Lowest Score ever?!

[cocosmom]

you could also look at it like this...those gymnasts could have been very ready and very capable but a routine can go horribly wrong so fast! If your coming away with scores that low, you have probably fallen and missed elements. I give them lots of credit for having the courage and integrity to actually finish the routine!

[GymMom68]

A '1' is more than a fall or a few missed elements. As far as I'm concerned there is absolutely no reason for that, and the coach should be mortified.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

You know, some coaches don't stake their sense of pride in their kids on scores. I would hope that parents don't, either.

More in-depth response comming later perhaps, pending third-party review.

[JBS]

My lowest score was a 2.8 on pommel horse.... ha ha...good memories.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Ok, time for a more complete response to GymMom68.

First of all, if you are neither a judge, coach, or gymnast, you are in no position to make that call.

Second of all, sometimes a kid has a bad day. I've seen kids capable of excellent routines have really off days, which can happen for any number of reasons. We had one girl at our gym a few years ago was doing absolutely flawless beam routines the week before a meet. At the meet, she fell SIX times. She busted out laughing after the sixth one, and completely trashed what was left of her routine. She had a bad day, but no harm done (I don't remember her score).

Third of all, some judges are very tough. Look at the code of points sometime, and especially look at bars. Keep in mind that many experienced judges are so good at watching these routines that they might as well be watching them in slow-mo. Combine an off-day with a tough judge in a bad mood, and sub-5 scores can happen.

Fourth of all, some kids do completely different routines in meets than they do in practice. Some do better, some do worse. And some will do much better at one meet and completely terrible at the next.

In the (about) two and a half years I've been coaching girls, the lowest score I can positively remember any of my girls getting at a meet is a 6.2. I'm sure there are judges in this state that would have given that particular routine a MUCH lower score. Was it because this girl didn't have any business at the level she was at? No. It was becasue she was having an exceptionally bad day.

In the four years I've been coaching boys, I've seen a number of 1.0 scores. Heck, I got several myself when I was competing. And the judges aren't ALLOWED to give you less than a 1.0, so those may well have been negative scores on paper.

Low scores happen. Life goes on.

[Pineapple_Lump]

As a former gymnast and current coach/judge I do not agree with giving such low scores. Yes it was a bad routine, yes you need to make a difference between performances but a score that low is not achieving anything positive.

I think the two lowest scores I have handed out was a 5.0 (actually 4.7) to a gymnast who did not complete half of her core elements. she had forgotten her floor and was crying, even with a six or a three it would not have altered her ranking. The other was a 6.2 under the new code, the kid fell 5 times (5 x .8 deduction) plus lost core skill value as a consequence of the falls (1.0).

As for getting a 1.9 on bar, certainly possible if you take every single little deduction possible.

Vault, I feel some of our judges invent deductions because it is not possible to follow the rules and hand out some of the scores i have seen.

Not that I'm a fan, but Mary Lou got a 1.00 in her first competition

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Kids are not "damaged" by recieving low scores. They shouldn't be, anyway; if they are, it suggests to me that their coaches and/or parents are putting to much importance on scores and too much pressure on the kid.

If I or one of the kids I coach does a routine wortthy of a 1.0, I wanna see a 1.0 on the scoreboard. I don't want to get a score I didn't earn.

This is why I, along with most if not all male gymnasts and boys' coaches in NC, have the utmost respect for Robert Bordreaux and others like him. Whatever points he gives you, you can be darn sure you earned. Getting a 9.6 from a generous judge who rarely gives anything lower than an 8 is nice and all, but getting a 5 from a judge who's giving everybody else 1's is something you can truly take pride in.

[gracefulone]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GymMom68 1's and 4's? Seriously if kids are getting scores like that, they obviously have no business doing that level. What is the point of that? Other than embarrassing the kids I have no idea why the coaches would put the kids through that. I can't imagine it's all that fun to go to a meet and get a 1 or a 4. If my kid was getting a 1 or a 4, I'd change gyms, the coaches clearly don't have a clue.

The girls I knew who got a 1.9 had broken her arm, and has since struggled with bars. She was scoring 9's on all other events. The hardest judge in the state was on bars as well, so that did not help the situation.

[gymmomntc2e6]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey Taucer Kids are not "damaged" by recieving low scores. They shouldn't be, anyway; if they are, it suggests to me that their coaches and/or parents are putting to much importance on scores and too much pressure on the kid.

I agree completely w/ Geoffrey Taucer. I am a parent fairly new to competitive gymnastics and my dd is only L3 right now. But we tell her to do her best and have fun. We tell her not to worry if she gets a "perfect 9" (she and one of her L# teammates were so excited when they got their first 9.0's - they earned them in the same meet - they told their coach they got 'perfect 9's' their coach was so proud of them. But she is also proud when they try their best. Isn't that what it should be about?

the lowest I have seen from one of our L3 girls is a 2.9 on bars. She is really struggling w/ them. But she is working VERY hard and at the last meet was up to a 5.4. Everyone was proud of her and told her so.

my dd's lowest score so far (has only done 3 meets) was a 7.4 on bars. That was in her first meet. She has brought that up to a 7.6 in the last 2 meets - she still needs a spot on her mill circle or would be higher. She LOVES bars.

You never know why a gymnast has a bad day - not feeling well, can't get their head in the game, didn't sleep well, nerves - whatever. They need to be supported not put down. I think this is a great thread because you can tell the gymnasts are having fun with it and NOT hung up on the scores they rec'd. obviously they all know anyone can have an event go wrong and tank on it. What matters is that they know it was a bad day or bad event and go on.

I don't think we should be pointing fingers - I for one know I could not even do a pull over on bars so I would be overjoyed with a 1.0 !!!!!!!

[melmonette]

My lowest score when I was competing was a 3.2 on unevens at my first meet ever in the 7th grade. I didn't fall but I didn't have a lot of skills required for high school gymnastics competition... NO kip and lacked continuous connection skills and just difficulty in general. Anyway, I went on to attacking bars the rest of my high school gymnastics competition career and uneven became my best event and I went to the State gymnastics meet in Minnesota(highly competitive high school gymnastics). I was lucky just to get on Varsity on my high school team my last 3 years as we had 4 level 9-10s or Class I gymnasts as they were called when I was in school on our team and varsity only had 5 spots and we had 30 girls on our high school team between JV and Varsity.

Anyway, my daughter's lowest score so far(only 2nd year level 4) was 6.3 on beam(only 1 fall but wobbled everywhere) in her first meet ever as a level 4. She went on to get a 9.5 at her first meet as a 2nd year level 4 which is still her best score on beam to date.
I have seen low 4s and 5s at our last home meet for some of the 4s and 5s. I was mortified what a girl had to do to get a low 4.