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"The Making of Champions" or "What are Little Girls* Made of" *Gymnasts, that is - and Heart of a Champion    

Ten Commandments for Gymnastics Parents  

2011 - 2012 SCORING EXPLANATION AND TEAM INFORMATION

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 beginner, intermediate and advanced gymnasts are additionally evaluated each year in the spring and those who are ready are moved up at the Skills Meet or earlier.   Some are advanced to competitive levels.  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 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 Two and Three gymnasts and parents to help them understand how an actual meet works and to "get their feet wet."  The judges who judge at our mock meet are USAG Certified judges whom you will see during the competitive season. 

This will be the fourteenth year for Jacksonville Gymnastics to compete. (Head Coach Laurel Spears formed the team fourteen years ago with eleven Level Four Gymnasts).  Laurel is the Managing Officer of both Huff ‘n Puff and Jax Gym, and, as such, is Director of all programs including Gymnastics, Dance and Cheerleading.  As head coach, Laurel is assisted by a most competent staff.  In some states, gymnasts also compete at Level One, but most Arkansas gyms  compete only at Level Three and above, although some gyms have begun to compete Level Two, including Jacksonville Gymnastics this competition season 2011 - 2012.

At the Mock Meet, all of our gymnasts were competing against their own teammates, and each scored on each event.   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.

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 Levels Two or Levels Three.

Also, for your information, a Level Two or Three gymnast competes at the age that she is at the time of each meet; however, it is up to the meet director to choose the current age or the age that the gymnast will be when Arkansas State Meets are held (in March.)  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. 

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 jave received tens before.

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

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 link them here: 

"The Making of Champions" or "What are Little Girls* Made of" *Gymnasts, that is - and Heart of a Champion    

Ten Commandments for Gymnastics Parents  

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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