Normally I send these out on Monday. But I was traveling and not able to post until today.
We are almost at the end of the JO season in the USA. The Elite Season and USAIGC season are just beginning.
MORE IMPORTANTLY- Game 7 tonight Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs. Gym Momentum Coach STEVE DAVID (who is from Toronto) and I have a bet going on. A six pack of Sam Adams for him if the Leafs win, A six pack of good local Canadian beer, maybe BELLWOODS WIZARD WOLF, if the Bruins win for me!
There are three constants in college gymnastics: elaborate hair, university-logo face crystals, and a scoring system that is abjectly bonkers. While the elite Code of Points prizes difficulty over “perfection”—and thus incentivizes the development of floor routines with 45 tumbling passes—college gymnastics has retained the legendary 10.
In college gymnastics, grade inflation is rampant. While elites seem to be deducted for invisible transgressions—the U.S. squad at the 2016 Olympic trials regularly scored in the 9.2s in execution!—top NCAA athletes all score impossibly high. UCLA’s gymnasts performed 24 routines during the team competition; a mere two of them scored below 9.8. I watch a lot of gymnastics and I am no closer to understanding how we can possibly live in a world in which a 9.8 can be a team’s 22nd-best score.
I understand the purpose and even possible the “need” for the 10.0 in collegiate gymnastics. In general, it would seem like the NCAA’s more straightforward rules—three tumbling passes on floor! Two releases on bars! The 10!—would be a relief. It is great when you see the crowd go crazy and the jubilation of a team when a 10.0 is flashed.
That said, this perfect 10 routine, was never completely perfect. There are slightly flexed feet in a tumbling pass (.05 deduction), and a switch leap legs do not quite hit 180 degrees (another .05 deduction). But in NCAA gymnastics, just as in the classrooms of NCAA institutions, an A- is the equivalent of a C-. Getting a 9.9 for that routine would’ve been considered a grievous insult.
Because routines with major breaks in them pull 9.7s and an exercise with a straight-up face plant can still earn a 9.3, there’s nothing to do with a hit routine but give it the 10, even if it has small errors.
As the popularity of the sport grows so will the knowledge base of the average fan. A fan who will call out the errors.
In the mean time, enjoy the 10s on TV. But don’t let your gymnasts and parents get sucked into that in your gym.
Tony
