WAG What's the deduction for

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not doing the tippy-toe straight-arm robot walk at meets? I ask that sort of tongue-in-cheek (with all of the deduction threads lately), but I do have a real question. Have any of your daughters abandoned that goofy walk? My daughter used to do it but in the middle of one meet as her team was walking away from presenting themselves at the judges' table I saw her body language change. It was almost a "Forget this!" posture and she just started walking normally and continues to do so now. She has very straight posture, but gone are the silly walks that used to be such a crack-up to see.
 
Our team in general doesn't do the walk. Some teams around here do and some girls on our team will but usually it is younger girls that have seen another team do it. Our optional coach actually tells the girls she wants them to run off the floor after their routine because she wants them to show that they still have energy left after their final tumbling pass.
 
We had a judge deduct .2 points once for the girls who did not walk out with their feet turned out, and stand in first position to start.. My ballerina scored .2 higher then all the other floor routines at that meet.
 
I don't think it's required, but there is a general artistry deduction. Not exactly sure what the "up to x tenths" is. I suppose.a judge could take it for that if they wanted to. Our team does not do the robot walk, but they are encouraged to stand like gymnasts and present with purpose. And all our compulsory kids start floor in first position.
 
Actually from what I have heard from team coaches is that they are not supposed to tippy toe walk, but walk with pointy toes, straightening the knee when all the way out. Not on tippy or the balls of their feet. Start in first position.
 
our team does not do any kind of fancy walk ;) My DD always points out the girls on other teams who do though, thinking it's odd. As long as it's not over the top, I think it looks kind of nice, but DD's team isn't instructed to walk any particular way (except for neatly and quickly).
 
We had a judge deduct .2 points once for the girls who did not walk out with their feet turned out, and stand in first position to start.. My ballerina scored .2 higher then all the other floor routines at that meet.

They took a deduction before the routine even started?
 
No judge would deduct for how a gymnast walks to get into her starting pose. :rolleyes: (Although you could take a t for not starting in first position, but that certainly would not be .2.)
 
DD's class was taught the walk from level 1. Our girls don't do tippy-toe or robot arms, they straighten their legs and point their feet. I don't think it is compulsory, more like a convention. Gymnasts from most clubs that I've seen do it as well. I think it looks okay if it is not overdone. I think it is supposed to look graceful, like the classical walk in ballet.
 
They took a deduction before the routine even started?
Yes, it was just one particular judge and when we see her, the kids start turning their feet out. The gymnasts salute the judges before walking out, so I guess she figures anything after the salute.

I am not going to argue whether it is right or wrong, but this is how this judge scores. You got to get over it and go with the flow. ll judges have their little quirks, this was hers.
 
We do it. It is with a pointed toe, not walking on the toes. In particular, we do it for march-in. The girls are also instructed to stand a certain way. This is for our compulsory levels, as I don't think the optionals follow this convention. I sort of like it - provides unity and teaches the kids self-discipline and awareness of how they look/conduct themselves. I have never seen it be overdone, even with other gyms. It simply provide a professional look.
 
Neither of the gyms DD has belonged to has ever done "the walk." Generally, I see less of that in optionals, but, at the last meet, there was one team that sort of "swooped" to their positions on the floor... you know, like the way a ballet dancer might come on stage to take her position before the music starts? Every gym is different, I guess. I trust DD's coaches that, if they thought how they moved onto the floor was in any way affecting their scores, they would address it. I don't personally like the straight-leg-toe-point walk (the swooping was OK, I guess... better than "the walk"), but if DD did it, I may feel differently about it.
 
I think all that matters is you don't walk on the floor looking like a slob, or at least that's all that should matter. Just watch NCAA meets, or even Elite level meets, and not all of the girls there walk on the floor that way (though some of them do the "swoop"). I think it's silly for a judge to deduct for something like that, unless of course the kid is stomping on the floor or crawls on her hands and knees halfway across the floor to her starting position or something crazy like that.
 
One of my daughter's preteam coaches requires the girls to walk around the gym with straight legs, pointed toes, and robot arms at all times! I think she does it to keep them from talking and goofing off.

In the performing arts and public speaking, how you get on stage is a part of the performance. As a gymnastics non-expert, I like to see gymnasts take the floor with their heads held high and a neat, brisk, confident walk. The robot walk is cute for teams rotating between events, but it looks silly when just one girl is using it.
 
I think it looks silly and over-done, but who am I to say? Our girls don't do it, they are just taught to walk neatly and efficiently to their place (and of course in L5 they have to start in first position, but that's actually part of the routine).
 
our coach tried to get us to do it but we never did we all just walked neatly and normally with our head up and shoulders back etc.
 
Hate it. I find myself thinking "come on already" because it takes twice as long to take or leave the floor. I like a strong, confident walk quickly to your start position. No need to make an ordeal of it.
 

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