WAG Level 9 Beam - Single Acro?

[thefellowsmom]

I am a little confused about all the requirements and judge preferences for level 9 beam. Is there a single acro requirement? If so, what skills qualify for that? Is that a compositional requirement or just preferred by the judges?

 

[Muffinsmom]

There is an acro series with a minimum of two flight elements requirement. Any A B or C element with flight is allowed or one D/E which will receive C credit.

However, if you choose to compete the minimum requirement, say a B+C acro series, you will likely incur an up to .2 deduction for not being up to the competitive level. Unless, of course, the majority of level 9s in your area are all competing the minimum. But if other girls are competing a C+C or a B+B+C or a B+C+C, you will get the deduction.

There are also compositional deductions for not going two different directions which is why you often see a single acro skill, but a single acro skill is not a requirement.
Hope this helps.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Thanks so much for your insights!

I'm not too concerned about difficulty. Her routine is pretty difficult. It's just her coach keeps bringing up her needing a single acro in her routine but she has a back tuck in addition to her series and plenty of bonus so I just thought that would be enough but thought maybe I was missing something in the compositional space or just in what is expected of winning routines. I know her coaches have high expectations of her.

 

[txgymfan]

The fellowsmom, I love hearing from our veteran parents. You've been with us for a long time. It's nice to hear your DD is doing so well.

 

[Natasha]

It may be that the coach is wanting a D acro skill so that she has the highest maximum allowed routine? I did read that the USAG committee is looking at specifying criteria for "not up to level" deductions for floor and beam for L9 and L10 for next year. Perhaps her coach has already been privy to what the expectations will be. They did specify for beam for L8 this year so that it is more of a standard expectation.

 

[Seeker]

It may be that the coach is wanting a D acro skill so that she has the highest maximum allowed routine? I did read that the USAG committee is looking at specifying criteria for "not up to level" deductions for floor and beam for L9 and L10 for next year. Perhaps her coach has already been privy to what the expectations will be. They did specify for beam for L8 this year so that it is more of a standard expectation.

Just curious -- what was the specification for L8?

 

[duyetanh]

Just curious -- what was the specification for L8?

Yes, I am curious about this also...even though mine is nowhere near that level!

 

[thefellowsmom]

@txgymfan - wow! That is really nice. Thank you!

She is doing really well and plugging along. She is excited for level 9 this season!

@gymtigermom - this is possible. I feel like they are definitely pushing to have the most difficult routines she can pull off. She has 10.0 start values on everything but vault but they are still aggressively working upgrades on all events and planning on adding things as they go for sure.

I didn't realize that they were creating specific up to difficulty requirements. This makes lots of sense and sounds like a good idea.

This is what I found for the level 8 specifications.

Examples for application of deductions for Level 8:For No deduction (if all are met): 1. Acro series with 2 “B” ight skills 2. Additional Acro element on beam 3. Acro connection to “A” dismount element OR an isolated “B”dismountFor Maximum deduction of 0.20 (if all apply): 1. Acro ight series with only one “B” (or less) or no acro ight series 2. No other acro elements 3. Isolated “A” dismount

Does appear they are pushing for beefier routines.

 

[profmom]

Huh. So if a L8 girl competed BWO-BHS, did a separate BHS, and did a B dismount, that would incur a .1 compositional deduction??

 

[thefellowsmom]

Or maybe .05 or something like that? Maybe .1, tough to say.

I am glad to see this as it was discouraging to see a 9.8 handed out to someone doing a tick tock back handspring, split jump beat jump and a front tuck dismount no matter how lovely it looked. I'm sure I am missing something as all the special requirements were obviously met, but you get what I mean.

I guess this gives them some guidelines and discourages watering down of routines to score high. We see this a lot at state in our area. People want to raise those state champ flags and help their businesses compete.

In level 9 and 10 I can see this being a bit trickier though as there are different ways to add difficulty. For example, if dd hits all her connections she has .6 in bonus including a difficult leap pass with .2 bonus and three connected dance/acro mixed - I guess sort of a bare basics level 10 routine? - But someone can do a simple jump combo or similar and score higher simply because she has a front/side aerial? Hmmm.

I think they will have to be more detailed in their and/or this and/or that list for the higher levels with connections and hard skills and such.

Interesting. Hopefully they are being thoughtful as I think the judges were probably having a hard time interpreting it and so didn't ever use it. This could be overall a good thing.

Ultimately I just hope my dd conquers her demons on this skill soon so she and her coach can stop bumping up against it and move on. Sigh...

 

[LMV]

Thanks so much for your insights!

I'm not too concerned about difficulty. Her routine is pretty difficult. It's just her coach keeps bringing up her needing a single acro in her routine but she has a back tuck in addition to her series and plenty of bonus so I just thought that would be enough but thought maybe I was missing something in the compositional space or just in what is expected of winning routines. I know her coaches have high expectations of her.

Our elder gymnastic child did L9 years ago (so the rules may have changed but when she did it) but I'm pretty sure there was compositional deduction for routines which didn't go both backwards and frontwards/sideways. She has included side aerials and front tucks in various L10 beam routines over the years for this reason.

 

[txgymfan]

LMV, another veteran CB parent, how is your DD doing? Last you posted she was on the upswing.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Our elder gymnastic child did L9 years ago (so the rules may have changed but when she did it) but I'm pretty sure there was compositional deduction for routines which didn't go both backwards and frontwards/sideways. She has included side aerials and front tucks in various L10 beam routines over the years for this reason.

Does a roundoff into the dismount count as sideways?

 

[Natasha]

Does a roundoff into the dismount count as sideways?

yes.
There is also a composition requirement for a balance of acro and dance, perhaps since your dd has difficult dance the coach is trying to up her acro to match? DD was deducted last year at L10 for the opposite.