My school essay - The scoring system used in gymnastics needs to be changed.

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Just to let y'all know, i earned a 93 on this essay! And also, it was written by a young teen, so don't be too harsh ;)

The scoring system used in gymnastics needs to be changed.

Many have heard tell of Nadia Comaneci, the first gymnast to ever receive a perfect ten. Well, the scoring system has changed, and now receiving a ten is very bad. Gymnastics is harder than ever with the new code in place. This is causing many career ending injuries and thousands of frustrated gymnasts and coaches. The current code needs to be changed, and for the better this time.

Gymnasts are packing their routines full of difficulty, and not stopping to think twice about the perfection and artistry of the sport. This is a problem because the gymnasts will compete the hard skills, but usually when just focusing on doing the skill, their form becomes very sloppy. The gymnasts who do not do as difficult of skills but perform it very well should be rewarded, not downgraded because they were not as difficult. In the old code, gymnastics was all about being perfect, and making your body flow well with elegance. Unfortunately, you do not see this as often anymore.

To break it down for you, the new code involves two parts, the "D" score or difficulty score, and the "E" score or execution score. When judges judge the routine, they take all your deductions from ten. Then they add together your top elements and their values. Finally, they add the the "D" score and "E" score together to give you the final score. In the old code, once you hit so much difficulty, your scores were simply out of 10. It was much easier to start out of a 10.

After the 2004 summer olympic games in Athens, Greece, "FIG" completely changed the code of points, against many people's wishes. "FIG" stands for "Federation International Gymnastics" and they basically decide what skills are worth, and how costly deductions are. The reason most people were so unhappy about this change is because it is no longer possible to get a "perfect score" and most did not see a reason to change. Gymnasts now have to perform a tremendous amount of difficulty while competing it flawlessly to just make it into the "elite" program. This is the program in which the best in the world compete in. Getting to this high level is almost impossible without suffering injury, in which some are career ending.

Because difficulty is such a big factor in the current code of points, many gymnasts are getting injured frequently. Gymnastics is tough, and there are always going to be injuries, but they should not be happening as much as they are today. Recently, the current world champion, Aliya Mustafina of Russia tore her ACL while vaulting at the European Championships. How did she hurt herself? Doing too many twists while being loose in the legs in the air. Why was she doing it? Because the vault she was doing, a two and a half twisting yurchenko, is worth point six more than a double twisting yurchenko. This could mean the difference between first and fourth place!

For a spectator who knows nothing about gymnastics, figuring out the scoring system can be like trying to read brail. You many watch a routine and think it was very good, but the scores do not reflect it. How can we fix this? Lower the amount of difficult elements required in the routine, giving the gymnast the ability to work more on body line, and incorporating cleanliness into their routines. They should also offer bonuses for those who perform with great execution. There are many things we can do to make the current code of points better, and gymnasts and coaches would do anything to change it.

In conclusion, there are many ways the current code of points needs to be changed, and gymnasts and coaches would give anything for "FIG" to change their rules. After all, gymnastics is supposed to be fun... It is just a sport, right?
 
Well done. Great Essay. Not surprised you got a good mark. Writing about something you are passionate about is a brilliant idea.
 
good job! very good essay and it was easy to read it 'cause the paragraphs were short enough and your language was nice and correct. i'm finnish but i understood perfectly, thank you!
 
Fantastic essay! Very well written and argued.

In future essays, you might consider changing the way you present an organization's acronym (ex.: FIG). A good way to do it is, in the first sentence in which they are mentioned, spell out the entire organization's name followed by the acronym in parenthesis. Once the reader has seen the organization's name and its related acronym, you can continue to refer to them by just the acronym (without quotes).
I don't mean to offend by my suggestion; I just remember being glad to learn that writing trick in school long, long ago. :)
 
awesome thanks for the tip, i will be sure to try that next time!! :)
 
Thank you for sharing that! I didn't know much about FIG or the scoring system but I do understan much more about it now. Well done.
 
Thanks kflipz...your essay has been promoted to our blog (homepage):

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Go send this to FIG![email protected]There's a thread about it somewhere, but I'm pretty sure that address is right.
I was just thinking the same thing-let FIG hear from the gymnasts! Good job on the essay :) I agree how it's all about the tricks now and not about substance --after all isn't it called artistic gymnastics?
 
This is a really good essay!! You make awesome points (I agree with you :-) :-) ) and it is written very nicely. Good job. I totally agree with another commenter, you should send it to FIG!
 

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