Report of Oct 16-19 Leader Level meeting
Last weekend I attended a clinic of about 10 Leader Level judges who worked on the proof, editing and compiling for the new Code of Points and supporting documents for judges training. A lot of work was done by National Technical Chair Patti Connor and others before we arrived. We worked about 24 hours, all day Friday, Saturday and then Sunday morning and didn’t finish. Work remains to be done.
Still, everything is scheduled to be ready by the New Year. New judges courses and re-certification of current judges is expected to be allowed beginning Jan 1st. I’d say chances are 50-50 that everything will be ready, and I’m choosing to be hopeful. Some of the work depends on non-TnT USAG support staff whose priorities are not ours, and whose office is closed annually for the 2 weeks prior to the New Year.
Judging credentials: All current judging credentials expire April 1st, 2009. Judges may not work at sanctioned events after March 31st, 2009 unless they re-certify. Category 1's must take the Category 2 test to maintain their Cat 1 rating until the new Cat 1 tests are offerred. Everyone with a current valid credential may work meets with their old rating through March 31st. Re-certification costs $30 for one discipline or 2 or all 3, not per discipline ($30 only, not $90 for all three), if it’s the same basic clinic. One discipline this month, another discipline next month, another $30. New judges pay $45 per discipline. Judges who don’t score a passing grade on the test drop back a category until they re-test and pass.
Continuing Education 2009: If you were inactive as a judge last season (did not take Continuing Ed and judge minimum 2 meets) but wish to resume judges duties this season, we’d love to have you back in the fold however you must retest first. The new course and the test are the required Continuing Education for all judges this season.
Early 2009 Meets: If you are a meet director of an early 2009 meet, it is possible for your sanctioned meet to count for Eligibility, but not Mobility unless your Superior Judges are re-certified. You are welcome to use new routines and old rules until Jan 1st and have a lot of fun. You may not use the new rules before Jan 1st. You may not use the old routines and old rules in a sanctioned event after Jan 1st.
Until then, whenever possible, and certainly before each meet where I’m in attendance I will meet with the Superior Judges (and anyone else who wants, everyone is welcome) to review the new rule changes so our athletes get the correct score. I’m sure that Tatianna, who was also in attendance at this meeting will do the same for NJ meets.
Mobility: Mobility requires at a minimum that the Superior Judge have the correct current rating which for us, after Jan 1st means certified under new rules. To take care of our New England teams, the Region will help pay for the re-certification clinic. Rich and I will work out those details, don’t fret. If any coach wants their athlete to achieve mobility, my strong advice is to get it done using old routines and old rules before the New Year. Or you may have to wait until we have re-certified judges.
Code of Points: The Code of Points is largely done, but still in draft form. After it is reprinted to show the changes and edits from our weekends efforts, the JO committee needs to approve the language, making sure that the new Code accomplishes the changes they requested of the Technical Committee. Because of the possibility of additional changes, I’m not allowed to Xerox and send out the draft copies of what I have. I have summarized most of the rule changes below.
And some of those proposed changes are still under review. For example, the JO Committee wanted to penalize(1.0) and not interrupt the lower levels 1-4 for the most common mistakes such as an extra bounce or wrong skill, so long as safety wasn’t an issue and the routine continued. Sounds good. But on the videos for the judges practical exams that we judged to establish the median score, there were many examples of lower level age group kids making those very mistakes and navigating to the correct final score proved problematic and immensely time consuming. Possibly too problematic. The devil is always in the details and while most everyone likes the idea, the real-life (video life?) application proved harder than anticipated. And philosophically, should an athlete who did the wrong skill win against an athlete who did the correct skill but fell? Working through it was a pretty big deal in our meeting and given serious thought. Final decision on this rule change will be made at a meeting of the JO and Technical Committees later.
At the Region 6 Clinic, Dec 13-14 at Novaks, we will have Judges training for the new rules even though we don’t anticipate being able to give the test. Knowing the rules in advance will make the testing clinic faster and easier, and better prepare everybody for the early season meets. We will also conduct practice judging sessions and anticipate judging an eligibility/ mobility meet for athletes using both rules. Coaches and Judges, please plan on attending. More details are coming soon.
Most of the changes I’m detailing below are derived directly from changes in the new FIG CoP. You can download the FIG Code from the Region 6 web site (http://eteamz.active.com/r6tnt) and look them up for more details. And there are more details but without boring you or attempting to duplicate the Code from memory, here is a summary of the major proposed changes.
Summary of changes
1. TR Level 4, skill #4, should be Front Drop Tuck--transition from Seat drop to Front drop is Tuck. The edition of the routines currently on the web doesn’t specify the shape.
2. Deduction for Landing Stability for all disciplines is now at the instruction of the Superior Judges, not at the discretion of the Execution Judges. For Trampoline take: 0.1-0.2 (same); Tumbling: 0.1-0.3 (New!); DMT: 0.1- 0.3 (New!)
3. Landing deductions are changing for all disciplines. Anything more than a stability error is either 0.5 or 1.0. Touch the mat, track, bed with your hands 0.5. Fall on the mat, DMT or TU 1.0. Touch or fall on the TR bed, 0.5. Fall off the bed to the end deck or floor 1.0.
4. DMT Landing Zones.
A. Within the yellow landing zone there will be an additional, smaller target area in effect creating 3 concentric rectangles now called Zones "A", "B", and "C". Zone "A" being the innermost "bullseye", the remainder of the yellow landing zone is now Zone "B" and the greater blue landing area is now Zone "C".
B. Landing deductions for stability will be taken based more on where you land than on how you land.
1. If you land successfully in the red Zone A, deduct 0.0-0.3 for stability as the SJ instructs.
2. If you land outside of Zone A but still on the yellow (former) Landing Zone–now called Zone B, Superior Judge will instruct to deduct 0.3 just for being there and nothing more for lack of stability–flap your arms all you want.
3. If you land outside of Zone B but anywhere on the former 10' x 20' Landing Area now called Zone "C", deduct 0.5 for landing location and take nothing more for stability.
4. If you land in one zone but step to another, take the greater deduction.
5. And of course, falls are another matter and a greater deduction. Take the greater deduction only.
5. Staying with DMT, Penalty Zone violations are now 0.3 each occurrence (instead of 0.1) but an exception is allowed-- no penalty for touching the penalty zone during the take off of the mounting jump or skill. Landing completely within the penalty zone or in the wrong bed for the skill is still an interruption Levels 5-10; deduct 1.0 for Levels 1-4.
6. DMT Levels 2-4 receive bonus .02 to each execution score for performance of the pass with a mounting skill.
7. No further deductions on interrupted passes including Trampoline where landing deductions were formerly taken on complete and incomplete passes. One foot the landing of skill #7 but continue your routine then landing your out bounce on the end deck? Maximum mark is 6 and no further deductions, nothing deducted for landing on the end deck. Once its over, its over.
8. Performance of "illegal" skills, specifically banned from a level will result in interruption. Performance of legal skills in excess of pass mandated limits, will result in loss of DD for the skill and deduct 1.0 from each execution score for exceeding pass requirements.
Examples: 1. No double Somersaults allowed Level 8 Trampoline. So, for a Double Back Somi mount for Level 8 TR optional, routine is interrupted on the first skill and the pass receives score of 0.0
Example 2. Only one dbl somi is allowed at Level 9 TR. L9 athlete mounts her optional with half-out tuck, dbl back tuck, finishes her routine without any other problems. The 2nd dbl skill is not permitted in the pass but by itself is permitted in the level so routine is scored out of 10, no DD credit for dbl back and deduct 1.0 for exceeding pass requirements. 10 execution deductions from 9.0.
9. Another new "Crash" rule. Here is an exception to the FIG rules and a return to a former understanding, several versions ago. For USA Age Group competitions, any skill which lands on the soles of the feet first, before falling, will receive credit for the skill and a deduction for the fall. Any skill which doesn’t land on the soles of the feet first is an incomplete skill and cause for interruption. Forget the phase, "lands and falls in the same motion." For now. This rule has been clarified, or official clarification attempted each and every year in living memory.
10. DD is calculated differently for TU, the same for DMT, and slightly different for triples on TR. These are all shown in the FIG, too much to show here. But in TU, no more 0.1 bonus for forward somis or 25% bonus for dbl somi in Age Groups, twisting is calculated differently and twisting multiple somis are calculated differently–better check it out before filling out your comp cards.
11. Special rules for Levels 1-4. As already mentioned above, this is a noble attempt to penalize and not interrupt the lower levels. For every discipline, deduct 1.0 for each occurrence of wrong skill, extra skill, intermediate bounce, elasticity of the bed–things that formerly were interruptions but didn’t diminish safety. Straddle jumps at Levels 1-4 don’t require the hip flexion as they do for the upper levels’ straddle jump pike–a "Jumping Jack" straddle would not be interrupted in Levels 1-4. Level 5-10 though, still strictly interruptions for all those kinds of errors.
12. New dress code for athletes allows men to wear step in leos or compression shirts (like Under Armour) of Lycra or spandex with or without sleeves any length, and long trampoline pants in any single color including black, navy, dark colors. White foot covering or socks to match pant color. Shorts with 5" inseams on DMT and TU.
Girls may wear full length tights or unitards of any color –note "full length", not bicycle shorts length, not knee length, not mid calf. It doesn’t say yet but likely will that foot covering must be white or may match the leg covering color.
I hope this note gives everybody confidence to continue their training. Let the Technical and JO Committees squabble about a few details that might change a score but won’t change what the athletes (and therefore the coaches) have to do anyway. And everybody exercise patience in dealing with the transition to new rules. It will be done eventually and effective for the next 4 years.
Email me any concerns or confusion with the rules as I’ve described them. The confusion is probably the result of my attempted summary description.
Bob
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