Parents Hard nut to crack

[MickeyDGym]

I think my DD is a middle of the pack gymnast. Her best events are bars and vault. Her highest score on vault is 9.6 and highest bar is 9.3. She received a 9 on beam back in L2 but as a L3 highest was a 8.8. She is a fantastic tumbler but her floor score was either a 8.9 or 9. I'm guessing she is getting deducted for the little things. My question is what is considered a good score? Also when they get to optionals are the judges less critical of small things or is it more of the same.

 

[MILgymFAM]

What is a "good" score is incredibly subjective. It varies by region and by sub region, and definitely varies for each girl. My ODD will never see a 9.6 on any event at any level. Good for her would be cause for tears in someone else. I've seen 9.1 win a meet and I've seen it come in 12th or 13th place. It's all relative to the judges that day and the performance of the other girls. In our experience optionals judges don't go easy on anyone.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Optionals is harder. Actually the difference between 3 vs 4 and 5 is huge.

And there are girls who don't start coming into their own until optionals.

 

[Seeker]

What is a "good" score is incredibly subjective. It varies by region and by sub region, and definitely varies for each girl. My ODD will never see a 9.6 on any event at any level. Good for her would be cause for tears in someone else. I've seen 9.1 win a meet and I've seen it come in 12th or 13th place. It's all relative to the judges that day and the performance of the other girls. In our experience optionals judges don't go easy on anyone.

I agree with @MILgymFAM -- I think this is definitely true. But I also think they're looking for somewhat different things in optional levels. Where you hear of Optionals being slightly easier or offering a bump to some gymnasts is when they're getting "tenth'd to death" on all the little things which often happens in compulsory due to the strict routines. You'll get less of that in Optionals, but you're still getting deducted for taking steps, bent legs, flexed feet, landing with chest down, etc. It's a bit of 6 of 1, half-dozen of another in that regard. If your daughter is a great tumbler and strong vaulter, maybe she'd be one that found Optionals more forgiving.

 

[raenndrops]

I think my DD is a middle of the pack gymnast. Her best events are bars and vault. Her highest score on vault is 9.6 and highest bar is 9.3. She received a 9 on beam back in L2 but as a L3 highest was a 8.8. She is a fantastic tumbler but her floor score was either a 8.9 or 9. I'm guessing she is getting deducted for the little things. My question is what is considered a good score? Also when they get to optionals are the judges less critical of small things or is it more of the same.

The only thing judges in Optionals are "less critical of" is the text errors - because there care no text errors in Optional routines.
Text errors are things like the arm, arm, leg, leg thing in L3 is supposed to go "around the world" l-r-r-l or r-l-l-r and a girl accidentally goes l-r-l-r instead. The judges know EXACTLY what the compulsory routines are supposed to look like. If there is a deviation from what the routine is supposed to be, it is a text error.
Since Optionals are OPTIONAL routines, there are no text errors. If a girl does a turn in coupé they can't deduct just because it wasn't in passé (another possible text error in the compulsory routines).

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I think a lot of the reason some girls do better in optionals, is that they can do routines suited to their strengths. A strong powerful gymnast like your dd OP, can do a floor routine with powerful music, very little dance and a lot of really good strong tumbling. A graceful gymnast can do a more dance-y floor routine that accentuates their technique. Both can score very well with the right routine. Compulsory routines have a lot of extra skills, especially on the dance side and for a gymnast that might struggle a bit with dance and technique, they can get tenthed to death. Whereas in optionals, you can minimize or maximize the dance if needed to suit the strengths of the gymnast.
But then you have gymnasts like my dd who aren't super graceful or super powerful, kind of in the middle on both, so she does a sassy routine that showcases her amazing personality and showmanship. I'm sure it's not every judge's cup of tea but it's what she does best!

 

[GYM0M]

Well, I suppose a good scores depends on what you think defines a good score.....lol! If a 'good' score reflects level proficiency, USAG deems 31.00AA sufficient for levels 4-7 (~7.75 per event) and 34.00AA for levels 8-9 (~8.50 per event). On the other hand, if a 'good' score places at a meet, that will depend on the meet, the judges, & a variety of other factors.

 

[Nikki4]

I agree with what others have said, it's all very relative. My dd had been floor state champ twice on floor in compulsory and her highest score was 9.4 something.

 

[SMH]

How old is your dd? She might being losing points for form, which for some kids comes more with age. My 7 yr old just finished her level 3 yr, and staying 'straight and tight' is something she is just starting to really get.

 

[MickeyDGym]

How old is your dd? She might being losing points for form, which for some kids comes more with age. My 7 yr old just finished her level 3 yr, and staying 'straight and tight' is something she is just starting to really get.

She is 8. She is slowly getting the technique part of it. Anything that she is flying in the air she likes . So of course beam is her nemesis.

 

[SMH]

She is 8. She is slowly getting the technique part of it. Anything that she is flying in the air she likes . So of course beam is her nemesis.

Sounds exactly like my gymmie! She loves to tumble and vault, and really likes bars especially now that they are doing drills to jump to the high bar. Beam is her least favorite by far.

 

[tomtnt]

my DD was a consistent 34-35 compulsory gymnast..... she's really come into her own in the optional levels. as someone noted above, she's able to showcase her tumbling and her power and hide her lack of grace =)

 

[CTSharpie05]

Sounds exactly like my gymmie! She loves to tumble and vault, and really likes bars especially now that they are doing drills to jump to the high bar. Beam is her least favorite by far.

My daughter despises beam. Ironically, she is pretty good at it so far.

 

[BachFlyer]

I agree with others so far in that good is so very subjective. Good to me means that that particular gymnast has given a solid effort on that particular event, at that meet, on that day, in whatever life context she is performing in. It is irrespective of anything that anyone else is doing. That holds true for a kid getting a personal best of 9.875 and a kid that finally did a bhs on beam after 3 years of fear but only scored a 7.5.

Optional gymnastics is not easier or more lax, but the kids have grown into the sport by then. They are developing strengths and weaknesses, have more body control, and many form issues have worked themselves out or they simply wouldn't have progressed that far. Keep in mind that things can change so much over the course of 4-10 years as skills start to click and as the requirements change. My kid made her handstand once in level 5 beam, and now beam is by far her best event, along with bars which were decidedly "meh" then. Vault was The.Worst. until her second year of L10 and then suddenly she was scoring 9.5s consistently. When we started out, I was sure she'd be a floor kid because she was so pretty and scored so well, but she didn't really have to tumble. She's still very pretty, but unfortunately the skills now require a power that she just doesn't have enough of.

We all want to see "high" scores, or have our kid cross the finish line first, or score the most goals. I do, too. But what's cool about gymnastics is that you will very likely never see a 40.00 AA, because even the best still make mistakes.