The Judges Matter
Part 1
“A 5? How many times did she fall?”
“She didn’t.”
“What?!”
This was the conversation I had with one of my coaches during the Level 5 State meet in 2016. I was not at the meet; I was getting updates from my coaches throughout.
Why would a child receive a 5 at the State meet, and not fall? That was my question.
My coach inquired the score, and it turns out, that the judges didn’t give her credit for doing her free hip, even though I saw the video, and there was certainly a free hip in the routine. Even though we showed the video to one of those same judges two months later, and she said, nonchalantly, “Oh, yes, she should have gotten credit.”
She did not apologize; she did not understand what her mistake had caused.
I was furious. This was not the child’s fault, and she did not deserve a 5. The fact was, the judges were both looking down, did not see the free hip performed, did not tell the other judge she was looking down, and refused to give the child the benefit of the doubt for their mistake. This is not the type of official that I want judging my gymnasts’ progress in the sport. These judges showed demonstratively that they are not in it for the kids, and they certainly do not have the spirit of youth athletics on their minds.
The officials matter when it comes to changing the gymnastics culture — or when it comes to creating a whole new culture, which is what I am setting out to do.
If the officials’ philosophy doesn’t match my own, then my gymnasts are not going to thrive in a competition atmosphere. I’m not asking for high scores for any routine competed; I’m demanding a level playing field, and one that would give the benefit of the doubt to the child, any child, competing. This requires an underlying philosophy of putting the individual athletes first.
As in the case with my gymnast, if a judge happened to be looking down when a gymnast was performing a free hip in her LEVEL 5 COMPULSORY STATE MEET, I believe that her first reaction should be, “She must have done a free hip. She has gotten this far, and in order to get here, she needed about an 8 on each event. In addition, a gymnast certainly would not forget such an important skill in her bar routine, a routine that she has practiced hundreds of times by now, at the State meet…” Or to admit that she was looking down in the first place? Where is the thought, the tact, the integrity?
We cannot teach these values to our children if the people they are taught to respect don’t demonstrate them.
The officials matter. It matters who is handing out the scores at a meet. If the culture is going to change, it isn’t just the gym culture or the coaching culture, it’s also the competition culture, and that begins with the judges.
Judges have to recognize their part in the upside-down medals-first gymnastics culture we have, and they have to be willing to put a stop to it in order for there to be a gymnastics culture that we can be proud to have our children be a part of.
Here’s to creating a NEW gymnastics culture, one gymnast at a time.
