THE OFFICIAL TECHNICAL PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

May 1987

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Vol. 7, No.2

Task Complexity Of Judging Gymnastics

May 1987

Inside This Issue

4-7 Test Of A Model Scoring System

By John Scheer and Charles Ansorge

8-13 Task Complexity Of Judging Gymnastics

By Hardy Fink Univ. British Columbia

14-16 How To Videotape A Gymnastics Meet

Prepared by Robert Cowan Men's Program Administrator

18-19 Judging Pommel Horse By Fred Roethlisberger Univ. of Minnesota

19 USGF Calendar Of Events

Cover and inside photos © USGF 1987, by Dave Black.

1104 86-87 Supp. to W Code

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The USGF Supplement is a pub­lication of the USGF Women's Technical Committee and the offi­cial rule interpretation for USGF competitions.

The Supplement is a must for all professionals involved in the com­petitive aspect of Women's Artistic gymnastics.

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Contents include new rules, in­terpretations, and clarification of in­ternational rules, adopted by the Women's Technical Committee, plus over 300 additional elements of A,B,C, and D values.

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Vol. 7, No.2

Publisher Mike Jacki

Education/Safety Editor Dr. Gerald George

Production Michael G. Botkin

UNITED STATES GYMNASTICS FEDERA­TION BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Executive Director: Mike Jacki . Athlete Representatives: Lydia Bree; Peter Vidmar; Linda Kardos; Tom Beach; Kathy Johnson; Tim Daggett; Kelly Garri­son. Amateur Athletic Union: Jerry Hardy. Amer­ican Sokol Organization: Norma Zabka. Amer­ican Turners: Harry Warnken . Members at Large: Linda Chencinski. NCAA Gymnastics Coaches­Men: Fred Roethlisber~er, University of Minneso­ta. NCAA Gymnashcs Coaches-Women: Judi Avener, Penn State University. National Associa­tion for Girls and Women In Sports: Dr. Mimi Murray, Sprin~field College. National Associa­tion of Women s Gymnastics Judges: Dale Brown . NCAA: Sylvia Moore, Oregon State University; Gail Davis, Rhode Island College; Jerry Miles, do NCAA; Wayne Young, Brigham Young Universi­ty. NAIA: Bonnie Morrow. NHSGCA: john Brink­worth. National Federation of State High School Athletic Assoc.: Sh aron Wilch; Susan True. National Jewish Welfare Board: Courtney Shank­en. NJCAA: Dave Rowlands, Truman College. NGJA: Mike Milidon is. USAIGC: Ed Knepper. Men's Elite Coaches Assoc. : Jim Howard, Uni­versity of Nebraska. USECA for Women: Roe Kreutzer; Steve Whitlock. Youn~ Men's Christian Assoc.: Cliff Lothery. Jr. Boy s Gym. Coaches Assoc.: Rich Boccia. President: Mike Donahue.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Pres ident: Mike Donahue. Secretary: Judi Avener. Vice President: Jim Howard . Executive Director: Mike Jacki. FIG Technical Committee: Jackie Fie. FIG Rhythmic Technical Comm.: Andrea Schmid. FIG Men's Technical Committee: Bill Roetzheim. Vice Presi­dent for Women: Sue Ammerman. President Emeritus: Bud Wilkinson. Athlete Representa­tives: Kathy Johnson; Peter Vidmar; Larry Gerald . Members at Large: Mike Milidonis; Linda Chen­cinski.

As_iate Content Editors SPORTS MEDICINE COMMITfU,; Merrill A. Ritter, M.D. SAFETY COMMllTEE Dr. Marc Rabinoff EDUCATION COMMITIEE Dr. Garland O'Quinn BIOMECHANICS COMMITIEE Dr. Marlene Adrian, Director SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY COMMITIEE Dr. Keith Henschen, Ph.D. EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY COMMITIEE Dr. Pat EisenmaJ\, Ph.D.

UnIess expressly Identified to the co ntrary, all articles, statements and views printed he re in are attributed soley 10 the author and the United States Gymnastics Federation expresses no opin­io n the reon and ass umes no responsi bilit y thereof .

Technique

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Test Of A Model Scoring System For The Self.Regulation Of Internationa

Bias In Gymnastics Judging

4

By John Scheer and Charles Ansorge

School of Health , Physical Education and Recreation University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

", T' 0 correct international bias, Roetzheim and Muzyczko (1986) proposed that, when a judge scores a team from his own country, the team score should be reduced by the difference between the gymnasts' average

scores and the scores of that judge, after discarding the highest and lowest differences. Similarly, if a judge underscores teams in close competition to his own, his bias would be added to those team scores.

The purpose of this study was to determine the ad­justments to men's and women's team scores which would have resulted had this system been used in the 1984 Olympics. Analysis revealed that all judges scored gymnasts from their home countries higher than their panel average, resulting in an average subtraction of 0.93 from the scores of men 's teams (two judges per team, nine teams), and 0.86 from women's teams (one judge per team, nine teams). Judges also underscored teams in close competition with their own , resulting in an average addition of 0.79 to the scores of men 's teams, and 0.77 to women 's teams. The proposed sys­tem could be a powerful method of enforcing the self­regulation by judges of international bias patterns, or could be used as a tool for exposing bias and evaluat­ing judges.

International bias in gymnatics judging has been the subject of much conjecture in the past. Until recently, however, rigorous proof of bias has been lacking. In a study of the 1984 Olympics, Ansorge and Scheer (1985) reported a clear and

significant bias pattern in which judges overscored gymnasts from their own countries and underscored gymnasts from countries in close competition with their own.

That study revealed a degree of bias which was not only statistically Significant, but of tremendous practi­cal significance as well. The vast majority of judges fol­lowed the predicted pattern, and the question was raised regarding the potential impact of even one judge. In other words, how much difference can one judge make? An example of a frequently occurring score range for a panel of four judges would be 9.5,9.6, 9.7, and 9.7, for an average of 9.65. If one of the 9.7s represented a biased score for a gymnast from that

judge 's home country, and that judge were to change the 9.7 to a 9.5 for an equally good routine by a gym­nast from an opposing country, the average score would be reduced from 9.65 to 9.55 if the other scores remained the same. One judge can easily have a .05 to .1 impact on a single gymnast, and a .25 or more impact on a team score in a single event. This degree of bias, which is representative of the bias found by Scheer and Ansorge, means that one judge who both overscores and underscores gymnasts in the pattern described above can create a half-point or more swing between the scores of two teams in just one event.

Given the extent of the problem, it would seem desirable to explore methods of reducing international bias in gymnastics judging. Roetzheim and Muzyczko (1986), with conceptual input from Doug Hills, proposed a system for the self-regulation of international bias. The system involves analyzing the scores of judges whose countries have teams entered in the competi­tion. A pattern of bias favoring his/her team would result in a reduction of his/her team 's score, while a pattern of bias against teams in close competition would result in additions to those team scores.

Example 1:

Impleme ntation of Scoring System for USA Judge

Scoring USA Gymnasts in Men ' s Compet i tion

at the 1984 Olympic Games

Routine JI* J2 J3 J4 Average Difference

9 . 9 9.6 9 . 7 9 . 5 9.65 + . 25--discard

9 . 9 9.7 9 . 7 9 .7 9.70 + . 20

9.9 9 . 8 9 . 6 9 . 7 9 . 75 +.15

10 . 0 9.8 9 . 8 9.9 9.85 + .1 5

10 . 0 9.9 9 . 9 9 . 8 9 . 90 +.10

10.0 9 . 9 9 . 9 9.9 9 . 90 !.:..!Q. -discard

Summation + . 60

Bias Correct i on Made From Team Finals

Unadjusted Team Score (United Sta t es) 296.10

Bias Co r rection Subt r ac t ion ~

Correc t ed Team Score 295.50

In this example , J l is scor ing gymnasts ""ho are f r om his own coun t ry .

For each gymnas t , his sco r e was h i gher than the ave rage of the panel.

The highest a nd lowes t d i fference scores a r e di sca rde d and the

r e maining fou r differences a r e t o t a l ed t o dete r mi ne the bi as correc t ion.

Technique

Specifically, the judge's deviations from the average scores of gymnasts from a given team would be calcu­lated. The highest and lowest deviations would be dis­carded, and the remaining deviations would be totaled. If the total represents bias in the expected direction , that total would be subtracted from his/her team's score, or added to the team score of the preceding and succeeding teams in the competition. Example 1 shows how the system would be implemented for a judge scor­ing his home country's gymnasts. Example 2 shows the system for a judge scoring gymnasts from a team in close competition with her own.

Exampl e 2 :

Impleme ntati on of Sco ring Sys t em for Spa nish Jud ge

Sco r ing Great Britai n Gymnasts in Wo men I s Competition

at the 1984 Ol ympic Ga me s

Routi ne J I ' J2 J3 J4 Averase Diffe r ence

8 . 6 8 . 8 8 . 5 8 . 8 8 . 70 - .lO--di sca rd

8 . 3 8 . 8 8 . 7 9 .1 8 . 75 -. 45

8 . 9 9 . 3 9.2 9.3 9 . 25 -. 35

9 . 2 9.4 9.4 9.4 9.40 -. 20

8 .9 9 . 5 9 . 4 9.30 9 . 35 - . 45-- di s c a rd

9 . 1 9.2 9 . 5 9 . 2 9 .20 - .10

Summa t i on - 1.10

Bia s Correction Ma d e From Team Final s

Una dj u s ted Tea m Sco r e ( Great Br i tain) L87 . 95

Bia s Correc ti on Additi on ~

Corre c t e d Team Score 189 . 05

Jl is s co ring gymnas t s who a r e f r om Grea t Br i t a in . t he t eam which p r eceded

Spain in the gymnas t ics c om pe tition.

For a more detailed description of the system, see Roet­zheim and Muzyczko, Technique, Volume 6, Number 1, 1986, pages 14-17.

Roetzheim and Muzyczko proposed a phased in­troduction and implementation of the system. Phase 1 involved explaining the system, which they have done. The purpose of this paper is Phase 2: the study of past major competitions to determine the results if the system had been in use.

1984 Olympics With Bias Correction

Complete results and judging assignments were obtained for the 1984's men's and women 's Olympic gymnastics competi­tion. Officials included two male judges for each of nine qualified countries for the

men's competition and one female judge for each of the nine countries for the women's competition . The proposed scoring system was implemented for the scoring of all involved judges. To determine additions

Techn ique

to team totals due to negative bias from opposing judges, the preceding and succeeding teams after com­pulsories were used for compulsory additions. The fi­nal placements (combined compulsories and optionals) were used to determine the preceding and succeed­ing teams for optional additions. For the first place teams, the second and third place teams were consi­dered to be in close competition , while for the ninth place teams, the eighth and seventh place teams were considered close.

Tables 1 and 2 show the results of applying the bias correction factors for each team's score. The subtrac-

Table l·Bias Cor rection Adjustme nts t o Team Scores

i n Men's Gymnastics at the 1984 Ol~ i cs

Subtractions Additions Actual (own Judges) (Opposing Judges)

Team Score Total Co. Opt. Tota l

USA 591.4 - 1.35 ( • . 60. -.75) (.75 t::o., .80 Opt.)

1.55 (1.15 CHII*, .40 JPtl)

(.50 Co .•. 55 Opt.) CHII 590 .8 - .60 (· .35. - .25) 1. 05 ( .65 USA, .40 JPN)

JPIl 586.7 - .60 (-.40 . - . 20) (.40 Co . , .20 Opt .)

.60 (.55 CHII, .05 FRG)

( . 15 Co . , .35 Opt. ) fRG 582 . 1 - 1.05 (-.65 . - . 40) .50 ( . 10 JPII, . 40 SU I)

SUI 579.95 - 1.20 (- . 50. - . 70) . 40 ( . 20 Co .•. 20 Op t. )

(.05 fRG •. 15 CAN) .20 FRA)

fRA 578.25 - 1.45 ( · .95. -.50) (.10 Co., .65 Opt.)

.75 (.35 CAli, . 30 SU I • . 10 KOR)

CAN 577 . 15 - .55 (- . 15 . - . 40) . 30 ( .eo Co. , . 10 Op t. )

( . 05 FRA, .20 SUI. .05 KOR)

KOR 574.45 - .50 (-.30, - .20) 1.10 ( . 65 Co. , . 45 Op t. )

(.75 G8R, .20 FRA, .15 CAN)

GBR 571. 0 -1.10 ( - .80. - .30) .90 (.35 Co., . 55 Opt .)

( . 35 KOR, .30 FRA, . 25 CAN)

Column Averages - .93 . 52 .4 1 . 79 . 37 Co .. 42 Opt.

Column Standard Deviation

- . 37 . 25 .20 .39 .23 Co. .23 Opt .

Adjus t ed Ac t ual Adju s ted Score Finish Fi nish

591. 60

591. 25

586.70

581.55

579.20

577 .55

576. 90

575 .05

570.80

· fjOTE--These are COOlb i ned compul so ry and op ti ona l additions to t eam t ot a l s based opon negative bi as of judges f rom spec ific oppos ing countries.

tions and additions are based upon the total of two judges for each team in the men 's competition, and one judge for each team in the women's. For both men and women the subtractions and additions are broken down into compulsories (Co.) and optionals (Opt.). The addi­tions column is also broken down into the amounts ad­ded on due to judges from specific opposing countries.

It can be seen that, in every case, judges scoring their own team awarded higher overall scores than the average, which resulted in a subtraction from their team scores. Also in the vast majority of cases, when judges scored gymnasts from teams in close competition to their own, they awarded lower overall scores, result­ing in an addition to those team scores.

In the men's competition , the team order of finish re­mained the same after all bias corrections were applied. It is interesting, however, that the USA and China would have switched positions if only the subtraction part of the system had been used. While the USA judges showed sl ightly more favoritism toward the USA than

5

6

the Chinese judges showed for China, the Chinese made up for it by showing more negative bias towards the USA than the USA judges showed toward the Chinese. Clearly, both kinds of bias must be considered in using this system, or the focus of the bias pattern will merely shift.

In the women's competition , four teams changed po­sitions after the bias corrections were applied! The West German judge was considerably more biased both for her team and against the Canadian team than was the Canadian judge. Since West Germany beat the Canadians by a mere .25, it is clear that the West Ger­man 's bias netted her team a fourth place finish instead of fifth had the bias been equal. A similar position change due to unequal bias can be seen between Great Britain and Switzerland.

It seems apparent that there are some disadvantages to the current system of international gymnastics judging: 1. A predictable pattern of bias is present, and this is

obvious to spectators, coaches, gymnasts, and judges. The bias pattern is most noticeable at the top , but exists through all levels of teams compet­ing internationally.

2. The current system prevents ajudge from being fair. To be fair may cost a judge's team dearly.

3. The current system reduces the credibility of gym­nastics as a competition sport. In fact , it encourages blatant disregard of the objective rules laid out in the Code of Points (FIG, 1985). How many times have we read about "impossible" scores being awarded? The latest analysis shows a number of impossible vaulting scores in the 1985 World Championships (Fystrom, 1986). Is your reaction , " So, what's new?"

4. In selecting judges for international competition , fed­erations of competing countries are more interest­ed in sending judges who are skilled at bias than skilled in judging.

5. Finally, the current system unfairly affects the qualifi­cation of individual gymnasts into finals. Internation­ally in event competition, .05 is often the difference between having a chance of winning and not even making the finals. Whether or not a deserving gym­nast qualifies for finals may very well depend upon whether his or her country's judge is on the event or the judge from an opposing country in close competition. There are some disadvantages to the proposed bias

correction model , as well: 1. In some competitions team results would be uncer­

tain until after the judging sessions are over, and this could create some spectator uncertainty. The bias correction for a judge scoring his or her own coun­try could be subtracted immediately, but bias cor­rection additions for judges scoring other countries would have to wait until it is known which countries are in close competition .

2. In some cases, a judge may underscore a close op­posing team, but that team would not finish next to the judge's team in the standings. In such an in­stance, the negative bias of the judge would not be added to the opposing team 's score. For example, the worst negative bias in the 1984 Olympics was that illustrated in Example 2 above. After compul­sories, Spain was in ninth place, and Great Britian

Tab l e 2 - Bias Correction Adjustments to Team Scores

in Women's Gyl1Ulastics at the 1984 Olympics

Subtractions Additions Actual (own Judges) (Opposing Judges) Adjusted Actual Adjusted

Team SCOre Total Co. Opt.) Total Score Finish Finish

ROM 392.20 -.45 (-.35. -.10) . 75 .3, '0" .'U Opt. 392.50 (.45 USA·, . 30 CHN )

USA 391 . 20 -.60 (-.55. -.05) 1.20 (.40 Co., .80 Opt.) 391.80 (.75 ROM, . 45CHr/)

CHN 388.60 - .85 (-.30. - .55) .20 1.05 Co . • . 15 OpL) 387.95 (.20 USA • • 00 FRG )

FRG 379.15 - 1.40 (-1.0, -.40) .25 (.20 Co .• . 05 Opt.) 378 .00 (.00 CHII • . 25 CAH)

CAN 378 . 90 -.55 ( - .15. -.40) 1.50 ( .BS Co .• . 65 Opt.) 379.85 (1.30 FRG • . 20 JPII)

JPtl 376.75 -.40 (- .10. - .30) .70 ( .30 Co .• 40 Opt.) 377.05 (.15 CAN • . 30 SUI •

• 25 GBR)

GSR 373.85 -1.20 (- .94. -.25) .75 (.65 Co . • . 10 Opt.) 373.40

(.35 SUI • . 40 ESP, .00 JPII)

SUI 373 . 50 -.55 (- . 20. -.35) 1.15 (.65 Co . , . 50 Opt.)

374 . 10 (.20 JPN • . 55 GBR

.40 ESP)

(.20 Co., .20 Opt.) ESP 372.10 -1.70 (-1.70 • . 00) .40 (.40 GSR, .00 SUI)

370.80

Column Averages -.86 (.59 . 27) .77 (.41 Co . .36 Opt. )

Column Standard -.47 (.53 • 18) .44 (.26 Co . .2S Opt.) Deviations

*tlote - -These are combined compulsorY and optional additions to team totD.1s based upon negatiVe bias of judges from specific oppos i ng countries.

was in eighth. In the optional competition, the Span­ish judge was grossly biased against Great Britian. Yet Great Britian moved into seventh place after op­tionals, so the bias of the Spanish judge was not ad­ded on to Britian 's optional score.

3. The proposed model would require some rule changes to solve potential problems, but this should not be a major obstacle. For example, line judges would need to be from non-competing countries. There would also have to be a control limit on the spread of all four scores, otherwise a judge could throw the competition to one team or another sim­ply by awarding a couple of 2.0s to a team in close competition.

4. The proposed model would also force conformity of judges, thereby actually redUCing their objectivity and independence.

5. If the proposed system were implemented, extra care would have to be taken to insure that the dis­tribution of judges from competing countries and neutral judges was fair and equal. From a political standpoint, this may be a major problem. We believe, however, that the advantages of the bias

correction model outweight the disadvantages. The ad­vantages of the proposed system would be: 1. The proposed model would result in improvements

in all of the listed disadvantages of the current sys­tem. Pattern bias would be reduced and the credi­bility of gymnastics would be increased.

2. The proposed model would make all judges' scores count.

3. The model would be effective in discovering alli­ances of judges. For example, in the women's com­petition, there was a wide gap in talent between the third place Chinese and the fourth place West Ger-

Technique

mans, with more than nine points separating the two teams. Clearly, the West Germans were not a threat to the Chinese. It was curious, therefore, that the Chinese judge helped the West Germans, and the West German judge helped the Chinese. Out of 24 routines, these two judges were above the average score for the opposing team 14 times, and below the average score only once!

4. Use of the model would represent not only a bias correction system, but the implementation of an evaluation system of judges, as well. In fact, whether the system is implemented or not, its potential use as a method of evaluating judges is tremendous. In summary, there is no question that this system ex-

poses international bias patterns in gymnastics judg­ing. Implementation of the bias correction factors would almost have to reduce the degree of international bias found by Scheer and Ansorge. Judges simply could not award extremely biased scores without hurting their team. If the International Gymnastics Federation seri­ously wants to reduce favoritism shown by judges, then the self-regulating bias correction system is one they should carefully consider.

References 1. Ansorge , Charles J., and Scheer, John K. " Preva­

lence of International Bias in the Judging of Medal Winning Gymnastics Teams in the 1984 Olympic Games. " Research paper presented at the Nation­al Convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education , Recreation and Dance, Atlan­ta, Georgia, 1985.

2. Roetzheim, Bill, and Muzyczko, Ted. " Bias Correc­tion Factors: A Proposal to Minimize Unwanted Pat­tern Bias in International Competitions." Technique, Volume 6, Number 1, 14-17, 1986.

3. International Gymnastics Federation. Code of Points, Switzerland, FIG, 1985.

4. Fystrom, Russel. "Observation on Men's Vaulting from the 1985 World Championships." Technique, Volume 6, Number 3, 15-16, October, 1986.

About The Authors John Scheer competed in gymnastics at the Univer­

sity of Nebraska from 1963 to 1967. He became a na­tionally certifed judge in 1970 and internationally certi­fied in 1976. He has judged the 1980 and 1984 Olym­pic Team Trials, as well as numerous other world team trials and USA Championships. Internationally he has judged such meets as the World University Games, World Cup, Swiss and DTB Cups, and Goodwill Games. He was founder and president of the Great Plains Gymnastics Judges Association, and currently serves as Technical Secretary for the National Gym­nastics Judges Association. Dr. Scheer is an Associ­ate Professor in the School of Health, Physical Educa­tion and Recreation at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln.

Dr. Charles Ansorge is a statistician and Professor of HPER at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For the past 14 years, Drs. Scheeer and Ansorge have collabo­rated on various research projects regarding influences in gymnastics judging, resulting in the publication of 14 articles and the presentation of 11 research papers.

COMING THIS SUMMER­NEW USGF SAFETY VIDEO ®

us. GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

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Technique 7

Task Complexity Of Judging Gymnastics

By Hardy Fink University of British Columbia

ore and more research and experimental evi­dence is accumulating which suggests that the judging or evalua­

tion of gymnastics performances is ex­tremely difficult and may, in fact, be im­possible. Scores awarded by judges suffer frequently, depending on the particular circumstances, from not be­ing valid, from not being reliable and from not being objective.

For instance intra-judge reliability coefficients as low as -.03 have been reported for side horse vaulting (Wil­son, 1974) with not one judge ranking the gymnasts in the same order on the second viewing and some judges com­pletely reversing the order leading the author to state, "One may seriously question, based upon the result of this study, the use of the side horse vault mark in determining the all-around competitor, or determining anything for that matter."

The factors contributing to this state of affairs are related to the:

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1. Complexity and nature of the sport.

2. Complexity and nature of the rules.

3. Task demands and information

processing demands of judging. 4. Internal pressures affecting the

judge. 5. External pressures affecting the

judge. This discussion will attempt to look

at the task demands of judging and how these contribute to the probable impossibility of accurate rating . The contribution to this problem of the other four factors will be looked at more briefly.

Sport Complexity Gymnastics as a sport derives its

complexity from the variety of unrelat­ed apparatii that one must compete on (floor exercises, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar for men and vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises for women) and the expectation that vir­tually the full human movement poten­tial, with certain minor constraints, be explored within and among the events. My investigations reveal that a full competitive performance requires, typically, some 200 seconds and presents some 80-100 distinct skills; an average of about one new skill ev­ery 2 seconds.

Salmela (1976) has shown that by the 1972 Olympics, pommel horse per­formers had attained 1.7 hand changes (Changes in the base of sup­port) per second and that some had by

1976 reached 1.9 per second thereby approaching the "theoretical limits of man's information processing capaci­ty of two precise movements per se­cond." My preliminary investigations of the 1983 World Championships show that top performers still do not exceed 1.9 base of support changes per se­cond when averaged over a 25 to 30 second routine. However, some in­dividuals perform certain skill combi­nations requiring as many as 3.9 hand changes per second and can maintain that speed for at least 10 support changes in 2.6 seconds. What this says about the "theoretical limits" as stated by Salmela (1976, 1978) is unclear.

Rule Complexity

The complexity of the sport of gymnastics requires a correspondingly complex set of rules: At least, at the present time, the rules are

corresponding complex. Each of the most recent men's and women's rule books (FIG, 1979) and accompanying supplementary judging information en­compasses some 250 to 300 pages of information. Each identifies some 700 typical skills (many more exist) and rates them among three difficulty categories as well as, depending on the skill, assessing them according to the presence of risk and originality.

The rule books provide indirect, and somewhat arbitrary, constraints and requirements for each routine and list hundreds of deductions appropriate for possible deviations from the ideal per­formance. Further, the rules demand the demonstration of elegance and vir­tuosity extemporaneously with de­mands for the display of risk and origi­nality. Unlisted skills, at least for men, are expected to be evaluated, virtual­ly instantaneously, by a subjective comparison with related or similar skills already rated.

As athletes present themselves to the judges, they must think of doing their best, not of how the judges will perceive them.

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I I,

Task And Information Processing Demands

It is the combination of sport and rule complexity that provides the judge with the initial aspects of the task com­plexity of juding. Further complexities are introduced by the needs for the identification of and the decision about each presented skill and the composite judgement resulting in the final score.

As has already been indicated, the stimulus or input information present­ed to the judge can vary greatly. The combination of hundreds of possible skills, any of which can be, to varying degrees, discrepant from the stereo­typed ideal or the rule requirements, the requirement for originality as en­trenched in the rules and the probabil­ity, also entrenched in the rules, that only the gymnast knows what will come next in a performance max­imizes the uncertainty of information with which the judge will be confronted.

Having been presented the stimulus the judge must then process the infor­mation, make a decision and respond accordingly. The steps involved for each skill include at least the following.

1. Identify the skill. 2. Identify the difficulty, risk and

originality rating for the skill. 3. Identify if it deviates from either

the ideal performance or from the rule requirements.

4. Identify the degree of that discrepancy.

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5. Associate the appropriate deduc­tion with that discrepancy or error.

Because of the limited capacity of the running short term memory (on which many judges still rely) in contem­porary times judges are expected to have and use a relatively comprehen­sive recording sytem (Fink, 1975) -both for immediate needs and later feedback to coaches and athletes. Thus:

6. Identify the appropriate symbolic representation of the skill and the deduction.

7. Record the symbol' for the skill and the deduction on paper.

Most dynamic skills in gymnastics are performed in less than one second. The forgoing steps must, therefore, be repeated at least 10 and as many as 30 times during a performance. For the worst case of a contemporary pommel horse routine these steps may be re­quired 25 times in 30 seconds. Other routines allow for some longer transi­tion times and include static skills which offer the judge some relief.

After a routine, the judge is expect­ed to decode the usually messy writ­ten record, assess the possibility (from memory) of having erred during the recording or identification and then compute and present the final compo­site decision - the score - in about 15, but certainly no more than 30 seconds. Certain other mechanical proficiencies are expected of a judge but these will

International conflicts between judges sometimes are not the only factors present during confer­ences. Sometimes the coach puts his/her two cents worth in.

not be discussed here. The speed with which the judge is

presented with information and the short time over which he must process and record the information requires of him certain strategies which will reduce the reaction time during the de­cision making process. Reaction time can be reduced by the ability to antici­pate (reduce the uncertainty) the input and the response and by automating the identification-association-recording process. Clearly, both of them - antici­pation and automation - demand ex­pertise and practice.

The judge can learn to anticipate up­coming skill combinations or at least assess the probability of certain com­binations appearing by being steeped in the sport. Knowing the sport thoroughly will decrease the need to be "prepared for anything" as some possibilities are precluded. Watching previous films of gymnasts to be evalu­ated or observing them in warm up can further reduce the uncertainty of what may be presented in competition.

Automation occurs as a result of overlearning. In this case it is the in­stantaneous association of a skill with a difficulty value and a deduction; of the skill and deduction with a symbol;

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and, of the physical recording on paper of that symbol. This automation can be achieved only with hours and perhaps years of practice.

Gymnastics judges too frequently are unwilling to minimize their reaction time and to maximize their information processing capabilities in this way. They rely instead on a variety of un­tenable short cuts such as not bother­ing with the difficult intermediate tasks of judging. Instead they render a score that seems, at the time, to be compat­ible with others. Often prior knowledge of the gymnasts, order of appearance within a team, country of origin and other non-performance related infor­mation is used to assist in the "decision" .

Internal Presssures

There are a large variety of influences that affect a judge in the performance of his duties regardless of the sincerity of his infor­

mation proceSSing and decision mak­ing efforts. The process of subcons­ciously and subjectively comparing performances to a stereotyped perfect performance is liable to many errors. Among them:

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1. Order of appearance Scheer & Ansorge (1965) and

Ansorge et al (1978) have documented that gymnasts ap­pearing later within a team have a siginificant score advantage due to judges' expectations that the best will appear last. They, as well as Wilson (1974) and others recommend complete randomi­zation of order such that no gym­nast will be disadvantaged simply by his order.

The order effect is even more insidious in day long competitions of successive flights of athletes, such as at a World Champion­ship. Evening performers have such a massive score advantage, due possibly to an accumulation of little judging errors that reset the judges' expectations over the course of the day, that it is a tru­ism that teams in the morning "draw" might just as well stay home.

2. Judge-gymnast relationships Beliefs about the personal

characteristics of a gymnast (race, personality, attitude, etc.) will affect a judge's rating of that

gymnast. Also a judge's expecta­tions of that gymnast gained from prior experience, rumours, an­nouncements during meets, etc. and his association of a certain range of scores with that gymnast along with a pre-set from the gymnast's behaviour will affect the rating.

This "halo effect" would indi­cate that acquaintance with the performer reduces the validity of the rating (Start, 1975)

In some cases an aware judge with a special relationship may overcompensate for these "general mental attitude" effects in order to eliminate accusations of bias.

3. Experience Specialists in the sport tend to make as many judgement errors as novices (Bard, 1980, Imwold, 1983) but are able to recognize more errors, have learned to make as many as 27% fewer fix­ations in viewing a performance and concentrate on the upper body instead of the legs during evaluation.

Specialists may have adopted unique inspection strategies. Ac­cording to Imwold (1983) "skill in analyzing movement ... , de­pends upon an elaborate reper­toire of task-specific knowledge requiring intensive practice ex-

perience over a protracted peri­od of time for its development."

4. Courseness of scale Start (1965) suggests that an

optimal rating scale has between seven and 25 discriminating steps. Gymnastics evaluated from zero to 10 in 0.01 incre­ments has 100. This may be too many, especially for beginners as indications are that unmotivated and inexperienced raters do bet­ter with lesser scales.

5. Human judgement & informa­tion gathering

Research into this area indi­cates that man cannot be relied on to reproduce the same deci­sion given the same information and that he is not very good at taking in and processing informa­tion. Furthermore, training and experience do not appear to im­prove the accuracy of rating.

Connolly and Serre (1983) showed that real world informa­tion gathering is seriously sub­optimal and that judges form strong beliefs as to the differen­tial validity of cues and continue to make decisions in accordance with these erroneous beliefs.

6. Anxiety, stress Anxiety and stress occur in a

judging situation to the degree that the judge perceives he may not be able to handle the task and

nastits a colour quarterly, published by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), whose news and pictures are not restricted to anyone country but cover the whole world of our beautiful sport. Special introductory subscription rates and brochure, write to:

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possible conflict situations that may crop up. Judge-coach goals, if inconsistent, can aggravate the possibility of conflict.

As the arousal level, due to anxiety, increases it becomes more difficult for the judge to at­tend to task relevant cues.

Effective coping strategies such as relaxation techniques, meditation and biofeedback exist which can help control both the cognitions about a situation and the arousal level.

7. Position Stephenson (1977) , Wilson

(1976) and others have documented that the position from which a performance is viewed affects the evaluation. It would seem that high inter-judge reliability can not be expected un­der the present system of seating judges at four different corners relative to the performance.

8. Judges' self-rating There is a tendancy for judges

to rate opposite to how they per­ceive themselves (Start, 1965) with respect to the trait being evaluated. Those who rate them­selves high in a certain trait tend to rate others low and vice versa. This problem may be alleviated either by using average perform­ers with much expertise as judges or by using groups of judges who range widely in gym­nastics abilities so that the vari­ous effects might cancel.

9. Central tendency There is a reluctance among

judges to award extreme scores and , therefore , the better per­former is invariably cheated with respect to the poor performer (Fink, 1975). This problem may be due to lack of competence (not knowing or applying rules and deductions properly) or lack of confidence (pressure to conform due to seeing the flashed score and fear of appearing ridiculous).

External Pressures

uch information exists on role conflict in teacher/coaches (Locke & Massengale, 1978). That informa­

tion may perhaps be extended to in­clude other types of role conflict.

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The conflict arises from the incom­patibility of society's expectations for the two roles. Eventually unresolved role conflict can lead to sufficient stress to precipitate " burn out. " Typi­cally a person resolves this by "turn­ing off" or " dropping out." In gymnas­tics judging this would result either in a loss in the number of judges or a reduction in conscientiousness and competence of judges.

Judges have many opportunities for role-conflict in that many are coach/judges, or parent/judges, or worker/judges and so on. More com­plex role interactions can of course ex­ist such as the not uncommon adminis-

The poSition of the judge is very important to scor­ing a routine well, or missing key elements of it.

t rato r / coac h/pare nt/wo rke r /j u d ge multi-roles leading, in this case to 10 different role conflict dyads that could exist.

In general a simple derivation from combination theory shows that the number of role conflict dyads that can exist is (n/2)(n-1) where n is the num­ber of roles held simultaneously by that person . Of course not all role interac­tons need necessarily supply the same

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subjective feelings of conflict intensi­ty. Judges might assess their various roles and the potential for conflict that might interfere with judging effect­iveness.

The worst form of pressure in judg­ing gymnastics is the pressure to cheat. Gymnastics finds itself among a group of indirect competitive sports which the sociologist Malpass defines as sports where one strives for a stan­dard regardless what others may do. In such sports it is virtually impossible for an athlete to cheat since he can have no direct detrimental influence on his opponents performance. In indirect competitive sports the officials must do the cheating for the athlete - and cheat they do, usually against the wishes or the knowledge of the athletes.

The reasons for this cheating be­haviour are too complex to go into in this paper. Nevertheless, deliberate cheating eliminates the utility of any of the other information presented here and, in a twisted way, this may be a relief because it may mean that all of the other negative forces exist only in theory. These problems of cheating manifest themselves most strongly at the international level.

Conclusion

Gymnastics judging is vir­tually an impossible task given the complexity of the sport, of the rules, of the information process­

ing task and of the innumerable inter­nal and external environmental influences.

Judges are advised to be as aware as is possible of all of these factors and to become ever more expert at their task through exposure and practice. The ability to anticipate and automate portions of the task will allow time to attend properly to important aspects of the performance. Care should be taken that the judges' goals do not differ from those of other important leaders in the sport and that internal and external influences and stresses be, as much as possible controlled.

Little relief of this situation seems possible without major changes in the way the sport is evaluted. These changes could take the form of:

1. Judges specializing on one event. 2. Having different judges evaluate

different aspects of a performance.

3. Having the gymnast present a

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written rendition of the routine pri­or to the competition.

4. Simplifying the rules. 5. Changing the constraints put on

the performances. 6. Seating judges side by side. 7. Giving judges no access to infor­

mation about others' scores.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ansorge, C. et al. "Bias in Judging Wom­en's Gymnastics Induced by Expecta­tions of Within-Team Order." Research Quarterly. 49(4):399-405, 1978.

Arend, S. & Higgins, J. "A Strategy for the Classification, Subjective Analysis and Observation of Human Movement" Journal of Human Movement Studies. 2:36-52, 1976.

Bard , C. et al. "Analysis of Gymnastics Judges' Visual Search." Research Quarterly. 51 (2):267-273, 1980.

Connolly, T. & Sorre, P. "Informaton Search in Judgement Tasks: The Ef­fects of Unequal Cue Validity and Cost. " Unpublished paper. Georgia In­stitute of Technology, 1983.

Federation International de Gymnastique. Code of Points: Artistic Gymnastics for Men. Zurich: Neue Zuricher Zeitung, 1979.

Federation International de Gymnastique. Code of Points: Artistic Gymnastics for Women. Zurich: Neue Zuricher Zeitung, 1979.

Fink, H. "A Method of Active Evaluation." The Gymnastics Technician. #9:21-24, March, 1975.

Fink, H. "Difficulties Inherent in Gymnas­tics Judging." Bulletin of the Interna­tional Gymnastics Federation. #4, De­cember, 1975.

Fink, H. " The Coach and the Code: Some Hints for Maximizing Scores." in Gym­nastics Coaches Certification Manu­al: Level III Women. (in print) Canadi­an Gymnastics Fed., Ottawa, 1984.

Fisher, R.D. " Construction and Validity of a Written Test for use in Certifying Gym­nastics Judges." M.Sc. Thesis, Univer­sity of Colorado, 1974.

Flatten, K. "A biomechanist Looks at Gym­nastics Judging - A Proposal." Journal of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. 44: June, 1973.

Henry, F. "The Loss of Precision from Dis­carding Discrepant Data." Research Quarterly. 21:145-152, 1950.

Imwold, C. & Hoffman, S. "Visual Recog­nition of a Gymnastics Skill by Ex-

perienced and Inexperienced Instruc­tors ." Research Quarterly. 54(2): 149-155, 1983.

Johnson, M. "Providing Qualified Gymnas­tics Judges." The Physical Educator. 28(1): March, 1971.

Masengale, J. & Locke, L. "Role Conflict in Teacher/Coaches." Research Quart­erly. 49(2):162-174, 1978.

Salmela, J. "Application of a Psychologi­cal Taxonomy to Sports Performance." Canadian Journal of Applied Sports Sciences. 1(1):23-32, 1976.

Salmela, J. "Gymnastics Judging: A Com­plex Information Processing Task." In­ternational Gymnast. part 1 in June, 1978; part 2 in July, 1978.

Saskatchewan Department of Culture and Youth. Officials Development Pro­gram. 1978.

Scheer, J. & Ansorge, C. "Effects of Natur­ally Induced Judges' Expectations on the Ratings of Physical Performances." Research Quarterly. 46(4):463-470, 1975.

Start, K. "The Use of Subjective Rating as a Criterion Measure." New Zealand Journal of Phys-ical Education. pp. 3-13, April, 1965.

Stephenson, D. & Jackson, A. "The Effects of Training and Position on Judges' Rat­ings of a Gymnastics Event." Research Quarterly. 48(1):177-180, 1977.

Sterling, L. & Webb, R. "Scoring Behaviour of Gymnastics Judges." The Modern Gymnast. pp. 18-19, April , 1969.

Wilson, V. "Judging GymnastiCS Judging." Unpublished paper. York University, 1976.

Wilson, V. "The Order Effect in Gymnas­tics." Bulletin of the Canadian Gym­nastics Federation. #9, 1974.

Wilson , V. "Use of Video Tape Recorders in Gymnastics Judging. " Bulletin of the. Canadian Gymnastics Federation. De­cember, 1973.

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How To Videotape A Gymnastics Meet

A Guide Prepared By Robert Cowan Mens Program Administrator

Edited by: Francis Allen Fred Turoff

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to give additional insight to the art of videotaping a gymnastics meet.

You are providing a great service to the gymnastics com­munity, whether you are a coach, a judge, or are being specifically sent to an event for the purpose of recording the event for posterity.

However, if the tape is unusable due to poor quality, poor visual angles or incomplete routines, it is not worth your time and possibly the expense of all involved.

This guide is divided into sections to aid you in your quest for a better qual­ity video.

WHAT TO FILM

B asicially, the best advice is to film everything you can. If you are attending a major competition such as European Championships

in a European city which few or no peo­ple have seen, it is a good idea to get some footage outside the arena, to familiarize folks with what to look for on their visit.

Remember, you should think of this as an attempt to record history and the merit of any documentary is framing the event in time so that it takes on a special significance, all its own.

Also, the more professional the presentation, the more marketable the product, which provides the USGF with a base for recouping some of the

illustrations by Kathy Flaherty

14

expenses which make these projects possible.

Film Training If At All Possible The USGF will attempt to get you

press/photo credentials from the host organizers which will make this possi­ble. Oftentimes, some of the newest or most bizarre skills are done in training and not thrown or shown in the com­petition. Also, training gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with the competitors, check out your equipment and determine if there are some teams you could omit from consideration of your time.

Additionally, during training or even the warm-ups before the competition, IF A PERSON /S SPOTTING, ATTEMPT TO GET AS CLOSE-UP AS POSSIBLE ON THE SPOTTING SO THAT THE TECHNIQUE CAN BE STUDIED. This

could be very helpful later on. HELPFUL HINT: The key to good

video taping is to keep the figure in the view finder as large as possible. This

will require some zoom work on vault­ing and floor exercise. Practice this be­fore you actually need to film the com­petition. Finally, you may also have ac­cess to some training facilities which might provide further insight to better­ing our own program. If it looks unique, unusual or original either film it or take 3Smm shots of the facility.

GET THE COMPETITORS NUMBER BEFORE THE ROUTINE-If they are using electronic scoring and they post the numbers prior to the competitor, get the number.

GET THE COMPLETE ROUTlNE­Jumping from one event to another and getting part of the routine is not as beneficial or as marketable as a com-

WHAT TO FILM

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plete set. Start the camera when the gymnast raises his hand. Videotape is cheap. Do not worry about wasting it. Let the gymnast land, salute, and walk out of the frame before stopping the camera.

GET THE SCORE-I mediately fol­lowing the routine, get the score for that set, if at all possible. Even if you get results, sometimes they do not get sent with the Videotape or they get lost, or whatever.

CAUTION: REMEMBER THAT MOST VIDEO CAMERAS AUTOMAT­ICALL Y BACK UP A FEW FRAMES WHEN TURNED ON. SO, YOU SHOULD TAKE A FEW MORE SE­CONDS OF FILM THAN YOU OR­DINARIL Y WOULD, IN ORDER TO INSURE YOU DO NOT CUT OFF THE DISMOUNT, THE SCORE, THE COM­PETITORS NUMBER, ETC.

GET THE AWARDS CEREMONEY, IF APPROPRIA TE-If you are shooting the Junior Asian Games, it might be good to show who won All-Around, Team, etc. This helps our coaching community begin to identify potential future competitors and familiarize themselves with their faces.

When To Get There

YoU should prepare to ar­rive as early as possible for the event. Ordinarily, if you have tickets, doors will open one hour to one

and one half hours before the competition.

However, the USGF will attempt to get you credentials which will allow you to be in a more viable position. There­fore, it is suggested you arrive at least one and one half hours early.

If you are videotaping in the United States or anywhere else you can use a traditional power source (110) , then you would want to get to the arena ear­ly, investigate the power sources, make friends with the custodian (give him a pin, patch, etc.) and set up your base of operations.

Also, have a second or third power alternative, in case you get moved, the power goes down, etc. By getting there early each day, you can begin to cre­ate temporary relationships which can benefit you in case you need to negotiate.

Things To Do

1. Represent the United States and the USGF in a professional man­ner. We have enough " ugly Ameri­cans," we could use a positive image.

2. Charge your batteries before you go, after you get there and each night. Several long term recharge­able batteries will make you in­dependent of wall outlets and mo­bile if need be. Be sure all batter­ies are fully and correctly charged. (NiCad batteries should be run dry before recharging).

3. Take all your accessories with you. It won't help to know you have a lens extender back in Peoria when you are in Beijing.

Things To Do

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4. Take more than you think you will need: Video tapes, batteries, foam for packing your camera, lens cleaner, head cleaner, note books, pens. Use reliable name-brand videotapes, not cheaper "no­name" brands.

5. Get a set of results, in fact , get two if possible.

6. Get all the information you can . For example, the 1988 Junior Asi­an Games are in Jakarta, Indone­sia. No one I know or have ever heard of has been there. However, we might have an event there someday. All the information you can get will go into a file which will be used someday.

7. Take a 35 mm camera. Still shots of various key individuals, various interesting area, etc. can be very important.

8. Do a report. I realize that Con­fucius said that a picture is worth a thousand words or some such, but some pictures need a lot of ex­plaining. Your report should point out salient details of the competi­tion , direct attention to specific routines or skills which are impor­tant. Detail weather, exchange rate, economy, etc. All of of these things are important.

9. Don't assume anything. 10. Get the material to the USGF as

quickly as you can. 11. Edit the material if possible so that

it is marketable when received . 12. Shoot the competition at the

fastest speed. In other words, SP

rather that SLP. Some portable VCR's have a speed adjustment. Some do not.

13. Use a reliable tripod. If the height adjustment is loose, the camera can tip over.

14. Open the video tape packaging before the competition.

15. Label the tapes. 16. Take a battery charger or two. 17. Take an electrical converter. 18. If a domestic event, take an exten­

sion cord. 19. Do your home work - Study the

country, the currency exchange, a few phrases which you can learn and use to break the ice.

20. Know how your cameraIVCR works before you go.

Framing The Event

This section is not con­cerned with an object you hang on the wall, but rather the manner in which you actually present the event

on the videotape. Each event will "frame" differently, depending on the nature of the event.

Consider the framing of each event. A complete floor exercise mat in the picture means you got one small per­former who is hard to see. The camera can be set still on a tripod for most events.

For floor, beam and vault, the camera must be able to move. A good general guideline is to keep the per­former around 1/2 the frame height.

Framing The Event

16

When following tumbling or a vault­ing run, keep the performer's feet at the bottom of the frame. That way the tumbling or vault will not jump out of the top of the picture and you will not have time to adjust to keep the per­former in the frame. Also be ready for dismounts that might move out of the frame.

For events such as pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar and uneven bars, if the mats are at the bottom of the frame and the perform­ers toes (at their highest point) are at the top , you usually will not have to move the camera.

Remember to set your focus for the center of the action. If you are not close but can zoom in, then you will have little problem with depth of field when a performer moves toward or away from you. For example, it is best to be back and to use the zoom for floor exercise (focus on the center of the area). If you are looking at vault from the end and you are close, do not worry about the run being in focus, just concern yourself with the horse and vault. However, do shoot the run as it can be important to study run technique.

The Best Angle

There are many differing philosophies on which an­gie is best to shoot various events from . The following is a general philosophy

that may help you. However, if you have an assigned seat in the bleachers, it is totally worthless.

Floor exercise: Dead center of the floor or slightly to one side.

Pommel horse: Slightly off center and from the head judges side.

Still rings: Slightly off to one side­diagonal-from front.

Vaulting : From side with ability to pan the entire run, the vault and the landing. Attempt to be closest to horse and yet not lose vaulter due to being too close. Parallel bars: From the side and slight­ly off center. Horizontal bar: Same angle as rings­DON'T GET CLOSE UPS OF THE HANDS. Uneven baffi: Same as rings and horizontal bar. Balance beam: From side and slightly off center or from obtuse angle from end. Be sure to get clear shot at beam work including mount and dismount.

Technique

Announcing the . ..

1987 {]SGF CONGRESS Once again, the USGF will present an outstanding program, featuring the finest clinicians and professionals in the sport. The 1987 Congress will provide you with essential, useful infor­mation on coaching technique, rules interpretation, running a successful, profitable operation, and more.

The highlights of the 1987 Congress in St. Louis:

• The latest on 1988-92 Compulsories • Lecture/Demonstrations by top

technicians

• Videotape skill analysis for coaches, judges

'87 USGF CONGRESS REGISTRATION FORM ONE NAME PER REGISTRATION

Name _ ________ _ _ _______ ___ Date _____ _

Home Address ___ _ _ ___ ____ ___ _ _ ______ _ _ _

City _____________ ___ State Zip ____ _

Phone (Day) Phone (Night) ___ _

Please check appropriate box: cJ Women's Program 0 Men's Program 0 Rhythmic Program

o Coach 0 Judge 0 Club Owner/Administrator o Other, please specify: ___________________ _

PRIMARY INTERESTIPURPOSE FOR ATTENDING CONGRESS: ___ _

1987 USGF Congress­Facts at a Glance

Date: October 1-4

Site: Adam's Mark St. Louis Hotel Fourth and Chestnut St. Louis, Missouri 63102 (314) 241-7400

When making reservations, ask for "1987 USGF Congress special rates."

Sufficient rooms are reserved for Congress up to August 28, 1987.

Reserve early to assure room and special dis­count rates.

Fee: $70 for USGF professional members post­marked by August 28, 1987. $80 for USGF professional members post­marked after August 28, 1987. $90 for non-USGF professional members re­gardless of date.

Fee Includes: • Free entrance to all lectures, mas­ter clinics, demonstrations, open meetings and general assembly .

• Final Awards Banquet and Dance

Registration: Fill out the registration form below and mail, along with your registration fee, to:

1987 (JSGF Congress (J.S. Gymnastics Federation 1099 N. Meridian, #380 Indianapolis. IN 46204

Prof. Members

$70 if postmarked by 8/28/87

$80 if postmarked after 8128/87

$90 Non-(JSGF Prof. Members

(JSGF PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP #

Please return this registration form with check for fee to USGF Congress:

1099 N. Meridian. Suite 380 Indianapolis. IN 46204

Note: Registration is non-refundable after September 15. 1987.

Coaching Pommel Horse By Fred Roethlisberger University of Minnesota

I. Skills on the pommel horse should be performed without deviation from the basic circle shape. A. Characteristics of a good circle.

1. Speed generated by a strong pull and entry into the circle.

2. Flat body with the hips depressed in front support.

3. Considerable shoulder movement in order to main­tain the straight body line while circling the horse. Shoulder lean determines balance. There must be constant movement of the shoulders to maintain balance. This ability to move the shoulders in order to maintain balance with a flat body position must be thoroughly established dur­ing the learning of the circle or this movement will be un­dependable and make ad­vanced movements on one pommel very difficult.

2 3

4. Shoulders depressed with upper trunk straight.

B. Training aids important in de­veloping a good circle. 1. The hanging bucket 2. Mushroom 3. Floor horse 4. Walking length of horse in

cross support

II. Skills on pommel horse are domi­nated by one of two support posi­tions. Pommel horse perfor­mances are to be a fluid piece of work from start to finish but a use­ful conceptual framework in analyzing skills is to view them as a succession of movements from one balanced two hand support to the next. Any particular circle skill is dominated by either front sup­port or rear support and analyzing

18

it by the dominant or critical sup­port position provides a simple way of presenting it and coaching it. A. Skills with rear support as key

position. 1. Direct stockli A (back Moor)

2. Stockli 3. Back travel

B. Skills with front support as key position. 1. Chzechkehre

2. Magyar walk

~~~~~ ~t~A.~

3. Russians 4. Front travels 5. Double Swiss 6. Back stockli

A. Observe the shoulder line dur­ing the critical support phases of a skill. 1. It should be perpendicular to

the long axis horse during side support skills like circles.

- -- -- - ....

2. It should be parallel to the long axis of the horse during cross support skills like hoops.

\ , I I I

B. Observe the shoulder line dur­ing the pick up of a circle; that point at which the performer prepares to enter into the next circle. The shoulder line during the pick up should be slightly counter rotated in relation to the next rear support position as in a basic circle.

C. Skills with front and rear sup- ~~~ ~ port as key positions. ~~ ~ 1. Circles

I. at 15 12 , • 3 0

2. Loops

III. Skills are performed by allowing the shoulders to turn to a new sup­port position while maintaining the same circle shape. Thus analyzing the line of the shoulders in relation­ship to the horse during key posi­tions of a skill will provide many coaching clues.

~~~~£Jd~ • 36 33 30 f7 U 21

~tlPfl$~ 59 51 54 51 48 45

BAILIE

Pick up second circle

I (as for pommel loop)

Technique

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® u.s. GYMNASTICS

FEDERATION

USGF VIDEO LIBRARY The most extensive library of gymnastics video cassettes

in the u.s. ! The perfect training aid for your club, home study, or to take to summer camp! New slow motion footage of the Soviets ! A Video on strength and conditioning by Bill Sands . Highlights of the 1986 Women 's Junior European Cham­pionships! The best of the competition! And much more!

COMPETITION TAPES (Note: USGF video tapes were produced for educational and development pur­poses and may not be representative of broadcast quality. All tapes VHS.)

1987 Moscow News - Moscow and Leningrad, USSR See America's Joyce Wi lborn and the best women from the Soviet Union, Romania, Bulgaria and China compete in this prestigious international competition. All events. Running time: 110 min. Price:~ $26.95 Order #2401

1986 Junior European Cha mpionships Full routines and all events shown from this top flight meet held in Karlesruh, West Germany. This competition is an early predictor of top prospects for the 1988 Euro­pean Olympic teams! Awesome tumbling and releases. (Women) Running time: 75 min. Price:~ $26.95 Order # 2110 (Men) Running time: 110 min. Price:~ $26.95 Order # 2210

1985 World Championships - Optionals - Montreal Omeliantchik, Shoushounova and Mostepanova of the USSRI Szabo and Silivas of Romania! Garrison, Sey and Mar of the U.S.! Forthe men, the strongest Soviet team in years-Korolev, Artemov and Mogi lnyi are awesome! Plus China's Li Ning and Tong Fei, and East Germany's Sylvio Kroll. For the U.S.-Daggett, Johnson and Lakes. (Men) Running time: 45 min. Price:~ $35.95 (Women) Running time: 45 min. Price:~ $35.95

1984 Olympic Games - Women - Los Angeles

Order #2215 Order # 2115

Top routines of the women's gymnastics competition , including the gold medal routine of Mary Lou Retton! See Szabo, Johnson and all of the greats from 1984! Running time: 110 min. Price:-$45:O(T $40.50 Order #2101

1984 Olympic Games - Men - Los Angeles Own the tape of the most historic moment in U.S. men's gymnastics-the trium­phant routines of Vidmar, Conner, Gaylord, Hartung, Daggett and Johnson. Plus Japan 's Koji Gushiken and China's Li Ning! A must for all gymnastics video libraries. Running time: 110 min. Price:-$45:O(T $40.50 Order #2201

1986 USA VS. USSR Dual Meet - Women The world champion Soviet women at thei r best! A scrappy and talented U.S. team, led by Melissa Marlowe, Stacy Gunthorpe and Marie Rothlisberger Running time: 110 min. Price:~ $26.95 Order #2116

COMPULSORY TRAINING TAPES 1988 USGF Junior Olympic Compulsories - Men Compulsories are performed by members of the Junior National Men's team and judged by a panel of experts , including committee members who wrote the rou ti nes. Running time: 60 min. Price:~ $28. 75 Order #2221

1988 USGF Women's Age Group Compulsories USGF Compulsory exercises for all age groups, classes and events are described and shown. A great way to teach and learn! Class I - Time: 30 min. Price:~ $ 44.95 Class II & III 45 min. Price:-%f5T:Orr $135.90 Class IV & V: 120 min. Price:-%f5T:Orr $135.90

Order # 2107 Order # 2105 Order # 2106

1988 USGF Rhythmic Age Group Compulsories Purchase Class II or Class III tapes individually, or save and buy a combination of the two ! Videos include the six classes of Class II and Class III compulsory events. Each routine is performed three times , two times completely through and one time in segments . (Class III tape also includes the compulsory group ball routine for 6 gymnasts) . A great tool for starting a rhythmic program in your club! Class II: Price:-55fT.gf) $53.95 Order #2321 Class III: Price:~ 553.95 Order #2322 Class II & III: Price:-$4fM:(JfT $93.60 Order # 2323

ONDITIONING AND MOTIVATIONAL TAPES Strength & Conditioning with Bill Sands Bill Sands, one of the most respected gymnastics coaches in the U.S., covers every element of a championship-caliber strength and conditioning program that bui lds strength and endurance, while protecting the athlete against injury through proper conditioning . An excellent, authoritative approach. Running time: 60 min. Price:~ $55.75 Order # 2440

NEW!! The WORLD'S BEST IN SLOW MOTION!!

Grace Under Pressure-The Soviets in Slow-Motion New slow motion footage of Soviet (and U.S.) gymnasts ! Shot in April , 1987, in Denver, this 30-minute video shows the world 's best gymnasts working parts on all six men's events and the women warming up on bars, beam and vaulting. Lots of releases and dismounts, including triple flyaways, full -ins off unevens, and a full -i n, full-out on floor. Plus Marlowe and Frolova on unevens, Boginskaya working vaults, Bicher­ova on beam, Hayden's Kovac, Luytkin's full-twisting Geinger and Mogilnyi on pommel horse! Shot for promotional purposes, this footage is still loaded with insights fo r training and judging! Set to music, it' ll get you and your teammates psyched ! Running time: 30 minutes Price:~ $17.95 Order # 2435

~r~= ... ' .---...... ~ ..... L· ~(;) \I:\"t\srI0

1 FD~I{ ·\r In,

USGF VIDEO LIBRARY NAME _

ORDER FORM

USGF Merchandise PO. Box 5562 Indianapolis , IN 46255-5562

ADD RESS ___ _

CITY ___ _

ORDER # QUANTITY

FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY,

CALL 317-638-8743

TITLE

CARD NO.

MY CARD EXPIR ES:

STATE _ _ ZIP

DISCOUNT TOTAL PRICE

TOTAL AMT.

CHARGE MY:

D VISA D MASTERCARD

7 8 9

I I

~ 11 12 13

Pick up third circle

(as for Moor completion)

10

\

CALENDAR June 1-5 Grande Prix Rome (M) Aome. Italy

Virgin Islands Varna. Bulgaria Berlin

2-7 Olympic Solidarity Course 2-8 Golden Sands (MIW) 3-8 German Gym Fest (MIW) 5-7 Junior Olympic Championships (W) Dram, UT 13-Jul 17"' Group T raining/Selection

18-21 Camp (R) Marquette, MI

McDonald's U.S. Gymnastics Champs (MIW) Kansas City , MO

WORLD CHAMPS TRIALS (W) & PAN AMERICAN TEAM SELECTION (MIW)

20-26 JR Rhythmic Elite Training Camp (R) Colorado Springs, CO 22-29 Moncodo Cup Cuba 24-27 JRISR Training Camp (W) TeA 26-28 Junior Olympic Boys Nationals (M) Los Angeles, CA 3O-Jul 7 Junior Boys Training Camp

T8A

July

(10.12 yr aids) Canadian Classic

Colorado Springs, CO Canada

2·6 FIG Congress Hern ing. Denmark 5-11 Junior Boys Development Camp

Class I Colorado Springs, CO 5-17 Coaches Symposium (MIW/R) NY, Chicago, LA 7-11 FIG Gymnaestrada Herning, Denmark 9-12 Junior (8 ) Training Camp (W) TBA 9-16 World University Games (MIWIR) Zagreb, Yugoslavia 11·17 Junior Boys Development Camp

Class II Colorado Springs, CO 17-26 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival (MlWfR) RaleighfDurham, NC

(TRIALS-Rhythmic World Champsi Pan Am Games)

19·30 Pan Am Team Selection & Camp (M) Colorado Springs, CO

August 4·25 5-18 8-16

Rhythmic Developmental Camps (R) Marquette, MI Rhythmic Group Training Camp (A) Marquette, MI Junior Elite Training Camp (A) Marquette, MI Pan Am Games (A) Indianapolis, IN Pan Am Games (M) Indianapolis, IN Pan Am Trai ning Camp (W) Indianapolis, IN Pan Am Games (W) Indianapolis, IN

9-11 12·16 12·17 17-23 21-23 21-31 24-Sept 9 26-31 TBA

• • Alfred Vogel ASG Competition (A) Holland Jr. National Team Training Camp (M) Colorado Springs, CO Ahythmic Group Training Camp (A) Marquette, MI USNlIaly (W) lIaly Brazil Cup (W) Brazil

• Tentative Dates or Sites ., Proposed Events

Techn ique

FREE PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL FOR USGF

JUNIOR OLYMPIC COMPETITIONS

FREE color posters (100) -To promote your event all

over town

FREE brochure -To help generate event

publicity -To help you approach Dodge

Dealers for local support

FREE program covers (100) -To use for meet info packet -To sell as event programs

FREE event banners -To hang in your gym -To present to the winning team -To present to your local Dodge

Dealers

The Dodge Division of Chrysler Motors is a national sponsor of the USGF's Junior Olympic Program. FREE material is avail­able through the USGF for all USGF age group competitions. The Dodge/USGF material can be used to:

• Build awareness for a specific meet you're hosting • Build awareness for your gymnastics club and the

benefits of gymnastics participation • Help you enlarge your instructional program and hopefully,

your revenues

All you have to do is SEND a copy of your USGF sanction request form at least 30 days in advance of your USGF meet to:

Dodge/USGF Account Coordinator U.S. Gymnastics Federation 1099 N. Meridian, Suite 380

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Also, please be sure to include a street address. UPS will not deliver to P.O. Box numbers. So, start using these FREE materi­als to build your program and promote our sport.

19

u.s. G\1v1NASTICS FEDERATION

SAFETY CERTIFICATION TESTING

Everyone Needs To Be Safety Certified 1. Promo tes a sa fe r tei:ch ing/learning e nvironme nt. 2. Red uces insu ra nce pre mi um s. 3. Id entifies vou r Cllm mi tm en t to your profess ion , you r sport

a nd vo ur at hl e tes. -1 . Impll'mentation of stricter sa fe ty p rac tices wi ll he lp red uce

the cha nces o f accid e nts a nd/o r injuries . 5. He lps in me mbershi p recru it me nt.

General Points of Information

1. The tex t boo k fo r the Certi fi cation Course is the USGF GYM­NASTICS SAFETY MANUAL. This tex tlreference manua l is to be pu rchased and studied prio r to course pa rticipa tion .

2. The co urse w ill take approxima te ly six hours, including the tes t.

3. The Course fee is $100 .00 (re tes t cost is $25 .00). 4. Certifi ca tion is good fo r four yea rs .

Participation Registration Form Na m e: M r. /Mrs.lMs.

Address: ________________________________ _

Te le phon e : (c.:...H:.L) _____ _ -'-(B-I.)'---_ ___ _

Course Direc to r: ____ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ___ _

Cou rse Loca tion : _____ _ _ __ D_a_te_: _ _ _ _ _

Orga niza ti on Represented:

If USG F Member, Lis t Ty pe a nd Numbe r: ___ _ _

Form of Paym e n t:

Check Visa Mastercard Name on Card : ___________________________ _

Number:

Expiration Da te : ______ Signa ture:

Please make checks payable in full to : USG F SAFETY CERTIFICATION Mai l Registratio n Form an d Payment to Respective Course Con tact.

'DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE - FOR OFFICE USE ONLY'

Registration Form Received : _________________ __

Confirmation Mailed :

Sunday, May 24, 1987 Batavia, Ohio - 9:00am-4:00pm Clermont County YMCA 2075 Front Wheel Drive Batavia , OH 45103 Course Director: Ron Ganim - 216-526-2970 Local Contact : Debbie Gormley - 513-724-9622 Hotel Contact: Holiday Inn Eastgate - 513-752-4400

Red Roof Inn - 513-528-2741

Saturday, June 20, 1987 Overland Park, Kansas City, Missouri - 9:00am-4:30pm Double Tree Hotel 10100 College Blvd. Overland Park, KS 66210 913-451-6100 This course will be conducted by several USGF National Certifiers during the 1987 USGFlMcDonald's US Gymnastics Championships Course Contact: USGF - 317-638-8743 Local Contact: Kayce Gilmore - 913-829-1700 Please send registration form to the USGF Department of Safety 1099 North Meridian Street, Suite 380 Indianapolis, IN 46204

Saturday, June 27, 1987 1. Reno Nevada - 2:00-8:00pm

Reno Gymnastics Center 120 Woodland Avenue, Suite B Reno, NV 89523 Course Director: Joseph Rooney - 702-747-2719

2. Seattle, Washington - 1:00-7:00pm Northwest Aerial Gymnastics Club Course Director: Sam Sandmire - 406-442-1840 Local Contact: Patti Lanterman

16039 NE lOlst Street Redmond, W A 98053

Thursday, July 2, 1987 Portland, Maine University of Southern Maine Course Director: Paul Spadaro - 718-816-6287 Local Contact: Carol Miller - 207-783-4369

Sunday, July 12, 1987 Durham, North Carolina - 11:00am-6:00pm Triangle Twisters Gymnastics Center 2809 Rose of Sharon Road Durham, NC 27712 Course Director: Michael Rizzuto - 919-471-3857

Sunday, July 19, 1987 New Haven, Connecticut - 9:30am-5:30pm Southern Connecticut State University Pelz Gymnasium Fitch Street New Haven, CT 06515 Course Director: Joan Hicks - 203-375-3244

Sunday, August 15, 1987 Columbus, Ohio - 9:00am-5:00pm Universal Gymnasts, Inc. 4555 Knightsbridge Blvd. Columbus, OH 43214 Course Director: Bobbi Monta nari

614-457-1279 Hotel Contact: Red Roof Inn - 614-846-3001

Friday, August 28, 1987 Princeton, New Jersey Princeton Ramada Inn Course Director: Paul Spadaro - 718-816-6287 Local Contact: Geri Johnston - 201-762-5222 This course will be carried out during the Region VII Gymnastics Congress.

Friday, October 9, 1987 Richfield, Ohio - 8:30am-3:30pm Richfield Holiday Inn 4742 Brecksville Road Richfield, OH 44286 216-659-6151 Course Directors: Ron Ganim - 216-526-2970

Dr. Gerald George - 318-988-1220 This course will be carried out during the Region V Gymnastics Congress.

Dates, Times and Locations will all be listed in USA GYMNASTICS and USGF TECHNIQUE. They can also be checked by calling the USGF Department of Safety

and Education at (317) 638-8743 _