WAG Different areas and scoring

[John]

I grew up competing in Pennsylvania and it was sort of well regarded fact that if you went south into Maryland your scores would go down a few tenths. I know a judge from Maryland and she sort of prides herself on the fact that Maryland is known as a tough judging state.
I think NorCal is another area that's known as a having tougher scoring. I once talked to a parent of a D1 NCAA athlete who told me her daughter's NCAA coaches tried to avoid meets in NorCal because they always scored lower and it could bring down their average score.

Coach Molly my DD agrees with you. She says she scored highly in NJ and Southern California.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our girls scores have been consistently higher in the next state for the past 5yrs+ (and were before then as well but that is all the personal experience I can vouch for). Still not even close to the insane 9.6-9.8 scores I see posted from different areas. If anyone scores over a 9.5 here and it is flashed, people seriously gasp and applaud regardless of if they know the athlete or not..!
ETA: scores in the 7’s aren’t all that unusual here. A GOOD gymnast will score in the high 8’s to very low 9’s. A GREAT gymnast creeps up towards the mid-9’s.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Scores are different from state to state and judge to judge. Human factor

 

[Gymmamabear]

And what about at states or regionals??? Doesn't it seem like the last 2 sessions always get the highest scores? Now those are usually the younger girls. Are they just better or do scores go up???? The Friday sessions a 37.1 will be first place and by Sunday night a 38.3 gets you 3rd.

 

[gymnastmom05]

We find it funny because our team tends to score and place higher when we go out of state. Being from a small gymnastics state and at this point, we feel like we "know" all of the judges and a large number of judges have a connection to a few gyms, sometimes it feels like there is some already preconceived ideas and it's reflected in scores. I know it SHOULDN'T be that way but it does make you wonder at times (oh, this is x gym, they're good or this is y gym, they're good at this event, this gym is terrible). Leave the state and become more "unknown" and leave the politics of your state behind, and things have seemed different.

 

[coachmolly]

Right, that’s where I get confused. It seems like they score higher.. and my DDs AA score went up by almost 4 points from last time she competed, but she also went from last place on nearly everything to top 3 on a couple of events. I don’t think it’s totally cut and dried.

I can't speak for JO, but Xcel scores super high in Virginia. My kids think scoring in the 8s is terrible because it happens so infrequently. I have girls in their 3rd year of competing who I don't think have ever scored lower than a 9.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

And what about at states or regionals??? Doesn't it seem like the last 2 sessions always get the highest scores? Now those are usually the younger girls. Are they just better or do scores go up???? The Friday sessions a 37.1 will be first place and by Sunday night a 38.3 gets you 3rd.

Pencils are always sharp at the beginning. But some judges are consistent throughout. Not many but some.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Pencils are always sharp at the beginning. But some judges are consistent throughout. Not many but some.

Heck, I feel like it occurs in a session! Scores go up on events as the session goes on, doesn't even need to be the end of the meet!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Heck, I feel like it occurs in a session! Scores go up on events as the session goes on, doesn't even need to be the end of the meet!

It's all part of any sport that is judged. I watched the olympic long jumping tails and an athlete jumped several meters further than anyone and was scored into second place... even the announcers were perplexed as he appeared to have good technique etc..... Guy got robbed out of the olympics on national TV.

 

[SMH]

So I’m not really familiar with much outside of my state- what are considered the harder scoring States/regions?

 

[MILgymFAM]

So I’m not really familiar with much outside of my state- what are considered the harder scoring States/regions?

In *my opinion only* NorCal scores hard, Pa scores easy. That’s all I think I’ve seen consistently.

 

[fuzi]

Judged and coached in three states.
Nor-Cal scores harder than Ohio scores harder than Florida.

 

[Mish]

We always score lower (1-2 full points!) when we come to MA meets. But the girls still place where they normally do (give or take).

 

[profmom]

I see more of a distinction between small meets and big meets. And judges do have their foibles -- there's a judge around here who judges vault often and cares very much about repulsion off the table. Another is notorious for inflicting deductions on cast angles quite rigorously. On the men's side, there's one who's allergic to any hint of arm bending or touching the cables on rings, and there's one judge who consistently scores my son around .2 more than he deserves for no reason I've ever been able to discern (he usually judges vault, but he's done the same thing on rings and pommels).

 

[MinnieGymMom]

We are in Michigan and when we travel down to Ohio the score go up my a couple tenths (even more on beam) My daughters like getting the higher scores

 

[GYM0M]

From TX, scores tend to be higher for compulsory levels at invitational meets; however, these scores seem to be pretty consistent ‘in season’. Not sure about optional levels. I’ve seen super high scores, but the routines have been super clean. And I’ve seen super clean routines that get scores less than ‘expected.’ Who knows.....

 

[sce]

All I can say is seeing videos of routines from other areas, and the scores of those routines. I am often surprised at how high the routines scored. I am sure they would score lower in my area.

 

[profmom]

All I can say is seeing videos of routines from other areas, and the scores of those routines. I am often surprised at how high the routines scored. I am sure they would score lower in my area.

Hahaha, I remember when my guy was a L5 and the team went to BlackJack. His score was a full two points lower than usual on pommels. I seriously thought his young coach's head was going to explode right out there on the floor. There was some clenched-teeth discussion with the judge to no avail. Even after they had finished the meet -- pommels was the second event -- he was still mad enough that he wanted to see the video.

 

[LJL07]

Well, when my daughter went out of state she tended to score higher. Also, I think there are easier scoring places, as I have watched "She scored a 10.00" videos on YouTube and even the untrained eye can see the errors, yet the score was a 10.00. In particular, some Texas videos I've watched tend to have higher scores than they would get around here.

Georgia scores tough! My daughter had one of her best meets there. Great placement but her AA score wasn’t fabulous. At her worst meet last year, she scored an AA of 37 even and was second to last place in Texas. Ridiculous! There were 39s at this meet.

 

[LindyHopper]

We are in Michigan and when we travel down to Ohio the score go up my a couple tenths (even more on beam) My daughters like getting the higher scores

Just curious... when you go to Ohio, even when scores are higher, do your daughters place similarly to how they do in Michigan?