WAG Compulsory order

[Mamabear]

@Mamabear - Yes, it's sometimes how it's done but as others have said, not always. DD's coach will often put a solid competitor up first on beam to set the tone for the group. But sometimes the girls decide among themselves the order...even on beam.

Competition order was something that brought out the worst in the CGMs during DD's compulsory years. I recall one truly special CGM who noted at every meet who was last to compete on an event. She wore it like a badge of honor when her kid was last to compete. Then there was another mom, not really a CGM but a Debbie Downer, who was very sensitive to the fact that her DD was always among the first to compete. Just try to tune out the negativity if other parents are discussing this...it will shake itself out in a couple of years.

Yes, I didn’t want to necessarily say it, but it’s probably no coincidence that this particular Mom who started the conversation has a child who always competes last or next to last. Her DD is pretty good, I’ll give credit to that. But it was hard to tell wherher she was just saying that because of her DD. I have a feeling if/ when the order changes, she won’t know what to make of it ha ha. My DD is usually somewhere in the middle and I’d never really paid attention to who was first or last before.

 

[2gymkids]

Depends on the gym/coach. At our first gym, each meet was a different girls' turn going first on every event and they followed a specific order. I do think for the first meet of the season the coaches tried to have the most solid kid head-wise be the one to go first but after that it never really mattered. At our second gym, the team was much biggest so they were split in half most of the time to rotate and they split it up by vault/bar settings. After that, I have no idea what the order was or meant but it didn't seem to go worst to best.

 

[RTT2]

I had no idea about any of this. At our last gym they went in alphabetical order and they kept that order through every event. Meet season hasn't started yet so I don't know how they do it at DD's new gym, and DS is just starting to compete this year, so I guess I'll find out once meets begin. I didn't realize so much went into choosing the order!

 

[Aussie_coach]

Interesting, our comps are very different. It’s down by computer generated draw and the first gymnast rotates to the end each apparatus. So say there were 6 competitors . 1st apparatus would be 123456, next apparatus 234561, next 345612 and so on.

 

[Flyaway]

Like others have said, it depends. It is mostly true at our gym with the exception of beam. However, if a gymnast requests to go first, the coach will honor that request (some like to just "get it over with" and going first helps with nerves).

 

[suebee]

So interesting to read! Dd’s coaches seem to keep it pretty random, and the strongest kids are usually in the middle somewhere.

They also use the same order for every event, except sometimes vault if it’s last. Vault order is determined by vault height. However, if vault is first, they keep the order for vault for the other rotations too.

 

[CuriousCate]

So interesting to read! Dd’s coaches seem to keep it pretty random, and the strongest kids are usually in the middle somewhere.

They also use the same order for every event, except sometimes vault if it’s last. Vault order is determined by vault height. However, if vault is first, they keep the order for vault for the other rotations too.

Oh wow, so the same kid has to go first on each event? That's rough!

 

[vbdb]

I’m in Canada and often the groups are fairly small, you won’t see a L4 team with 30 kids on it and we compete by age group. Often our kids rotate through events with other gyms so there’s no point really in ordering them based on proficiency. No one has any idea who is best to put where when you don’t know what the other kids are capable of.