2005
Region III Championships
April 9-10, 2005
In general competitions on the floor Exercise were superior.
Coaches and Athletes demonstrated an above average mastery of control and
knowledge in the skills. This is obvious by the above average number of
National qualifiers Region III produces each year. In order to maintain this
advantage, all event officials have been asked to report areas of common
mistakes to better assist the Region III Gymnastics coach in pursuing an
understanding of these critical areas. Coaches may then target these areas
which may need attention.
The Floor Exercise event was evaluated by: Rome Milan, Kevin
Muenz and Kevin Bates. All certified through TGJA, NGJA and FIG standard
testing.
In all Optional Levels the following tendencies were
observed:
Routines once again have begun to take on the appearance of
a standard identity where standard skills are selected to satisfy the rules.
Almost compulsory in nature, the routines lacked little personal touch or
Originality. In Levels 10 and 9 only three or four Originality Bonus tenths
were awarded.
PRESS
HANDSTANDS
Gymnasts demonstrated weakness in Handstand presses. Many
gymnasts performed no hold, short holds or little control in the final handstand
position. A large percentage of gymnasts needed to push off the floor or used a
swing motion off the toes resulting in noncredit for the B value skill. Fewer
but equally disappointing were the number of gymnasts who required bending of
the arms to complete the press Handstand, which also resulted in noncredit of
B value or deductions. Total mastery of the Press Handstand was so in
frequent that in two instances Virtuosity was awarded to individuals who really
were able to demonstrate the Press correctly and with full control.
113 deductions for partial or one second holds for 177
Static Strength elements performed in the Region III optional Floor Routines.
ARABIAN
SKILLS
Gymnasts demonstrated improper technique in performing the
Arabian front salto.
A disappointing number of gymnasts anticipated the twisting
action prior to completion of the Round Off.
Many landing the Round Off in a 90 skew receiving a one tenth deduction
and some Ύ or even 180 degree turned from proper direction prior to take off of
salto for a deduction of two or three tenths. Other observances were the late
twist resulting in the half twist not being complete prior to vertical as
required by proper execution of the skill. Some Arabian Skills were performed
with poor alignment from the rebound causing rotation to be skewed. In general
the instances where the Arabian was performed after a back handspring these
errors were not as noticed.
38 gymnasts received one tenth deduction for improper
landing of Round off.(90 degrees)
15 Gymnasts received two or three tenths deduction.
There were 121 Arabian type Skills performed out of the 195
routines.
LANDINGS
Many gymnasts had landing errors. Where this may be normal
what most seemed distressing was the lack of attention or even the impression
that landing properly was not necessary in Arabian skills. Many gymnasts
bounced out of the landing or stepped without the intention to land in a stable
position.
Average .12 Landing errors on first pass
Average .078 Landing errors Last pass.
27 falls on mounts and dismounts.
Leap / Jump Requirement
Nakiyama type skills ( Jump Pike toe touch to Handstand and
Prone) have become more common once again. When performing these skills,
younger coaches should be more educated in the proper performance of this
vintage skill. The gymnast should upon contact of hands on floor, lower with
control to a straight-arm supported prone position. At this Regional
Championships it was more commonly performed as a World Extreme Wrestling
Federation Body Slam. Appropriate deductions were given.
Level 7 Legwork- false scissors, scissors and legs cuts
the cutting leg should be horizontal for no deduction, and this is where we had
lots of deductions. Toe point in scissors and leg cuts is another place where
all kids can do a better job. Most circles and loops were bent in the hips and
had between .1 and .3 off. In flairs the legs should be straddled throughout
the flair.
Level 8 Have gymnasts do seven skills they can do well and
get off. There is no repeating of skills so dont do lots of extra circles. Top
score was 8.45, top start score was 9.40.
Level 9 Again there is
no repetition of skills, Form on travels, skewed in travels, ½ spindle need to
finish turn. Every gymnast had a deduction on scissors this is per FIG. On
dismounts through handstand everyone had a deduction.
Level 10 No repetition of skills, scissor same problem as
with level 9, skewed on travels, we had three that did not have a deduction on
travels. Strength on handstand dismounts.
I think there are to many gymnasts that are trying skills
they cant do, and we had lots of gymnasts that got no credit for skills
because the skills were done so poorly .
Region III
Championships Judges Report
Still
Rings
Jim
McKinney & Brian Cooper
Level 10: Good
Routines overall.
Most
deductions were taken for handstands using the straps, positions on strength parts, and
bent arms on strength parts.
Level 9: Most often C part back uprise
straddle planche usually with 0.2
Deduction
Swing handstand least often fulfilled
structure group
Several athletes received virtuosity in
handstands, dislocates,or
Inlocates.
Very few stuck dismounts.
Level 8: Important NO REPETITION
Level 7: Most common deduction bent arms
during back uprise
Tuck planche some good routines had
deductions for leaning on the
Rings or straps.
Handstand those who put feet on cables
as directed tend to score
Higher than ones who tried for
bonus but can not do a handstand
90% of the athletes had a 1.0 deduction
for a pike during the dismount
Level 6: Most athletes could do the back
lever well.
There were several who did the bonus
handstand well.
Similar deductions to the level 7s.
We have several outstanding coaches in RegionIII !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to the TGJA for a Great meet !!
VAULT Report
Kevin Nee, Mark Townzen
General notes: The
height of the landing area for vaulting is 30 cm, 12 inches. Other than landing deductions, most common
deductions were post flight height and failure to extend prior to landing salto vaults. Only a couple of vaults took advantage of the .3 bonus. More than once a good handspring would beat
a bad tsuk. Below is a recap to the
most popular vaults and falls per level.
Level 7 only 16 stick bonus vaults
Level 8 falls (.5 deduction) 18, tsuk tuck 14, handspring
12, front salto tuck 8, tsuk pike 6, handspring full 5.
Level 9 falls 9, tsuk tuck 24, tsuk pike 9, front salto
tuck 7, tsuk lay 6. one kas lay.
Level 10 falls 15 (!), tsuk lay 21, front salto tuck 13,
tsuk pike 6. there were two yurchenko
lay 2/1, and one roche.
Parallel Bars Report
J.T. Fletcher and James Sergeant
Level 7 The athletes at the Regional competition seemed to
be better prepared than at the State meet (TX).
Seemed required areas were performed at required criteria; such
as bails before the Moy, height of back uprise and higher swings forward and
backwards. This improvement led more
bonus given for flawless skills and /or sequences. Areas that still can be improved are holding the hold parts and
finishing handstand positions. Judges
were surprised at the number of Ls and press handstands not held.
Level 8 It is nice to see the numbers for this group have
more than doubled from last year. This
is a fun group to judge and would be fun to coach. Positive areas observed were some very well planned routines
showing that the coaches know and understand the rules of Level 8. Negative areas are skills being repeated and
pirouettes that shouldnt be in the routines until improved.
Also, once again, hold the hold parts.
Level 9 It is very impressive to see the younger boys
doing so many outstanding, upper level skills.
More specifically giants, straight leg Moys, Stutzs, Diamidovs and
awesome double backs. Some of the
higher scoring routines are because of extra element groups that wear met for
bonus. On the down side, seems there
were several routines that had too many hold parts in addition to the hold
parts not held. An L is 2 seconds and
anything less was deducted.
Level 10 WOW! It
is obvious that the coaches are working their tales off! The high skill level and the
well-constructed routines were impressive and fun to judge. Even the routines that were lacking in
difficulty still managed to meet the special requirements and score well. Make sure Stutzs are to or near a handstand
if athlete needs the C value. Scores
could be higher if any and all straddle cut type of moves would get off the
rails. On the same note, hold the obvious
skills such as Ls, Vs and presses; and be careful not the hold handstands
before pirouettes and after Stutzs, for example, unless there are only three
hold parts total.
If any of the coaches have specific questions they would
like to ask, please email fletcher@bryanisd.org.
thanks
Horizontal
Bar
Greg Kester, Chris Rippy
High Bar at these levels,
as a whole, noticeably improved from the beginning and middle of the season to
the Region III Championships. The most
typical errors remained the same. They
were as follows:
Pirouette angle deductions .1 - .3 per pirouette & .2 - .5 per routine
In general, most routines would be better off if
constructed around only 1 pirouette.
Bent knees during stemming
action .1 - .4 combined for both sides of stemming action
Bent arms in Giant Swings .05 - .1 especially when swinging after release move or
missed skill
Bent knees in taps prior
to release & dismount .05 -
.2 per instance (there were not many
release moves in
Level 9)
Angle deductions in endo,
stalder, free hip skills .1 -
.2 per instance
In general, most routines in Level 10 would be better
off without the use of a free hip hand for
mount.
Landing deductions .1
to .5 resulting from small steps, multiple steps, hands &
knees
landings, and complete falls
The 2 biggest areas of
deductions, undoubtedly, arise from pirouette deductions and landing
deductions. Improving these 2 areas
could up the score from .3 or .4 to up 1.0 difference in score.
GPA Bonus & Stick Bonus were harder to come by for Level
8 & 10 as compared to Level 7 & 9 levels, however, over all there has
been much improvement in stick landings.
Level 10 routines had a lot of endo skills, inside and
outside, with or without 1/1 turns to mixed or eagle grip. A lot of routines were missing a C value
skill. The 2 element groups most missed were the el-grip/dorsal group, and the
flight skill groups.
Level 9
The basic stock Level 9 routine was: Back Uprise free
hip giant giant blind change reverse grip giant reverse grip giant
pirouette giant giant double back
-- missing 1 C value skill & 1 special requirement, starting from
a 8.1. (a few routines have cleverly removed the free hip. They mount with something as simple as, stem
in mix grip over the top change one had to double under grip. This has eliminated the free hip errors
risk). When a C skill was present it
was usually either an endo1/1 pirouette or a C or better valued
dismount. If extra element groups were
present, they were typically for a flank vault (flight element) or Jam to
El-grip hop out (El-grip requirement).
Level 8
The
level 8 routine was all about FORM.
Most gymnasts, in general, could have kept their routines a little
simpler to gain higher scores. There
were a number of gymnasts who were missing parts, only performing 5 or 6
skills. The typical Level 8 routine had
between an 8.2 & 8.5 start score.
The Level 7 routine was all about keeping tight form with
the hollow body position in all swinging skills. Most gymnasts were able to make it through the whole routine
without major errors. The most typical
error was falling or strong breaking of form during the transition of ½ turn
swing forward to the giant sequence at the end of the routine. The areas where virtuosity was most likely
to be given was for beautiful giant swings throughout the entire routine, a
beautiful, early pirouette, a very tight, hollow swing ½ turn to nominal handstand,
and a fly-a-way performed with tight, hollow body position with extreme
amplitude.