Anon In general, how accurate are mock meets in terms of scoring?

[Anonymous Post]

Hi, does anyone have any wisdom to share about the accuracy of mock meet scoring? We are not new to competing but new to this style of mock meet - ours was judged by a USAG sanctioned judge but we were only given the score on each event, not any kind of insight as to what the deductions are. I'm aware of obvious deductions, like falls, not sticking a landing, etc, but feel like my kid would be more interested in all the little stuff. She did well so this isn't a debate of the scores, more of a way to educate myself/her on scoring. Anyway, just curious what others experiences in mock meets are like. Thanks!

 

[Anonymous Post]

I think it depends on the level.. I think for lower levels generally they are judged by only 1 judge, so only one judge is watching / seeing the deductions given. To me that score would be pretty accurate. Now with upper levels there tends to be more than one judge.. meaning more eyes to catch either the same deduction plus some, so scores can be quite different. For example my daughters gym does have intersquads scored by a single judge..so i kind of think of it as a ballpark score.. Now remember scores are only valid for whatever meet they are at, whether an 8.9 wins that day and a 9.7 wins on a different day.

 

[Anonymous Post]

None of our mock meets provide scoring details just the scores (same with sanctioned meets) Sometimes during practice we have a coach at our gym who is also a judge come out and watch the routines and give them a general score (like 9.3 ish) and then tell them the biggest 2-3 things to fix in a routine. For example my kiddo had a problematic section in her floor routine it was just some dancy stuff on the ground but she was told it was giving her unncessiary deductions so they reworked that part of her routine and she scored like .3 higher next meet. At the lower levels they would tell them to work on X skill because thats where they are getting the most deductions. But I will say I am not sure a ton of gyms do that.

As parents you if you want to know about how things are scored you really need to educate yourself (independent research looking at online videos about how scoring really help. There was this one you tuber Chalk it up butter cup that did a great job but that was with the old routines so probably wouldnt help anymore). I really like the sport and find that kind of thing interesting so I did a lot of research and was actually able to guess scores pretty accurately for levels 3-5. The other parents thought it was cool they would say why did little Suzie score this way on bars and I could tell them about cast height requirements and body shapes etc. But honestly that knowledge is fun but once you get to level 7/8 it doesnt matter as much because the scoring requirements become way more complex so it's hard to determine how they will score due to bonuses and start values etc. I also didnt talk about that stuff with my kid very much she gets enough instruction at gym and puts enough pressure on herself if I talk to much about corrections or things it won't be helpful.

 

[JBS]

Hi, does anyone have any wisdom to share about the accuracy of mock meet scoring? We are not new to competing but new to this style of mock meet - ours was judged by a USAG sanctioned judge but we were only given the score on each event, not any kind of insight as to what the deductions are. I'm aware of obvious deductions, like falls, not sticking a landing, etc, but feel like my kid would be more interested in all the little stuff. She did well so this isn't a debate of the scores, more of a way to educate myself/her on scoring. Anyway, just curious what others experiences in mock meets are like. Thanks!

I would say that the scoring is as accurate as the judge that scored them. We never have more than a 1 judge panel for a mock meet. I actually wouldn't consider a 2 judge panel any more accurate than a 1 judge panel as both scores will always be counted. Many times the higher ranking judge / more experienced judge will sway the other judge's score. Once you get to a 4 judge panel... that's a whole different story as the high and low are typically dropped.

We have never had any issues bringing in a single judge for a mock meet. As a coach... I will have a conversation with the judge about our scores looking for advice for season. For optionals... I may have specific questions about individual routines or start values. This is not information that I would forward to the parents.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I would say that the scoring is as accurate as the judge that scored them. We never have more than a 1 judge panel for a mock meet. I actually wouldn't consider a 2 judge panel any more accurate than a 1 judge panel as both scores will always be counted. Many times the higher ranking judge / more experienced judge will sway the other judge's score. Once you get to a 4 judge panel... that's a whole different story as the high and low are typically dropped.

We have never had any issues bringing in a single judge for a mock meet. As a coach... I will have a conversation with the judge about our scores looking for advice for season. For optionals... I may have specific questions about individual routines or start values. This is not information that I would forward to the parents.

How would you say that a 2 judge panel wouldn't prove to show a different score? while yes both scores count by 2 judges, they are averaged. So one judge see's a 8.5 routine and another sees a 9.2 routine. That overall score will be different than having a single panel judge. So for the original poster they have a daughter that scores a 9 at a mock meet, goes to a real meet and the score is several tenths lower and wonders why? This reasoning could be why. Just and observation and answer to the OP.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

How would you say that a 2 judge panel wouldn't prove to show a different score? while yes both scores count by 2 judges, they are averaged. So one judge see's a 8.5 routine and another sees a 9.2 routine. That overall score will be different than having a single panel judge. So for the original poster they have a daughter that scores a 9 at a mock meet, goes to a real meet and the score is several tenths lower and wonders why? This reasoning could be why. Just and observation and answer to the OP.

That .7 difference is outside the range of difference two judges can have. I scored a routine about .7 lower than the chief judge on vault, and this girl stood there for eeeever while I had to explain how I arrived at my score and why we weren’t within range. We ended up raising my score and lowering his score to end up within an acceptable range.

That being said, it depends on the purpose of your gyms mock meet. Mock meet to score out some girls? Nope, those scores are nonsense talk. Mock meet to set the tone for the season? Our old gym asks the judges to take max deductions on everything, it’s a brutal meet and then the first meet of the season is suddenly so much better - they don’t want to go into season with high expectations

 

[JBS]

How would you say that a 2 judge panel wouldn't prove to show a different score? while yes both scores count by 2 judges, they are averaged. So one judge see's a 8.5 routine and another sees a 9.2 routine.

As stated above... because when they are "out of range" they will talk. As time goes on... one or both of the judges will start to alter their actual scores to become more "in range".

Look at it this way... what if you have a "junk" judge and a very good and accurate judge? The "junk" judge is more experienced and has more "power" in the world of gymnastics. The very good and accurate judge is probably going to sway their score towards "junk". Now you have two scores... but they are both just "junk" at this point.

Scores typically stabilize much more once the 4 judge panel comes in and scores are dropped.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Many times the higher ranking judge / more experienced judge will sway the other judge's score.

We had a mock meet a couple years ago. We had a fairly new judge and a very high ranking judge, but we were running 2 events at a time, so they were both 1 judge panels.
HC and I were baffled by the Start Values for our Xcel Gold girls on Floor (the high ranking judge), but HC didn't want to question the judge because you don't want to make one of the highest ranking judges in the state mad by questioning her start values ... but in Xcel Gold, A start value of 9.7 on floor would mean the gymnast was missing 3 (of the required 6) A skills, but somehow still met all of the SR???

 

[Anonymous Post]

That .7 difference is outside the range of difference two judges can have. I scored a routine about .7 lower than the chief judge on vault, and this girl stood there for eeeever while I had to explain how I arrived at my score and why we weren’t within range. We ended up raising my score and lowering his score to end up within an acceptable range.

That being said, it depends on the purpose of your gyms mock meet. Mock meet to score out some girls? Nope, those scores are nonsense talk. Mock meet to set the tone for the season? Our old gym asks the judges to take max deductions on everything, it’s a brutal meet and then the first meet of the season is suddenly so much better - they don’t want to go into season with high expectations

This just reminds me how much nonsense goes on in scoring gymnastics! LOL!

 

[Anonymous Post]

While I don't know the answer, my sense has always been that scores are low at my daughter's intrasquad. I have a sense that the coaches instruct the judges to take every deduction. I feel like maybe they do that to motivate them to work harder for season and set expectations that can be exceeded. Of course I could be 100 percent wrong, but after many years of my daughter sharing her intrasquad scores with me (they tell the girls but don't flash scores), I've noticed that they tend to be notably lower than the rest of the season's scores.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Our old gym asks the judges to take max deductions on everything, it’s a brutal meet and then the first meet of the season is suddenly so much better - they don’t want to go into season with high expectations

I really love this. If you can get all the tears and breakdowns out of the way at a mock meet, when they score higher later they'll feel better about themself. Really wish DD's gym did this