MAG Competition formats

[J&A's mom]

Why are there so many different competition formats?

My son had his first "true capital cup" format yesterday, and let me tell you, we hated it. It seems dangerous too!

He is a Level 4 guy, so I think feeling comfortable on the eqpt seems to be the most important thing. I know he has told me that he looks for something to look at while he practices so he knows if he is doing it right. That kind of makes sense to me, although I would think it would be more important when you do real releases.

Anyway, they had a practice area and a competition area, and their were two sets of gymnasts.

He messed up two events. He came in sixth, which was great because of the way they did the age grouping. He rocked the other four events.

So there is traditional format, true capital cup, and modified capital cup. Is there another format we should know about to prepare him for?

 

[BlairBob]

Those formats are it.

 

[MyBoysFlip]

We had our first capitol cup meet this weekend too - my son loved it! Unfortunately that's the only one we have that way this year - the rest of his meets are traditional. My DH on the other hand was not a fan - he's never there for the 2 hour warm up and complained the whole time about how long everything took. It sounds like he did great though!

 

[themonkeysmom]

In level 4, my son did better in capital cup format meets. In level 5, though, I am starting to realize that he's doing better in the other style (warm up everything, then compete everything)

If you've just run through your rings routine 3 times, it's definitely harder to pull off that 4th muscle up.

 

[profmom]

There are good and bad things about all of them. With CC, I don't like it when they don't get a touch on the competition equipment, though I suppose that problem becomes less significant after more experience competing on a range of different equipment. (My son had a tough time on pommel at one CC meet because the surface felt different to him and he wasn't prepared for that.) But with the warm-up everything, compete everything format, I think he sometimes doesn't do as well on some events because he's always a little better just after he's done a partial routine or two, especially with mushroom. If they start on P bars, it's a long time until they get back to the mushroom!

I'd guess it all evens out, though, as they gain competitive experience. It's interesting to me that the girls' meets almost never do the traditional format. It's almost always capital or modified capital, at least around here.

 

[J&A's mom]

So, I have found out more 'info' from the older gymnasts from other levels. Apparantly THREE of the older guys fell off the highbar. These are kids that NEVER fall and are usually at the top of the podium. We also had a fall on our team, but he has been struggling lately with the move he fell on. So, these kids said it felt a lot different than any other high bar they have been on. Then pbars......they were 'wobbly' according to the other kids. I asked my son about it and he said he agreed. He messed up his dismount, and so I watched the tape and I totally think that he didn't expect this extra give of the bars....its totally obvious on the video clip. I am totally not a fan of the format at all. It seems so dangerous. Had they practiced on the equiptment I believe they wouldn't have had some of their mistakes. Yes, everyone was in the same situation, but with kids that are just learning, they shouldn't be put in this situation. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

no disrespect J&A's mom. but you unintentionally don't know what your speaking about. kids have been complaining about equipment for ions. it ain't the format or the equipment...it's the kids. in time it'll pass.

 

[Mom2twingymnasts]

My son competed in the Palm Tree Classic in California a few weeks ago. It was Capital Cup but they didn’t have a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] floor so the boys warmed up their tumbling passes diagonally across the floor in between people competing. This was the first time my son experienced that and it definitely made him nervous. He was already nervous because he is the only level 7 on our team and it was the first time he was at such a big meet that level 7’s weren’t grouped with another level. While he did horrible on floor, it was a great experience for him. He learned how to handle competing alone and that style of floor warm-up. He also learned that you don’t back up when you fall on a warm-up pass but you get out of the way – he was embarrassed but nobody got hurt. I think it is great that he is experiencing all these formats while he is at a fairly low level and isn’t executing very dangerous skills.

 

[BlairBob]

Dunno, there is a time where meet equipment can feel quite different from one set to another. This is generally due to it's surface (say PB). Some PB are wider than others when set all the way in. Floors can feel different due to the carpet surface, gaps, spring type and age, etc.

Above ground vaults tend to feel quite odd if you have never vaulted on them before, all sorts of stuff like that.

To state that they are not is incredulous.

On another note,

If you've just run through your rings routine 3 times, it's definitely harder to pull off that 4th muscle up.

One, I rarely see that we get 3 attempts up on an event. Maybe PH or PB or V, rarely anything else not FX or the hanging events.

Doing 3 full routines with MU sounds pretty dumb, especially with bonus skills like MU and BL. Not so much with the press HS stuff or extra skills on FX or bonus skills on PB/HB/PH.

1st half and a 2nd half and a full routine. However, you're lucky if you get up to the rings or HB 3x sometimes, so it tends to just be better to do 2 routines, 1 with and 1 without bonus strength skills. Save the third, in case the first 2 didn't hit so well or to just one work part of a skill sequence or 1/2. This sort of depends on level. Full routines is easy for L4 but gets rougher as the level goes up. Part of this also has to do with how the kid feels that day and whether it's their 1st, 2nd, or 5th event and in what order they are competing that day. FX last can suck as can PH or SR.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

my point was that the equipment is "always different" when you're coming up. experience remedies this athlete problem. can't be complaining when you go overseas. it is what it is. if you complain you won't be chosen again. this too is a process. it is what it is and it prepares the athlete for all sorts of environments. lights, noise, cameras, television crews, etc; it's all part of the same process.

it would be impossible to make a competition venue identical to the athletes' training gym. understand?

 

[Galadriel]

get it and agree!
dd had recent comp where i think a pec injury was due possibly to a much bouncier floor - on a jump to land in push up she got much more 'air' than she was used to and therefore landed harder - but just my interpretation! just have to use it as a learning experience ! x

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[J&A's mom]

thank you blairbob. I didn't particularly like being told that I don't know what I am speaking about. I was a gymnast, but I never competed because we couldn't afford for me to be on team. I fully understand the concept of changing eqpt. I was saying that AT THIS LEVEL, I didn't think first graders have enough experience to practice on one piece of eqpt and compete on another minutes later.

 

[skschlag]

My son loves capital cup! He is 9, and has competed for 4 years. He thinks it is fun to do it in another spot then compete! That being said, we only have one place where capital cup is even an option, so most of the time it is modified capital cup. They do usually only get 1-2 turns, then compete.

Our coach always says that this is the only sport where a kid is expected to show up, do an entire workout, then compete (traditional format). He doesn't really let our kids do too much in warm up. They are either ready or not. LOL!

 

[BlairBob]

Dunno, in general, yes. You can't cart around your own rails (though I heard of a gym that tried once and they were quite a pain in the butt, especially since they aren't that good). However, at a lot of meets, you'll come across shoddy warmup equipment, generally at the smaller meets. Some of the rented stuff is so new or wornout, that it does feel funny. Equipment is sometimes like hospitality. Sometimes, it's stellar, and sometimes, it's just a joke.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

thank you blairbob. I didn't particularly like being told that I don't know what I am speaking about. I was a gymnast, but I never competed because we couldn't afford for me to be on team. I fully understand the concept of changing eqpt. I was saying that AT THIS LEVEL, I didn't think first graders have enough experience to practice on one piece of eqpt and compete on another minutes later.

i said "unintentional". and 1st graders do this all over the USA. the argument is circular logic unless you don't think they should go on their 1st set of competitive equipment until they're in the 10th grade. honestly, it's been done this way forever. i guess i just don't understand what the both of you are talking about. AND i was a competitive gymnast and had to experience the very thing your son experienced. i come from horse hair mats and reuther boards. today's parents have no idea what it was like years ago AND the athletes are spoiled. i don't like to be argumentative, but the both of you are making no sense. and please, for your son's sake, don't tell his coaches your thoughts on this subject matter and especially if you're at swiss turners.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Dunno, in general, yes. You can't cart around your own rails (though I heard of a gym that tried once and they were quite a pain in the butt, especially since they aren't that good). However, at a lot of meets, you'll come across shoddy warmup equipment, generally at the smaller meets. Some of the rented stuff is so new or wornout, that it does feel funny. Equipment is sometimes like hospitality. Sometimes, it's stellar, and sometimes, it's just a joke.

i honestly don't know what you're talking about. i haven't been on a bad set of meet equipment in over 30 years with our boys or girls team. i certainly have no idea what meets you're going to. and i haven't heard/seen anyone carting rails with them since we transitioned from wood to fiberglass. we did that with the padded beams also when we transitioned from wood. it's apparent then that not all of us are going to the same competitions. if you're in colorado, you're making it sound 3rd world and that's not accurate. tom foerster will disagree with you also.