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2008 Mock Meet - Optionals

October 19, 2008

Jacksonville Gymnastics Compulsory Levels (Three-Four-Five and Six) Compete in their Yearly Mock Meet

and Scoring Explanation - down in article!!!!  Will be changed later.

Levels Three, Four, Five and Six of the Jacksonville Gymnastics

This article is mostly 2008-2009 and will be changed when we hold our 2009 Mock Meet, November 7th.

 USAG Junior Olympic Competitive Team competed in their annual Mock Meet, which prepares them for the competitive season that will soon begin.  The Optional Levels (Seven, Eight and Nine) will compete at their Mock Meet November 15th.

Yeahhhhh!  Most of us began looking forward to the next competition season last April and May when the gymnasts began to work, or continue to work their skills towards the next level, or to perfect their current level skills.  Gymnastics is a sport wherein each gymnast may work at her own speed and is assessed by the coaches at her own level, but they compete as a group in their Level; then the Levels comprise the entire team.  It may be one of the few sports where the athlete may compete and be scored individually and yet be part of a team. 

Huff 'n Puff gymnastics students are evaluated several times a year and are moved to the appropriate level, depending on where we are in the competition schedule.  The Level Two gymnasts are additionally evaluated each year in the spring and those who are ready are moved up to Level Three at the Skills Meet or earlier.   The competitive gymnasts—all levels--train extra hard and for more hours during summer schedule.  And if you were at the mock meet, you would have seen that their training has paid off. 

The Mock Meet is held by Jacksonville Gymnastics yearly before competition season to give the gymnasts and parents (and coaches) a good idea as to what needs to be accomplished before the actual competition season begins.  This meet is especially beneficial for the Level Three gymnasts and parents to help them understand how an actual meet works and to "get their feet wet."  The judges who judged at this meet are USAG Certified judges whom you will see during the competitive season.  Since this meet was not intended to be accredited, only two judges worked the meet instead of the normal four to eight.

This will be the eleventh year for Jacksonville Gymnastics to compete. (Head Coach Laurel Spears formed the team eleven years ago with eleven Level Four Gymnasts).  Laurel is the Operations Officer of Huff ‘n Puff and, as such, is Director of all programs within Huff ‘n Puff, including both Gymnastics and Dance Departments.  As head coach, Laurel is assisted by a most competent staff – Assistant Head Coach Erin Wunderl, and Coaches Christy Ellis, Lois Bryan, Michal Hodson, Michelle McGowan and Sissy Ghormley. Additionally, when coaches cannot be at the gym, Michal Hodson has been most accommodating to substitute for the coaches, all levels.  Bobby Churches is lead recreational coach; he prepares the gymnasts to be ready to move from Level Two to Level Three, where they will prepare to compete.  In some states, gymnasts also compete at Level One and Two, but most Arkansas gyms  compete only at Level Three and above, although some gyms have begun to compete Level Two - not Jacksonville Gymnastics, though.

At the Mock Meet, all of our gymnasts were competing against their own teammates, and each scored on each event.  Medals were awarded to each gymnast on each event as well as for each all-around.  The gymnast receiving the highest score on each event and the individual all-around winners were also recognized.  It is important to remember that at a regular competition, gymnasts compete against other gymnasts of their own age, whereas at the mock meet,--since there are no other teams--the gymnasts were competing against their own teammates, same age.

The Level Three and Level Five gymnasts competed in the morning session and the Level Four and Level Six gymnasts competed in the afternoon session.

Details for scoring meets will be written below, in case you are new to meets.  It seems that in Arkansas, team awards are not usually awarded for Level Threes (however, Jacksonville Gymnastics does award the teams,)

Also, for your information, a Level Three gymnast competes at the age that she is at the time of each meet.  For all higher levels, the gymnast competes at the age that she will be at the time of her State Meet or for the Level Fours, the age that she will be at the Level Four Fun Meet.  You might not have been able to hear Laurel at the meet – please be sure to notify the staff if your child’s age was incorrectly listed.

Note:  New Team leotards have not as yet arrived.

Shown here are the sixteen Level Three gymnasts who competed in Saturday's Mock Meet.    Gymnasts ranged in age from five years to eleven years old.  From left to right, front row gymnasts are Reagan Hodson, Gracie Petefish and Macey Jasmin.  Second row, left to right, are Blair Jones, Alex Wargo, Melanie Fortson, Catherine Hancock, Madison Houck, Emily Rose Busby and Mattingly Bartole.  Third row, left to right are Taylor Stauffer, Madison Dixon, Roberta Cordts, Moni Sanders, Eboni Wells and Breanna Orr.

Also competing in the morning session and shown below were ten of the twelve Level Five Team gymnasts.  The Level Five gymnasts range in age from eight to twelve.

Shown here before the meet are (front to back) Allison Ramsey, Mattie Taylor, Abby Houghtaling, Sarah Beavers, Sierra Rohauer, Skylar Spaeth, Sarah Seibel, Hannah Taylor, Sabrina Barger and Briyana Isaac.  Anna Huston was out of state and Madi Spears was ill.

At meets sponsored by Jacksonville Gymnastics, an award is given to the gymnast with the highest all-around score for the session and that honor went to Level Three gymnast Breanna Orr who scored a 36.35.

Competing in the afternoon session were fourteen of the seventeen Level Four gymnasts who range in age from seven to twelve.  The competing gymnasts are shown here.

Level Four gymnasts had a great meet - shown here on front row from left to right are Miranda Chambers, Madison Williams, Sara Balenko, Olivia Hodson and Jenna Mecca.  Second row gymnasts from left to right also are Taylor Parker, Jadyn Perkins, Mollie Johnson and Lauren Osburn.  Third row gymasts (left to right) are Rachel Wyrick, Jessica Gardner, Madison Barnhill, Dahlianna Gonzalez and Lauren Travis.  Not competing today were Courtney Jackson, Marissa Wallace and Sara Heil.

Level Six gymnasts who competed today are shown here after a wonderful showing at the meet.  The Level Six gymnasts range in age from nine to thirteen.

From left to right, front row, are Katelin McLain, Rachel Flippen and Jordan Rogers. Back row are are Kennedy Driskell, Lynzie VanBrocklin and Halle Maddox.  Not competing today was Amanda Hicks. 

High score for the afternoon session was awarded to Level Six Gymnast, Katelin McLain who scored a 37.1 for the meet.

In case you are new to the "world of competitive gymnastics" scoring, etc. is as follows - and I really hope that I can make it simple enough to understand.

Each gymnast is scored on each event.  The rotation schedule is Vault, Bars, Beam and Floor Exercise.  However, any team may start (depending on rotations determined by Host) at Floor and then go to Vault, etc.  For individual honors, all gymnasts of the same age of the competing level are placed according to scores on the event.  Then the scores from the four events for the gymnast are added together to arrive at the all-around score.  At each meet, the scores for the same-age gymnasts are announced for each event and then all-around winners are announced - scores are usually given lowest to highest, but not always.  Also, you must know that not all meets place all the way out for the gymnasts - it is not required.  Our gym places all the way out because we like to see everyone honored for their hard work.  But at State meets, placements are determined by USAG rules.

Now for team placements which are announced after individual awards.  Age no longer determines anything.  The top three (or five) scores for each event are totaled.  Then the scores for the four events are totaled and that is how the team score is reached.  If three scores are taken for the team awards, the top total score for each event would be 30, and 30 times the four events would be 120 - that would be the highest that could be earned.  (Highly unlikely proposition - but nice to dream - ha!)

I hope I haven't totally confused you on the scoring.  This scoring for individual scores and all-around might make it easier to understand.  In this particular case, twelve and thirteen-year-old gymnasts were combined for awards.  The numbers in the first column designate the gymnast's number and scores are usually flashed by the number.  The first number in the series designates the level of the gymnast. Some electronic scoreboards will name the gymnast, and that's wonderful, but how often are we lucky enough to have electronic scoreboards.  I realized after I finished the scores and totaled the all-around scores that I may be a bit unrealistic for newcomer competitive gymnasts - don't be disappointed if your newcomer gymnast does not receive the 35 - 36 scores.  Also, usually, the higher the level, the harder the judging becomes.  The perfect tens about which we have heard so much are rarely seen on our level of gymnastics, but it can happen.  Several of our younger gymnasts received tens last season.

Below is an example of a scoresheet that denotes individual scores and all-around scores (this is my own scoresheet that I use at meets.  The one given to you in the program books will have everyone's name listed.)              

SAMPLE SCORE SHEET

Below is a sample of how team scores are determined.  Depending on the level, either three or five scores are utilized from each event for team scores.  This can be determined by the host gym but when it comes to state meets, etc.  it is a set determination and as of now, five scores are used from Level Five and below and three scores for Level Six and above. 

SAMPLE SCORE SHEET

There are times when we might not quite agree with the judge's score, but that is never up to the parent to dispute.  The judge is always correct (agree or not) and if the coach wishes to discuss it with the judges, she/he may do that.  It is not our place as parents and grandparents to express disapproval for the score - approval yes, disapproval quietly to yourself.  We encourage you to express your positive encouragement for our gymnasts but to the other gymnasts, as well.  We want to remember that we represent "Jacksonville Gymnastics" and our area cities.  I think we are known for being friendly to other gymnastics teams and we are always good sports.  We love to win but even in winning we must remember to be good sports.  Coaches of the teams are generally good friends and we are all just trying to promote the sports of gymnastics for the betterment of our children.  And don't forget to let your gymnast know that she did a great job.  All we ever want for our gymnast is for her to do the best that she can at the time and we are so proud of them and we hope they are proud of each other. 

WEBSITE INFORMATION AND ARTICLES THAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO PARENTS

Parents, if you are newcomers to the site, I'd like to explain a bit.  The website is very casual and I really have done the website for the enjoyment of parents and grandparents.  Huff 'n Puff information is on the website under the business gold tab and people can click there for information.  Much is listed under Rules and Regulations for general information about the business.  You may reach Jax Gym news by clicking on the gold tab and going to 07-08 accomplishments which will soon be 08 - 09 accomplishments.  You may also click on the USAG Gymnastics Team and that will take you to a green page - scroll down a bit and you will see a circle for 2008 - 2009 Meet Schedule.  Once you get to the meet schedule, you may click on the meet in which you might be interested.  If it is underlined, it will be a direct link.  HOWEVER, I will always have the most recent news on the home page and most recent is usually on the top - not always but usually. 

There are several articles that I wrote in the past several years (and the Ten Commandments (for Gymnasts were not written by me) that might be of interest to you.  I will also link them here but they are listed under Tidbits on the Achievements of 2007 - 2008 page and I will try to remember to transfer them to 2008 - 2009.  "The Making of Champions" or "What are Little Girls* Made of" *Gymnasts, that is - and Heart of a Champion               Also Ten Commandments for Gymnastics Parents   is on the Huff 'n Puff Students page. 

Some of these articles on these pages are not recent and I probably need to bring them up to date in the future (in my spare time - ha!).  I hope you enjoy reading them at your leisure and I hope you will enjoy the articles and pictures.  In the past, we received very good newspaper coverage and I would make my newspaper articles and my web articles different - and sometimes the newspapers write their own coverage.  They also sometimes edit my articles and a few bits of information might be changed.  There was  change in management but they generally do a good job and we are grateful for any good publicity.  We love for our parents to let the newspapers know when we do get the publicity.  And publicity may not end up in all newspapers - The Leader is one newspaper and the Cabot Star Herald, Jacksonville Patriot, Sherwood Voice, etc. are owned by another corporation but all articles may not be distributed to all papers, even though we have gymnasts from nearly every city or town around here, including Searcy, Beebe, Ward, Cabot, Lonoke, Jacksonville, Sherwood, North Little Rock, Conway and Bryant areas.

Thanks for your interest in our team.  We appreciate you all.

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