WAG Dance passage XCEL bronze

[AAUcoachUSAGmom]

We recently completed our state meet and several of our girls had a 9.0 start value on floor. We were told that their dance series did not meet requirements, which I am sure is the case.
Some of our girls competed a chasse’, split leap (leaps met angle requirement), followed by a straight jump. We were told that the straight jump isn’t considered a skill on floor.

I know we added this after we saw another team competing that series, because we thought it would be cleaner and easier to execute for our little bronzes.

We are always looking for dance series combinations we can use, and have referred to the Code or Points and the xcel bronze skills chart, but it doesn’t seem to be comprehensive. For instance, I don’t remember a tuck jump being listed, but that meets the requirements.

I have been looking since then to see if I can find where it says that a straight jump isn’t considered a skill on floor, but I haven’t been able to find it.

I am not trying to dispute the start value our girls were given at all. I feel really horrible because this was obviously a mistake on our part as coaches and I feel like this is something that should be easy to find in the code of points. There is nothing worse than watching a little girl do their best routine yet, only to have them receive a low score because of something we coached them to do.

I guess I am wanting more than anything to prevent this from happening again. As you can tell, it is really weighing on my mind. I feel really horrible about making such a big mistake about a simple jump!

Is there a more comprehensive list of skills that we don’t know about?

 

[sevenatenine2]

I see a lot of split leap, step kick hop (like in Level 4), so I'm assuming that meets the requirements?

 

[wandrewsjr]

Don’t beat yourself up too much, almost every coach has made a mistake like this in their career. A straight jump on floor is not a skill in either the JO or Xcel code of points(it is on beam, which is why this is a common mistake). There is no list of things that aren’t skills. A tuck jump is in the code. Xcel has a list of additional skills that are considered elements, in addition to all skills in the JO code.

 

[mommyof1]

A straight jump on floor is not a skill in either the JO or Xcel code of points(it is on beam, which is why this is a common mistake).

I wonder whether the split jump-straight jump at the beginning of the L3 floor routine also causes confusion as to whether a straight jump is a skill on floor.

 

[wandrewsjr]

I wonder whether the split jump-straight jump at the beginning of the L3 floor routine also causes confusion as to whether a straight jump is a skill on floor.

That is a really good point that I never thought of! And in the beginning of Xcel, before there was a fully developed Xcel code of points, I think there used to be an "any skill in the JO code or compulsory routines" will count as a skill standard. But now that Xcel has fully developed it's own additional skills list per level and code, that is all that counts.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

A cat leap is often a skill that the younger kids can get cleaned up quite easily. Maybe that's a good alternative?

 

[AAUcoachUSAGmom]

Thank you all! I am happy that I’m the only one who found it a little confusing because of the straight jump on beam and the split jump/straight jump combination in the level 3 routine.
Thanks for all the support about making mistakes, too

 

[sevenatenine2]

Am I correct that a step leap, step hop (like in level 4) would get credit and meet the requirement?

 

[3rd_time_around]

A chassé also does not meet the requirement, I believe. I’m going to check, so I may amend this later. A step hop only meets the requirements if the kicking leg is horizontal (90 degrees) and the hopping foot actually leaves the floor, lol! . There are many combinations of allowed skills that meet the requirements, they are in the code. If you are going off the “cheat sheets” that you can get online at USAG, they only list the additional skills allowed, not the only skills allowed. The rest of the skills are listed in the code.

 

[AliyaFan76]

Am I correct that a step leap, step hop (like in level 4) would get credit and meet the requirement?

Yes, that's what the girls at our gym do and they all have 10 start values.

 

[sce]

Am I correct that a step leap, step hop (like in level 4) would get credit and meet the requirement?

level 4 is chasse, step laap, step hop

 

[CoachAlex]

We had this same issue - fortunately it was discovered at a clinic and not at a meet, but there were even several JUDGES who hadn’t realized this. A straight jump is not in either the XCel or JO code of points for floor, and therefore is not a skill. It IS in the code for beam. The step-hop thingy from compulsory was added to the Xcel code (I believe) which is why that is an acceptable series. My question would have been why they started at a 9.0 instead of a 9.5 as the dance series SR is worth .5.

 

[Gymbird4]

Chase step leap straight jump does not fulfill the requirement. One other option you could consider is chase step leap straight jump with halve turn. ( I think that fulfills the leap requirement and it’s similar to a straight jump and should be easy to get used to.)
Hope this helps.