love/hate this sport

[sportyfam5]

I was planning to post a great L8 meet report today and instead I need to vent. The scoring in gymnastics is just ridiculous! My DD did not have a spectacular meet but what sucks is her team mate ( who I love her and her mom) scored higher than her and mostly performed level 7 skills!
Explanation: team mate vault half on half off score 8.525 (4th place)
DD vault tuck tsuk 8.7 (3rd place) really can those 2 vaults even compare in difficulty?
team mate bars was a very weak L7 routine, does not even come close to any hand stands, no giants, no release and she scored a 7.7! Another team mate did full level 8 including straddle back (whole routine was sloppy and she did fall) but she scored a 7.4! How can this be fair?
My DD had no falls on bars, not a high enough cast, straddle back, giants, layout flyaway and scored 8.1
The team mate has a beautiful floor and scored a 9.225, my DD was average with a really low tumbling pass 8.65. This one was pretty fair. Beam was relatively fair too.
This is only the team mates 2nd L8 meet this year, she is always injured. Both times she beat my DD in the AA. My biggest complaint in bars and vault. I did video all our girls but I won't post for privacy.
I am just appalled that the weak level 7 routine can score a 7.7!

 

[gymgurl]

well your dd did better on all apparatus's except floor which is apparently very strong for the team mate so i am not really sure what you are complaining about, yes sometimes gymnastics scoring can be unfair and some skills are just not worth the bonus but at the end of the day its not about to scores or the competitions but what your dd gets out of the sport. If the team mate has very clean routines it is possible that the level 7 skills could score that high. It sounds like your daughter had a great meet anyway so congrats to your dd

 

[profmom]

What I always tell myself and my partner is that we should never be more upset or disappointed in the results of any kind of sporting event than our child. It's also our job as parents not to reinforce or encourage reactions or behaviors in our child that might cause others to view them as "sour grape-ers" or poor sports in the future. Sometimes it's tough for me and sometimes it's very tough for him, as he gets wound up by harsh scoring or what he perceives as bad calls in soccer/baseball games. But it's not about us. It's about our kids, and dealing with disappointment gracefully and being gracious to winners are very important lessons that gymnastics can teach.

Plus there is the fact that I am not a judge, and while I've tried to educate myself about the basic deductions and I'm usually not miles off in playing "guess the score," I always figure that if the coach isn't protesting, there's probably some basis for it!

Believe me, I understand the feeling of being disappointed by scores at meets, but I hope that, as Gymgurl suggests, you can focus on the fact that your DD performed some very difficult skills and did a great job. Hopefully her teammate's healing and comeback process will continue well and she'll soon be doing routines packed with difficulty as well.

 

[wallinbl]

What were the start values on the routines? Even with a 9.0 start value, if you do it without many deductions, you're going to score mid 8.

 

[marie83]

A lot of the time neat and simple wins over sloppy and difficult (not saying your dd is sloppy as her scores were good!)

One of my gymnasts exceeded her pass mark (British levels) and had a lot of skills missing - she had lower start values than a lot of the girls, but the skills she did were beautiful, hardly any deductions and she scored well above 42 AA. One of the girls she was competing against went all out for difficulty but had falls on all apparatus. She competed a tucked tsuk, my gymnast competed half on half off. The tsuk scored 12.3 and the half on half off 11.8 - so only 0.5 in it!

It can be very frustrating but seriously, try not to focus on scores as judging is SO subjective, especially, I find, on floor and beam where artistry really matters!
Try and focus on the positives - did she stay on the beam? Did she compete all her skills to the best of her ability? Did she try her best? Did she enjoy it?!

It really doesn't do to dwell on scores and placings!

At our competition this weekend, 1 of our gymnasts came last overall but she came out with a big smile on her face because she knew she had done her very best, even though she made mistakes, but she had still achieved her goal of 'passing' - her attitude was 'well, someone has to come last!'

 

[bookworm]

I know you're upset but your post basically points out where the deductions would be..."did a straddle back but sloppy and had a fall" (and probably touched her feet on ground with straddle back so more deductions there) ..."not to handstand" ..and as far as the vaults; your daughter's vault has a 9.8 start value versus her teammate's 9.2 start value , so the difference in the vaults is recognized in the start values , so the delta in scores must be in the execution. It sounds like the teammate is doing cleaner level 7 routines at level 8 and taking a hit in the start values but not losing points in execution, and your daughter is getting the higher start values and taking a hit in execution...

 

[gymmom14]

Sporty... I totally get what you are saying. My dd is repeating L8. She did a death defying tsuk last year and received high 7's. This year she is training, but not competing the yeurchenko. She is competing a front handspring and scoring 8.4's. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is safe for her.

 

[Gymdad2]

Im sorry that you are unhappy, but I suggest you read Wallinbl;s post above and give it some thought. It may help put this in perspective for you. Good luck

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

She did a death defying tsuk last year and received high 7's. This year she is training, but not competing the yeurchenko. She is competing a front handspring and scoring 8.4's. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is safe for her.

See that makes sense to me as a judge. If you are doing something dangerous I will find every deduction in the book because I do not want to see anyone get hurt. Giving out low scores for poor skills might discourage coaches from getting kids to do skills that are not competition ready.

 

[gymmom14]

See that makes sense to me as a judge. If you are doing something dangerous I will find every deduction in the book because I do not want to see anyone get hurt. Giving out low scores for poor skills might discourage coaches from getting kids to do skills that are not competition ready.

Sorry Pineapple. The front handspring makes perfect sense to me as I don't want to ever watch an unsafe vault again! I wish she would have just trained the yuerchenko all of last year and maybe been ready this year to compete it.

 

[sportyfam5]

Thanks to all for the great advice. I understand how it all works. I was just frustrated by the scoring. I do not ever let my DD know my frustrations. She was happy as can be after the meet. Not much affects her which I am glad about. The coach however wishes at times that she got a bit more upset to motivate her.
Today at practice she was excited she flipped yuerchenkos!
So many positives to the sport of gymnastics that lessons are learned from the negatives.

 

[Granny Smith]

Congrats to her on flipping. I understand your frustration, but one thing to consider, especially in the higher levels, if a gymnast is doing the harder skills and not the bare minimum of the level, it will make the transition to the next level much easier. The girl who is doing the L7 routines at L8 will not make the jump to 9 with any easy at all. My dd is competing L9 this yr, this is her 2nd yr. Bars is definitely her event. She has a jammed packed routine and would actually score better at 10 than 9 because some of her bonus is devalued. She also will at times get hit on the smaller things in her routine, like her shootover goes to HS, but she might have a slight leg separation, so she'll get dinged. Because she has more things in her routine, there is more to deduct. Sometimes there might be another routine with less skills that might score higher, but my kid will be ready for 10 next year and I can't necessarily say the same for the other routine. I try not to focus on the score, but on the routine. If she hits, it's a great day regardless of score. It was nice to see this past weekend when she fell on bars, but was still able to pull a 8.8, she was definitely rewarded for her content, form and execution... shame they don't give bonus points for sitting down your dismount! She'll get 'em next time!

See the WHOLE book, not just the page that your dd is currently on - the key is to get to the end of the book!

 

[JessLW]

I think Granny Smith put it in perspective perfectly. It is hard when your kid is working hard for those really difficult skills and someone else sails through an easier routine and gets a higher score, but those higher level skills will pay off eventually. You're not going to see anyone competing a handspring on vault or a bars routine without giants at level 9 (I mean, I suppose technically you could see them but you generally don't ...). Things will even out somewhat in the end.