WAG Scoring and Competing Order Question

[Gymmommy71]

I'm curious if any of you coaches have ever had a gymnast refused to go first because of this relationship between score and place.

I ask because we had a princess who was told she would be up first because of a week skill. princess informed her coach that no she would not be going first and then proceeded to go into the lobby and basically tell to her mother. mother was offended that daughter was going to have to go first and complain to the gym owner. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!

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Omg...so what happened, did the girl end up going first, or did the mom get her way? I'm sure the coach wasn't happy if it was the latter...

I do think it's possible to still get the best score on an event w/o being in one of those last spots - my DD managed to do it a few times on floor early on in the season....however, after it happening twice...she got "promoted" to the end of the rotation on that event ... DDs team is pretty mixed when it comes to event strengths...i.e. we don't have anyone who would qualify for that best or worst spot on every event.

 

[Natasha]

We have not been to any in-state meets where the coaches get to pick the order. It is always pre-determined on the rotation schedule and it rotates by 1/4 of the squad each event. Occasionally at out of state meets the coaches get to pick the order and they usually take the girls preferences into account. For instance, my dd always wants to go first on beam and since usually no one else wants to go first, she usually does.
As far as the lower to higher scores, Most of the time I haven't seen a difference but I wonder if in places where coaches pick the order you see more of a difference because the coaches are contributing to the low to high scores by the placing of their gymnast and then the judges are used to seeing better routines later knowing that the coaches are saving them?
I will say at our L7 state meet last year, all the bar scores were really low in our session. The very best bar worker in the state (went on to place 2nd at regionals) was the very first routine of the first session of the meet. My dd followed her (a different team) and received by far her lowest score of the season although her coach said it was the best routine she had done.

 

[flipflopsalto]

I order my gymnasts strategically but not weakest to strongest. I order them according to who I think is able to handle going first nerves, who can wait and go last without getting rattled and who is a performer on floor, meaning who loves having the crowd watching if all the other events are done. Also for bars it is according to settings and who needs a landing mat pulled or placed, making me have to work much less!!

 

[my4buffaloes]

I think it is pretty random at our gym. Sometimes my dd begs to go first. One meet she went first on every event. Sometimes the coaches draw names randomly. I am sure sometimes it is on performance, but it seems to random to me that it can't happen very often.

 

[cbifoja]

Omg...so what happened, did the girl end up going first, or did the mom get her way? I'm sure the coach wasn't happy if it was the latter...

I have no idea. I only heard the exchange between the gymnast and mom and then heard the mom say she would speak to the owner about Princess having to go first. I certainly know what I HOPE the owner told the mom! LOL Something along the line of "either show me your coaching credentials or shut the hell up".

 

[cbifoja]

And note to self: do NOT use talk-to-type while trying to multi-task because you end up looking like you know nothing of basic grammar and spelling!!!! "week skill" UGH! And so many others I am now seeing that I am sitting down and can pay attention fully.

 

[Krystan]

Most of the meets around here have the order listed on the rotation schedule, and that's that. Usually it's alphabetical, which means my dd goes last and she HATES it. We have a pretty big team, so she ends up sitting around a lot, watching. I think she'd like it better to go at the beginning when adrenaline is up and she's warm. The one time she went near the beginning she did much better (not score, but she just had stronger, more focused routines). The exception seems to be if there is one set of bars, some of the girls who need it set closer (the tinier ones) do theirs first (or last), or vault, if they are using a higher setting they compete as a group.

 

[srsjbs]

From the limited experience I have with meets (this is our first year competing) our coach seems to randomize or ask the girls in the lower levels. My DD is L4 and she typically always goes first on beam, because she wants to. It's her favorite. She has pulled the highest score of our team every meet and she goes first, so it can be done. Bars is her other strong event and she usually competes close to last on that one. Bars tend to make her nervous, even though she typically does very well. Our coach usually ask who wants to go first. This last meet on floor and vault no one really spoke up so she went tallest to shortest on one, and shortest to tallest on the next.

I've noticed with the higher levels the order seems a little more strategic. MOST of the time they compete weakest to strongest, except on beam. She tends to stick her most solid up first.

I was just told last night that at States the order will be alphabetical order, which means my daughter will go last. We'll see how that goes.....

 

[clrmom]

At my dd's meets, the order is random. There are usually 12-16 girls in a squad and the starting person rotates every event. (For example, if there are 12 in a squad on the second apparatus the 4th girl will start and the first 3 girls will be the last three and it continues like that each event). We have never been to a meet where the coach was able to choose the order of girls.

 

[Coachkristy]

I order my girls from weakest to strongest....only in I feel that if I put the better girls first they will score 9.4-9.6 and then the judges will not want the score the weaker girls as high thus them getting low to mid 8's. If I put the weaker girls first and they score 8.5-9.0 and a stronger girl goes after them the judge doesn't mind giving them their normal 9.4 and up scores because their routines looked better....kinda confusing I know sorry...My girls know they will be ordered according to their previous meet scores and if they don't want to go first anymore maybe they will strive to be better.

 

[LizzieLac]

I order my girls from weakest to strongest....only in I feel that if I put the better girls first they will score 9.4-9.6 and then the judges will not want the score the weaker girls as high thus them getting low to mid 8's. If I put the weaker girls first and they score 8.5-9.0 and a stronger girl goes after them the judge doesn't mind giving them their normal 9.4 and up scores because their routines looked better....kinda confusing I know sorry...My girls know they will be ordered according to their previous meet scores and if they don't want to go first anymore maybe they will strive to be better.

This is pretty much what our gym does too. Seems like all of the meets we go to allow for this.

 

[shelovestoflip]

My daughter is Level 8 this year and it's the first time I've noticed they consistently follow the order listed on the session handout. Except for Vault....that seems to be different and I think it has to do with vault table height?? Which seems to change for a few girls? Not sure about that.

However when my daughter was at the lower levels, the coaches definitely seemed to make their own order and yes, I believe it was based on 'skill'....I have to admit my daughter tended to go close to last on all events except bars....which used to be her weakness.....happy to say, she's gotten so much better this season!

 

[htimcj]

Our coach seems to do weakest to strongest with bars kind of the exception because we have a couple of really tall girls and some really small girls so coach splits the girls for bar placement. DD always goes last on beam and half the time coach doesn't even watch the routine. She goes last or second to last on bars and floor and usually first or close to the front on vault. Not even close to her strongest event. It also took me a long time to figure out there was any reasoning to the order. SOmeone else pointed it out to me.

 

[CreateMagic]

I coach xcel bronze, ages 5-10. I put them in order by height to make bar settings easier--the 5 year old needs an extra mat with the bar completely down just to reach the bar, but the 10-year-old is nearly my height! At that level, I don't really want them even thinking about scores, just doing their skills to the best of their ability.

 

[pt coach]

For beam I put the kid I know will stick first, the one I am almost sure will stick 2nd, and so on and put my least likely to stick last and hope that everyone before her sticks and that it is contagious. For floor I like a solid routine first and last, with weaker ones hidden in the middle somewhere.