Each year thousands of people come to LSU gymnastics meets and many leave confused about how the judges score the events.
There are four apparatuses- vault, bars, beam and floor. Six gymnasts compete on each event but only five scores count since the lowest score is dropped.
Vault
To score well on the vault, a gymnast truly needs to be athletic said LSU gymnastics head coach D-D Breaux.
“That event separates the kids who are truly athletic from the ones who are just gymnasts,” she said.
Breaux said a gymnast needs “fast-twitch muscle fiber and great air sense” to excel on the vault.
New challenges face vaulters this year as gymnasts have had to adjust to a new type of equipment. The old rectangular vault has been replaced by a “tongue” shaped vault.
This apparatus is longer and wider to give athletes more room for their hands.
Breaux said the new vault was created to help prevent serious injuries because it is a “safer apparatus”.
“It’s a little safer than the other horse because of the wider target zone,” Breaux said.
Despite the drastic change in equipment, Breaux said her vaulters have adjusted well.
Each vault a gymnast performs is given a point value. Not all vaults start from a 10, which is why sometimes a gymnast performs what appears to be a near-perfect vault but may receive a lower score.
Easier vaults, such as vaults with flips that do not twist, may only be able to score a 9.9, 9.8 or lower depending on the type of vault.
Flipping from the vault with straight legs or adding a twist into a flip will increase the point value.
Uneven Bars
There are a couple of key elements that judges look for on the bars.
“Tight handstands are the difference,” said LSU assistant coach Phillip Ogletree, who works primarily with the bar lineup.
Ogletree said he has watched videos from previous national championships and has noticed the gymnasts with the higher scores had handstands that went all the way up, not just difficult tricks.
“We’ve tried to be very good at hitting handstands or getting rid of handstands,” Ogletree said.
He said he has taken handstands out of routines when the gymnast was having trouble hitting them.
“The biggest fear when you cast to handstand is [falling] over,” Ogletree said. “Yesterday’s practice was all about handstands.”
Balance Beam
The toughest thing about the balance beam is simply staying on. The beam is only four inches wide, which is why sophomore gymnast Lauren Companioni called it “mentally the toughest.”
“You have to be extremely focused,” Breaux said. “That is the event where external factors can make you or break you.”
Floor Exercise
The floor exercise is very different in college gymnasts than in Olympic gymnastics. Because college gymnastics is a spectator sport, there is more emphasize on dance and personality on the floor.
“We want to create enthusiasm in the arena and what you do on the floor affects that,” said Ogletree.
Ogletree noticed a big jump in scores for home teams.
“I think the crowd influences the judge and the performer,” he said.
Brittany Brown is one of LSU’s more enthusiastic dancers and usually a crowd favorite on the floor exercise at home meets.
“At Utah, Brittany Brown went on floor, and it was just silent,” Ogletree said. “That’s when you rely on your teammates.”
Requirements
On the bars, beam and floor, each trick a gymnast performs is given a letter grade according to difficulty. Skills are rated A,B,C,D or E.
The easiest tricks are given an A and the hardest an E. Gymnasts are required to do a certain number of each type of skill on each event.
On the balance beam, for example, a back handspring is worth a B. A front flip on the beam is a D level skill.
Jumps and turns are also given letter ratings. E level skills are not required due to their extreme difficulty and extra credit is given for successful completion of that type of skill.