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

[gymboymom]

This is a really interesting discussion, gave me a lot to think about. Since I have a new level 4 (boy), we haven't been to a meet yet. But from reading here I am sure my 12 year old (with ADHD) will be tracking all the meet scores. She definitely will need something to do, especially if I let her do it on my phone. I'll just have to reminder to to watch her brother.

 

[thnkGd4kds]

I'm too cheap to buy a meet program, lol, so I don't track scores!

I realized that I mis-stated this, leading people to believe that the reason I don't track scores is because I don't buy a program. I wouldn't track them even if I did have a program or if my husband didn't track our DD's. I'm just not into writing down all those scores, for whatever reason. I'd be lying if I claimed not to be paying attention at all to what people's scores are. I like to have an idea of how judges are scoring and where my DD might fit into that; plus, my other DD and I like to play a "how close can you get to the judge's score" scoring game.

 

[ThreeGirlsForMe]

AlexsGymmyMom - Can I just tell you how much I LOVE this idea. Your scrapbooks are beautiful. Can you give some more details about how you did this. What amazing keepsakes you have created for her. I am so totally impressed!

 

[bogwoppit]

AlexsGymmyMom - Can I just tell you how much I LOVE this idea. Your scrapbooks are beautiful. Can you give some more details about how you did this. What amazing keepsakes you have created for her. I am so totally impressed!

Great idea, start a new thread for scrapbooking ideas. I am sure it will be very popular, those scrapbooks are adorable.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I too love the deeply - but where do you find the time ????

 

[Granny Smith]

I do know that some on our team track girls at Regionals--in their daughter's age group, like granny smith said, to see if their daughter is moving on to Nationals. I just don't know the other gymnasts so well to figure out who I should be tracking LOL!

OMG, it was crazy. Thankfully her age group was small, so I could try to keep up with it (I did have help to.) I knew where she stood, but it was the MOST stressful meet I've ever watched! I was snippy to my family members around me, I was a wreck... There was no enjoyment at this meet, until it was OVER!!!

Now, I am happy that I can go back to just keeping track of her scores. I have the app and I really don't care that it only has name in there.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

AlexsGymmyMom - Can I just tell you how much I LOVE this idea. Your scrapbooks are beautiful. Can you give some more details about how you did this. What amazing keepsakes you have created for her. I am so totally impressed!

Thanks so much!!
I just used a plain 6" x 6" album. I do have a cheat because I have a Bosskut Gazelle (similar to a Cricut but has software to create your own designs).

I used hotfix rhinestones on the cover to look like her leos. (to get the basic leo design I used the GK special order page on the website for her leo (looks like a coloring book page). Then scaled it and scanned it to open in my Gazelle software.

It is time consuming but it is something I really enjoy doing. I don't take it to meets but just print a score sheet (created in word) with the scores to put inside. I then do a mini scrapbook page with a few pictures for each meet.

Oh and also, there is a pocket for each meet that fits a DVD and the score card or whatever misc stuff from the meet into.

 

[LizzieLac]

When DD started competing (Prep OPT) the Parent Rep for the squad asked us to write down the scores for the girls on out team and actually gave us a sheet with the names! I didn't know any different, so I did it, as did most of the other parents from our team. There were a few of reasons for this - to double check the team calculations at the end (we have been at meets where mistakes were made and banners neeed to be sent to another gym AFTER everyone went home), to double check the individual awards (again mistakes have been made and girls who earned a medal were not called), to help our coaches keep the "9.0 Board" we have in the gym up to date (recognizes everyone when they score a 9).

We do not write down the scores of girls on other teams, just ours, and most all of the parents do it at our gym.

Personally, I encouraged my DD to keep her scores in a scrapbook or memory book (even for swimming when she was still swimming), as a way for her to look back and see her improvement and also recognize her accomplishments. We often would jot down little notes about the meet itself or where it was held, so that when she is 18 she can look back with fondness on the places she has traveled to and what she has accomplished. I told her I thought this was important. Life flies by, next thing you know you are in college and beyond and how wonderful it is to look back at the sport you love and how you spent so much of your time. And yes, we usually include the scores of the girls on her team/level. If I miss some, I also do not scream out in agony and stab myself with a pen.

 

[tomtnt]

no one here has kids in little league baseball and keep boxscores for both teams?

I spend my time @ meets taking pictures and videos so I don't keep scores. But seeing the other parents keeping scores remind me of people at ballgames recording boxscores -

 

[wandrewsjr]

I don't have a problem with parents tracking scores at meets. I see it as them translating it into something they can relate to. Most parents can't compare 2 gymnasts routines (Lost track of how many times I've heard "how did that gymnast get a better score than my daughter with a fall?!"). BUT numbers are something everyone can understand adn compare.

When you go to a little league or soccer game, EVERYONE tracks the score. Granted, it is much easier to track a 3 to 2 soccer game or a 7 to 8 baseball game, but it is the same concept.

Competitive gymnastics is a sport. And I have to say I like seeing the dad's participate in their daughter's sport. And for some of these dads, keeping track of numbers is what keeps them interested.

To each his own.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

I realized that I mis-stated this, leading people to believe that the reason I don't track scores is because I don't buy a program. I wouldn't track them even if I did have a program or if my husband didn't track our DD's. I'm just not into writing down all those scores, for whatever reason. I'd be lying if I claimed not to be paying attention at all to what people's scores are. I like to have an idea of how judges are scoring and where my DD might fit into that; plus, my other DD and I like to play a "how close can you get to the judge's score" scoring game.

Oh and I don't mean to suggest that I am above watching other girls and noting a great routine/great score!!! I definitely see who the top scorers are and make a mental note of that... I just don't have the interest of trying to keep track of everyone at the session and trying to guess where my DD will place, when it will all be apparent in a matter of hours!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

keeping scores doesn't reach the threshold level of importance. it's a waste of time and to each his/her own.

It depends on your definition of "waste of time..." I mean, you are at a gymnsatics meet for goodness sake. It's not like there's a whole lot of other activities to keep you busy.

I used to do this when Pickle was L4, mostly because it gave me something to do and at that point I didn't know the other parents very well. Now, I don't really do it, but I sit with other parents who do and it's never intrusive. We're usually very happy for one another when a girl does well so it isn't so much about keeping track of where your daughter will place and more keeping track of whether a girl is having a really good meet so you congratulate her at the end.

 

[AlwaysCuriousMom]

We just finished a sectional meet. A few of our moms were keeping track of scores and trading information to complete the score sheets for our team. In the end, all the AA scores were added up because all the parents wanted to know if their child made it to States. The coach doesn't get to see all the scores during the meet, either, so she came to us so she could brief the girls on their scores before the awards ceremony. We were happy that all our girls made it to States. My point is: keeping scores, no matter whose score it is, serves some kind of function that isn't always a negative one.

 

[skschlag]

I do keep track of the scores for all the boys on our team at meets. As stated above, it mainly gives me an outlet for my energy. I am generally reading when they are not competing..

I do have a couple of other reasons. One, we submit scores for the paper, so I keep track of the score and place for the paper. Another reason is that several times, we have discovered switched scores. MEaning, what was flashed and what parents wrote down got switched with another gymnast. One meet, all of our teams' parallel bars scores were all messed up. Our coach was not able to straighten that one out (which did affect my son's aa, making him place lower than he actually had). So now we do check to see if everyone has things right.

The switch was funny. I first noticed the score was wrong for my son, and figured that the flasher had just flashed it wrong. Then we saw every score that was flashed and written down was there, just with a different child. Since all the parents on the team had it one way, we figured that somewhere in the paperwork or computer work, it got mixed up. Since it was about a week after the meet that we noticed, we just let it go that time. But it did make us all a little more aware after that!

 

[gymdog]

It's not something I'll ever understand, but apparently people feel strongly about it. Not something I'd care to do at a gymnastics meet, I feel kind of baffled by it because I'm like "but there's a score sheet at the end???" it's 2011, they all have a score sheet now, I'm not about to enter that by hand for memories. The scores are the scores, I believe that adults should try to model behavior that puts as little focus on them as possible. Unfortunately many parents (I am not accusing anyone specific here, but it is true in general) do exactly the opposite and distort the process, especially in compulsories. But this is the perspective some of us are coming from, not to judge any one person, but to see all this running rampant through the stands and then know the domino effect it has on the kids. It's not snark, it's real concern and confusion.

But in this thread I see the score driven attitude "well I'm not tracking because my daughter is good, she only gets X score" - guess what, no bearing on how much potential kid has, I could guess half the level 10s in my state were middle of the pack compulsories. It's not a strict correlation.

 

[gymdog]

The switch was funny. I first noticed the score was wrong for my son, and figured that the flasher had just flashed it wrong. Then we saw every score that was flashed and written down was there, just with a different child. Since all the parents on the team had it one way, we figured that somewhere in the paperwork or computer work, it got mixed up. Since it was about a week after the meet that we noticed, we just let it go that time. But it did make us all a little more aware after that!

In the US, each child has a score card, and the judges write the scores on the card after judging (therefore, the score that is on the card is the one the judges came up with - the only way it can be wrong is if they judged wrong and inquiry needs to be submitted). So the only way for the scores to get mixed up is if the coach gives the cards in one order and has the children go in another order. Judges at the lower levels usually try to prevent this by saying the child's name as they salute. So for what you describe I have to assume the kids and the cards were not in the same order. But the coach should handle this and notice after the event in my opinion anyway. People freak out when the scores are flashed wrong because they don't understand what is on the score card is correct.

 

[cher062]

It's not something I'll ever understand, but apparently people feel strongly about it. Not something I'd care to do at a gymnastics meet, I feel kind of baffled by it because I'm like "but there's a score sheet at the end???" it's 2011, they all have a score sheet now, I'm not about to enter that by hand for memories. The scores are the scores, I believe that adults should try to model behavior that puts as little focus on them as possible. Unfortunately many parents (I am not accusing anyone specific here, but it is true in general) do exactly the opposite and distort the process, especially in compulsories. But this is the perspective some of us are coming from, not to judge any one person, but to see all this running rampant through the stands and then know the domino effect it has on the kids. It's not snark, it's real concern and confusion.

But in this thread I see the score driven attitude "well I'm not tracking because my daughter is good, she only gets X score" - guess what, no bearing on how much potential kid has, I could guess half the level 10s in my state were middle of the pack compulsories. It's not a strict correlation.

Yes there is a score sheet at the end given to the coach to bring back to the gym but I have never had our gym share it with parents nor has my child ever received the judge's card with the scores back. So the only way we are going to get the scores is to write it down as we go. We can hope the host club posts them online but that doesn't happen as often as I would like.

 

[skschlag]

ACtually, this was at a meet that is for training judges, so honestly, anything could have happened.

Plus, we totally understand that what is flashed is not necessarily right. But when all the scores were strange...didn't make sense (kid hitting all bonus scored lower than kid who fell twice...etc). we looked. I think it is hard for coaches who are spotting, etc to keep track of everything. Like I said....it was just one of those strange things that will probably never happen again!

 

[lhmom]

Yes there is a score sheet at the end given to the coach to bring back to the gym but I have never had our gym share it with parents nor has my child ever received the judge's card with the scores back. So the only way we are going to get the scores is to write it down as we go. We can hope the host club posts them online but that doesn't happen as often as I would like.

Very true- the only score card we saw all last season was the first one from Judges' Cup (same this season). I've now gotten to the point where I just wait until they are online, especially if Meet Control is running the meet. They usually have it up quickly online and I can just show it to my daughter and she writes down the scores in her book. Honestly, she likes to see how she contributed to her team's score. That's bad?

 

[gymdog]

Yes there is a score sheet at the end given to the coach to bring back to the gym but I have never had our gym share it with parents nor has my child ever received the judge's card with the scores back. So the only way we are going to get the scores is to write it down as we go. We can hope the host club posts them online but that doesn't happen as often as I would like.

Well, okay, I guess I was making assumptions because it's unusual for the scores to not be posted online at the meets I go to. If someone wants the sheet I'd copy it for them maybe, but I wouldn't think to offer because it isn't that interesting or important (and the scores are generally posted online).

Also, I'm not sure I still understand the example of the scores being wrong - if the routines were judged wrong, then the only way to address that is through an inquiry, because writing the scores down shouldn't show it? The only way I can see what is described can happen is that the kids go in a different order than the cards the judges have (this is possible but something I feel I would notice...of course it is possible to not notice but I am trying to suggest it isn't a usual occurrence).

Basically each kid has a card with a space for all the event scores. They get one card for the whole meet. The coach gives the card to the judge in the order the children will compete. The judge judges the routines and takes notes, and they decide their score, and write the score on the card (the judge does this). The card is then handed to the score flasher. The score on the card is what the judge intends to score the routine. It may be wrong IF an error in the actual JUDGING occurred (like...if the judge didn't see something). Even at a training meet for the judges (? in which case I wouldn't think the placement of the kids would be the primary thing, as it would be more like a clinic, but maybe I don't understand) the procedure should be the same, so "anything" shouldn't happen. The kids can go in the wrong order and then the judge would be writing on Scott's card while Ben is competing...Scott and Ben's coach would HOPEFULLY realize that Ben did the 13.8 routine and Scott did the 11.2 routine.

The procedure with the score cards is why incorrect scores happen rarely when you consider the overall scale of things. But some parents think everything is incorrect: the scores, the age groups, the order, the equipment whatever. Sorry, it is just that time of year again and already it's begun (not meaning on here). I am happy to explain just about anything (such as the above procedures) but many people rather than just ask out of curiosity are ready to like, sue the meet because they don't understand age groups (again not commenting on this scenario, just what I see in everyday life). When people take it so seriously I think it ruins an aspect of it for the kids and makes it all about this external stuff.