Direct acro connection of B+C or A or B+ D or A+A+D or C+C then it is 0.2 bonus.
At L10, it is all about doing the skills in combinations that will get them the needed bonus.

 

[Natasha]

In addition to the bonus for combinations and difficulty skills, there are a lot of "composition" deductions (also for L8 and L9) but at L10 some of these are even more difficult. For example, while a single bar release skill is not a required element for L10, most routines without one will get a "not up to competitive level deduction" A routine without sufficient D skills will also get this deduction, even though D skills are not required for your 9.5 start value. (However you can only earn .4 from combinations Or D and E skills so you really need both types of bonus to get to a 10.0 start. There also needs to be front and back skills, 'change in direction' on bars, a balance between dance and acro on beam, variety in choices of jumps, and a bunch of other things. All of these composition deductions can easily add up to more than .5 in deductions and are therefore just as, if not even more important than the 10.0 start value achieved through difficulty and combinations. Most level 10s will add difficulty and combinations of skills as they get them ready to compete. There is a very wide variety at L10, from your just barely a L10 without 10.0 start values to your Elite level gymnasts who have dropped back to L10 to pursue college.

 

[Natasha]

With the exception of a couple of vaults, they cannot have a start value over a 10.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Not arguing here as previous posters are right on but just arguing that things are more complicated than just whether you have a certain skill or not. The compositional deductions are complex and subjective and hard to interpret on the best day.

For example, there were two level 10 nationals bar champions with routines without high bar release moves. Somehow I doubt that those kids got a not up to competition level deduction. A routine can contain a lot of difficulty without a single bar release move. But maybe they are getting this deduction and the rest is still just that great that they are beating all the other kids with high bar release moves? who knows, but I doubt it.

Junior B - National Bar Champion - 9.67


Senior A - National Bar Champion - 9.625


They both do a shaposh (D) directly connected to a high bar to low bar release which is bonus eligible.

The basics are this...

If you meet the minimum special requirements and ABCs, the routine starts from a 9.5

The special requirements are...

2 flight elements one B or higher and one C or higher
A C or higher element with long axis rotation (pirouettes or blinds, half or full)
A C or higher dismount of the salto or hecht variety.

Those extra .5 are made up for in bonus.

Bonus can be obtained in two ways...

1. Connection Bonus - Two skills of a certain difficulty combined will earn you .1 or .2 of connection bonus. What gets a bonus is different for each apparatus and for bars is different for level 9 and 10. Here is a doc that lays our the basics

https://usagym.org/PDFs/Women/Rules/J.O. Code of Points/appndx07_L9-10cheatsheet2013.pdf

2. In level 10 you can get bonus for difficulty. Each D skill gets .1 bonus and each E skill gets .2 bonus.

You can only get a maximum of .4 for either of these categories so you can only get .4 in difficulty bonus and .4 in connection bonus for a maximum total bonus of .5. This means that you are going to need at least 1 D skill and and least one connection bonus to achieve the total of .5

As a previous poster mentioned, the compositional deductions are a big player in levels 8, 9 and 10. There is much more to it than the up to level deductions with more of these applying the higher you go up and vary from apparatus to apparatus. This can account for a lot of deductions, especially those ones that you watch a clean routine and are dumbfounded as to why they are getting deducted.

Good coaches will know all the tiny ins and outs of the code and create a routine at this level that maximizes the gymnast's abilities and strengths and gets them the maximum bonus value possible while hiding all their weaknesses.

 

[gymgal]

I think the main point here is that in order to be competitive (at least at nationals, and in the top regions), you need to have at least a couple D's. Those girls connecting high-low, low-high transitions really helped not only with objective scoring but also subjective difficulty level (up to competitive level)

 

[Gigi]

Which is more strategic - compete as L9 with good scores or a mediocre L10 for an older (9th grade) gymnast with college hopes?

 

[gymgal]

Which is more strategic - compete as L9 with good scores or a mediocre L10 for an older (9th grade) gymnast with college hopes?

Really depends on your child. If she has a shot at L9 West/Easterns, then it may be better for her to be there. If your child needs more confidence in L10, it may be better to have a "training" year in L10 So that she comes out strong as a tenth grader instead of being a tenth grader nervous first yr L10