Lowest Score ever?! - Page 5

chalkdust · 02-26-2008, 07:49 AM

I thought that the whole point of competing was to try and get first. Maybe I'm missing the idea.

If you want to go and do gymnastics to have fun then do TAG not USA. I have to agree with GymMom68. I see gymnast in Oklahoma that were last place at Compulsary state last year and are doing optional level 7 this year and are still last place or pretty darn close. Two things are going to happen either 1) They will quit becasue no one likes not winning or 2) They will be stuck at that level for a while till they catch up to their competitiors. I feel sorry for the these gymnast. I do think a lot of coaches get pressured by parents to move the kids up. Coaches shouldnt allow the parents to make the call. At our gym, the kids tryout late summer after they have worked all the skills for the next level. The coach then decides if you have the skills to move up and if you dont you stay at your level.

GOOD LUCK AT STATE GYMNAST!!!!

**Geoffrey Taucer** · 08:21 AM


Quote:
Originally Posted by chalkdust I thought that the whole point of competing was to try and get first.

As strange as this may sound to some, I dissagree. But this is a difference in coaching philosophy more than anything else.

As I have said, there is certainly such a thing as moving a kid too fast. However, I would rather see a kid work her butt off to be in the middle of the pack than see her sitting on top without even trying. I think there are a lot of coaches in this sport who hold kids back at lower levels to inflate their scores.

I know of a number of gyms that have kids who are perfectly capable of moving up doing the same level for 3 or even 4 years, so that they can be at the top of the pack, and so that the gym can get more team trophies to display on their walls. (The gym I'm at used to do this, but no longer does.) I don't think the kids benefit from this. I think what makes gymnastics such a great sport is that there's always room to challenge yourself, to try something new, and if you're always at a level where you can be at the top of the pack without breaking a sweat, you're clearly not being challenged.

To me the point of competing is to challenge the gymnast. It challenges them to do their personal best. How they score or place in relation to other kids is irrelevant to this goal.

EDIT: something else I wanted to add:

I have seen some kids that really blossomed when moved up. One of my boys is an excellent example of this. The year before last he was a decent level 5. Last year he was a mediocre level 6. This year he's doing spectacularly as a level 8. (For those not familiar with the boys system, a lot of boys skip L7 because it's a compulsory level with routines that are harder than what you need at L8, which is optional.)

9bob8 · 02-26-2008, 08:56 AM

i think it was a 5.4 on high bar level 2

flippymonkeysmom · 02-26-2008, 08:56 AM

I think there are so many issues when dealing with low scores and a kids level. While no one wants to see low scores (gymnast, coach or parents) - do you make them scratch or hold them back a level if they struggle on one event??

Last year my dd competed level 5. For a variety of reasons she did not do as well as she would have liked - primarily she struggled on bars and had some health issues as well. The highest she was able to get on bars on a good day was a mid 7. Her gym was going to have her repeat level 5 - which I agreed with. We ended up switching gyms because she just wasn't happy there and I told her new coaches she needed to do level 5 again. Within a few months they decided to move her to 6 - which I was very unsure about, but left the decision to her and her coaches. I will tell you level 6 bars in our state is judged very harsh. Her first meet she got a 6.7 and she did not miss any elements and had everything connected. The deductions were for things like in her swing she hollowed or arched to soon - something like that anyway. She was miserable because she had been working so hard. After the meet she saw all the other scores and there were TONS of 2's and 3's. Keep in mind the girls who got first on bars did so with 7's. Were the girls who scored 2's not supposed to be there - or did they just have some work to do. By the end of the season my dd had gotten her bar scores up to the mid 8's which was a huge accomplishment for her. Anyone who looked at her level 5 season scores though would have said that she had no business doing level 6 - yet as a level 6 she ended up doing 10 times better then level 5 and got tons of medals and trophies during the season.

I don't think in the compulsory levels you can't determine that much by the scores. The whole point of compulsories is for the girls to learn the basics and have a strong foundation going into optionals. We have all seen girls who were great compulsory gymnasts but did horrible in optionals and vice versa. I think if the coach sees potential in a girl despite some issues on one event - why not give them the chance. Holding them back too long because of one event will probably just cause boredom and frustration. Some might not be able to overcome the issue - but at least they know they were given a chance. Ok - I think I've babbled long enough.

chalkdust · 02-26-2008, 08:57 AM

Notice that I did say to "try and get first" not to stay the level year after year and not be challenged until you win. I was talking about kids at the bottom over and over that havent mastered the skills below and move up anyways. By the way, I used to coach boys and WOW are they different them girls. My boys liked to win and if they didnt they worked very hard so they would be on the award stand. I loved coaching boys!!! They were a lot of fun!

**bogwoppit** · 02-26-2008, 09:16 AM

I think many of your girls do lots of meets. My girls will only do 3 each, so we care a bit less about the bling. My oldest DD has struggled with injury for a long time and it has held her back to some degree, but when the coach asked if she wantedto go back to a different level of competition (same skills but against girls who train fewer hours than those she competes against now) She said she'd rather be in the middle of the pack at the higher level than winning everything at the lower level. She always wants to push herself to improve, and wants to work hard to compete the skills she has.

My kids have had good years and bad years score wise, it is what helps them want to improve and they are not defeated buy it. However they have had all the skills to compete their levels, sometimes it takes more then that. Here of course we do not have compulsories, so it is a very different game then in USAG.

My daughters are definitely able to look back and laugh at there bad days, what they do dislike is when a judge just gets it wrong, Like when DD did her cartwheel on the beam and the judge said she didn't, gave a low score and there was nothing we could do, they wouldn't even look at the video the coach had taken!!! Now that sucked... but she learned from that that you have to have your own goals.

Good discussion, love the attitude of the gymnasts, only we and they can really appreciate this!

Blackie6 · 02-26-2008, 09:28 AM

This is a no brainer, LOL

My daughter had her first L4 competition this past September. She had missed quite a bit of gym in August and September because we had a late vacation (planned long before we knew she would compete)and also go away for a long weekend in Sept for the NJ firemans convention. While she had her skills, she just didn't have enough time to be confident in the routines having just learned them the month before. At the meet we happily sat down in the first row by the bars. I was glad to be so cole to get a ggod picture of my DD's first meet. WQe were about 2 feet from the bars and when she started she looked over at us. Her cousin gave a giggle and that was it...she LOL thru the whole rest of the bars routine. No concentration at all. Fell off on the shoot thru mill circle and repeated it. Got a whopper 5.8! In the next 2 meets agin no big scores there, 6.8 and maybe a 6.6. By the 4th meet she settled in and got an 8.35 and her first individual medal! She has always been a good vaulter though. That forst meet she got an 8.8 and by the time she was going to states was getting 9's and brought home 4th place in the state championships. I don't think all girls are good at all events. Sometimes the skills are there in practice and not there for the meets. My DD hates for me to sit close to her. The father away, the less distracted she is. She was only 6, now she is 7 and can't wait do it all again. People have bad days and yes, we still laugh about it.

SquirrelLadyMir · 02-26-2008, 09:33 AM


Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey Taucer 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). Low scores happen. Life goes on.

I normally always stick my beam routines in practice but at my meet on saturday I fell 3 times. One being on my 3rd B... My start value was a 9.2... and I ended up with a 7.0. It was pretty bad.

SquirrelLadyMir · 02-26-2008, 09:37 AM

In level 6 I got like a 6.1 on bars... I didn't connect anything and fell on the squat on.
Oh. and my last post I was in level 7.

GymMom68 · 02-26-2008, 01:06 PM


Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoffrey Taucer I know of a number of gyms that have kids who are perfectly capable of moving up doing the same level for 3 or even 4 years, so that they can be at the top of the pack, and so that the gym can get more team trophies to display on their walls. (The gym I'm at used to do this, but no longer does.) I don't think the kids benefit from this. I think what makes gymnastics such a great sport is that there's always room to challenge yourself, to try something new, and if you're always at a level where you can be at the top of the pack without breaking a sweat, you're clearly not being challenged. To me the point of competing is to challenge the gymnast. It challenges them to do their personal best. How they score or place in relation to other kids is irrelevant to this goal.

I agree with this as well, I think it's just as silly to watch a 3rd year level 5 getting 38s. I mean COME ON!!! Where's the challenge in that?

I also believe in challenging the girls,my daughter would bored out of her skull if she was doing the same thing every day. She loves to learn new things, but she also likes to win, so she works her booty off every day.