WAG Pointed toes!

[CuriousCate]

Silly question - I know the answer will likely be practice and time, but in case there' miay be something in addition to that...

So after my DD's most recent meet (she just turned 7, just finished competing silver/lvl3) she got in the high 8's for floor and beam. To my untrained eye, I didn't see much wrong with her routines and kids with frank falls were outscoring her. We asked her coach about it afterwards and they showed us her deductions from the judges. On floor, she lost .7 for not pointing her toes in her leap series, turn, backwards rolls etc. She pointed them in her handstand, BHS and BWO though.

Even when the coaches are telling her to point AS she's doing it, she still can't seem to make it happen readily. She said that it is particularly tough for her with leaps.

I know that some of this will just come with age, but are there any drills, etc to help enforce the immediate action to point?

 

[flipsandgrips15]

Does she ever get to watch herself in a mirror at practice? I find that helps a lot, especially with younger kids. If they can see their mistakes, they are usually more apt to correct them. Sometimes kids think they are doing something correctly until they see it for themselves. I also occasionally utilize video for kids to see errors as well.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I don't know how they could legitimately deduct that much for non-pointed toes. There is a .2 deduction for flexed feed THROUGHOUT an exercise rather that taking every single one.

 

[SMH]

My 7 yr old level 3 recently had the chance to watch herself doing beam (her coach took a video) and it helped quite a lot to have her actually see the issues she was having. I think especially for the little ones their brains are working overtime remembering the routines, and then all the little details. My daughter has solid skills, but the little details can trip her up scoring wise. Body awareness will come more with time.

 

[raenndrops]

I don't know how they could legitimately deduct that much for non-pointed toes. There is a .2 deduction for flexed feed THROUGHOUT an exercise rather that taking every single one.

I think when she said L3/ Silver, that she was possibly competing Xcel Silver.
In that case, deductions would be on each skill.

 

[Mommyo2az]

Silly question - I know the answer will likely be practice and time, but in case there' miay be something in addition to that...

So after my DD's most recent meet (she just turned 7, just finished competing silver/lvl3) she got in the high 8's for floor and beam. To my untrained eye, I didn't see much wrong with her routines and kids with frank falls were outscoring her. We asked her coach about it afterwards and they showed us her deductions from the judges. On floor, she lost .7 for not pointing her toes in her leap series, turn, backwards rolls etc. She pointed them in her handstand, BHS and BWO though.

Even when the coaches are telling her to point AS she's doing it, she still can't seem to make it happen readily. She said that it is particularly tough for her with leaps.

I know that some of this will just come with age, but are there any drills, etc to help enforce the immediate action to point?

It will come in time with more body awareness, it will come!
Our of curiosity - they showed you her deductions from the judges? As a judge I don't readily turn over my shorthand for parents to see

 

[Bess]

It will come in time with more body awareness, it will come!
Our of curiosity - they showed you her deductions from the judges? As a judge I don't readily turn over my shorthand for parents to see

perhaps it was some sort of Judge's Cup where they get the feedback sheet?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Time

 

[3rd_time_around]

I think when she said L3/ Silver, that she was possibly competing Xcel Silver.
In that case, deductions would be on each skill.

Still the same deduction. ( Xcel does not have harder judging or more deductions than compulsories.)

 

[AmethystJayne]

Definitely time.

As an Irish dancer some things that helped me....
I stood on the end of a step, hung on with my toes and raised up and down (holding the wall for support)
I walked around on my tip toes constantly(still do out of habit)
Put my pointed toes against a wall and pushed so my toes curled under.

 

[CCGymbug]

My DD started pointing them when she realized how much it was lowering her score. At some point in lvl 3 and everything by 4

 

[wandrewsjr]

The up to 0.2 foot form deduction throughout the exercise is for non-value parts(i.e. Choreography) in both level 3/Xcel. There is also an additional 0.05 foot form deduction possible on each major element for level 3, each value part for xcel in the routine.

 

[love2flip]

The up to 0.2 foot form deduction throughout the exercise is for non-value parts(i.e. Choreography) in both level 3/Xcel. There is also an additional 0.05 foot form deduction possible on each major element for level 3, each value part for xcel in the routine.

Agreed. Value parts include handstand/bridge, RO, split jumps, turns, back roll..and so on. I am sure a tough judge could take the max and get close to .7.

 

[3rd_time_around]

I actually brought this up in a room full of judges this past weekend, and everyone agreed that .2 max deduction for flexed feet throughout is all that should be taken.

 

[CuriousCate]

sorry! We lost out internet service due to AT&T hacking up the cable lines while laying down their fiber optics! ACK!

I haven't read all of these yet, but thank you all for replying! To answer one question above, yes, my DD's gym trains them as level 3 but since the level 3 meets around here are few and far between and since they want some flexibility in routines, they compete silver. They sort of use modified lvl 4 routines so it is easier when they make that transition up. They told me that the kids do get a deduction for every move with unpointed toes. I didn't look in the COP to confirm that though.

 

[CuriousCate]

So, we didn't see the actual judges sheet, just the notes from the coaches after the meet which they said was based on the judges deductions. I didn't really ask for more details, because i figured that they'd work on those with DD. They did say they thought it was rather harsh but the coaches definitely told me .7 for toes. Maybe they meant .7 total point deductions on all events, as in her AA could have been that much higher. I only asked about floor, so I assumed they were only referring to the scoring on floor, but now thinking more about it, maybe not!

Either way, we did what many of you suggested and showed her the video and several still shots and you are right - it totally made a difference! She made a huge effort to correct it at her last meet this past weekend and brought both beam and floor into the low 9s! I think that even if the coaches relayed the info from the judges incorrectly, by giving her that number, she was really motivated to pay attention!

Thanks, all!