Women Compulsory order

[Mamabear]

I overheard some moms talking this weekend while waiting for our kids, and I’m really curious to know if this is true. Several said that at meets, the order that the coaches put the girls in is ranked by how “good” they are. For ex- as each team competes, the “worst” kids on the team go first and the “best” kids go last. Is this really a thing? Aside from the fact that it was an incredibly rude and insensitive thing to sit there and say, is there truth to that? (This is a level 4 JO team) Just curious as I’d never really noticed that to be the case but I also am usually only paying attention to my DD and her scores at meets.

 

[rbearclaw]

I always thought at Compulsory meets the order was predetermined, and stayed the same throughout the meet, but at Optional Invitationals, the coaches pick the order. My kid always goes first on vault at Invitationals, and almost last on beam. So I think there might be some truth to that statement.

 

[chalkbowl]

It depends on the coach. Typically I let my kids pick their own order, especially for beam, with the thought process that if they are comfortable going first they are doing to do better than standing around getting nervous if they are last.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It depends. Some meets have the order pre-set. Other times coaches do it, and they all have their ways of figuring it out. My DD has had coaches who did worst to best, shortest to tallest, or solid first then worst to best (usually for beam). I’m sure if you paid attention you’d pick up a pattern (unless the coach prefers randomness or lets the girls choose). I know how my DDs current coach does it and I’d rather not. Ha.

 

[gymbeam]

I’ve heard that too and was told the thought process is you don’t want weaker girls goingafter stronger ones because it makes them “look worse” to the judges??

 

[John]

Every Coach has their own thoughts on this. To know the truth you are going to have to be brave and ask. DD'd Coach likes a solid performer to start every event, a girl who will not fall and can set the table for the girls to follow. It is known to be an honor, on her team, to be asked to go first. He then changes the order of the remaining girls on all events and it does seem that scores build scores as the rotation continues. This was observed during DD's last year of optional competition.

 

[gymbeam]

On the other hand I’ve heard they sometimes places the most consistent on beam first so hopefully the ones who tend to fall don’t do so first and get in everyone’s head who follows.

But like prevypister said I think it depends on coach, the athletes in the group and whether the order is preset by the meet.

 

[fuzi]

A lot of this depends on where you are.

In the first state I coached, every compulsory meet had a pre-set order using a random draw. I never once got to pick the order as a coach.

In the second state, some meets used random draw, sometimes it was coaches pick.

In my current state, every meet (below states) is coaches pick. Coaches have a lot of different philosophies, but mine is usually as follows:
- Vault: start with a decent vaulter on a low vault setting. Then the other girls on the lower vault setting, then middle vault setting, then high vault setting. Finish with my best vaulter on the high setting. Most of this is about not having to move the table between every girl. I also want to finish with the really powerful girls. Some of the "okay" vaults look pretty okay, until you see them right after the "wow!" vaults. Then they look bad by comparison.
- Bars: Mostly by bar setting, but again, starting with someone who consistently hits their routine and ending with the really big swingers.
- Beam: Start steady. Someone who always hits. End with the best two or three routines. Mix the wobbly ones in, not one after another. If one girl falls, it's okay. But two or three competitors in a row falling seems to be contagious. I want to avoid that.
- Floor: Who really cares? Half the time I let the kids pick floor.

 

[NutterButter]

@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.

 

[amiandjim]

Yes, I will echo what the others have said. Some meets, yes, coaches will tend to put higher scoring girls last bc scores tend to build. This was known to be the case for our old gym, and all the girls were aware of this. It never caused an issue until state meet, where the order was set by the meet randomly. When my daughter found out she was first on floor, she immediately decided it meant her coach thought she was “the worst” and did the entire routine with tears in her eyes (in her defense she was 7)!! I thought she was hurt or something!! She somehow managed to pull out a 9.55 for second place but lord have mercy. We have had long talks since then about competition order!!

 

[Skye Fernandez]

I do think there is some truth to that. When my daughter was at her old gym she was in the Xcel program she did fairly well. She was always last on bars, and floor her strongest events and was usually 1st or second on vault. The event that she really struggled with. At her new gym she is doing JO level 4 and is definitely one of the weaker links right now. She is always first or second to go. Thankfully it doesn't seem to bother her

 

[CuriousCate]

Wow. I never thought about it. For our gym (at least in compulsories) we never figured out how they picked the order for the first rotation, but then they just kept it the same, except the first kid on event 1 would go to the end of the line for event 2, and so on down the line for each event.

Now I'm sort of curious because my kid has gone first on the first event many many times, but I always assumed it was because her last name comes first in the alphabet!

I know if vault is first, they simply do it by table settings but really that's the only thing I've figured out!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

I've heard similar, but I think in my area most of the time the order is determined by the meet directors. I don't think our coaches have much input in the order for compulsories at least.

 

[RoseSparkle]

Our coaches go from lowest score from last meet starts to the highest scoring goes last in the rotation.

 

[beachgirl]

At some compulsory meets the order is preset. If it's a meet with cards, the coaches put the cards in order and the judges go by the order of the cards. At least in my area, it's about half and half for preset or cards. For vault it is usually grouped by vault setting and for bars by bar setting. When my daughter was in compulsory I was too clueless to notice if she went first or last, I just wanted the whole thing to be over with. In optionals, I've noticed that when the coach sets the order, usually the best person goes last. I don't think it goes exactly worst to best though because I can't imagine a coach wants to start beam with a group of girls likely to fall and perpetuate that throughout the rotation. Also, you shouldn't listen to what moms are saying at the meet. I've heard some pretty strange ideas (I heard a mom say each girl had music for beam) and I remember thinking some things that turned out to be completely wrong too.

 

[mls529]

Was definitely true for my DD's JO 4 team a few years back. After a season of noticing it myself, I asked another mom (former gymnast and coach) and she said it was common to put in order to cue to judges that there are stronger gymnasts coming next. Like others, the exception was beam -- always needed a strong start, so those who tended to fall the most were in the middle. Order changed by event -- DD was almost always last on bars and almost always 2nd or 3rd on vault. But scoring most definitely DID NOT follow the "pattern" despite what the coaches may have been trying to do. For example, even if my DD was often last on bars, teammates beat her on a regular basis.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Usually only invitationals allow the coach to set the order. Here, the order is predetermined, and going out of order is not good. The only exceptions are bars, where a lot of judges allow bar setting to determine the order. But the coaches have to ask first. And at State and higher, you cannot pick the order, not even optionals.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Depends on many things. Our gym its who gets a case of the nerves and changes depending on the event. But usually is weaker kids first, stronger kids last. But that is not written in stone as it depends on how the kids have been doing up until the meet. So one meets order might not be the same as the next one.

 

[Flicfliclay]

The only meets that have random computer generated order that we have ever been to are State and Regionals. All other invitationals have been determined by my daughters coaches. And I would say most meets they do order them based on how they think they will score.. lower to higher... And that could change as the season goes.. some girls gradually get better at their routines/skill and therefore end up in a different order.

 

[M2Abi]

In my state, the coaches pick the order. It's not necessarily worst to first, but the best competitors on each event are at the end. At the state meet for girls, it is random, predetermined order. For the boys at state, it was still coaches' decision.