Parents Scoring for a

[MomIdidit!]

Pardon me if I am asking this incorrectly but I'm still new at this. As far as scoring goes....my daughter was recently at a meet where the awards were broken into two groups. One group was 6-7 year olds and the other group was 8-9 year olds. All of the age groups had their meet at the same time.

I am wondering if the judges know the girls ages as they are judging them and if so do the judges score differently for different age?

 

[MomIdidit!]

Sorry I meant to delete for a in the title.

 

[krisnkids]

The judges score on the number, not the name or age of the child. The meet host either has a scoring system that the judges enter number xxx and score 8.6 or the host gym provides cards with the gymnast's number. Ages are broken down so similar aged kids are competing against eachother. Most would not be happy with a 6 year old level 4 going against a 12 year old level 4.

 

[MeetDirector]

Judges score each athlete against the standard - the code of points. They do not score gymnast A against gymnast B. Each gymnast's score is then entered into the scoring system regardless of actual age or age division being used for awards. At the end of the meet, the scoring system then puts all of the athletes in the pre-defined age divisions and orders them from top to bottom. The age divisions used for the purposes of awards may span a given range of birthdays determined by the meet director in order to produce equal (or near equal) size award groups.

 

[MomIdidit!]

Thank you krisnkids and MeetDirector, I appreciate it....it is clearer now....if only I could understand how the judges score the vault haha!

 

[Gymmommy71]

Except for a state meet where everyone in the session is the same age by design, I do not think the judges know the age of the kid they are scoring besides for what they are able to guess from how old they LOOK like they are.

Most meets my DD has attended, girls of all different ages compete at the same time for that level - like there could be a level 8 session where there could be 9 year olds competing against 17 year olds at the same time. Some large meets break up the ages somewhat, but most usually keep all the gymnasts from the same gym together in the same session which means the variation of ages is going to happen.

One thing I've learned over the years about gymnasts and age is that it's very hard to judge a kids age just by looking at them. I can't tell you how many times I've thought a kid was going to be in the "lowest age and under" division cause they were so tiny, and then they go up for awards in the 12 year old group!

 

[MomIdidit!]

so true Gymmommy71, it's hard to tell ages especially when all the girls have their hair back in a tight bun.

 

[MeetDirector]

"Except for a state meet where everyone in the session is the same age by design, ..."

Gymmommy71, this is not necessarily correct. At my state meets I have mixed ages within a level and mixed levels within a session. It all depends how a meet director builds the meet. Now, will I try and keep an entire level together within a session for state? Yes, so that I can have the team championship not have to split across sessions, but if the numbers don't work, the numbers don't work. Building a session whether its a local meet or Chicago Style is all about the numbers. USAG has strict rules about the number of athletes at a given level in a given session.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Maybe it's just my state then. At the end of all the states that my DD has attended, there is only one set of awards for the session. Top 25% for each event plus all around and then done. Everyone in the session is w/in a few months age of the others unless it's the "and under" or "and over" session. It's a good way to see if your kid is tall or short for their age , at least for a gymnast that is.

 

[gymdog]

It probably depends on the size of the state. We have huge compulsory numbers so the easiest way to do it is just do the sessions by age, if you have a big team, you'll be there all weekend. But otherwise, fitting together the number and size of teams would get pretty complicated, it's more straightforward to just divide. We have the same judges all weekend so team scores are just calculated at the end.

But other states are small enough to have their entire states in one weekend, all levels. And there are others in between. At the higher levels we do have a few mixed level weekends, but usually it's set up so the lower level goes first one day, then the higher levels. We don't have any levels or state meets where a session is mixed as far as what levels are within the session (even level 10s have their own sessions) but there are multiple age groups in every session. Usually three age groups per compulsory session (90ish kids total, max 96, three age groups around 32).

As far as the original question, if the judges write on a scorecard, usually there is a sticker on it with the child's name, gym, and age group for that meet (could say 8 years old, could say Jr A or B, or whatever). I've been informed on this board that in some places the judges use a roster to track the order - I have never seen just a roster used with no cards at any meet I've traveled to anywhere in the country, so I can't say whether those are set up to provide that information. If you're asking whether the judges care or even look at that sticker, not really, unless they're curious about something for some reason.

 

[meganliz77]

My understanding is that in compulsories, they are all scored on the same identical routine- regardless of age. There are 12 year olds on DD's team, competing the same exact routine-- the division of ages is meet subjective but the judging remains consistent... Shouldn't matter if the gymnast is 8 yo or 14 if they are being scored on the same routine.

 

[GYM0M]

Age doesn't matter. If a 7 year old and a 10 year old perform identical routines, the 7 year old will not score higher just because she's 7. Now, that being sd, judges judge to a set standard, yes, but that often does not equate to uniformity, especially on vault! There may be something a particular judge is picky on or one who takes full deductions, etc. So to some degree, scoring is a bit subjective.

 

[gymgal]

Thank you krisnkids and MeetDirector, I appreciate it....it is clearer now....if only I could understand how the judges score the vault haha!

my dd has been competing for 8 years and am pretty good at 'rough scoring' routines for floor, beam, bars but for the life of me cannot figure out vault....

 

[gymgal]

"Except for a state meet where everyone in the session is the same age by design, ..."

Gymmommy71, this is not necessarily correct. At my state meets I have mixed ages within a level and mixed levels within a session. It all depends how a meet director builds the meet. Now, will I try and keep an entire level together within a session for state? Yes, so that I can have the team championship not have to split across sessions, but if the numbers don't work, the numbers don't work. Building a session whether its a local meet or Chicago Style is all about the numbers. USAG has strict rules about the number of athletes at a given level in a given session.

Meetdirector, are you saying that you don't make a list of all the girls in the level and divide them evenly then set up your schedule based on that? I think that's what Gymmommy was referring to.

 

[MeetDirector]

Yes that is what I (or actually ProScore) does. Once again I think the dreaded "competetive age" thing is coming into this discussion. I have pretty much moved away from that since it is really easier to just make birthdate cutoff lines and call those groups junior, senior, etc.

If that is what she was referring to, sorry for my misinterpretation.