Why do many parents keep track of every girl's scores at meets?

[Deleted member D3987]

obsessive compulsive waste of time and energy.

 

[lhmom]

obsessive compulsive waste of time and energy.

Maybe it's just the mood I am in today, but that comes across as a bit harsh. Why judge? As I mention, I've done it because my daughter has asked. There have been a few meets that it hasn't worked out and we just look online when the scores are posted because she asks. What's the harm in that? She doesn't obsess and neither do we.

 

[bogwoppit]

obsessive compulsive waste of time and energy.

Just like the Chalkbucket eh??

 

[Deleted member D3987]

.............................................

 

[Empowered]

I take offense to people implying or saying out right as some have, that anyone who keeps score is somehow psychotically obsessed. I always keep score for the girls in my daughter's age group. Meets make me very nervous and having busy work to distract me is oddly comforting.

There is nothing obsessive the way I keep score. If I miss a score or a girl I make little question marks... I don't scream out dear God NOOOO!! And then stab myself with my pen as punishment.

Soapbox time: Why is it that we have to judge every thing every other parent does on here as a routine? This is the Chalkbucket, not the snarky 16 year old kid forum. If you don't want to keep score, don't. If you don't want to do privates... don't. But just because another gym family is doing something differently than you doesn't necessary make they crazy or wrong. There is more than one right way to do everything.

Stepping down

 

[Deleted member D3987]

okay, let's not confuse what i said as my opinion with judging others. i am straight forward. i call parents, coaches and even myself "idiots" if the occasion arises. keeping scores doesn't reach the threshold level of importance. it's a waste of time and to each his/her own. carry on.

 

[bogwoppit]

There is nothing obsessive the way I keep score. If I miss a score or a girl I make little question marks... I don't scream out dear God NOOOO!! And then stab myself with my pen as punishment.

Now that would've made meets way more amusing!!

It is funny the extreme range of normal we see here. If I saw someone (and it has happened) taking down my kids score or recording her routines I be pissed. Weird, maybe, but it's my kid.

As you have a right to be mad that you feel judged for taking scores down, I feel mad that you think it's okay to track my kid. Just too stalkerish for me.

I have some really close friends who do the scores thing, I love them dearly, they know I think they are nuts. But why isn't it okay to say it? When something infringes on the life of my child then it is my right to speak up.

 

[Empowered]

So seeing that competitor 4501 is in my child's age group and writing that score down is stalking? I don't know your kid, and 90% of the time I didn't watch your kid's routine. I watch my daughter's teammates. I saw their number/name flash and wrote down their score. Calling the act of writing that score down STALKING is as absurd as Kristin Stewart calling photographers rapists.

And how did that infringe on her life? Maybe things are different in Canada, but within a week where we live that score is going to be posted on 3 different websites along with her gym and full name and age grouping. If I am stalking, than mymeetscores.com and meetscoresonline.com are currently stalking and infringing on the rights of gymnasts everywhere!

 

[MaryA]

Just like the Chalkbucket eh??

A PERFECT retort, and oh so true. I think all of the regular posters here have to be at least a little OCD, don't we? Or at least walking that fine line between "involved" and "obsessed?" Then again, I don't really see any of the regular posters here ever being offended by a "Dunno-ism" either.

As long as a parent isn't using the scores to a) make their own kid feel bad or b) make their own kid feel superior and/or c) make their kid think that the only reason to do gymnastics is to WIN, then who cares? Especially at the compulsary level, it's not like watching routine after routine after routine is particularly thrilling. Of course, you could do what my husband does druing meets... nap.

 

[shelovestoflip]

My daughter got a meet score book as a give away gift at a meet in her very first season. I had no idea what it was for! But she thought it was great and now I record her scores on the rotation sheet they give at the meet and when we get home we put the scores in the book. It has a place for a picture so we take a picture at each meet and slip it in next to the score page.

She loves this little book (and it is as close to scrapbooking as I will ever get!). She likes looking at how her scores generally improve over the season.

So for us, it's a nice little keepsake and it clearly means something to her!

Beyond her scores, I can't imagine tracking anyone else's. But then, I've missed her bars and vault routines at a few meets because they get through that rotation way quicker than I imagine they will as I run out for coffee.....(shhhh, don't tell So I'm not going to win the award for attentiveness!!

 

[bogwoppit]

So seeing that competitor 4501 is in my child's age group and writing that score down is stalking? I don't know your kid, and 90% of the time I didn't watch your kid's routine. I watch my daughter's teammates. I saw their number/name flash and wrote down their score. Calling the act of writing that score down STALKING is as absurd as Kristin Stewart calling photographers rapists.

And how did that infringe on her life? Maybe things are different in Canada, but within a week where we live that score is going to be posted on 3 different websites along with her gym and full name and age grouping. If I am stalking, than mymeetscores.com and meetscoresonline.com are currently stalking and infringing on the rights of gymnasts everywhere!

Lets not let this go crazy, see the humour intended in my post, hence the cute little emoticons.

You feel what you feel, I feel what I feel, neither is absurd, they are feelings.

Yes things are different here, we do not have meet scores online in Quebec. Though you can find results to high level meets if you know where to look. But here we see the same girls at every meet, it is not random as, in my girls group, there will be the same 20 girls, from the same five clubs, year after year. We all know their names, their floor music etc etc.

Oh and we do not have compulsories and we do not use the 10, thngs are very different outside of the USA.

 

[flippin out]

I keep the scores for my dd's team, not the entire session (or even her age group). I do it for a couple of reasons.

Primarily for computing the Team Score and for scrapbooking. I keep a computer scrapbook for dd of each season. It's fun to look back through the years and remember who everyone was and how they were as a Team. A lot of those girls aren't doing gym anymore, and it's another way to remember/honor them. I print them out and put them in her Season scrapbook.

Secondly - I also submit the results to the local paper for the girls. I did not always do this, but the gym asked if someone from each level would be willing to do this - so since I already had them...I stepped up.

I personally do not try to keep track of ALL the scores in her session, but if that keeps someone busy and makes them feel better.....to each his own. I really don't know how it's possible to do though. Unless you're at a meet with the electronic score board (the ones that do not just give a score, but also give the gymnasts name or # with the score) it seems impossible to do. Even with those boards, unless you do nothing BUT watch the boards (not enjoying any routines) then it still seems impossible to write them all down. I'm happy with just keeping up with dd's own teammates

 

[mariposa]

We have a few on my daughter's team that do this, but only for all the kids in their daughter's age group so that they know exactly where their child placed before awards. I have seen one of these moms actually MISS half of her kids routine because she is so caught up in the scoreboard and not missing a score. I hate sitting by them because I can't stand the constant chatter of where the kid is currently placing or someone asking me if I got someone else's score. And they will tell you where your kid is placing, too?! I don't want to know! I will find out during awards, I like surprises.

I don't even write down my daughter's scores. She usually gets them on a little piece of paper from the meet and sometimes she remembers them, I usually remember them, too, but only the first part, an 8.775 becomes an 8.7 in my memory. Eventually, most of the meets post the scores online, so if we somehow didn't have them, we would be able to find them. Or not, no biggie.

Personally, I think that keeping all the scores in a kids age group is going a bit far and causes much more stress than it is worth, but to each his own, just don't tell ME how my kid placed, thank you very much.

And I know that some mom's are getting scores for their team, for coaches, etc, makes sense, but spending the whole meet trying to keep track of 20 kids in your kid's age group, just to find out something you will find out in a few hours anyway? Nah, no thanks.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

Tracking scores of ALL GIRLS on a particular level at a meet has ALWAYS been one of my pet peeves!!! I have commented on this ad nauseum in the past. I have sat next to moms (on more than SEVERAL occasions) who were sooooo busy trying to track everyone's score, that it really interfered with my enjoyment of watching my own DD compete. I have asked why they do that, and they flat out say that they're trying to keep track of where "Susie" is in the all around!!! Seriously?!?!?!? Yes, it ticks me off when I'm videotaping my own DD, and I hear them remark... Oh, "Susie's now ahead of "Jane!" Once again... ARRRGGGGHHH!!! There is also the intense competitiveness among the mothers themselves.... hence they furiously try to keep track of the girls on their own team, to see who's ahead of whom.

Now... I can definitely understand the new excitement of the new level 4s, competing their first couple of meets.... but seriously, once they get to optionals and still having to sit around w/this gets really old fast!!!

.... exactly... so why sit there w/pen and pencil trying to write down every score?

 

[Empowered]

Not meaning to be cranky and I know you were partially joking... but from what you explained things are quite different there, which would let me understand where you come from.

It is so different here. Where we are however we maybe see some gyms twice in a season, but most meets are entirely new gyms. Last year at States there were only 15 girls in my daughter's age group and we had only seen 1 of them at a meet. Most of the parents have no idea who anyone is apart from the few large, powerhouse gyms where the state champions are.

All meets here have electronic scoring and many of the big meets even do big screen scoring on the walls. There is one gym in particular that will actually keep running electronic scoresheets on the "jumbotron" that show events and AA scores and placements for all age groups. Most of the meets here even do live updating online though mymeetscores and meetscoresonline. In fact the meets that don't and are slow to post scores are hated by the parents. Every meet we go to we are given a fill-in score sheet.

Maybe it's just this area, we are known out here for being technology and info junkies and clearly it's passing on to the gymnastics.

 

[bluesocks]

So, I am rather new to all of this as my daughter just started competing level 4. I downloaded meet tracker to follow my DDs scores. I do the same with her swimming times. At the first meet, most of the moms from our group were keeping track of all the scores for the team. So, I did, too, using meet tracker. The other moms usually buy the program and just put the scores there. I do give out the AA scores to the other moms because it is added automatically in the app that I have. I am definitely not crazy. I don't look at the old scores, other than DD. My daughter is usually on the lower end of her group, so I am definitely not keeping track of where she is in the AA rankings. But, I have been doing it because it was sort of the norm with the other team moms. The funny thing is that we are a pretty laid back gym.

I really had no idea that it would be so offensive to other parents.

Just another perspective.

Blue

 

[Empowered]

.... exactly... so why sit there w/pen and pencil trying to write down every score?

Did you not read my first post? I get nervous and the busy work keeps me calm.

And for the record for the people assuming those who keep scores are tracking their superstars, let us all remember how dreadful my daughter is. This is not a child who's rolling 1st places over here or even standing near a podium... This is a child who's struggling for 35's while the rest of her team is sniffing 38's.

Most of the time my keeping score allows me to know in advance and tell my daughter... no medals today, but remember to clap a lot for your teammates. Because being 9 she will sit there waiting and hoping they'll call her name, not realizing they are past her age division and she got nothing. Then it hits her at the end that she is the only person with nothing and she gets terribly upset... I like to break the fall for her.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

Ok, just to be clear, I only take down the scores for the girls on my DD's team. IDK, but at the meets I have been to that is the norm as in most parents are doing the same thing. I don't however go calculating everyones AA score just to know where my DD is placing. I do like to have the team score at the end just for keepsake purposes. You really can't do that if you don't have all the teams scores. I hope I don't sound like a CGM or a stalker but I do like to scrapbook her gym memories for her and it is just more fun to look at and remember all the girls that have come and gone from the gym as well as the girls that have been on her team since day 1.

Also, I do think even in elite and olympic competition all the girls know exactly where they stand in the all around so they know what they need to do to come out on top! Not saying I do this but most sports do.

Oh and BTW.....thanks for all the nice comments about the scrapbook!!

 

[SamIam]

On topic:
No I don't write down scores of mine or anyone else's. Just like I don't want to open Christmas presents early or no hints about how the movie ends. I like the suspense of seeing how it plays out or what happens next.


Off topic: this

electronic scoring

How many parents stay huddled up by the monitor only leaving it when theirs is about to perform? I really wish they would keep these things comepletely out of the way off in a corner some where, and most certainly where the gymnasts can't see them.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

i posted earlier but .... again, i write down only our team. i HATE the state meet with the big tv's with rollong placement throughout. I don't wan't to know how DD placed, if she even did, before awards. she is another working hard to get a 35 or 36 in a group of teammates getting 37 & 38's.

I dont stress if I miss a score, i can get it from another parent or online later, or leave it empty. doesnt matter.

I place these in her scrapbooks, which she loves. She pulls out old ones all the time.