Coaches Is the team that good or are the judges biased?

[CoachTodd]

I was looking out our girls' level 5 state meet results. I don't have any kids I currently coach at the meet but some of my former students were there. I looked at the team all around score. As coaches, how many times in the past have you seen a team place first on every single event? In 10 years, this is the first time I've seen it at the state level. I have been to a few small meets where there was an obvious difference in experience of the kids but never at states.
Makes me wonder how much of the judging is based on who is coaching the kid.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

I was there yesterday with my DD. In her session the scoring seemed pretty consistent but I can't say I paid a whole lot of attention to the scores by team. I was watching routines to see if they looked similar to routines my DD had done all season & the scores they received to get an idea of what DD might score if she did her average routine.

my DD scored within ranges she scored this season except vault where she did the best FHS she has ever done & got much higher than regular season. I thought L5 scoring was pretty tough all season but since this was DD's first year in L5 I don't know if scoring is just that much harder than L4 or if scoring is harder this year.

I know that there are gyms that always seem to pull the top scores. I think there were only a few girls from the powerhouse gyms in my DD's sesssion because I think most of them are younger than my DD at L5.

So, not sure if I answered your ? but scoring did seem consistent in her session. Maybe having every girl in the same leo @ states would fix that if there is bias.

 

[gymgal]

LOL - without even looking who started this thread, I thought "They must be in NC!" Yes, there is definite judge bias here. We are in the prep-op system and it is glaring. It is so obvious that when we compete out of state and our scores magically rise and other gyms' scores fall. I am not putting down the gyms that do really well. They have great gymnasts who deserve high scores and high places on the podium. And it wouldn't bother me so much if the judges were scoring all the girls higher (some judges are more lenient), but this is not the case. There are a few gym that always seem to get what we call "the brownie points" just because they are from a particular gym. Minor deductions are overlooked. When the difference between 2 teams AA score is consistently more than 4 whole points in state and less than 2 points out of state (with similar routines), there is definite bias going on.

Now you have me curious and I have to go find the meet results, but I'm pretty sure I know....darn, I was wrong, but close.

 

[CoachTodd]

I call tell you which 6 teams will get the benefit of the doubt at many meets. I can even narrow it down to which coach is actually present at the meet for a few of those teams.

GymMom actually hit the nail right on the head when she say the scores were "with in range". Depending on the score, the judges can be .5 apart from each other or more. One judge's score can lean .3 one way or another on any given routine. It just seems that certain colored leotards get the extra .3 while others lose it.
I actually sat in the stands at one meet and did my own scoring. Certain gyms, my estimated score was dead on. When I used the same criteria for other gyms, my score was suddenly lower than the judges. I think I'd be more likely to miss deductions than to take extra ones.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

I could also list those 6 teams. However, I don't feel like a have been around long eniugh to say if they are given that benefit but it would not shock me. Sometimes I feeel like the judges know which girls always do well so even if the mess up they might get .1 for the wobble that my average DD would get the full .3 for but I could also just wish that were true

I often wonder if the 'right leo' would increase DD scores any. But she is happy, progressing, loves her coach & her coach loves her. That is enough for me, even if I do groan sometimes when I see her score and feel that it should have been higher.

There may be favoritism. Judges are human, even though it really isn't fair. It should not matter what leotard you wear, what gym you are from or who coaches you because those are nit what these kids should be judged on. They should be judges on the routines they do that day at that meet & nothing else. I do feel my DD was judged fairly this weekend. If the girls in 'thise leos' got some leeway I don't know, but I hope not.

 

[CoachTodd]

I think the main issue is that it does make you wonder if someone is getting the benefit of the doubt. With that doubt in the back of you mind, it takes away from the kid that may have actually earned a good score. Either way, it does nothing for the kids. Judge them all the same and do it the same way all year.

 

[gralch1]

I agree that sometimes it seems that leos play a big part in scoring. However, as a coaches we have to let go of those things we can't control......judges, type of equipment, starting event, who is in your session/rotation, etc.
I try to concentrate on the important things like location of the chocolate and Mountain Dew.

 

[Coachandmom]

I think the main issue is that it does make you wonder if someone is getting the benefit of the doubt. With that doubt in the back of you mind, it takes away from the kid that may have actually earned a good score. Either way, it does nothing for the kids. Judge them all the same and do it the same way all year.

Agreed. And for the top two teams, they truly were fantastic. But there were a few questionable routines. I was very proud to see the Level 6 5th place team finish. They looked great all season, but had three girls hurt/sick for State. They had to count all three gymnasts they brought for all four, and still finished well. That brought a smile to my face to see a smaller gym given their due. Unfortunately we're heading into a Prep season that ended with a rough State last year. Hopefully we will have a more consistent season from start to finish!


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