tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
We have a very dangerous sport.
Thanks Greg.
As summarized by Greg Marsden.
Click See Greg Marsden’s other Tweets to see the rest.
Spencer:
The new postseason format instituted for 2019 is an improvement over the previous system in many ways, most notably because of the elimination of those bloated and interminable six-team meets with bye rotations. It still has its faults and problems from the previous format that have gone unresolved, which we’ll all be sure to complain about at every possible moment, but it’s a step. So here’s how it will go. …
Previously, the 36 advancing teams would be divided among 6 regional sites—6 teams at each site—for a single day of elimination competition from which the top 2 teams at each site advanced to the national championship.
This year, the 36 advancing teams will be divided among 4 regional sites—9 teams at each site—for three days of elimination competition after which the top 2 teams at each site will advance to the national championship.
The four regional sites this year are LSU, Georgia, Michigan, and Oregon State. …
Championship April 19-20
Texas Woman’s (Fort Worth, Texas)
According to the recently released NCAA National Study on Substance Use Habits of College Student-Athletes, the proportion of women’s gymnasts who reported using narcotic pain medications — nearly 18 percent — is the highest among student-athletes in any sport.
Overall, the use of pain medication, both prescribed and nonprescribed, has decreased among student-athletes since the release of the last NCAA substance use study in 2014, but health care professionals still are examining how best to manage pain among college athletes. …
The sheep jump is also typically a disaster in NCAA. A sheep jump is technically expected to show closure of feet to head and an open angle in the hips.
No one in NCAA does this—deductions on sheep form tend to be pretty charitable …
College sticks. The college stick occurs when a gymnast hasn’t actually stuck a landing but has enough control to pretend she stuck the landing, trying to cover up the step by sliding into a salute at the same time. This tends to get .05 off, even if the step itself ends up being pretty large …
The new favorite talking point for judging in the 2019 season is the rule about pause deductions on beam, which has been revised …
Donations gratefully accepted.
The Collegiate Gymnastics Growth Initiative (CGGI) was formed to promote awareness in the pursuit and addition of new women’s collegiate gymnastics programs across the country, thus providing more opportunities for college bound gymnasts.
We would like to extend an invitation to gymnastics clubs nationwide to support and assist our initiative’s needs through donations.
Spencer:
… gymnasts attempt to get to a 10.0 start value by earning up to five tenths of bonus. Bonus is earned in two categories.
1) Skill value – Each D element earns 0.1 in bonus, and each E element earns 0.2.
2) Connection value – There are super tons of formulae through which gymnasts can receive connection bonus on floor.
Direct acrobatic connections
A+C = 0.1
A+A+C = 0.1
B+B = 0.1 (as long as the skills are different)
B+C = 0.2
A+D = 0.2Indirect acrobatic connections
A+A+C = 0.1
A+D = 0.1
C+C = 0.2Dance or mixed connections
B+D = 0.1
C+C = 0.1
D salto + A jump = 0.1
C+A+A (salto/dance/salto) = 0.1
C+D = 0.2To earn the full five tenths of bonus, at least one tenth must come from each category (skill value and connection value), so gymnasts can’t load up exclusively on one category or another.
If you’re a fan of Seinfeld, you likely know of a little holiday called Festivus and one of its annual traditions called the Airing of Grievances.
We’re taking the opportunity to air some grievances about college gymnastics and start 2019 with a clean slate of frustrations:
Judges Not Judging
Constant Complaining
Biased Fans
Athletic Departments Not Seeing the Value of Gymnastics
Inconvenient Meet Times
We Need to Talk About BTN (and the Big 12)
Nonexistent Scores
Lack of Transparency
Same Bar Release Discourse
Themed Meets
Words On Leotards
Click through for details.
NCAA judging is stupid. But some of the craziest injustices occur on Vault.
Spencer tells us the REAL rules:
NCAA pretends that it follows the JO code of points, except it obviously doesn’t. Not even a little.
There’s a tremendous amount of subjectivity remaining in NCAA scoring, including an unwritten understanding regarding which deductions from the JO code actually count and which ones magically don’t for the purpose of scoring NCAA routines. …
Bonus
Alicia agrees.
On Jan. 9, 2018, Nichols, then a sophomore gymnast at Oklahoma, released an 898-word statement informing the world that she, too, had been sexually assaulted by former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar.
She let the world know that, in 2015, she and her coach were the first to report his abuse to USA Gymnastics, that she was the one who had been identified only as “Athlete A” in the reports of Nassar’s actions, which he inflicted under the guise of medical treatment on more than 300 victims. …
“I want everyone to know that he did not do this to Athlete A, he did it to Maggie Nichols,” Nichols wrote in the statement. …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 
