Saturday, April 23, 2011

Changes in Start Values!



Recently there has been some discussion from the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches/Women deciding whether they should drop the start value even lower.  For those of you non-gymnasts here's a quick run through of how scoring works currently.  This is a very basic run through and I won't go into every detail as there are too many extenuating circumstances but what follows is the basic idea.  As of now each gymnastics starts her routine from a 9.5.  Yes, you read that correctly. Not the glamorous 10.0 that many think.  Anyways, each skill in gymnastics is given a letter value.  Easy skills are considered an 'A' value, more difficult skills are considered 'B' etc,.; this continues up to the value of 'E'.  (There are F's in Olympic level gymnastics but not college).  When gymnastics combine skills, i.e. do the skills in a row, they get points.  For example, were a gymnastics to connect a straddle jump to a back flip on the beam they would receive one tenth (.1) for the connection.  This is because a straddle jump is a value of a 'B' on the beam and a back flip has a value of a 'C'.  The connection of the 'B' move to the 'C' move is one tenth (.1). In gymnastics this is called Bonus.  So now the gymnasts starts from a 9.6 because they earned one tenth of bonus (.1). By connecting skills the gymnasts is trying to earn five tenths (.5) so that they start from a 10.0.  It is important to know that college gymnasts cannot start above a 10.0.  No matter how many connections they have it is not possible to start above a 10.0 in college gymnastics.


Why does the change in Start Value Matter?
The change in start value will require gymnasts to perform even more difficult routines.  Meaning their strength, endurance, and ability till be further tested.  Some colleges hope that this will increase the distance between schools that are really good and schools that are only decent.  It would not make a drastic change on beam and floor for the Start Value to be changed.  These routines tend to be longer and therefore there is more opportunity for gymnasts to get in the extra Bonus that they need.  However, the lower start value would really affect vault and bars.  Although major Division 1 schools might be able to upgrade their vaults to reciprocate the change in Start Values there are several schools that already struggle to meet the requirements on bars and vault and the lower Start Value will only set them further apart from major gymnastics schools.


Who decides whether it gets changed or not?
Every year the schools that have NCAA collegiate gymnastics meet to discuss and vote on the different issues that have been proposed throughout the year at the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W).  The head coach from each school usually attends or sends an assistant coach in their place to represent them and cast their vote.  Each school receives one vote per issue where their options are to vote yes, no, or to abstain.  Issues that are voted yes on by the majority go into affect the following school year if they pass the other committee votings as well.


Personal Opinions?
Personally I'm a fan of leaving the scoring how it is.  With Start Values already at a 9.5 I know how difficult it is sometimes to find five tenths of Bonus.  Would it be the end of the world if they dropped it lower?  Probably not, but why change what is already working?

1 comment:

  1. Gymnastics is a competitive sport. Why keep in place what is hindering competition and allowing yurchenko full to be the most difficult vault necessary in collegiate gymnastics? The start value should be dropped so that the gymnasts who work for more difficult routines are rewarded for it.

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