… “The gross motor development skills, that’s what we do,” said Ben Fox of Bart Conner, who, along with Ann Goff, gym teacher at Lincoln, originated the idea to offer these free classes to Norman Public Schools’ students who are identified on the autism spectrum.
“It’s great for motor and language skills, and they’re having fun while learning. That’s what kids like to do … run … jump,” Fox said, motioning toward one of the students, Isaac, as he jumped in circles on the trampoline …
Online I’m seeing a lot more Women’s Collegiate gymnastics content, especially videos from training. Interest is picking up in advance of the season start in January.
Andy Thorton has been holding fire to the feet of FIG judges better than anyone else.
He’s just posted some disturbing statistics on Execution score trends at the the international level. Here are a few of the highlight quotes from his analysis:
scores seem to be “trapped” between an 8.5 and a 9.0 regardless of the performance …
With the exception of men’s vault, it would appear from the numbers that gymnasts in general are anywhere from three to seven tenths sloppier today than they were in 2006. Is this a fact, or a function of something else going on? …
Judging in general has become much more harsh, much more unreasonable …
Men’s high bar judging has perhaps become the most outrageous and unpredictable; sometimes the cleanest routine receives an 8.7 and sometimes the sloppiest routine receives an 8.9, but the rule is no one gets above a 9.0. I miss the days even four years ago when 9.5’s and 9.6’s were given to clean routines …
As we strive for a resurgence of artistry, stricter rules are not the solution; in fact, they’re part of the problem. Today’s execution standards have not created less subjectivity in our sport; they’ve created MORE subjectivity …
I miss the days when judges felt free to throw out a 9.8, a 9.9, or even a 10.0 when a gymnast was magnificent …
He doesn’t mention this time, but has in the past, that one of the main causes of “boxed scores” (lowest Execution score too close to highest) is that judges fear being out-of-range.
It used to be that Women’s Gymnastics was far more guilty. (They’ve always listed many subjective deductions that are near impossible to evaluate consistently.) But what’s going on in Men’s Gymnastics? … Andy’s stats show the MAG execution scores dropping even more precipitously than WAG.
I have no confidence that either FIG Technical Committee has the leadership to fix boxed scores. That means, in most cases, the highest difficulty score will continue to win. There’s no incentive to try to improve execution.
Next? … I’d love to see Andy or THE ALL AROUND do a more detailed statistical analysis on this trend.
It’s a nice summary, MAG and WAG Junior Olympics as well as mention of the easier WAG PREP-OP divisions in his region.
In the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic program, there are set rules throughout the country for each level.
For the lower levels (2-6 for girls and 4-7 for boys), there are specific routines set by USAG, so every kid in the country will be doing the same routines at these levels (though the boys program allows certain bonus skills to be performed in some of the compulsory routines for a couple extra tenths).
For the upper levels (7-10 girls, 8-10 for boys), gymnasts have their own individual routines. For girls, these levels still have very specific requirements, while the boys’ upper-levels are much more open-ended. …
But it can cause problems at the gym. Especially if both kids are competitive gymnasts.
Do you have a policy on that? … If so, leave a comment.
Coach Sasha on Make it or Break It will kick the girls out of the club for dating. At Altadore, years ago, I recall we once had a rule where all boys had to stay physically on one side of the long pit. The girls on the other side. … Like that worked.
With the teenage girls I sometimes invite the boyfriend to come to workout. Once. Then give him so much volunteer work to do while he’s there … that he never comes back.
🙂
Gymnastics Coaching.com 